‘Essex,’ said Shanie, still distracted by what she’d seen.
‘Goodness did you drive all the way up here from Essex?’
‘We’re not together,’ said Aaron. ‘Me and Kacey picked the hire car up in Dumfries and Shanie was trying to hire something because her driver was a no-show but there were no cars left. So we offered to give her a lift.’
‘That’s kind,’ said Liv.
Shanie didn’t look like she agreed as she huffily swapped her bag to the other hand. ‘I had a chauffeur booked and paid for. My manager will be complaining. You can’t just abandon someone in a frozen wasteland.’
Fraser chuckled behind them and Shanie spun around to glare at him. ‘Who are you exactly?’
‘It’s his hotel,’ said Liv, thinking that however pissed off Shanie was she really didn’t want to fall out with Fraser or she’d be sharing a stable with Ginger.
‘Here you go,’ said Shanie handing him her bag. Fraser seemed surprised to now be holding two shovels and a designer bag. ‘Careful that’s got my eye massager in.’
‘Ooh I’ve heard about those. They’re meant to give you a great night’s sleep,’ said Liv.
‘I don’t share personal items. Sorry,’ said Shanie with a look of fake commiseration.
‘I wasn’t asking you to.’ Liv was starting to think that maybe Shanie was a bigger cow than Ginger. They walked on in silence apart from the rhythmic crunch of shoes on fresh snow. The snow was still coming down thick and fast.
‘This is so exciting,’ said Kacey finishing her sentence with a small squeak.
Shanie huffed. ‘How much further?’ she whined as they reached the sign for the hotel. But in her defence it was partially covered in snow, as was she and her thin jacket.
‘Not far now,’ said Liv. ‘This is the driveway.’
‘It had better be worth it,’ muttered Shanie.
Liv very much doubted that it would be.
12
It was a relief to get inside. Liv took off the borrowed coat and marvelled at how much snow was on it, which was now sliding onto the entrance hall floor. Aaron helped Kacey off with her puffer jacket.
‘Aww this is dead nice,’ said Kacey taking it all in.
Shanie pouted as she scanned her surroundings with a critical eye. ‘It’s old,’ she said.
Fraser shook his head, dropped Shanie’s bag in the puddle Liv had created and began pulling off his wellies.
‘It dates from the seventeenth century with some Victorian additions,’ said Liv, quite proud that she’d remembered what Fraser had told her.
‘Like I said,old,’ said Shanie.
The door opened and an icy draught blew in Effie and Robbie.
‘Where’s the body?’ asked Effie in not very hushed tones, making Aaron and Kacey both stop what they were doing to listen.
Liv saw Fraser’s shoulders start to shake. ‘What now?’ And there was she thinking she’d only have to face humiliation once.
Robbie shut the door. ‘Effie thought she could see someone wearing a baseball cap in the passenger seat of that other car.’
Liv bit her lip. Despite the cold her neck prickled with the scrutiny of a dozen eyes. This was awkward. ‘Nope, we checked and there was definitely no one there. It was just a top and a baseball cap.’
Robbie appeared puzzled. ‘Are you sure? You did take a bang to the head.’
‘There was nobody in there, Robbie. I saw for myself,’ said Fraser. ‘The car has a puncture, so the driver has abandoned it.’ He glanced awkwardly at Liv.
