‘Really?’
‘No! Robbie arrested me on false pretences and now I’m stranded in a police station in…’ It dawned on her that she had no idea where she was. She put her hand over the receiver and whispered to the bored-looking police officer. ‘Where am I?’
‘Planet earth,’ he replied.
‘You should do stand-up. You know if you ever stop loving this job as much as you clearly do now.’ She gave him a cheesy grin. ‘Location, please.’
He shook his head at her. ‘Fort William.’
‘Thank you so much.’ She removed her hand from the receiver. ‘I’m at Fort William police station and I need a lift back to my car.’
‘That’s good because Robbie works there. He’ll bring you back.’
Why were things so much harder than they needed to be. ‘He’s been called to an accident.’ The officer cleared his throat and tapped his watch. ‘I really need someone to come and get me. I don’t know anyone else around here. Sorry.’
‘Okay. Um, I’ll sort something out.’
‘Great, when do you think they’ll get here?’ But as she was asking the question she heard an ominous click. ‘Effie, are you still there?’ There was no answer.
Liv handed the phone back to the police officer. ‘I love what you’ve done with your hair,’ she told him as she smoothed a hand over her own head. ‘So shiny.’ He shook his head at her. ‘I’ll wait over here.’ She pointed at two sad-looking chairs.
‘No. I’m already late locking up.’
‘Police stations don’t close do they?’
‘This one does. I’m sorry but you’ll have to wait outside,’ he said with a shrug.
Outside it was cold and dark. This wasn’t funny.
‘You okay?’ asked the officer as he locked up. Apparently having a brief moment of concern.
‘Absolutely fine. Thanks for asking.’ She grinned at him whilst trying to hide her chattering teeth.
‘Goodnight then,’ he said pulling up his coat hood and striding off.
Time ticked by. She had no idea how long she was standing there but it felt like forever. In reality it was probably only about forty minutes. She had visions of Effie appearing through the darkness riding Ginger. But would Effie be able to venture that far given her issues? Liv wrapped her arms around herself and hugged her coat in an attempt to keep warm. Could she trust Effie to sort something out? Or was hypothermia going to set in and she’d be like a human ice pop?
31
When a white van came into sight Liv had a sinking feeling she knew who would be driving it, and when it pulled up next to her she was right. A weight hit the bottom of her stomach like a frozen haggis as Fraser buzzed down the window. ‘Get in,’ he said and she was too cold to do anything else. She crunched her way along the icy pavement and got in. Inside the van was quite small and Fraser was a bear of a man so she was very aware of how close together they now were.
She put on her belt and found herself leaning slightly away from him. Thoughts of their earlier conversation made her grimace. Conversation was probably pushing it. She’d called him out for ghosting her and he’d denied it. Pretty much nothing about her trip to Scotland had gone to plan. But then had she ever had a plan in the first place? Maybe that was at the root of her problem. They were both silent while he turned the van around. Liv wasn’t a fan of silence. ‘I’ve told the police and now I’m telling you that I had absolutely nothing to do with whatever this graffiti is on the hotel sign.’
‘They let you go didn’t they?’
‘Yeah.’
‘So it wasn’t you.’
She guessed it was a fair logic. ‘I’m glad you agree. And thanks for picking me up.’
‘It’s okay.’
They both stared straight ahead out of the windscreen. It was dark so there wasn’t much to see apart from occasional car lights. The snow was thawing a little although there were still great mounds of it on the sides of the roads. There weren’t many cars about but then the conditions were still quite iffy and Liv reasoned that normal people would already be in Christmas mode with a large glass of their tipple of choice and their face in a tub of chocolates. The roads were awash with water as they made their way back to Glendormie, and the rhythmic sound of the tyres in the puddles was almost sending her to sleep. She had that horrid sensation of her head dropping forwards a couple of times. She’d need to wake herself up before she drove all the way back to Blackburn. Maybe she’d stop at the first garage and stock up on energy drinks and crisps to keep her going.
Liv had never been so happy to see her sister’s car as when Fraser pulled up alongside it. ‘Did you want to get a hot drink or something before you set off? I can find some scran for you for the journey.’ He shrugged. ‘You know, if you like.’
‘Scran?’ It didn’t exactly sound appetising whatever it was.
