‘Aye, hop to it,’ said Dolly, but as Effie and Robbie went to walk through the doorway Dolly set off on the scooter, promptly blocking the way. They slow-walked behind Dolly as she trundled through to the back door. ‘Well, one of you will need to open it,’ said Dolly with a tut.
‘Sorry,’ said Effie trying to squeeze past the scooter and get to the door.
The weather was keen to join them inside as soon as the door was opened – although still mild for the time of year, the rain was unrelenting. The back portico provided a useful shelter for them to survey the backyard. At first the three of them saw nothing as they squinted into the darkness but as Effie turned her head to the right, she spotted something – or rathersomeonesitting on the ground.
‘There they are!’ she shouted, running towards them. This was the most excited she’d been since Dolly had upgraded her wheelchair. Not a lot happened in Glendormie.
When she reached them, she could see it was a young woman in her twenties who was absolutely soaked through. Effie crouched down and touched her arm.
‘You’re real. Not a ghost. I just needed to check.’ She looked her over and quickly noticed a mix of blood and rain trickling down her cheek. ‘My gosh, you’re injured. Robbie, it’s a girl and she’s hurt! Call the air ambulance.’
‘Oh no, no. I don’t need to go to hospital,’ said the woman blinking slowly as if trying to focus.
‘What hurts?’ asked Effie.
‘Everything,’ she said. ‘My head and ankle are doing the most throbbing. But I don’t think anything’s broken.’
‘Hold the air ambulance,’ called Effie feeling quite disappointed.
Robbie gave her a thumbs up.
‘I’ll get the first-aid kit,’ he shouted.
‘Bring her into the warm!’ called Dolly. ‘I can see from here she’s drookit.’
‘Come on, let’s get you inside,’ said Effie, trying to help the stranger to their feet. Whilst she didn’t like to see anyone hurt, she was beyond delighted to have a visitor.
*
Liv had heard the phrase ‘dazed and confused’ but never before had she fully understood what that felt like. She reached for her phone but it was no longer in her pocket. She glanced around but it was so dark she had no hope of finding it, and she was feeling a bit sick as her head was thumping so hard. The kind young woman helped her to her feet, and she instantly noticed one of her ankles was tender to stand on.
They made their way inside once an old lady on a scooter had very slowly reversed out of the way. Liv now found herself sitting on a chair in a wide hallway clad in dark wood panels, dotted with what she could only describe as odd items. Next to her, leaning against the wall, was a giant spear type thing and on her other side there was what looked like a stuffed giant turkey. High on the walls sat a variety of mounted deer heads, punctuated by an elaborate chandelier that appeared to be made from the antlers of another bunch of unfortunate wildlife. This wasn’t like any hotel she’d ever been in and definitely wasn’t the Travelodge.
‘Jings, did you hear the crash as she went down? She’s cracked her skull open!’ said the young woman. ‘What should we do, what should we do?’
‘Now whatyouneed to do is calm down, Effie,’ said the older woman, inching her scooter closer and closer to Liv. ‘You’ve been watching too muchCasualty. There’s some ice on the way for her bumps. She’ll soon be right,’ she added before turning to face Liv. ‘I’m Dolly. Can you hear me?’ she asked.
Liv nodded.
The young man who had gone to get the first-aid kit stepped forward. Liv looked him up and down. He was thin with a shock of dark hair and suspicious eyes. He wasn’t Fraser.
‘I want to know what she was doing around the back of the property. Very suspect behaviour. Do you think she’s a criminal or possibly a spy?’
Dolly backed the scooter up and she and the man had a not-so-hushed conversation. ‘Goodness, Robbie. She’ll not be a spy. Probably just a lost tourist.’
‘She’s wearing a boiler suit. Some sort of tradesperson perhaps?’
It’s a bloody jumpsuit,thought Liv defensively, but she wasn’t brave enough to voice it. Charlotte’s words floating into her mind – nobody knew her in Scotland; she could be whoever she wanted to be. She opened her mouth but thought better of it, and then the moment passed. Maybe she needed to build up to being brave and speaking her mind.
‘I’m Effie. What’s your name?’ The young woman loomed in front of Liv, making her pull her chin back and wince. The pain in her head was making it hard to function. Plus, she was so tired, and she knew she couldn’t give her real name. What if they knew Fraser? How could she explain what she was doing? Oh, I’m just snooping around so I can shout at a man who ghosted me – nope she couldn’t say that. Her addled brain had no answers.
‘Umm… err… Sorry, I can’t think straight,’ said Liv.
‘She’s taken an awful blow to the head. She’s probably concussed. She must have amnesia,’ said Effie, seeming quite excited at the prospect.
‘Do you know your name?’ asked Robbie, looking a little more concerned.
Liv shook her head. It wasn’t that she didn’t know it, obviously, but she really didn’t want to tell them.
