Following swiftly behind him, he pushed open the door and they stepped inside. Elle scanned the room. It was minimalistic, with a pinboard on the stone wall to the right, covered in local leaflets, a counter straight ahead and five plastic chairs lined up against the wall to the left.
Pippa ushered Elle ahead of her and Aiden, so she stepped up and took the bag off her shoulder and placed it on the counter. A police officer who was tapping away on his computer looked up with a welcoming smile. ‘Can I help you?’ he asked, sliding his chair backwards and standing up to face them.
‘Yes, this morning we found this bag on the bus and thought we’d better hand it in,’ Elle replied.
The policeman rummaged around amongst some papers on the desk before acknowledging what Elle had said.
‘I need to take some details. Did you see who it belonged to?’ he asked, poising his pen over the form in front of him.
Pippa nodded and smiled across at Elle before answering. ‘Tall, dark and handsome just about covers it.’
The policeman smiled. ‘Well, that narrows it down. How about age?’
‘I’d say similar to me?’
‘Which is?’ the policeman asked.
‘Mid-twenties,’ replied Pippa.
‘He was travelling on the 425 bus this morning and jumped off at Heartcross Castle,’ added Elle.
‘Thank you. That information is a little more helpful,’ the policeman replied, smiling kindly in Pippa’s direction. ‘I suppose I’d better take a look inside.’
Pippa was desperately trying to keep her face under control as she pushed the bag towards him.
‘Have you opened the bag at all?’ he enquired, looking between all three of them.
Elle and Pippa eyed each other warily, Aiden watching in amusement.
‘We may have had a small peep,’ Elle offered at last, feeling her face flushing red with embarrassment. The image of the handsome stranger wearing nothing but the red thong flooded her mind, and she bit down hard on her lip trying to suppress her smile.
The policeman unzipped the bag and the three of them fixed their gaze on him while he peered inside.
Pippa stifled a giggle.
The officer looked up, clearly amused, and zipped up the bag before thanking them for bringing it in.
‘Is there any chance – if you find out who it belongs to – that you could maybe let us know?’ Pippa asked playfully before Aiden grabbed hold of her shoulders and pushed her good-humouredly towards the door.
‘Out!’ he said, laughing. ‘Can you believe this is only my first day working with you lot? Time for the pub. You two have driven me to drink already.’
* * *
Meredith and Fraser were in their usual place behind the bar at The Grouse and Haggis, and welcomed Elle the second she stepped inside.
‘My usual, please, Meredith, and can I introduce you to Aiden? It’s his first day, he’s working with us at the library.’
‘Welcome to Heartcross. You must be the Aiden that’s moved into the house on Love Heart Lane. Rona, who owns the teashop, told us you’d arrived a couple of days ago.’
‘That’s right, it’s a beautiful house in a great location.’
‘I hope we’ll be seeing you at book club?’
‘We’ll tell him all about that. I’m sure we can persuade him to come,’ Elle said.
‘Lovely. Now, as per usual, any newcomer to the village has their first drink on the house,’ Meredith announced, reaching for a glass on the shelf above her head.
‘Thank you very much,’ Aiden said, delighted.
