Some distance away from the group, she noticed a photographer, tripod set up, thumb poised on the shutter cable. The bride gave Alice one last quizzical look before turning and giving a dazzling smile as she clung onto her tall and handsome groom.
I can’t be here,Alice thought.I really can’t be here.
And she turned, the heels of her boots grinding into the gravel, and ran back down the drive as fast as she could go.
Chapter Sixteen
Now.
WILLOW RAN DOWN her favourite path in the castle’s formal garden. In the spring, the arches of wisteria created a tunnel of dripping lilac flowers, but, in February, only the gnarled branches remained, twisting through the metal struts. Ben had an urge to capture the winter beauty of the plant, and even though he could have taken a snap on his phone, he pushed the thought away.
He looked over his shoulder to see where Alice had got to, but there was no sign of her. ‘Willow!’ he called out, keeping his eye on the gate. When, after another minute or so, Alice didn’t appear, he grabbed his niece’s hand and headed back out of the garden.
While she’d seemed far less confused today than she had yesterday, the idea of Alice wandering off spooked him. She could get on a bus, take a trail up into the hills, walk into the loch …
‘But I haven’t finished being a princess yet,’ Willow complained as they marched out onto the gravel drive and headed back towards town.
‘I know.’ Ben scanned the area, trying not to communicate his growing sense of panic to his niece.‘But I can’t find Alice. Can you see her anywhere?’
‘There!’ Willow said a couple of seconds later. She pointed further down the drive, and Ben could see a sky-blue coat bobbing along before it disappeared around a curve in the drive, the exact same shade as the warm coat Norina had found for Alice. Frowning, he scooped Willow up and gave her a piggyback. Why had Alice run off? She’d seemed so relaxed and happy only moments before.
Once back in town, he headed for the B&B, checking with Norina if she’d seen their guest – which she hadn’t – and asked her to mind Willow while he carried on searching. He was just coming out of the front door, taking the front steps two at a time, when he ran into Tamesha Wilson, one of the local police officers.
‘I was just looking for you,’ she said. ‘Social services gave me a call.’
He nodded. ‘They said they would. Otherwise, I’d have contacted you myself.’
‘So … where is the young woman?’
Ben frowned and started in the direction of his cottage. ‘I was just about to go to where she’s staying. Care to join me?’ He could only hope that Alice had run back there. Where else would she go?
‘Sure,’ she replied, her thin braids bobbing as she nodded her head.
As they walked down the narrow road that ran behind the Invergarrig Inn, he filled her in on what he knew of the story and his suspicion that he and Alice had met before. When they got to the cottage, he knocked on the door then, when he got no answer,tried the handle. It wasn’t locked. ‘Alice? Are you there?’
‘Did she remember her name?’ PC Wilson asked as they crossed the small living room.
Ben shook his head. ‘Willow picked one out for her. It made sense at the time.’
The police officer shrugged and followed him through to the kitchen, where, much to his relief, he found Alice. She was standing completely still, staring at the kettle, as if she’d been meaning to put it on but had just zoned out. She jumped when he said her name softly.
‘This is PC Wilson,’ he said. ‘One of our local officers based in Lochgilphead.’
‘Oh, yes … Of course,’ Alice said. ‘Thank you for coming.’
‘Why don’t I make us a hot drink,’ Ben said, ‘while you go and talk in the living room?’
He joined them a few minutes later with three steaming mugs of tea.
‘And you really don’t remember anything?’ PC Wilson was saying. ‘Not even patchy details, before you found yourself at the bus stop?’
Alice shook her head. ‘I don’t even remember being on a bus, although I must have been.’
‘Hmm,’ Wilson said. ‘I’ll see what I can do. I can certainly look into missing persons in the Argyll area and I’ll check hospital admissions to see if there are reports of anyone with a head injury skipping off without being discharged – although you said you’ve been to the hospital, and that’s unlikely?’
Alice nodded. ‘They couldn’t see any signs of injury – I had a CT scan.’
Wilson sighed. ‘Since you’re unfortunately unable to provide any further information, the only thing we can do is work out if someone is looking for you, but I have to be honest, I’m not sure we’re going to turn up anything locally.’
