9
In some ways, Bex wished the job had been a more complex one, or that it had taken Mr Foster longer to find his finances for her to look through. If that had been the case, then maybe she would’ve had a justifiable reason to give Lorna for not showing up to the family meeting. But she knew that was just wishful thinking. Lorna would have been more likely to drive to the garage and drag Bex out by her hair than let her miss it. As it happened, though she’d left with plenty of time to walk to the lodge, she ended up getting a lift there, anyway. And from an unexpected, but not unwelcome, source.
‘I was hoping I’d see you,’ Gordon said as he drove the car to a stop next to Bex. ‘How are you doing?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘I think how I’m feeling is a pretty small concern considering everything else going on, isn’t it?’
He nodded. ‘I was just heading down to the hall myself. Any chance you’re goin’ that way?’
‘I am, actually.’
‘Wanna lift?’
She’d been planning on walking there, given that it was midday and clear skies above her, but she wasn’t going to say no to a lift. Especially not from someone who’d seen the state she’d been in coming out of the snowstorm.
‘You okay with her?’ She motioned to Ruby.
‘’Course. Just pop her in the back.’
‘Then that would be great, thank you,’ she said. Wordlessly, she opened the car door behind Gordon. Without so much as a single instruction or gesture, Ruby jumped inside, automatically knowing what was expected of her. Sometimes, Bex thought, that dog was too smart for her own good. Once Bex had shut her in, she walked over to the passenger side of the car and climbed in the front.
Only last week, Bex’d been a regular passenger in Gordon’s car. Almost every day, he’d dropped her back in the village after a day spent riffling through the papers, trying to find the mystery of Fergus’s secret heir. They’d grown close in that time too, particularly as there was no one else they could talk to about the matter. But it all felt like a world ago now. Opening booklets, scanning through photos, hoping that the answer would somehow present itself to them. In the end it did, of course. Tucked into Duncan’s sporran.
‘So, can I know what you’re going to the castle for?’ Bex asked as they headed towards the hall. ‘Anything I can help with?’
Gordon shook his head as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. The old man looked tired, but then she could hardly blame him. This entire thing had been exhausting, and she was more of an onlooker than Gordon, just playing at the legal things. He was the one who actually had to do it. ‘No, just paperwork, that type of thing.’
‘Sounds fun.’
He gave a gruff laugh as he rolled his eyes.
‘What about you? Headin’ to see Kieron?’
‘Duncan, actually,’ she said, feeling a tinge of colour in her cheeks. ‘His sister insisted we head down there.’
‘Makes sense.’
‘Have you spoken to Kieron yet?’ Bex asked, hoping to shift the tension that was tingling through her. ‘He came and saw me last night. He wasn’t in a great mood.’
‘Spoke to him on the phone,’ Gordon said. ‘This will be my first time seein’ him since the party. And apparently, I don’t even have to go all the way up to the hall.’
Bex wasn’t exactly sure what Gordon meant until she followed his line of sight, out of one of the windows towards the gap between two of the great cedar trees marking the edge of the driveway. Kieron was there, wearing a Barbour jacket and flat cap, holding a knotted thumb stick in his hand.
‘Loves playing the laird,’ Gordon muttered to himself before looking back at Bex and smiling apologetically. Not that he had anything to apologise for.
‘Well, I guess this is where I should stop. You want me to drive you down to the lodge?’
Bex shook her head. ‘No, it’s fine. I’ll walk from here,’ she replied. While having both Ruby and Gordon at her side was a definite comfort, the thought of Kieron seeing her and accosting her again caused a frisson of nerves to tighten inside her. Surprisingly, though, when she slipped out of the car, he didn’t even glance in her direction. It was as if he hadn’t noticed the car at all.
‘No, Mummy.’ His voice was shrill, hardly the manly image his attire was hoping to present. ‘I told you, I promise it’s all good. Maybe… You know I wouldn’t… Of course, of course, when it’s all sorted. Yes, I know you miss him. I know you do.’
Gordon cleared his throat quietly, alerting Bex to the fact that she was staring at Kieron.
If she wanted to get to the lodge unnoticed, then standing around gawking at him while she was dropped off was hardly the best way to do that.
‘Thank you.’ She smiled at Gordon, who nodded in response. ‘And good luck.’
This time, it was his turn to roll his eyes as a flash of a smile appeared. ‘You too,’ he said.
