Call of Glengarron (18 page)

But at about eight-thirty the bus went by on its return trip, going through to a large village about ten miles to the east. And there it made connection with a major service that would take us all the way to Inverness.

My objective at this stage was just to get away from the immediate neighborhood of Glengarron Castle. But that was no easy matter. There were so few escape routes in such a remote part of the world.

A girl with a small child, traveling late in the evening, would be an easy quarry. Every move we made was bound to be noted, and a phone call or two would be enough to set Craig on our trail.

My only hope was to cover as much ground as possible before our going was discovered. I had managed things so that with any luck we should not be missed until morning. And by then, I reckoned, we should be far away in a big town, where we could hope to pass unnoticed.

I was determined to be on that eight-thirty bus. Somehow or other I was going to slip out of the castle with Jamie. Somehow or other I was going to coax and cajole, drag and bully the poor little boy over the couple of miles of forest track to the road. It was going to be tough on him. But how much worse for Jamie if I were to desert him now, and leave him in the hands of the man—the murderer—who was his father.

Checking yet again through the things I needed, I remembered my gloves. Though the April days were warm, it could still get mighty cold at night.

But my gloves were next door, in the top drawer of my dressing table.

I wavered at leaving this room with its illusion of safety. But I should have to take the plunge later, so why not now? Jamie was asleep, and I’d only be a few moments. Before I could change my mind, I unlocked the door and ran along to my own bedroom.

I was already inside before I realized something was wrong. At first it was pure instinct—I felt certain that somebody else was in the room.

And then I saw the curtains move.

It was only the faintest stirring, a slight billowing. But that was enough to tell me somebody was hiding behind the curtains.

Instinct urged me to turn and run. But if I did, Craig would know I’d spotted him. He’d be after me in an instant.

There was a chance that if I acted normally he wouldn’t emerge from his hiding place and attack me. I might be able to get safely out of the room without him realizing I suspected anything.

The dressing table stood about fifteen feet away from me, and barely ten from the window. Leaving the door open wide, ready to start screaming my head off, I crossed the room as quickly as I dared. With an effortful lack of haste I opened the drawer and took out my gloves. I even managed to hum a tune lightly.

I was careful to switch off the light again and close the door behind me, before scurrying back to Jamie’s room.

I locked myself in with a gasp of relief.

My ear pressed up against the door, I stood and listened. There was no sound from outside. I must have been standing there for five full minutes in absolute silence, except for Jamie’s soft breathing and my own thudding heart.

And then, so very faintly that I couldn’t be quite certain, there came a click, a tiny noise of a door being closed. I held my breath in an effort to hear more, but there was nothing. Had Craig gone away, or was he lingering outside in the corridor? I hadn’t any means of knowing.

By now it was past seven o’clock. There was no time to waste. Steadily, forcing myself not to rush, I changed into slacks, and got my coat and gloves and scarf ready.

I roused Jamie then. He protested sleepily, but I soon had him wide awake by pretending we were going to play a secret game. It was the only way I could think of to make him come with me quietly, and not question every move.

I had already got out some warm clothes for him—long trousers, a thick sweater and his fleece-lined jacket.

He was terribly excited when I told him we were actually going outside in the dark. “For a sort of game,” I said feebly.

“Like hide and seek?” he asked, his eyes huge and shining. “Will the others be searching for us, Lucy?”

“Well ... er ...” I hedged. “It’s more a sort of tracking game really. You know—like cowboys and Indians.”

“Gosh.”

I gathered up the bus timetable and map—they might well come in useful if I had to change my plan suddenly.

The biggest obstacle of all was facing me right here and now—how to get out of the castle without being seen. If anybody did spot us, how on earth could I give a plausible explanation? I could hardly say I was taking a five-year-old boy for a walk—not well past his bedtime and after dusk. Besides, I was supposed to have gone to bed myself because I was feeling so tired.

I had to take a chance. At least the time was opportune.

The family would by now be having the usual aperitif before dinner, and Duncan and his wife would be busily engaged between the kitchen and the dining room.

I explained to Jamie that we had to be very quiet or it would spoil the game. Opening the bedroom door, I peered out into the dim corridor. Everything was quiet. The light at the head of the stairs was on, and showed that the coast was clear.

To impress on Jamie the need to take care I made a theatrical display of caution. We tiptoed along hand in hand. I wanted to avoid using the main staircase if possible, and I had an idea the service stairs must be in the other wing.

This was new territory to me. I paused, listening, but there was still no sound. A few yards along I saw a door on the right that was slightly different from the others. It had no handle, apparently designed to be opened at a push from either side.

With Jamie just behind me still clutching my hand, I pressed gently against the door to investigate. As I’d hoped, there were the service stairs, bare boards curving downward in a spiral. I led Jamie through and let the door swing to after us.

Light shone up from below. I looked over the metal handrail and found I could see all the way down to a wide stone-flagged passage.

Jamie was entering into the spirit of the thing. He was greatly enjoying what he imagined to be an intriguing game, hardly making a sound as we crept down step by step.

We were almost halfway when a door directly beneath us was suddenly opened. Brighter light beamed out, reflecting against the whitewashed wall opposite.

We were trapped. To turn back up the stairs would make far too much noise. All we could do was to push back against the stone wall and hope we wouldn’t be seen.

I crouched over Jamie, pressing an urgent finger to my lips. He grinned back at me happily.

Duncan’s voice came up to us, startlingly near. Obviously talking to his wife back in the kitchen, he was grumbling like a man hard-ridden.

“Will ye no give me a chance, woman. I’m awa’ to fetch the wine, now.”

He shuffled off down the passage. Another door opened, and I heard his heavy footsteps descending into the cellars.

Still I dared not make a move. Below us the staircases curved on around. To go down any further would almost certainly mean coming into sight of both the kitchen and cellar doors.

I managed to put on a conspiratorial smile for Jamie’s sake, and we just stayed where we were, waiting. From the kitchen I could hear the clatter of pans. The air was warm with the smell of roasting beef.

Duncan seemed to be gone a long time—far longer than he needed just to get a bottle of wine. Maybe he took the chance of having a nip or two himself while down in the cellar out of his wife’s sight.

At last I heard him coming back, grunting as he climbed the steps. The cellar door closed, feet shuffled along the stone passage, and then the kitchen door banged shut.

I waited another minute to let him settle. Very faintly I could hear the couple bickering.

It was doubtful if I’d get a better chance than this.

I tugged Jamie’s hand, and we went on down the stairs. At the bottom, I realized at once that we couldn’t avoid passing the kitchen. Beyond it were two other doors. One would lead to the cellar and the other to a storeroom, perhaps, or a laundry.

But what interested me was a half-glazed door at the far end of the passage. I guessed it must lead to the courtyard.

I was thankful that we both happened to be wearing soft rubber soles. I was thankful too, when we reached the door, that nobody troubled to lock up in these remote parts. With tremendous care I grasped the handle, turning it, easing it around. Then I gave a gentle pull, and the door swung open.

Silently I motioned Jamie to go through, and I followed him, taking as much care closing the door as in opening it.

Only then did I look around me. I found we were in the corner of the courtyard nearest the great entrance gate. I studied the sky anxiously. So much would depend on the weather in these next few hours. It wasn’t very reassuring. The moon was faint and watery, and heavy clouds were gathering to the west.

I was tempted to strike out at once, to go straight across the causeway and escape as quickly as possible. But there was still another job to be done first. The moonlight wasn’t going to last very long and I would need a flashlight. On the rough forest tracks there was an alarming number of pitfalls, and I daren’t risk a sprained ankle. Besides, Jamie might well be frightened out there in the threatening darkness.

Getting a flashlight was all part of my plan. At first I’d been at a loss until I remembered where I’d seen one. The day I’d arrived, when Craig had driven Jamie and me up to the forest clearing, I’d noticed one under the dashboard of the jeep. The thing had been rolling about, and Craig had carelessly wedged it with a duster to stop the clatter.

I had to pray it was still there. I had to pray it worked.

Keeping up the pretended game, I took Jamie quietly across the courtyard to where the jeep was garaged in an outbuilding. To my dismay the door seemed to be jammed. I recalled now that Craig had found it difficult himself. He had muttered in anger as the heavy door grated loudly against the flagstones.

A noise like that was just what I must avoid. Could I get the door open quietly, enough for Jamie and I to slip through? It was heavily constructed of thick planks nailed to big cross beams. I tried grasping it by the edge and lifting, to take some of the weight off the ground. But the door simply wouldn’t budge.

I badly needed that flashlight so there was only one thing for it—I had to take a chance. I got a good grip and heaved the door jerked open about a foot with a shattering noise which seemed to echo around the enclosed courtyard, on and on.

I was terrified. Someone was bound to have heard.

I held my breath, listening for the sounds of someone coming out to investigate. But nobody came. Maybe nobody reacted any more to such a familiar noise.

Jamie and I pushed through the narrow gap into pitch darkness.

“Just stand there quite still,” I whispered. “I’ll only be a moment.”

“Are we going out in the jeep?” asked Jamie, too loudly for my comfort.

“Ssh. No, the jeep would make too much noise and give away our position.” Fortunately that seemed to satisfy him.

Feeling carefully, I worked my way around to the driver’s door and opened it. For a second, as I fumbled around, I was afraid the flashlight wasn’t there. Then my fingers touched the cold metal case, still wedged tight by the duster.

Pointing the torch downward, I flicked the switch quickly, on and off. It was such a relief to see the powerful beam stab out that I began to imagine my troubles were over.

But they were only just beginning.

Once through the great arched gateway we started walking as briskly as Jamie’s short legs could manage.

Our escape route was clear now. If only our disappearance were not discovered too soon, we would get safely away.

We were half across the causeway before I heard it—a car, approaching fast. And then I saw the headlights in the darkness, like twin searchlights swinging wildly from side to side.

It was a pretty safe bet that the car was heading for the castle. We were stuck there on the causeway—just a narrow roadway with a low wall on either side. And over the wall was the black water of the lake.

If we headed back the way we had come, would we find a hiding place quickly enough? We’d have to go right into the courtyard, and when the car arrived in just a few seconds there would be lights and people.

The lesser risk, I decided hastily, was to go on. If we hurried we might reach the farther bank in time. Then, with luck, we’d be able to crouch down until the car had gone past.

We still had ten yards to go, and the car was coming at a frightening speed.

“Let’s run, Jamie,” I said brightly, “It’ll be fun.” Grabbing his hand, I pulled him along and and he was too surprised to do anything else but run with me.

I thought we’d never make it, but we just reached the far end in time, and I ducked down with Jamie behind a small tree. A moment later the car zoomed past us - a cream colored sports car, a convertible open to the sky.

Fiona returning home.

Our timing had been too tight for my peace of mind. Just another few seconds and we’d have been caught in those pitiless headlights. Fiona would have stopped, and everything would have been discovered.

Too much had depended on sheer chance so far.

With a little giggle Jamie said, “Auntie Fiona didn’t see us. Isn’t it fun?”

I hoped his gay mood would last for a bit longer. The little boy had a very big ordeal ahead of him.

Standing up, we started off again. Jamie was still trotting along happily by my side when we turned off the road up the forest track.

“This is a good game, Lucy.”

“Yes, isn’t it?”

He was a sturdy little boy, and plucky too. He kept going for longer than I’d dared hope before beginning to wilt.

“Is it very much further, Lucy?”

“We’re nearly there,” I promised cheerfully. Privately I was wondering how far I’d be able to carry Jamie when he really gave up.

The moon was obscured now by racing clouds. Below us, a forbidding black streak across a gray landscape, lay Loch Ghorm. At its far end Ben Liath Mohr loomed darkly massive. In all this vast chilling expanse, the lights of Glengarron Castle shone out like a welcoming haven. But it was a mockingly deceptive promise.