No Stranger to Death: A Scottish mystery where cosy crime meets tartan noir: Borders Mysteries Book 1 (31 page)

‘She looks in fine fettle today,’ Kate said after Hazel left them to continue her circuit of the pub. ‘I wonder what’s caused that. Did you get to see her again?’

‘Yes,’ Zoe said. She was going to have to pick her words very carefully. ‘But only briefly.’

‘And?’

‘And nothing. Except I don’t think the man in Norham is Hazel’s lover.’

‘How do you know?’

Zoe shrugged.

Kate frowned. ‘I see you’re wearing your doctor’s hat again.’

‘What more do you want me to say? Surely the important thing is what we find out, not how?’

Now it was Kate’s turn to say nothing, although she made it obvious from her expression that she was not appeased.

‘This is good news,’ Zoe said. ‘Now we know the argument I overheard between Ray and Hazel the night after Jimmy was found dead wasn’t about her having an affair.’

‘So you’re ruling them out as suspects?’

‘On the contrary. It makes them more interesting, not less, because there’s definitely another reason why Ray said they could get into trouble if they didn’t keep their heads down. And don’t forget what your friend Mather told us about the pub being the last place Chrissie was seen on the day she disappeared.’

‘That doesn’t get us any further forward.’

‘The police don’t seem to be making much progress either.’

‘I think we need to shake things up a bit.’

‘Oh God, Kate, what are you going to do?’

‘I don’t know yet.’

At that moment, Westerlea’s young minister came up to them. After complimenting him on the service, Zoe left him talking to Kate and wandered through to the dining room. It was twice the size of the bar and usually crammed with tables, but today most of these had been gathered at one end to free up space. She hoped to catch Etta and continue their conversation which had started in the graveyard, but could not find her. Instead, she saw Paul and Margaret talking with a ginger-haired woman she remembered standing apart from all the other mourners at the cemetery. Hazel went up to them with her tray of sherries, then moved away to another small group nearby. Margaret sipped at her drink, saw Zoe and beckoned her over.

‘You must meet Chrissie’s friend who’s travelled down especially for the funeral.’

Zoe shook hands with the woman, who introduced herself as Fiona MacBride. She wore spectacles with red frames, and had removed her dark coat to reveal a suit of dazzling red tartan.

‘I’m so glad to meet you, Doctor Moreland, even though it’s under such sad circumstances. As I was saying to Doctor Ryder and Margaret here, I’m in the same line of business as you all. I started off as a receptionist and now I’m practice manager.’

While Zoe searched for some suitably complimentary words, Fiona chattered on. ‘I’m distraught, absolutely distraught, about what happened to poor Chrissie. What a terrible thing.’

‘Had you known her long?’

‘Oh, forever. We met when Alice was only tiny. She used to called me Aunty Fee. Still does. She was a beautiful child, it’s good to see her daughters are equally bonny. Of course poor Chrissie was saddened by Alice’s marriage not working out, but she doted on those little girls, would have done anything for them.’

‘I’d heard that,’ Zoe said. Paul and Margaret had wandered off towards the buffet, and she was already tiring of this woman’s gushing. Then she saw Kate looking in their direction and gesticulated to her to join them.

‘This is Fiona MacBride. She was a good friend of Chrissie’s, since before she even came to Westerlea.’

Kate gave Fiona her warmest smile and after explaining about being deaf, led her to some seats which had just been vacated. Behind them, having finished taking round the complimentary drinks, Hazel was clearing away empty and abandoned glasses.

‘This must be a very sad day for you,’ Kate said. ‘Chrissie never spoke much about her time in – where was it you met?’

‘Oban,’ Fiona said. ‘Do you know it?’

‘Mum and Dad took us there on holiday once, but I was only wee.’ Kate turned to Zoe. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve ever been there, have you?’

‘I’m afraid I don’t even know where it is,’ Zoe said. ‘Edinburgh’s the furthest north I’ve travelled so far.’

‘Oban’s a lovely town on the west coast,’ Fiona said. ‘You really should visit it. You can take the ferry to lots of the islands from there too.’

Zoe started to say she would definitely try to see Oban one day, but her words went unheard. A crashing noise caused everyone, except Kate, to look round in surprise.

This time, Hazel had not accidentally dropped something. Instead, she had slammed the tray of sherry schooners down on a table, from where the glasses had bounced and clattered against one another and on to the floor. Everyone watched as she stood motionless for a few seconds, clutching the sides of the tray, her knuckles white. Then she let go of the tray and plucked a pint glass nearly full of beer from a mourner’s hand. Holding this out in front of her, she walked over to Zoe’s table.

‘How dare you come in here!’ she shouted. And threw the beer in Fiona MacBride’s face.

Chapter 40

Hazel placed the empty pint glass on a table, turned and marched out of the room, brushing past Ray who had come from the public bar in time to witness the entire episode. He looked as shocked as all the other bystanders. No one said a word.

Fiona MacBride sat motionless, beer streaking her spectacles and dripping off her nose and chin. She scarcely reacted when Kate and Zoe set about mopping up the worst of the liquid with a bar towel and some paper napkins. Then the room abruptly filled with the sound of voices, as if a radio had been turned on. Someone must have gone to fetch Alice, because she arrived shortly afterwards and rushed Fiona out of the pub and across the road to Horseshoe Cottage.

Zoe wondered if she should go to check on Hazel but decided against it. There was no sign of Ray now, so he must be with her.

Half an hour later, the food eaten and the excitement over, only a handful of mourners remained in The Rocket, so Zoe and Kate moved back to the public bar. Ray had returned, although Hazel was still absent. Gregor sat on a stool by the fire, sipping a glass of whisky, deep in conversation with his uncle.

‘This funeral’s turning out to be very lively,’ Kate said as she slid into the seat next to Zoe. ‘Poor old Aunty Fee. I wonder what that was about?’

‘Your guess is as good as mine,’ Zoe said. ‘There was no hint those two even knew each other until Hazel came over and started shouting.’

‘I’d noticed she was listening in on our conversation with Fiona. What were we talking about immediately before it happened?’

‘Fiona was doing her best to sell Oban as the perfect holiday destination, I think. It’s all a bit of a blur now.’

‘Hardly reason for Hazel to cause such a stushie.’

‘Could it be connected with Chrissie’s death?’ Zoe took a sip of orange juice.

‘I don’t know. If only Hazel had given me time to find out about Chrissie’s first husband.’

‘You don’t think he had anything to do with her death, do you?’

‘No, but I’m curious.’

‘Perhaps she wasn’t even married before she came here.’

Kate affected a look of shock.

‘Being a single parent’s not a recent phenomenon,’ Zoe said. ‘My mother never married.’

‘You haven’t mentioned this before.’

‘I rest my case. It’s irrelevant.’

‘But don’t you realise the significance of your telling me?’ Kate’s voice rose and Gregor cast a hostile look across the room at her. ‘It’s the first time you’ve ever volunteered any personal information. Usually I have to force it out of you.’

‘Put that down to the whisky I drank earlier.’ Zoe inclined her head towards the front door. ‘You’ll think I’m trying to change the subject, but Alice is back. And she seems in far better spirits than you’d expect from a woman who’s just buried her mother.’

Back to wearing her usual T-shirt and denim skirt, Alice stood at the pub’s doorway, her body jiggling with barely suppressed excitement. She spotted Gregor and rushed over to him, and shortly afterwards his uncle gave up his stool to her and moved away. Once seated, she yanked an envelope from her pocket and shoved it under her step-brother’s nose.

‘I wish I knew what they’re talking about,’ Zoe said.

Kate did not reply. She was watching the pair intently.

Gregor slid a single sheet of paper out of the envelope and unfolded it. Alice watched as he did that thing middle-aged people do when they need glasses but refuse to admit it, holding the page up close to his face and moving it away again. At last he seemed to be reading, then he looked up with a mystified expression. Alice snatched the page away from him and jabbed her finger at a point about halfway down. A whispered discussion followed, at the end of which Gregor gulped down the remains of his drink. They both got up to leave.

Kate plucked at Zoe’s sleeve. ‘As soon as they’ve gone, we need to get out of here. I’ve got something amazing to tell you.’

The door into The Rocket opened before Alice and Gregor were halfway across the room. Given the scene at the graveyard, no one had expressed surprise at Tom and his family giving lunch at The Rocket a miss, but he was here now.

‘What do you want?’ Alice demanded.

‘To talk.’ Tom walked up to her until their faces were only inches apart. ‘Ideally without it ending in a shouting match.’

‘Who’s shouting?’ Alice said. ‘I told you what I wanted, and I thought you’d agreed.’

‘We have to do what’s best for Angie and Maddy. Taking them away from everything they know isn’t the answer. Surely what happened earlier proved that.’

Alice turned to Gregor. ‘Can you believe him?’ she said. ‘Today of all days.’

‘This’ll have t’wait. She’s jus’ buried her mother.’ The whisky Zoe had watched Gregor finish in a hurry must have been the last of several.

‘You stay out of this,’ Tom said. His voice was quiet but he took a step towards Gregor.

The relief Zoe felt as Gregor retreated was replaced by alarm when she realised he was doing this to get a better aim. He felled Tom with a single punch, sending him sprawling backwards on to the floor, blood pouring from his nose.

Ray moved quickly from behind the bar, putting himself between the two men. ‘Out of here, now!’ he commanded. Alice scowled at him then grabbed Gregor by the arm and pulled him through the front door.

Zoe dashed over to Tom and helped him sit up. ‘No, don’t put your head back, you’ll end up swallowing blood. Ray, I need some ice wrapped up in a towel. And an empty bowl, if you’ve got one.’

A murmur of, ‘She’s a doctor,’ circulated among the pub’s few remaining customers, who seemed content to watch Zoe take charge. She showed Tom where to pinch the bridge of his nose and directed him to lean forward over an old washing-up bowl Ray found. When the bleeding stopped, she guided Tom to a seat and pressed the improvised ice pack on his face.

‘Should I call an ambulance?’ Ray asked.

Zoe looked up and was surprised to find the pub empty apart from herself, Ray, Tom and Kate. ‘No. He’s not bleeding any more.’

‘But won’t he need an X-ray or something?’

‘Fractures of the nose don’t usually show up on X-rays. We’ll have to wait until the swelling goes down to see the extent of the damage.’

‘In that case I’ll bring the car round and drive him to his girlfriend’s house,’ Ray said.

Zoe studied Tom. He looked a sight. His nose had started to swell asymmetrically, a dark bruise was already emerging under his left eye, and blood was encrusted round both nostrils and on his chin. He would terrify the twins and distress Jean if they saw him like this.

‘I need to clean him up a bit first.’ Zoe turned to Kate. ‘Will you take us to the health centre?’

‘As long as I can get back before the bairns come home from school.’ Kate rummaged in her handbag for her car keys.

‘Doh,’ Tom said. He tried to stand up but his cousin shushed him, and he slumped back in his seat.

In the pub’s car park a few minutes later, Zoe saw Tom reach inside his pocket and pull out a packet of cigarettes and a disposable lighter. ‘Oh no, you don’t,’ she said. ‘Sorry, but that’s the last thing you need at present.’

Tom returned the cigarettes and lighter to his pocket, that straightforward action suddenly triggering memories of other times Zoe had watched him do almost the same thing. She stared at him, realising now the hold Chrissie had over him and why Alice turned Horseshoe Cottage upside down as soon as she gained access to it. Claiming her mother’s possessions was secondary; she had been searching for something.

And Zoe knew what that something must be.

When they reached the health centre, Zoe promised Kate they would be no more than ten minutes and led Tom to the practice treatment room after checking it was unoccupied. She helped him remove his sweater without catching it on his nose and swabbed his face free of blood.

‘That’s the best I can do,’ she said, washing her hands and drying them on a paper towel. ‘I’m afraid it’ll get worse before it gets better, both in terms of pain and appearance.’

‘It won’t show under the soot,’ Tom replied nasally.

‘I’d tell you to stay away from chimneys for a day or two, but I don’t suppose you’ll take any notice.’

‘Can’t afford to.’

‘Well don’t blow your nose too hard, and if there’s any significant bleeding again you must come and see me or one of the other doctors immediately.’

‘Thanks.’ Tom got up.

‘Before we go,’ Zoe said, ‘there’s something I want to discuss with you.’

Tom sat down again, looking worried.

‘I think I’ve worked out what Alice is using to make you give up the girls.’

‘I told you before, I can handle it.’

‘By picking fights with Gregor? That won’t do anyone any good.’

‘He hit me.’

Men could be so childish sometimes
.

‘I don’t want to argue with you. Please, Tom, let me say what I think the problem is. If I’m right, maybe I can help you find a way round it.’ Taking his silence as acquiescence, Zoe continued. ‘I noticed earlier today you were carrying a disposable cigarette lighter, rather than the free matchbooks I used to see you with.’