‘I think so, yes. But—’
‘I’ll explain later. Now shoo!’
So I’d joined Jimmy the Bagpipes outside; he was swaying slightly after one too many drams, and waited until my timer had gone off, then knocked loudly on the door. The bagpipes had rung out into the frosty air as the door opened and I saw Zed standing behind it.
‘Happy New Year,’ I said as I handed him the piece of coal.
‘Thank you, Tiggy,’ he smiled at me, then reached forward and kissed me gently on the cheek. ‘Happy New Year to you too.’
I hadn’t seen him after that, because I’d been busy in the kitchen clearing up with Beryl, but now I thought about the kiss, it felt like an oddly intimate gesture to make to a complete stranger, especially one masquerading as a maid . . .
*
I woke at seven to a silent cottage and immediately jumped out of bed. Beryl had assured me she could manage the brunch she would serve at noon but still, I went to the Lodge after feeding the cats to see if she needed a helping hand.
‘Only the host is up. I’ve served him coffee in the Great Room,’ Beryl said.
‘Right. Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?’
‘No. Alison’s managed to rouse herself from her sickbed and is laying the table in the dining room. She’ll be a bit of a come-down for the guests after your professional service last night,’ she added. ‘You know what they say, you pay peanuts, you get – well – Alison!’
‘Beryl, honestly, the poor girl had a terrible cold. So, if you’re sure there’s nothing else I can do, I’ll take Chilly’s lunch to him.’
‘Is there any more coffee available, Beryl?’ Zed appeared in the kitchen proffering a cup. He was attired in a jade-green turtleneck jumper and jeans and looked as fresh as a daisy.
‘Of course.’ Beryl took the cup and while she poured a fresh coffee, his glance turned to me.
‘Good morning, Tiggy. How are you?’
‘I’m well, thank you.’ It was ridiculous, but I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks.
‘Beautiful day, isn’t it?’
‘Yes. It’s always beautiful up here when the sun shines.’
‘I have never been to Scotland before, but I think I have fallen in love,’ he said, his gaze still upon me.
‘Here’s your coffee, sir.’
Beryl came to the rescue with her usual impeccable timing. Zed averted his eyes from mine in order to take the cup.
‘So,’ he said to her, ‘brunch at noon – then perhaps a tour of the estate? I think my guests could all do with a breath of fresh air.’
‘Of course. Cal will be happy to take you all out in the Land Rover,’ Beryl replied.
‘Excellent,’ he said, and I heard the definite tinge of a German accent. ‘If my guests are not up in the next thirty minutes, I give you full permission to throw a glass of iced water in each of their faces.’ He nodded formally at both of us and left the kitchen.
‘Is Cal back from Dornoch yet?’ Beryl asked me tensely.
‘He wasn’t when I left to come here, no.’
‘Then can you use the Lodge telephone to call his parents’ number and make sure he’s here by two? And sober enough to drive our guests around without hurling them to their deaths in the glen.’ Beryl indicated the number on the list above the receiver. ‘I’m off to deal with Alison.’
As I dialled the number, I was reminded of an English programme about an eccentric man running a hotel with only two members of staff at his disposal. I couldn’t help feeling that Cal and I had become reluctant members of the cast.
Having spoken to Cal’s mother, who promised she’d rouse Cal from his bed immediately, but that it’d been quite a ‘hoolie’, I went into the office and checked my emails on the computer.
There was a lovely one from my eldest sister, Maia, in Rio, wishing me a Happy New Year, and hoping that ‘all my dreams came true’. In many ways, she was the sister I felt I had most in common with – she too was a dreamer and out of all of us, had probably taken Pa’s death the hardest. But now, six months on, she was living a new life in Brazil and every word she wrote felt as if it had a spring in its step.
I wrote a quick note back to her, wishing her the same and telling her that we must organise a plan to bring all of us sisters together to lay a wreath in the spot off the Greek island where our sister Ally believed she’d witnessed Pa’s burial at sea. Just as I’d sent the email off, there was a ping as a new one came through.
1st January 2008
Dear Tiggy,
First of all, Happy New Year! Once again, I’m very sorry I wasn’t able to come and see you for a chat as I’d promised. I’m hoping that I will be able to find the time in the next two or three weeks to come up there. Meanwhile, I’ve posted the grant application forms to you with what I’ve already managed to fill in.
Also, I’d like to thank you for your kindness to Zara over the time she was staying up at Kinnaird. I know she’s tricky – all teenagers are, so I appreciate your patience. She sends love and says she hopes to see you very soon. As do I.
With very best wishes,
Charlie
While I was in front of the computer, I wrote a short email to my contact at Servion Zoo about the European elks and asked him for a convenient time to book a telephone call, then I went into the kitchen to find it deserted. Presuming that Beryl was busy serving the guests, I spooned some kedgeree into a Tupperware box and set off to see Chilly.
‘Where you bin hidin’ yourself, Hotchiwitchi?’ a voice from the leather chair demanded as I opened the door.
‘Happy New Year, Chilly,’ I said as I decanted the kedgeree into his bowl. ‘I’ve been helping Beryl up at the Lodge.’
‘Have you now?’ He eyed me as I handed him a spoon and the bowl. ‘That place holds things you like, don’t it?’
He cackled then, like the old witch he was.
‘Which year is it now?’ he asked as he guzzled the food down.
‘2008.’
His spoon paused below his mouth as he looked into the woodburner.
‘Those rich fellas are in for a reckoning this year,’ he said then carried on eating.
‘Which rich fellas?’
‘Never you mind, you’re poor like me, but them has been greedy . . . they all get found out in the end. You heard from the Laird?’
‘I got an email from him today.’
‘He got big problems. You take care around him.’
‘I will,’ I said.
‘Around all of them up at that house. Winter comes before spring . . . You remember that, Hotchiwitchi.’
‘What is a “hotchiwitchi”, Chilly?’ I asked him.
‘You a hedgehog, is your name in Roma language.’ He shrugged as I stared at him in shock, wondering how he could have known . . .
‘You come from long way away. España . . .’ My ears pricked up at this. Again, how could he know?
‘My father said that too, in a letter he wrote me before he died. He told me I should go back there and . . .’
I looked at Chilly, but he had nodded off, so I took the opportunity to go to the cave next door and bring in some firewood. The sun had climbed above the mountains, its delicate fingers of light reaching down to illuminate the pure whiteness of the glen. It was a mystical sight, a place in which it was very easy to become disconnected from reality. As I stood with the basket of logs looped over my arm, I was thrown back again to an image of a rough whitewashed ceiling above me, and the sound of a voice I was sure I recognised.
‘Come, little one, I will take care of you until you’re grown.’
‘Bring her back home to us . . .’
I was being lifted up towards the ceiling, but I wasn’t frightened because I knew the pair of arms that held me was safe.
I staggered slightly as I came to and realised my feet were planted firmly on the ground and I was standing alone in the icy-cold cave.
As I walked back into the cabin, I knew for certain
that one of the voices I’d heard had been Pa Salt’s.
*
‘I have some news for you, in fact two bits of news,’ Cal said over supper that night.
‘What?’
‘Well, the first is that last night, me and Caitlin named the date. It’s to be in June.’
‘Wow, Cal!’ I smiled at him. ‘That’s fantastic. It doesn’t give you a long time to plan though.’
‘Aye, well, Caitlin has been planning the wedding for twelve years, so she’s had long enough.’
‘Congratulations, Cal, I’m really happy for you. And, really, you must invite her for supper at the cottage very soon. I only met her briefly on Christmas Eve, and I’d love to see her again.’
‘I will, Tig. Thing is, now that we’ll be wed in a few months, she’s given me a lecture, told me I must ask the Laird for a pay rise and an assistant tae boot. This job’ll be the death of me – or certainly my back – if I carry on alone.’
‘How about the vet’s son, Lochie? He seemed like a nice young man.’
‘Aye, he is, an’ he knows what he’s doin’ on the land too. I’ll give the Laird a buzz, get the okay, and then speak tae him.’
‘Don’t take no for an answer, will you, Cal?’
‘That I won’t. Tomorrow I’ll be up at dawn tae take the men out on a shoot an’ I spent this afternoon sussing out where the stags were hiding on the estate. Nothing shags the client off more than spending hours tramping through the glen tae not even get a sight o’ a deer.’
‘Serves them right for being so bloodthirsty,’ I said primly. ‘I shall use all my powers to make sure the stags hide themselves away.’
‘Don’t you be doing that, Tig, or I’ll just get earache from all o’ them. They want tae go home with their trophies and show them off tae their women like the cavemen they are, underneath all their fine clothes. Aye, with any luck, I’ll be blooding then boiling a few stag heads tomorrow night.’ He winked at me.
‘Enough, Cal. I know it’s the way of things and that the deer have to be culled, but there’s no need to ram it down my throat.’
‘Tae make you feel a little better, here’s my second piece o’ news for you.’
‘Which is . . . ?’ I was still cross with him.
‘Well, lassie, it turns out that the host o’ this house party – one Zed – wasn’t able tae make the tour o’ the estate with the others today, so he’s suggested that whilst I’m taking the rest o’ the party out with their guns tomorrow, you’d escort him on his own private tour.’
‘Surely he’d be better to wait a day and have you take him?’ I frowned. ‘You know the estate far better than me.’
‘I don’t think it’s the flora and fauna he’s interested in, Tig, more the guide. He insisted it should be you that drove him.’
‘And what if I don’t want to take him?’
‘Tig, you’re being obtuse. It’s only a couple o’ hours and as we both know, the Laird wants tae establish a reputation for pleasing his guests. There’s no doubt that the guy has got bags o’ money. The cost o’ renting this place for all his friends for a week was more than you and I earn in a year put together. Look on the bright side; yae might have bagged yourself a billionaire.’
‘Oh very funny.’ I grabbed his plate before he could see the heat that was rising to my cheeks.
‘So, will you do it? Beryl wants tae know.’
‘Yes,’ I sighed from the kitchen as I turned the tap on.
‘Perhaps you should wear your maid’s uniform from last night,’ he cackled.
‘Enough, Cal, please!’
8
As requested, I appeared up at the Lodge at ten o’clock the following morning. Beryl was in the kitchen, seasoning two enormous salmon, presumably for dinner that evening.
‘Morning, Tiggy.’ She gave me a tense smile. ‘Ready to play tour guide? He’s waiting in the Great Room.’
‘I just hope I don’t get lost, Beryl. I’ve never driven around the whole estate without Cal.’
‘I’m sure you won’t, and you’ll have your radio pack with you, just in case. There’s a flask of hot coffee and a tin of shortbread too in that basket over there.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Well now, you’d better be off. If it starts to snow heavily, come back immediately.’
‘I will.’
I walked out of the kitchen and made my way along the corridor to the Great Room. Zed was sitting in front of the fire, a laptop on the coffee table in front of him. The air smelt heavily of stale cigar smoke and alcohol.
‘Ah, I see my chauffeur has arrived,’ he said, smiling up at me. ‘Which is good, as I was just about to throw my laptop out of the window. The only reliable internet connection is in Beryl’s office and I do not like to invade her territory.’
‘I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.’
‘She is an interesting woman; not to be challenged, I’d say,’ Zed commented as he stood up and walked towards me. ‘I am not sure she approves of me.’
‘Oh, I’m sure she does, really, she told me on New Year’s Eve that she thought you were a gentleman.’
‘Then she does not know me at all.’ He chuckled as he saw the expression on my face. ‘I am only joking, Tiggy. Right, shall we go?’
Outside, I loaded the radio pack and the basket of coffee and biscuits onto the back seat of Beryl, then climbed up behind the wheel. I showed Zed how to heave the passenger door closed, once he’d installed himself on the seat next to me.
‘I think it is time the owner invested in some new transportation for his guests,’ he said as we rattled off. ‘The ladies came back from their tour yesterday with very sore backsides.’
‘I’m sure it’s on his list, but as you know, he’s only just opened the Lodge to guests. Have you found everything comfortable so far?’
‘Extremely, yes, apart from this car.’ He glanced at me while I navigated a steep bend. ‘You are tougher than you look, aren’t you?’
‘I’m certainly used to the outdoor life, yes.’
‘So what is a girl from Switzerland doing up in the wilds of Scotland?’
I explained as briefly as I could as I drove us carefully downhill into the main glen. ‘Look,’ I said, bringing the car to a slithery halt, grabbing the binoculars from the back seat and handing them to him. ‘Up there, on the hillside beneath that clump of trees, there’s a small herd of hinds.’
Zed took the binoculars and, following my finger, focused them on the snow-covered cluster of trees.
‘Yes, I see them.’
‘A lot of them are pregnant at the moment, so they stay away from the males, who we’ll see on the south side of the glen. They bask in the sun whilst the females shiver in the shadows,’ I added.
‘Typical males, choosing the warmest spot for themselves,’ Zed chuckled, handing back the binoculars.
‘I’m afraid there’s not much to see here at this time of year, given all the snow. You should come back in the summer when the glens come alive. It’s truly beautiful.’
‘I can imagine, but I am more of a city person myself.’
‘Where do you live?’
‘I have places in New York, London and Zurich, and a boat I keep in Saint-Tropez for the summers. I travel a lot.’
‘Sounds like you’re a very busy man.’
‘Yes, the last few months in particular have been hectic.’ He let out a deep sigh. ‘Is this all there is?’ he said as we drove deeper into the estate, which, covered by ice and snow as it was, did not give me much to show him.
‘There’s the Highland cattle just ahead in the glen. They’re very cute. And if you’re really lucky, you might see a golden eagle.’
‘Or in fact I may not. I think I have seen enough, Tiggy. What I want is a quiet lunch and a glass of wine by a roaring fire. Do you know of a pub or a restaurant close by?’
‘I’m afraid not. I haven’t been out to eat or drink since I arrived and there’s nothing “close by” to Kinnaird.’
/>
‘Then it’s back to base camp, please. I am freezing. If I had known the car did not have heating, I would have worn my ski suit.’
‘Okay,’ I said with a shrug and did a slippery three-point turn. ‘I’m sure Beryl can rustle up something for you back at the Lodge.’
‘I will be honest with you, Tiggy: it was not the countryside I wanted to see today.’
I could feel his eyes boring into me as I concentrated on navigating the icy track back. I felt a blush rise to my cheeks and I hated myself for it.
Back at the Lodge, I trooped in behind Zed, who marched into the kitchen to speak to a surprised Beryl. She’d obviously been giving Alison a lesson in pie-making and the girl was covered in flour as she rolled the pastry into the shape Beryl required.
‘It is simply too cold out there, Beryl,’ said Zed. ‘And there is no heating in that Land Rover. In retrospect, we should have taken my car, but it is too late now. I would like the fire lit and some sandwiches for both of us in the Great Room. Oh, and two glasses of that white Cabernet Sauvignon I brought with me.’
‘I should really get on with my work . . .’ I murmured.
‘Surely you can take a short break for lunch, Tiggy? Besides, I do not want to eat alone.’
I threw a despairing glance at Beryl, which she blatantly ignored.
‘Right you are, sir. You go into the Great Room and I’ll bring the sandwiches and wine. Take him through, Tiggy, and light the fire if you would. I’ll be along in a few minutes.’
This wasn’t a request, it was an order, so I led Zed to the Great Room and did as Beryl had asked.
‘This is more like it,’ Zed said as he sat down in a chair and warmed his hands against the fire. ‘A shame we don’t have any mulled wine. I like a glass at lunchtime to warm myself up on the slopes. Do you ski, Tiggy?’
‘I’m Swiss. Of course I do.’
‘I would love to take you to a chalet I know in Klosters. It is the ultimate for me; ski in, ski out, so you can be home at lunchtime and have the Michelin-starred chef provide you with the most superb veal scallopini. Where did you go to school by the way?’ he asked me suddenly.
The Moon Sister Page 10