A Rhanna Mystery
Page 9
Look at Fergus McKenzie, for example, finding himself another woman as soon as his wife’s back was turned. Of course, she wasn’t really surprised, the McKenzies had always been a lusty lot, right down the line, as far back as she could remember . . .
She gazed again at the glossy display of undergarments. Those drawers looked really warm. It used to be only men who wore such things but times had changed and women had more freedom these days. Too much of it in some respects. She would never have worn ‘the trouser’, for instance, but she didn’t mind the latest trend in sensible underwear, especially the long johns, they were so cosy and utterly comfortable . . . pity they didn’t make them in flannel any more. As a girl she had worn flannel bloomers and once or twice – very daringly – she had treated herself to a red pair. They were still there, in her dresser, but getting a bit threadbare after all these years.
She turned a few more pages. Really! Some of that lingerie nowadays! It wouldn’t decently cover a fly! It reminded her of that time when Elspeth Morrison had blatantly hung out frilly pants and bras for the whole island to see. It was as if she had gone off her head altogether, flaunting herself, acting like a teenager in the throes of growing up. Disgraceful behaviour in someone of her age! A voyeur with no sense of shame! Behag had read that word in a magazine and though she was only vaguely aware of its meaning she relished the sound of it and thought it applied perfectly to Elspeth.
Behag sat back in her chair, the catalogue momentarily forgotten. No one had ever found out Elspeth’s reasons for hanging those provocative garments on her washline and Behag, more than anyone, was still incensed with curiosity about the episode.
Forgetting all about her recent views on the human right to privacy she gave herself up to the enjoyable pastime of wondering about the affairs of other folk, particularly those of Elspeth and Captain Mac. In her mind she needled into every little detail of their relationship and thoroughly enjoyed herself in the process. It was a terrible pity that the pair were planning to get married in Oban. Nobody would get the chance to see Elspeth in her wedding outfit and for all anyone knew it might turn out to be just as daring as that underwear she had displayed on her washline.
Anything was possible with that woman, now that she had Captain Mac very firmly in her clutches!
Chapter Nine
The said Elspeth was, at that precise moment, sitting in Fergus McKenzie’s kitchen, her back rigidly straight, her stoutly clad feet held one against the other in perfect formation, not flinching one inch when two of the resident cats took it into their heads to weave themselves round her lisle-clad legs and mew up into her face.
Her shopping bag was propped on her knee, her fingers curled stiffly over the handles with the knuckles showing white. The expression on her gaunt features was one of set determination; even the very hat on her head looked stern and unyielding with its grouse feather sticking straight up into the air in a distinctly regimental manner. She had sat thus for the last ten minutes, and though she appeared to be calm it was only an illusion. Every nerve was alert, every fibre ready for action, because, if truth be told, Elspeth was extremely wary of McKenzie o’ the Glen, particularly so today, when she had taken it upon herself to arrive, unannounced, at his house.
On Rhanna, this was by no means an unusual occurrence. People popped in and out of each other’s homes all the time. Hospitality was part and parcel of everyday life and it would have gone against the Hebrideans’ nature to have to knock at a door to gain entry or to make a formal arrangement to call in for a cup of tea and a chat. There were exceptions to this particular rule however. Where Laigmhor was concerned, Elspeth Morrison came into this category, and all because Fergus, in a turmoil of grief many years ago over the death of his first wife, had quarrelled with Lachlan. Ever since then, Elspeth had made no secret of her dislike of Fergus, while he had never made any bones about his lack of patience with her dour and critical nature.
She was certainly no stranger to the Laigmhor household, having entered its portals many times in the course of the years, especially when the motherly Mirabelle had been housekeeper and, more recently, when Shona had given birth to twin babies. But that had only been because a McLachlan had been involved, otherwise casual visiting was not on the agenda, except perhaps when she met Kirsteen on the road and was invited in for a cup of tea or if Phebie wanted her to take some message or other to Kirsteen.
So, with some trepidation, she waited for the master of the house to arrive. When eventually she heard him coming through the door her bearing became more taut than ever and she was the first to speak because there was no way she was going to allow him to have the first say. ‘It is yourself,’ she observed stiffly, unconsciously sticking her sharp nose in the air in a haughty gesture. ‘I thought it must be you when I heard the door opening.’
A muscle worked in Fergus’s jaw. She was the last person he expected to find in his kitchen. He had spent a good part of his morning in a fruitless search for Fern and he was in no mood to deal with Elspeth and her crotchety ways. At her words he glanced over his shoulder and said sarcastically, ‘Ay, it must be me coming home to my own house, for I canny see anyone else at my back.’
Elspeth sniffed sourly but went on determinedly, ‘I have spent the morning over at Slochmhor, seeing to Doctor Lachlan, and a good thing too for he’s about as helpless as a newborn kitten unless he has a woman to look to him. Of course . . .’ here she sniffed again, ‘I wouldny leave a man like that on his own. He has worked hard all his days and Phebie would be better staying at home to fend for him instead o’ gallivanting off to Glasgow without a care in the world.’
‘Ay, ay,’ Fergus broke in irritably, ‘I know all about that, but it’s dinnertime and I canny stand here listening to your blethers when I have so much else to keep me occupied.’
His tone put Elspeth on her mettle and it was with an effort that she swallowed her ire to say gruffly, ‘Indeed, that is why I am here, Fergus. While I was busy wi’ the doctor it came to my mind that Kirsteen too was away in Glasgow. I thought it would be only right for me to call in and see were you needing a hand to make your dinner, so I got the post bus to drop me at your road end. Mind you, that isny as simple as it sounds, that Erchy drives as if the de’il was chasing him and he went screeching past your gate so fast he just about killed us all.’ She omitted to say that she had been the only passenger in the bus and she hadn’t told Erchy to stop till they were almost at Laigmhor’s gate, but she was an islander and she liked to exaggerate whenever she could.
Her words made little impression on Fergus. He wouldn’t have cared if the bus had dropped her off on the moon, so unwelcome was she in his house. He knew why she was here. Not for his well-being, but to satisfy her own curiosity about the latest happenings at Laigmhor. She and that Behag between them were about the nosiest pair of old witches anyone could have the misfortune to meet and he had always tried to avoid them as much as he could.
Elspeth, ignoring the thunderous expression on his face, stood up and went over to the stove. ‘Just you be telling me where everything is, Fergus, and I’ll put on a peeny and get started. Of course,’ she kept her face averted from him, ‘I’ll have to be knowing how many people I’ll be cooking for, as I believe you have a young woman guest biding wi’ you. I hear tell she came to your house in the dead o’ night and had to be carried upstairs to bed. Folks are also saying that no one, not even Nurse Babbie who’s so good wi’ people, can get a word o’ sense out o’ her, but then there’s some who will do anything to get the attention o’ a man, especially one whose wife is safely out of the way for a while.’
It was pure and blatant snooping and Fergus was about to tell her where to go when something, a small devil inside himself, made him change his mind. Why not play the old yowe at her own game! It was high time somebody put her in her place and what better way to do that than throw it all back at her!
A strange little smile quirked his mouth, and when he spoke his tone was even and relaxe
d. ‘It’s very good o’ you, Elspeth, to take so much interest in my affairs. You’ll find an apron hanging on that hook and food in the larder that Kirsteen prepared before she left. All you have to do is heat it. The lass you spoke about is upstairs resting in bed. She had a bad time o’ it last night and I had to be in there with her to calm her down. I’ll just go and see if she’s ready to come downstairs, and also to make sure she puts some clothes on. I think she has the gypsy in her, the way she wanders about in bare feet, half naked.’
So saying he went out of the kitchen, leaving the door open. At the foot of the stairs he yelled upwards, ‘Fern, my lass, dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Elspeth has come to cook it for us and won’t mind if you aren’t properly dressed. I’ll come up and give you a hand to get out o’ bed so bide where you are for a second!’
Elspeth turned an aghast face from the stove. Her mouth was hanging open, and her eyes were bulging in their sockets. So, it was true! All of it – and more! He and that strange young woman were alone with each other in the house! They must have spent the night together! And he didn’t care! In fact – in fact – he was boasting about it! And Kirsteen not here to keep her eye on the pair of them. It was sinful! It was wicked! Downright wicked!
Of course, the McKenzies always had done things that no one else would have gotten away with! Take Alick, for instance, Fergus’s brother, now deceased, and small wonder! In trouble from the moment he had drawn breath, getting into fights, involving himself in all sorts of mischief while he was still at school. It hadn’t stopped there. Oh, no! At just fifteen years of age he had made a local girl pregnant and Malcolm, his father, had sent him away to school on the mainland to get him out of the way.
Then there was Shona, a wild little whittrock from the start, ingratiating herself into the McLachlan household, attaching herself to a decent laddie like Niall, wreaking havoc in his life by having his bairn out of wedlock. Mind you, there was an excuse for Shona, she had never known her mother, it was her father who had set all the examples, whether they be good or bad. A lass needed her mother; if it hadn’t been for Mirabelle, devoting her life to the McKenzies, and in particular to Shona, God alone knew where any of them would have ended up.
There came a few thumps and bumps from upstairs. Elspeth’s nostrils flared. He was in one of the rooms – with her! And by the sound of it they were having a high old time to themselves. The – the shame of it! Carrying on together, regardless of who was in the house. Well, she wasn’t staying one moment longer in this den of vice! She had found out all she needed to know . . . and more . . . much much more, than she had bargained for. Untying her apron she threw it on the table and grabbing her bag she scuttled out of the house and away down the Glen Fallan road as if all the hags of hell were at her back.
As she neared the village the first people she saw were Kate and Tina, walking close together, heads wagging as fast as their tongues, so engrossed in their conversation they didn’t see Elspeth bearing down on them, waving her shopping bag in the air. It wasn’t until she was almost upon them, gasping and wheezing from her brisk flight down the brae, that they became aware of her presence.
‘What ails you, Elspeth?’ greeted Kate. ‘For a minute I thought it was Croynachan’s bull breathing down my neck. You should be taking things a bit more slowly at your age.’
Elspeth ignored that. She was churning with the excitement of her discoveries and was fairly bursting to tell them to someone. ‘I have just come from Laigmhor,’ she panted, ‘and I’ll tell you this, it will be a long long time before I set foot in that house again. It’s in their blood of course, has been from the start. The McKenzies were aye a family who did what they liked and now it’s starting all over again, with Fergus the ringleader as usual!’
‘Just what are you insinuating, Elspeth?’ Kate had a dangerous glint in her eye. Despite their little differences she respected McKenzie o’ the Glen and didn’t like to hear anyone speaking ill of him, especially someone like Elspeth who was a troublemaker if ever there was one.
‘I am not insinuating, I am telling you outright,’ Elspeth returned with a lift of her chin.
‘Outright! You have just spent the last few minutes going round and round the houses!’
‘That was because I was so shocked I just couldn’t bring myself to say what I saw and heard. Him and that new woman, alone wi’ each other in the house, as cosy as you like, and from what I gathered they must have spent the night together. According to him she floats around the house practically naked – the – the shameless hussy!’ Elspeth digested her own words for a moment, while Kate and Tina eyed one another as they wondered what was coming next. ‘He was upstairs wi’ her when I left the house – ran from it more like. He told her he was coming up to help her to get out o’ bed and not to bother getting dressed as I wouldn’t mind. I heard them up there, cavorting about, banging and thumping and heaven knows what else.’
Skirls of laughter rent the air. Elspeth gaped in astonishment as Kate and Tina held on to one another and just about burst their sides with merriment.
‘I can assure you this is no laughing matter,’ Elspeth observed sourly. ‘I am beginning to think this island is going to the dogs altogether! I was under the impression that you were two normal women wi’ proper views about sin and corruption! And here you both are, just about dying wi’ mirth, as if you were drunk and didny know any better.’
For answer, Kate and Tina hooted louder, and Elspeth was even more put about when Ranald, on his way home to dinner, paused to say with a twinkle, ‘My, my, this is indeed a sight for sore eyes. Can I join in the joke or is it private?’
‘Be on your way, Ranald McTavish!’ Elspeth barked imperiously. ‘You’re much too nosy for your own good and would do well to mind your own business.’
Ranald, well used to Elspeth’s sharp tongue, shrugged his shoulders and went on his way with a nonchalant whistle, even though his curiosity was well and truly aroused and he was agog to know what Kate and Tina were finding so amusing while Elspeth looked positively murderous.
It took several minutes for the two women to recover from their fit of laughter. Even then, they kept erupting into giggles, so that quite some time elapsed before Elspeth could get any sense out of them.
‘Ach, my,’ Tina wiped her streaming eyes, ‘you can be really comical when you put your mind to it, Elspeth. I never knew anybody else who could keep such a straight face whilst telling a funny story.’
Elspeth was greatly upset by this. She certainly hadn’t expected such an unusual reaction to her news and she could only stare wordlessly when Kate shook her head and said sadly, ‘It must be wedding nerves, Elspeth, going to your head and making you say peculiar things.’
‘Peculiar? Peculiar!’ Elspeth found her tongue. ‘What is so strange about an unfaithful husband, I’d like to know! Or am I just being old-fashioned? The odd one out in these days o’ hippies and flower people sleeping rough wi’ one another? And thon loud music that makes young folk dance all night like zombies wi’ bulging eyes. Maybe if I became like that I would get on better for I’m beginning to see that a person wi’ my principles is just an object for ridicule!’
Elspeth was somewhat out of touch about what went on in the mainland. Her racks were full of old magazines and newspapers and these she re-read from time to time so that she was still under the impression that she was thoroughly up to date about the ‘state of the world’.
Kate, however, was much more informed. ‘The flower people are no’ so much in fashion as they were, Elspeth,’ she said cheerfully, ‘and somehow I canny see you as one o’ them, flowers in your hair and strings o’ beads trailing down your bosoms.’
‘Ay,’ Tina nodded her agreement. ‘It would take an awful lot o’ imagination to think o’ you as one o’ them.’
‘Unless, of course, you were to dress up like that for your wedding,’ Kate hazarded gleefully. ‘A body can wear anything she likes on her wedding day and get away wi’ it.’
‘Ach, we’re no’ laughing at that,’ said Tina as she hoisted up her shopping bag. ‘It was just the idea o’ Fergus having a wee bit fun to himself. He has no woman biding wi’ him. The lass went off by herself during the night and the Lord only knows where she is now. I myself stayed the night at Laigmhor because Fergus was that worried about all the talk concerning him and the lassie.’
Elspeth stared. Her eyes goggled. A bright red stain crept over her face to the furrowed folds of her neck.
Kate shook her head and said heavily, ‘’Tis no wonder the man behaved as he did, Elspeth. There is enough rumour going about without you adding to it and I for one am glad he gave you a red face.’
Tina gave a sudden gasp. ‘Och, my, I’m later than ever wi’ the old folks’ dinner, and gracious knows what time I’ll get to the Manse today to see to the doctor and the minister.’
She and Kate went off together, leaving Elspeth to stare after them. Her little vendetta against Fergus had backfired on her and she had never felt more humiliated as she stood there, wishing the ground would open and swallow her up.
When Shona came in to make her father’s mid-day meal she found him sitting on a chair by the table, staring into space, not even turning when his daughter came into the room.
‘What’s troubling you, my lad?’ Shona said in astonishment. ‘You look as if you’ve just seen a ghost.’
‘Not a ghost, that old yowe, Elspeth, here in the kitchen, as bold as brass when I came in at dinnertime. She pretended she had come on an errand o’ mercy, but was only here to do her nosy, and like a fool I played along wi’ her. Now she’s away wi’ a flea in her ear, probably gossiping her head off at this very minute about me and my philandering ways.’