A Rhanna Mystery

by Christine Marion Fraser

  Tam sighed; he said not another word but gazed into the fire, a little smile hovering at his mouth, and Kate, knowing that she had lost this round, threw his socks at him and flounced away to bed, silently cursing ‘that woman o’ McKenzie’s’ for all she was worth.

  Next morning Shona arrived at Laigmhor to collect her niece for school. With her she brought her fair-haired little daughter, Ellie Dawn, who immediately vanished upstairs to seek out her cousin Lorna. Both little girls got on well together, and it wasn’t long before their laughter and chatter came drifting downstairs.

  Left alone with her father Shona immediately demanded to know what was going on in the house. ‘When Ruth told me about last night I could hardly credit that you were allowing that woman to stay here with only a bairn to act as chaperone! I hope you know what you’re doing, Father!’

  Fergus was immediately on the defensive. ‘Of course I know what I’m doing – and see you keep a civil tongue in your head, my girl.’

  ‘I’ll say what I have to. I suppose you’ve told Kirsteen about this – this latest arrangement?’

  ‘I haven’t had time,’ he said shortly.

  ‘Then you’d better make time! Of course, if you weren’t too cussed about getting the phone in there would be no problem about keeping in touch. I know fine Kirsteen would love one, even if it only meant she could blether to another woman occasionally. You should learn to consider her feelings as well as your own.’

  ‘Learn! Learn!’ Fergus nearly choked, a muscle in his jaw was working overtime. Father and daughter faced one another, their eyes blazing. Both were possessed of fearsome tempers and obstinate natures, with the result that neither would give in without a struggle.

  ‘Ay, learn, Father, it isn’t too late,’ Shona returned coolly. ‘I’ve never seen you like this with anyone before, far less a stranger who landed on you out o’ the blue. She’s spinning you fairy tales and you’re allowing her to get the upper hand, but I don’t think she’s telling the truth.’

  ‘How do you know?’ he threw back. ‘You’ve never spoken to her properly!’

  ‘I don’t have to, her story just doesn’t ring true somehow. I think she made it all up. That business about losing her memory and taking shelter in a deserted house is nothing but a fanciful figment o’ her imagination. If you ask me she’s got something to hide and is just using you for her own ends.’

  ‘Nobody is asking you, and if you ask me you’re just jealous o’ her and mad because she borrowed some o’ your clothes!’

  ‘Ay, and that’s another thing!’ Shona returned furiously. ‘She did have a damned cheek helping herself to my things! I hope you make sure she washes them and puts them back in the condition she found them.’

  ‘She had nothing else to wear.’ His tones were clipped and cold. ‘But don’t worry, I’m sure there are other women on the island with more charitable inclinations than my very own daughter, people who won’t grudge helping someone worse off than they are.’

  She looked at him strangely. ‘Haven’t you ever wondered why she didn’t take some of her own clothes with her when she left her husband? It’s the sort o’ thing that women do, no matter how much in a hurry they might be. And a handbag, women never forget their handbags, but she did and it just isn’t natural.’

  He glared at her. ‘I can see it’s no use talking to you when you’re like this. You’re determined no’ to like or trust the girl, even though she’s done nothing to you except sleep in your room and use bits o’ clothing that you seldom wear yourself. I just hope, if ever you’re in trouble, you’ll come across someone who will help rather than hinder you and show you kindness when you most need it.’

  One word borrowed another. By the time they had finished with each other they were livid with fury and hurt feelings. An atmosphere of unnatural silence prevailed, and they sat, one at either end of the cluttered breakfast table, neither of them moving or speaking or looking at one another.

  It was as well that Lorna and Ellie Dawn came clattering noisily into the room, breaking the deathly quiet as Lorna announced proudly to Shona, ‘I slept in Grampa’s bed last night and told him a story.’

  ‘Oh, did you now?’ A twinkle appeared in Shona’s eyes.

  ‘He wanted Red Riding Hood, but I said Treasure Island would be better for a big man like him.’

  ‘Ay, the big bad wolf got the heave last night,’ Fergus said sheepishly.

  ‘But he couldn’t find Treasure Island,’ Lorna continued innocently. ‘It was in your room, Aunt Shona, and when he went in to get it the nice lady was in there too and made him forget all about it.’

  ‘Oh, was she now?’ Shona glanced quickly at her father. ‘Maybe the big bad wolf was there after all, in the disguise o’ a woman, waiting to gobble up the nearest man in sight.’

  ‘No, Aunt Shona,’ Loma gave vent to an exaggerated sigh at the obtuseness she sometimes encountered in the adults around her. ‘Nobody ate Grampa. He came back to bed and cooried down while I read him a bit out o’ Gramma’s magazine. It was a ghost story but he wasn’t frightened and went to sleep because he wasn’t lonely with me in there beside him.’

  ‘I could keep him company too,’ Ellie Dawn chimed in, her amber-coloured eyes glinting at the thought. ‘Lorna could read him ghost stories and I could sing to him. I learned lots of songs at school and I know all the words.’

  Shona threw back her head and laughed delightedly at this and when she looked at her father it was to see that he was smiling too, albeit rather grudgingly.

  ‘I hope the teapot’s still warm.’ Grant was trying to sound nonchalant as he popped his head round the door, ‘I was along seeing Lorn and I thought I would look in . . .’

  ‘To see if I was needing anything,’ Fergus finished for his son. ‘What the hell is all this?’ he continued irritably. ‘Nursemaids? Babymaids? Twenty-four hours o’ the day and night?’

  Grant shrugged his shoulders. ‘Surely there’s nothing unusual about a caring son keeping an eye on his father? I just wondered . . .’

  He let the question hang in mid-air. Shona giggled and patted Lorna’s head. ‘Don’t worry, Grant, Lorna’s doing a fine job looking after her grampa. She’s been reading to him and keeping him company ever since last night.’

  ‘And I’m going to sing to him!’ cried Ellie Dawn, not to be outdone.

  But Lorna took Fergus’s hand and held onto it possessively. ‘No, it’s just me Grampa wants when he’s tired, isn’t it, Grampa? You’re just little, Ellie Dawn, and make too much noise.’

  Ellie Dawn’s lip trembled. ‘I’m not too little, I’m six, and I can read stories too.’

  ‘Anyway, there wouldn’t be enough room in Grampa’s bed,’ Lorna ended the matter in her own determined way.

  ‘The little spy in the camp.’ Fergus chucked his eldest granddaughter under the chin and looked meaningfully at his daughter. ‘It isn’t fair to use an innocent bairn in such a way, and besides, she’ll get bored here with only grown ups to keep her company.’

  ‘I won’t get bored,’ Lorna stated firmly. ‘I’ll play games with you and talk to you and I’ll help the nice lady to make your tea when I come home from school.’

  The ‘nice lady’ appeared at that moment, looking more ravishing then ever after a refreshing night’s sleep. Her golden-skinned face was glowing in its frame of glossy black hair, the white shirt and blue jeans she was wearing only serving to enhance her youth and her femininity.

  Grant’s eyes flickered as she entered the room and he was unable to help gazing at her admiringly, despite what he had said about her the night before. But he quickly recovered his equanimity and putting down his cup he folded his arms, crossed his legs, and settling back in his chair he said off-handedly, ‘I’ll just wait and get you along the road, Father.’

  ‘I’m not going along the road,’ Fergus replied testily. ‘I’m going along to the fields, as well you know, and I haven’t got on my boots yet.’

  ‘I’ll wait,’ Gran
t replied laconically, and gazed at the wall.

  ‘Perhaps you would like another cup of tea?’ Fern was there at the table, looking at him enquiringly as she lifted his cup.

  ‘Er – no – no, thanks.’ Grant reddened and was heartily glad that Bob chose to arrive at that moment, leaving his boots and his shepherd’s crook at the door and stamping his way into the room with the assurance of one who had been doing it all his life.

  ‘Well, I’ll be off.’ Grant pushed back his chair.

  ‘I thought you said you were waiting for me,’ Fergus reminded him sarcastically.

  ‘Ay, I was, but now that Bob’s here you’ll be blethering a bit and I never was one for all that farm talk.’

  Shona, who hadn’t uttered a word since Fern’s appearance, whispered into her father’s ear, ‘Friends again?’

  ‘Ay, friends,’ he returned gruffly.

  ‘I just don’t want to see you getting hurt, Father,’ she said quietly, and with Lorna holding onto one hand, Ellie Dawn to the other, she followed her brother outside with a toss of her red head.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The tongues had been busy, notably those of Tam and Todd, whose appearance in the post office that morning set off a clamour of questions from the other customers.

  ‘One at a time.’ Tam held up his hand importantly. ‘If it’s that lass o’ McKenzie’s you’re on about then you would do well to mind what you’re saying about her in my hearing. Todd and myself got the facts last night from her very own bonny lips, and ’tis a terrible tale just – ay indeed,’ he finished with a sad shake of his head.

  Both men had, in fact, only heard a few details from Ruth during the ceilidh, but Todd was basking in the limelight and did not therefore feel inclined to contradict his friend. Instead he added his own sanguine contribution to Tam’s and, amid much interruption and prompting from that gentleman, the ‘story of Fern Lee’ gradually unfolded.

  ‘She’ll likely be an adulteress,’ Behag decided unsympathetically. ‘The man maybe had to hit her.’

  ‘Well, whatever,’ nodded Elspeth, memories of Hector’s rough handling of her person springing into her head. ‘Men can be brutes when the mood takes them. The girl could well be telling the truth.’

  ‘Hmph! You’ve changed your mind,’ accused Kate. ‘You were all for condemning both her and Fergus that time you came fleeing from Laigmhor like a scalded cat.’

  ‘That was then, this is now.’ Elspeth didn’t like Kate’s tone one bit, and the look she threw at her would have withered an oak tree.

  But Kate was made of stern stuff, and Elspeth had never intimidated her yet, as her next words proved. ‘Ach Elspeth, you never could make up your mind unless everything was in black and white in front o’ your eyes. But you’re right enough about the lass, poor sowel, though I didny think so last night when Tam came in, stupid wi’ admiration for her. It must have been terrible just, living wi’ a cruel and drunken husband. Any man that lifts his hand to a defenceless woman deserves to be castrated.’

  ‘Nobody could ever accuse you o’ being defenceless, Kate,’ Tam said dryly, last night’s episode with the teapot vivid in his mind. ‘In fact, it would make a change if I could have the last word wi’ you sometimes.’

  ‘You did last night,’ Kate reminded him sourly, ‘but all that is beside the point. This lass o’ McKenzie’s will have to be protected now that we know why she came here. Are you all agreed about that?’

  There was a general murmur of assent.

  ‘When I hear things like these, I’m glad I never got caught by a man,’ stated Jessie McKinnon. ‘I am all for keeping the girl out o’ harm’s way and if anyone comes asking about her I for one have never heard o’ her.’

  ‘Especially if Clodhopper comes sniffing around, or any stranger to the island asks questions,’ augmented Kate. ‘Just answer them in Gaelic and if they happen to know the language then mum’s the word.’

  Old Sorcha tuned up her hearing aid. ‘Eh? What was that, Kate? Did you get it on your shoes as well? I myself stood on one this very morning. It’s a disgrace! Folks seem to let their dogs run wild these days. The verges are just full o’ them.’

  ‘Full o’ what?’ Kate looked baffled. ‘Dogs?’

  ‘Eh?’ Sorcha roared.

  ‘Never mind, Sorcha, it’s good luck,’ grinned Tam as he grasped the old lady’s meaning.

  ‘It wasny good luck when I slipped on it and nearly broke my ankle. Like an elephant’s it was too. The biggest dog turd I have ever seen.’

  ‘Heaven help us!’ cried Totie in exasperation. ‘What kind o’ place is this? Monumental things are happening in the rest o’ the world and all you lot can talk about is dog mess! I have a business to run, and if you don’t mind I’d like to get on wi’ it.’

  ‘Pay out time first!’ Jim Jim reminded the postmistress. ‘I’ve won that competition, Totie. I said the mystery girl was a prisoner on the run and I was right.’

  ‘No you weren’t,’ objected Tam. ‘She wasny escaping from jail, she was running away from her man.’

  ‘Ay, because she was under his rule and was as good as his prisoner,’ Jim Jim explained slyly. ‘Anyway, I have no doubt that mine was the nearest to the truth.’

  ‘He’s right,’ Totie spoke up in support of the old man as she took the slips of paper from the box and examined them. ‘Jim Jim wins, all of five pounds, two shillings and sixpence. That should help to boost your pension a bit, Jim Jim.’

  She counted the money into the old man’s waiting hand. Delighted, he retired to a corner to count it all over again while Ranald muttered darkly that it was a fix and it was the last time he would throw away good money.

  At this juncture Shona entered the shop, having dropped the children off at school before going on to visit her sister-in-law, Fiona, to discuss the latest developments regarding Fern Lee.

  ‘The sooner Kirsteen’s home the better,’ had been Fiona’s opinion as she made each of them a large mug of coffee. ‘The girl was positively flaunting herself last night, dancing and skirling around and lifting her skirt as high as it would go. The men just sat there and ogled her. Even ancient creatures like Tam and Todd were drooling at the mouth and looking as if they would like to eat her. Then she went all quiet and strange, as if she was regretting making an exhibition o’ herself in front of everybody.’

  ‘She is strange,’ Shona had said decidedly. ‘Not just in behaviour but in the things she says. Maybe I’m being unfair because, as Father wasn’t slow to point out, I’ve hardly spoken to her. But I have this feeling about her, as if – as if – she has something to cover up and will do and say anything to protect herself. Even her name sounds odd, sort of theatrical and unreal.’

  ‘It was her timing,’ Fiona had mused, ‘arriving as soon as Kirsteen was safely out o’ the way.’

  ‘Mmm, not exactly, she came the night before Kirsteen left to be precise. We have to be fair about it, Fiona, even though I feel like clonking her over the head wi’ the nearest flowerpot for all the bother she’s causing.’

  ‘Thank heaven she didn’t land herself on my father . . .’ Fiona’s eyes had twinkled. ‘And him with a book to write before Mother gets home.’

  ‘I don’t know what’s gotten into mine,’ Shona had confided, ‘he seems smitten by the woman and stands up for her at every turn. We almost came to blows over her this morning and if it hadn’t been for the bairns, him and me might still not be on speaking terms.’

  ‘Och well, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. Meanwhile, we’ll all make an effort to keep an eye on our Mrs Lee. Grant is making a good job o’ doing just that at the moment, but he’s only got a day or two left o’ his holiday. When he goes back to work we’ll have to take up the cudgels with a vengeance, till then, here’s to our wee Lorna, long may she reign in her grampa’s house, at least till her gramma gets home.’

  After that Shona didn’t feel like discussing the matter further, especially with those who were not members of
her own family, and she was therefore annoyed to find the post office buzzing with talk about things that she considered were only of concern to those immediately involved in ‘the Fern Lee episode’.

  But this was Rhanna, everybody knew everybody else’s business, she herself liked to know exactly what was happening on the island, and with a resigned sigh she marched over to the post office counter, aware that all eyes were upon her.

  ‘It is yourself, Shona.’ Kate had many tactics for extracting information, depending on who it was she happened to be targeting at the moment of interrogation. Mostly it was a direct approach, occasionally she ‘went round the houses’, and at other times she began by warming up gently before getting to the point.

  This was one of those times. Shona was a McKenzie; all of the McKenzies and their satellites had to be handled with extreme caution, and Kate’s expression, as she addressed this undoubtedly dominant female member of the clan, was one of benign deference.

  ‘Ay,’ Shona nodded her red head in agreement of her identity. ‘It is indeed me, Kate, hurrying to get round the shops so that I can get home to relieve my husband of babysitting.’

  Kate sighed. ‘Life, these days, seems to be nothing but bustle and hurry. Of course,’ she eyed ‘Laigmhor’s daughter’ with sympathy, ‘things will be busier than ever for you now, your man and your bairns to see to, no’ to mention your father wi’ all his bothers and worries.’

  ‘You know, it’s a strange expression that,’ Shona parried thoughtfully. ‘People say “not to mention” and in the next breath they do just exactly that.’

  ‘Ay, I have often thought the very same thing myself,’ Tam broke in, seriously undermining Kate’s line of enquiry. ‘Folks are aye saying things they don’t mean and I have wondered to myself if it’s got something to do wi’ the English way o’ putting words together. When, for instance, they say, “I don’t think that’s true,” it should be, “I think that isn’t true,” because, put the other way, it sounds as if they’re no’ thinking the very thing they’re thinking.’ In utter confusion Tam ground to a full stop and blinked at his wife, who was poking him in the ribs and hissing at him to be quiet.