Human Face

by Aline Templeton

  Borthwick seemed pleased. ‘No, no, of course you’re not. You shouldn’t make decisions of any kind at the moment.’

  Then she paused, looking at him with those penetrating eyes. ‘You think you’re all right, but you’re not. You’re pretending to yourself that you are. I know, because I did exactly the same myself when my husband died suddenly. It’s not the worst idea, actually, and I doubt if there’s any method of getting through it that you could call good. You just need to be aware that this is what you’re doing and not lie to yourself.

  ‘The good thing is that being busy makes the days pass more quickly. If you’re suddenly crippled, you get very proficient at using crutches over time. You’ve just joined the legion of the lame and, with the help of whatever crutches you find useful, you can live with the injury, even though it won’t ever completely mend.’

  He saw JB’s eyes linger for a second on his scar, then swiftly pass on. He cleared his throat. ‘Thanks – I’ll remember that.’

  ‘Right. More coffee? No? Are you sure you don’t want to take a bit more time? I’ve signed you off on compassionate leave.’

  Truth to tell, he was feeling shaky and even a bit light-headed; he recognised that he was still suffering from delayed shock, but being on his own with nothing to do except think would certainly be worse.

  ‘No, I’m fine,’ he said. ‘I don’t want that. Thanks for the coffee, ma’am.’

  DCI Chisholm didn’t look thrilled to see him when he reappeared but he made all the right noises. ‘The team will be glad to see you back.’

  Like hell they will, Kelso thought, but he played along. ‘Great,’ he said hollowly as they walked along to the CID room.

  Beatrice Lacey was feeling very tired by the time she arrived at the warehouse in Oban. In her little Fiat, she had felt every bump and pothole in the roads, and there were plenty of those. Her back was aching and her arthritic knees had locked solid; it took her a few groaning minutes to prise herself out of the car and settle Rosamond.

  ‘You’ve been such a good girl, sweetheart, on all that long journey. You go to sleep now. Mummy won’t be long.’ She put her into the holdall, zipped it up to conceal the doll from view, then locked the car and hobbled across to the entrance.

  She liked going to the warehouse. It was always busy with workers filling packing cases with orders being sent off to refugees all over the world and she could take pride in seeing the shelves her money had helped to fill with mattresses, blankets, tents and boxes of basic foodstuffs. She didn’t like the manager, though, who always seemed to resent Beatrice’s supervisory visits – unless, of course, Adam was with her, in which case the woman was always as nice as pie.

  Beatrice’s arrival was obviously a surprise and not a pleasant one. ‘I didn’t know you were coming,’ she said with a sniff of annoyance. ‘No one told me.’

  ‘Oh sorry, Sandra. I don’t mean to disturb you but Adam just asked me to pop down. There’s an urgent order Harry was worried about and he wanted me to expedite it – you know what he’s like.’ She despised herself for sounding placatory; it never did any good.

  Sandra bridled. ‘And what order is this?’

  Beatrice told her and the woman looked even more annoyed. ‘No one told me that was urgent. Harry could just have picked up the phone and I’d have got it off at once. I don’t know what the status is, just at the moment, whether it’s ready to go or not.’

  ‘Have you the note of exactly what’s needed? Perhaps we could put some more workers directly onto it,’ Beatrice suggested as delicately as she could. No wonder Adam wanted her to come down – Sandra was always so obstructive!

  ‘Well, yes. Naturally. I had managed to work out that we’d need to do that,’ Sandra snapped. ‘I’ll just check the details.’

  She bustled off to the office at one side of the building, leaving Beatrice to follow more slowly, still stiff after the journey. Sandra was coming out again with a thick file of papers in her hand while Beatrice was still on her way across, and she saw the woman’s contemptuous eyes flicker over her.

  ‘Oh, there you are,’ she said pointedly. ‘I don’t know what on earth this fuss is all about. That shipment went out last night, quite routinely. Looks as if you’ve had a wasted journey.’ She gave a malicious smile.

  ‘Oh – oh, that’s excellent. It was just, well, you know, Harry was anxious,’ Beatrice floundered.

  ‘He should know by now he doesn’t need to be. Anything else on your list for checking up on me?’

  ‘No, no. That’s fine. Thanks, Sandra – that was very efficient.’

  The conciliatory attempt didn’t succeed. ‘No need to thank me – I don’t do it for you.’ She turned away, calling to one of the packers, ‘There’s a delivery arrived – can you sort it just now?’

  Beatrice left, her face glowing with embarrassment. She was furious that Harry had put her in such an awkward position; what on earth had it all been about? She’d never liked Harry; she didn’t trust him, and she didn’t like the way Adam was when he was with him. He seemed to think he had to sound hard and cynical, not showing the wonderful, caring side that he showed to her. Harry had just wasted a whole lot of her valuable time, as well as the charity’s money; now she’d have to look for somewhere to stay and somewhere to eat.

  She loved her food. At the prospect of a nice meal her mouth always watered, but eating in a public restaurant …She felt all eyes were upon her, that the waiter would take her order with a curled lip if it was for the sort of thing she liked to eat and, with her courage failing, she would end up ordering cold, unappealing salad instead.

  And even a B & B was expensive. Every penny spent on her was a penny less for the starving orphans who haunted her dreams. She looked at her watch.

  It wasn’t that late. She could find a KFC, buy what she really wanted then park up somewhere to eat it and have a little rest before she drove home. It was a long way, but she’d be fine.

  ‘Back in our own bed tonight, Rosamond,’ she said cheerfully, and drove off.

  She’d never known a day pass more slowly. Eva had busied herself checking the bedrooms and going through orders for supplies with Vicky, still a little on edge about the summons from Adam that so far hadn’t come. She’d been terrified all of the previous day, but she was beginning to believe he hadn’t noticed after all.

  She’d heard him going away just before twelve, and then Vicky left a little later. With a sigh of relief, she finished her packing and was just about to phone Daniel when she heard a car engine and went through to the front of the house to see who it was. A delivery, perhaps …

  But it wasn’t. Adam’s Mercedes was coming up the drive. She gave a gasp and fled back to her own room. He must have forgotten something – passport; ticket, perhaps. Poor Beatrice – he’d be sure to blame her for allowing that to happen.

  Did that mean he’d missed his conference, that he wouldn’t go? She would leave anyway; she’d only to contact Daniel and he’d come – but that would have to wait until dark. She couldn’t risk going in broad daylight carrying luggage, and she hated the thought of leaving behind the few possessions that were all she had in the world.

  It had worried her that Beatrice had seen the suitcases. Eva knew that she reported everything to Adam and it wouldn’t be good if he knew she was planning to leave – he just wasn’t the sort of man you walked out on.

  But she hadn’t commented on it at the time and apparently she hadn’t said anything to Adam – probably glad to see the back of her. She felt sorry for Beatrice, who was obviously so desperately in love with him that she couldn’t see what was right under her nose: that he was using her shamefully. She’d once let slip a remark that suggested she thought that one day Adam would settle down and marry her.

  Well, he’d never actually discussed Beatrice with her but she’d once seen him look at her with a little shudder of revulsion. The happy ending wasn’t going to come any time soon. Eva knew, none better, how many girls there were loo
king for an easy way into the country; Adam would replace her within a couple of weeks.

  When the knock came on her bedroom door, she froze. She’d managed to avoid Adam pretty successfully yesterday; she’d hoped she’d never have to see him again. Perhaps he wanted her to arrange another flight for him or something, since Beatrice wasn’t there to do it.

  ‘Just – just a moment!’ she called. As silently as she could, she shoved the smaller suitcase out of sight under the bed then picked up the bigger one and swung it into the wardrobe.

  Taking a deep, calming breath, she went to open the door. Yes, there was Adam, but he was looking quite relaxed and smiling at her.

  ‘Are you busy?’ he said. ‘There’s something I want to show you.’

  The wardrobe door, hastily shut, swung back a little but mercifully not far enough to let him see the suitcase and the empty hangers. It was all right, he wasn’t harking back to yesterday morning.

  ‘Of course, if you want me, darling, I am not busy,’ she said brightly.

  ‘Good,’ he said. ‘I’ll bring the jeep round.’

  ‘I just get my coat.’

  She did wonder, as she shut the wardrobe door more carefully and put on a jacket, what he could be taking her to see, but it was very reassuring that he was in such a good mood.

  The dog was in the back of the jeep when it drew up outside the front door. She didn’t like it; its total indifference to anything except its master was unnerving and when its amber eyes were looking straight at you without apparently seeing you, it was positively sinister.

  ‘Where is it that we go, Adam?’ she asked as he drove on a little further and then took the rough track that led up onto the moor. He didn’t reply immediately and she went on, clearing her throat with a nervous cough, ‘I thought you were going away to Paris today.’

  ‘Oh yes, I am, but not just immediately. It was such a glorious afternoon, sweetie, I thought I really must take you up to see the best view in all of Skye. You’ve never been up there, have you?’

  She shook her head. ‘I – I don’t think so.’

  ‘It’s pretty spectacular, I promise you, and I couldn’t bear to waste the day. We won’t have many more like this as the weather closes in and we have to take advantage of it, don’t you think?’

  There was no denying that it was a glorious day. As the jeep bumped up the track across the rising moorland, the scenery was a symphony of soft colour, the mountains off to her left shading through greens to greys to blue distance; above, the sky was clear azure, with just a few wispy clouds.

  ‘Is very beautiful,’ she murmured, but she was starting to feel uneasy, very uneasy. Why had he suddenly got this idea? She’d been living at Balnasheil Lodge since May and he hadn’t demonstrated an interest in showing her any scenery at all apart from the ceiling in his bedroom. And for him to do this right now …The hairs on the back of her neck were starting to prickle and she could feel cold sweat beading her brow.

  He turned off the track, the jeep lurching over the rough ground, with the summit of the hill just ahead of them.

  ‘Here we are!’ he said cheerfully. ‘Out you get and take a look at this.’ He went round to the back of the car to let the dog out and it raced off, relishing its freedom.

  Eva got out, looking uncertainly about her, her hair blowing in the slight breeze. Adam was striding ahead and she followed him up to the ridge where there was a small level space.

  ‘Amazing, isn’t it?’ he said as she joined him, and she gasped.

  It was, indeed, amazing. The moor had petered out into rough, salt-stunted grass and low rocky outcrops; beyond, the land fell away with dramatic suddenness, down hundreds of feet of iron-grey cliffs to the sea below. It was calm today, a deep, deep blue, with a white froth of waves fringing a line of spiky rocks below in a curve at the foot of the cliff. The air was sharp with the sea-smell, and the gulls’ cries, like shrieks of lost souls, came up from far below as they coasted on the air currents. The islands of the Outer Hebrides were dark smudges on the thin blue line of the horizon.

  Eva’s every nerve was shrieking Danger! She stopped a few feet from the edge, moved back, away from it. She gave a little nervous laugh and her voice was shaky as she said, ‘Is wonderful, darling, but I’m not so good in high places. Dizzy, you know?’

  Adam was looking at her, his eyes blank. ‘You’re such a fool,’ he said, his tone almost conversational. ‘Did you really think I wouldn’t realise what was going on?’

  CHAPTER THREE

  Beatrice came out with her bucket of chicken and chips and found a lay-by on the way out of Oban where she could stop and tuck in. She needed her strength for the long journey ahead, she told herself.

  She was still furious with Harry. He’d made her look a fool in front of Sandra and she’d have a few sharp words to say to him when she saw him the day after tomorrow. The way he treated her, he sometimes seemed to forget that she wasn’t the hired help, she was Human Face’s most committed patron.

  The next few days were going to be interesting. It had been a huge relief when she saw that Eva was packing, and surely she’d take her chance to slip away quietly with the young man from Balnasheil when there was no one in the house. Adam might be angry that she’d walked out, but if he thought she was spying on him for some strange reason he’d be relieved he didn’t have to deal with it – surely he would.

  Then there would be one of the spells when she had Adam to herself. He was invited out a lot, of course, and even gave dinner parties sometimes for the county set, but every so often it meant a precious evening on their own.

  One of these days he’d be ready, at last, to ask her to marry him. She’d explained that they could do so much more good if she had full control of her trust fund and she’d only get that once she was married; he’d given her that special smile and said, ‘There’s no rush. I’d hate you to think I’m going to marry you for money, sweetie.’

  Whatever he might say, she knew it wouldn’t be for any other reason, but she didn’t care. Perhaps she had reason to thank her old-fashioned father for his demeaning provision.

  It would actually have made a lot more sense if he’d tied up Quentin’s trust fund as well. Then he might not have run through the money before he was thirty and had to live on dead-end jobs and handouts from his older sister ever since.

  She’d kept trying to explain to him that the charity came first, but she couldn’t let him starve in a gutter, whatever Adam might say. She knew perfectly well that he’d come to Skye because she found it harder to turn him down when they were face to face than if he was on the phone – but blood was thicker than water, after all.

  Quentin had found a woman to move in with, someone from Cumbria who’d moved up here and bought a gift shop, and Beatrice hadn’t seen so much of him lately – perhaps the handouts were coming from her. She could only hope that he’d stay away for the next bit before she had to compete for Adam’s attention with another ‘housekeeper’.

  Beatrice nibbled daintily at the last chip, then cleaned her greasy fingers with the wipes she always carried in her bag. She turned to the doll, propped up in the passenger seat.

  ‘It’s time we got on our way again, my darling. I think you should have a little rest, don’t you? I’ll let you sit up again later on.’

  She laid the doll down and then drove across to the litter bin so that she only had to open the window to drop in her rubbish, looking round disapprovingly at the mess of trays and bottles dumped by people too lazy to walk over and dispose of them properly, then pulled out into the traffic to begin the long drive back.

  He was right; she had been a fool. How could she think he wouldn’t have noticed that she’d been in the office? Eva could feel the blood drain from her face.

  She gave a frightened little whinny of laughter. ‘Adam, you are not nice! What do you mean?’

  He fixed her with a cold, expressionless stare. ‘Who is he? What does he want to know?’

  Go on denying
everything? Tell him? There was mortal danger now; her own safety hung on her reply and he seemed to know anyway. There really was no choice.

  ‘I – I don’t know. Daniel, he is called. He want me to look in the files.’

  ‘Which?’

  Her mind was numb with terror. There were only a couple she could remember; she told him those. ‘I don’t know all. Is written down—’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘Notebook. Is in my bag. I show you, Adam. Please, let’s go back and I show you.’

  ‘He hasn’t seen it?’

  She shook her head, biting her lip so hard that it began to bleed. ‘We go back, I show you,’ she said again, desperately.

  He didn’t reply. He gave her one last, contemptuous look and turned away. As she made to follow him he gave a short whistle and with mounting panic she saw the dog racing to his side.

  ‘Adam!’ she screamed. ‘What are you doing?’

  Again he ignored her. He gave an order to the dog and then stepped back.

  The dog turned towards her and advanced, moving slowly and steadily towards her, not rushing, lifting first one black foot and setting it down slowly, deliberately, then another. Its eyes were locked on her and it was so close now that she could see saliva glistening on dark pink gums and bared white teeth and smell its gamey breath.

  The dog in front, the void behind her. Eva’s head was feeling light, as if it would float away. Was this real or was she dreaming, locked into some sort of hideous nightmare, unable to wake up?

  She stepped back; the dog stepped forward. She stepped back again. And again. Soon there wouldn’t be anything to step back onto except empty air.

  Adam, with a thin smile on his face, was keeping his distance. Behind him there was nothing but moorland on every side, miles of it. No people, no friendly houses. No miraculous rescue. No one to hear her scream.