by Agatha Frost
Julia glanced over her shoulder to her bedroom door as her gran dragged her down the corridor towards the staircase. Spending a day in the spa was the last thing she wanted to do, but she knew she didn’t have much choice. She could try and sneak down into the kitchen to talk to Blair, but she was sure Charlotte and Rory would be keeping a watchful eye on the young girl all day.
She let her gran drag her down to the ground floor where the spa and pool were situated. Once on a bed, Julia picked a face sheet mask at random and allowed the kind woman to apply it. Thankfully for Julia, she didn’t try to make small talk, which allowed her mind to really think.
She stared up at the wooden ceiling and tried to think of reasons Charlotte would want to keep her away from Blair. She wondered if her conversation with Mary had been seen by either of the siblings and if that was a possible reason, but she couldn’t make a connection between the wife and the cook. She knew she could be clutching at straws, and the insurance could be a legitimate reason for keeping her out of the kitchen, but it didn’t sit right with Julia. Charlotte might have had a pretty face and a sweet smile, but Julia was sure if she lightly scratched beneath the surface, she would uncover the young woman’s dark insides very quickly.
Within a matter of minutes, Dot was already snoring under her slices of cucumber. Julia wondered if she was too harsh on Charlotte. She had, after all, just been orphaned, even if her relationship with her father didn’t seem all that close. Julia wasn’t particularly close to her own father, and her own mother had died when she was a little girl, but she couldn’t empathise with Charlotte despite their similarities. She knew it was very possible for people to hide their pain from the world, but Julia didn’t feel anything from Charlotte, other than coldness.
Before she could delve any deeper, Sue shuffled into the spa, her face a pale shade of green. She gratefully accepted a white dressing gown and took the bed next to Julia. Without saying a word, she tossed her head back and inhaled deeply.
“Food poisoning?” Julia asked.
“Something like that,” Sue mumbled. “I can’t wait to be out of this place. What are you doing here, anyway?”
“It’s a long story,” Julia whispered, sitting up and turning to Sue. “I’ve been banned from the kitchen, but I need to figure out a way to get down there. I’m pretty sure Charlotte and Rory are going to be keeping watch.”
“What’s that got to do with me?” Sue groaned.
“I need to get a message to Blair so she can meet me,” she continued quietly as she flung her legs around the side of the bed, letting her sheet mask slide off her face. “I think she knows something crucial to cracking this case, even if she doesn’t realise it. I’ll look less suspicious if you’re with me.”
“You’ll look less suspicious if you just stay here and let them pamper you,” Sue whined, her eyes clenching and her bottom lip protruding.
“Fine,” Julia said as she tugged off her dressing gown and tossed it over the bed. “I’ll just go on my own. I just thought it would be fun to have some sister time that wasn’t spent horizontal in a coma with gunk on our faces.”
Julia turned on her heels and walked towards the entrance. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a notepad and a pen on the glass reception desk. She tore off a piece and quickly scribbled down a note before pocketing it. As she headed to the door, she was surprised to see Sue quickly tearing off her dressing gown.
“You know emotional blackmail is below the belt,” Sue whispered as they both quickly headed down the corridor and towards the entrance hall. “What did you have in mind?”
“Let’s just take a stroll around the island and see where it takes us.”
Chapter Nine
The moment they stepped out of the castle, Sue gasped and grabbed Julia’s hand. They took a careful step forward, but the fog had rolled in from the loch, meaning she could barely see more than a couple of steps ahead of them.
“Maybe we should go back,” Sue begged, tugging on Julia. “It doesn’t look safe.”
“It’ll be fine,” Julia said, pulling Sue forward. “We just need to watch our step.”
“What are we even doing out here?”
“Looking for someone.”
They carefully walked down the gravel slope towards the bridge, taking small baby steps as the cool fog consumed them. Julia looked back at the castle, but it was nothing more than a dark smudge in a chalky sea of white.
Instead of taking the bridge across the loch, they stepped down onto a small winding path that circled the edge of the tiny island. Julia gulped hard as she looked down into the murky surface of the water, which would swallow her up without a second thought if she took one wrong step. The bank sloped up towards the base of the castle, heather and lumpy rock covering its surface. The earthy tones of the spiky plant didn’t smell as delightful since her dream.
“I don’t like this,” Sue whispered, her fingers tightening around Julia’s. “I don’t like this one bit.”
The path curved and Julia suspected they were walking around the back of the castle. She looked up at the bank and kept her eyes peeled for a hut, but she wasn’t sure she would see it even if it was right in front of her. She looked back, but the bridge had vanished from sight.
The path suddenly took a sharp incline away from the water, relaxing Julia a little. Through the fog, she could see that they were walking back towards the castle. When the ground levelled out, the path suddenly cut off, joining in with the bumpy land. Despite Sue dragging her heels, Julia pressed forward, heading towards the blur of the castle. When they finally reached it, she pressed her hands against the cool stone, reassured that she was going the right way.
They followed the castle walls and came to the dining room. Julia peered through the windows, but it was dark and empty. She had hoped Blair was there so she could somehow call her over so they didn’t have to go any further.
They hurried past the tall windows and followed the building around. A thumping sound pierced through the fog like a cracking whip, startling them both. Sue pulled back, but Julia pulled her towards the sound. She was surprised when she came out into a clear stone courtyard. They stepped inside, turning back to watch as the thick fog rolled by.
She let out a thankful breath when she saw Benjamin chopping logs of firewood against an old tree stump. Despite the chilly morning, he had forgone a shirt so that his sweat-glistening and lightly haired chest was on display. To Julia’s surprise, he was chopping the logs of wood with the sheer force of his left arm, his right tucked neatly behind his back.
“Wow,” Sue whispered. “That’s strength.”
Benjamin looked up, the axe swinging and missing the log. It buried into the tree stump. He wiped the sweat from his forehead before picking up his shirt and pulling it on.
“It’s sweaty work,” he said with a twinkling smile. “You ladies are braver than me to venture into that fog. I’m waiting for it to clear.”
Sue gave Julia an ‘I told you so’ look, but Julia pursed her lips, telling her not to bother saying anything. She let go of her sister’s hand and walked towards Benjamin, looking up at the castle as she did. Tall walls rose high on all sides, the different parts of the castle joining together. Julia tried to work out where she was in relation to the rest of the building, but she couldn’t quite figure out where they had walked in the fog. At the end of the courtyard, she spotted the stone hut Benjamin had told her about.
“We were actually coming to find you,” Julia said with a soft smile. “I hope we’re not interrupting.”
“Not at all,” he said as he swung the axe down again. “This is my last log. What can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if you could pass a message on to Blair?” Julia asked as she retrieved the handwritten note from her pocket. “I’ve been banished from the kitchen, and I really wanted to talk to her.”
“Couldn’t you just wait for one of her breaks?”
“I want to talk to her away from the castle,
” Julia whispered, looking around, suddenly becoming aware of all of the windows. “I think she knows something that might help unlock the secret to Henry’s murder, and I think Charlotte knows that and she’s trying to keep us apart.”
Benjamin took the note and opened it, his brows curiously pinching together. He quickly read the note that asked Blair to meet Julia in a café in Aberfoyle after she had finished for the day, along with Julia’s phone number.
“I thought you were a baker?” he asked with a little smirk as he pocketed the paper. “You’re acting like some kind of detective.”
“She is a baker,” Sue said, joining Julia by her side. “She just seems to forget that every time a murder happens near her, which is happening increasingly more often than I would like to admit. Gran thinks she’s the harbinger of death.”
“She does?” Julia exclaimed, turning to her sister.
“Well, she’s not going to say that to your face, is she?” Sue mumbled with a shrug.
“I’ll pass on the note,” he said with a wink. “You don’t think my sister is in danger, do you?”
“I don’t know,” Julia admitted, not wanting to lie to the man. “But Charlotte appears to think it’s crucial to keep us apart.”
“Or it is just the insurance?” Sue whispered.
“Or that,” Julia said with a sigh. “But it’s all just a little suspicious.”
“I’ll keep an eye on her and an ear to the ground,” Benjamin said as he started tossing the logs into a wheelbarrow. “If you want to get back into the castle, there’s a door that leads to the drawing room. It’s not really for guests, but I’m sure I can make an exception with the fog. I wouldn’t feel right letting you walk along that path. It’s not safe at the best of times.”
Sue rolled her eyes and pouted before linking arms with Julia and following Benjamin across the courtyard. Julia looked up at the many windows to her right, suddenly realising they were part of the family’s quarters above the entrance hall. She gulped, hoping she had been quiet enough to not betray herself.
Benjamin walked them to a stone wall, forcing Julia and Sue to look questioningly at each other. To their equal surprise, Benjamin pulled on the bricks, and a piece of the wall the exact size of a door opened onto a dark corridor.
“Follow that down to the bottom, and you’ll come out in the drawing room,” he said as he held the heavy stone door open.
“A secret passageway?” Sue asked, her face lighting up. “I knew it!”
“The castle is full of them,” Benjamin said with a smirk. “Makes my job a lot easier. There’s a peephole in the door at the other side. Just make sure nobody is watching when you slip through.”
Sue clenched her hand around Julia’s once more, and they stepped into the dark. With one final goodbye, Benjamin pushed the door shut, concealing them within the walls of the castle. Just like when walking through the fog, she took tiny steps through the stuffy and narrow corridor. Mildew and decay tickled her nostrils.
“This is so cool,” Sue whispered. “I told you there would be secret passages.”
“Explains how Charlotte managed to get across the castle so quickly if she did kill her father.”
“If?” Sue mumbled. “I thought you were certain it was her?”
“I’m certain of nothing until I have all of the facts,” she whispered back, turning pointlessly to her sister in the pitch black. “It’s just a hunch.”
A narrow stream of light illuminated the dusty air, letting them know they had reached the door into the drawing room. Julia let go of Sue’s hand and pushed her eye up against the tiny circle in the wall.
She saw an explosion of mahogany through the tiny gap. A grand banqueting table stretched out down the centre of the room, a crystal chandelier as big as Julia’s car dangling over it. The walls were lined high with dark bookshelves, which were crammed with thick leather-bound volumes. On the other side of the room, she spotted the giant ornate doors, which would lead them back to the safety of the castle.
“Looks clear,” she whispered back to Sue. “Try to be quiet.”
Julia pushed carefully on the door. It felt heavy under her hands, but it eased forward, flooding the darkness with light. She held it open enough for Sue to slip through, before squeezing through herself. She closed the door, surprised to see it was a bookshelf on the other side. She smiled to herself, feeling like she was fulfilling some kind of childhood fantasy to have her own bookcase door that led to a secret room.
“Get down,” Sue whispered, yanking Julia to the ground and behind a red Chesterfield sofa. “We’re not alone.”
She pointed over the top of the sofa to the large bay window looking out over the loch. Julia peered over the edge, instantly bobbing back down when she saw a flash of red hair over the top of a high-backed leather armchair pointed in the direction of the foggy view.
“Charlotte,” Julia mouthed to Sue. “Stay here.”
Julia wriggled free of Sue’s grasp and crawled out from behind the couch. On her hands and knees, she scurried forward like a cat, pausing behind a side table. She peered around the corner of the mahogany unit, instantly ducking back when she saw the profile of the person sitting in the other chair. Julia looked around and spotted another Chesterfield sofa positioned behind them. Without a second thought, she hurried forward and pushed her back up against the hard sofa. She strained her ears, but she needn’t have bothered. Charlotte wasn’t concealing her conversation behind a whisper.
“I need you to get rid of her,” she said firmly, no doubt staring out into the fog. “She’s trouble.”
“I’m done wi’ this,” the thick Scottish accent of Andrew replied. “I’ve done yer dirty work, lassie. Find somebody else to use.”
“Don’t act like you’re not being paid for your services, Mr McCracken,” Charlotte said, the chair creaking under her. “Seirbigh Castle will be mine in a matter of days if you have done what you said, and you will get what was promised to you.”
“’Course I did what I said,” he growled back. “But you told me that was the last thing.”
“You’ve come this far, Mr McCracken,” Charlotte replied as she stood up. “Don’t stumble at the final hurdle. The girl is trouble and you know it’s going to be difficult to legally fire her considering the circumstances. Besides, she knows too much. She could speak out. I want her out of Seirbigh Castle before all of the paperwork is official. Now that Mary is gone, she’s the final thorn in my side. Do what you have to do, Mr McCracken, and welcome back to the family. You should never have been disposed of in the first place.”
Footsteps clicked on the polished wood floors, sending Julia scurrying back behind the side table. She caught Sue’s eyes, who was desperately waving for Julia to come back. Julia waited until she heard the door close before dashing back to her sister.
“Have you gone crazy?” Sue whispered angrily. “I hope that was worth it.”
“It was,” Julia replied. “Let’s get out of here.”
Julia grabbed Sue’s hand and still keeping low to the ground, they hurried towards the doors on the other side of the room. Before she reached it, she glanced over to Andrew as he reached around the side of the chair to top up his whisky from the glass decanter.
They slipped through the door, coming out facing the dining room. It was still dark and empty, but Rory was now sitting at the closest table with his back to them, hunched over something. Julia stopped in her tracks and tried to peer around him to see what he was doing, but all she could conclude was that he was writing something.
“Ah! There you are!” the voice of DI Fletcher made them both spin around. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Can you gather in the entrance hall with the other guests, please?”
“Why?” Julia asked as Rory turned to see what was happening.
“Now, Miss South,” he ordered as he stepped to the side and motioned towards the double doors leading through to the reception area. “Rory, do you know where your sister is? I
need to speak with you both in private.”
Julia reluctantly let Sue drag her down the corridor, without taking her eyes away from DI Fletcher. Just from the look on his face, she could tell he wasn’t gathering them to give them good news. She wondered if he could have possibly cracked the case and have a suspect in custody. It seemed unlikely, but it would be a relief to put an end to the whole affair.
They joined their gran by the reception desk, where she was staring sternly at the new guests, still in her white dressing gown and bright green facemask.
“Where have you two been?” she snapped when she noticed them.
“We went for a walk,” Julia said, hoping the truthful part of that statement made up for the fact she was keeping quiet about the outcome of that walk. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” she said with a sigh. “But it’s keeping me from my depleting spa time. DI CryBaby gathered us all here to tell us something important. I wonder if he’s just got his first chest hair and wants to share the news.”
The two new couples both snickered at Dot’s joke, but she stared at them sternly, letting them know they didn’t have permission. Julia smiled reassuringly at the two young couples. Just from their confusion and lack of interest in the collapsed bannister above them, she could tell they had no idea that they were standing directly on the scene of a man’s murder.
The double doors opened, and DI Fletcher walked in, followed by Rory and Charlotte. Charlotte was sobbing heavily, her face buried in her brother’s chest, and Rory was trying his best to comfort her, his expression solemn and his eyes vacant. Julia’s stomach turned uncomfortably.
“A car was found crashed an hour ago on the road to Aberfoyle,” DI Fletcher announced. “The driver, Mary McLaughlin, the manager of this hotel, was found dead behind the wheel.”