Dressed to Kilt (24 page)

The wind was fierce outside the hole and snow had begun to fall, not soft and gentle, but forceful, heavy, and wet. Before I could get to my feet, I felt a blow to my side. And another.

Patricia had found a shovel and used it. I didn't have time to react; the pepper spray canister was still inside my pocket. I'd needed both hands to claw my way out. I attempted to get to my feet, but she was strong and fast, and I saw her raise the shovel, directed at my head. My only option was to roll and pitch over the side, back into the hole.

“I came up with a better plan,” she said, peering down at me. “It's still a bit makeshift but the goal is tae make yer death seem as accidental as possible. Ye had a breakdown and walked out tae the road. A car, not able tae see ye in the storm, ran over ye. No one will ever know that ye were bludgeoned tae death with this shovel.”

I saw movement behind her. Or thought I did.
I must be delusional
, I thought, shivering from the cold. I felt a throbbing pain in my side where she'd struck me with the shovel.

There. I saw it again. Patricia turned and stepped out of my line of sight. I heard voices mixed in with the howling wind. A minute or two passed in which I thought about venturing up. Except the woman had a shovel. If she struck me in the head, I'd be dead.

Then a form appeared above. One I recognized even though he looked more like a polar bear than a human covered in so much snow.

“I had the situation under control,” I called up, sure I looked the same.

“I can see that,” the inspector replied.

Patricia refused to speak one word once she was in police custody. The inspector confiscated her keys, brushed a thick layer of snow from the door of her rental car, and handcuffed her to the inside. Producing a blanket from his own vehicle, he threw it over her and said to the silent woman, “We'll be speakin' more in a bit.”

Then he and I sat inside his police car, heater on high, while he made a call on his mobile to check the weather conditions and forecast. I've seen plenty of driving rain in my lifetime, but this was the first time I'd encountered driving snow. Pounding, driving, gale-force snow.

“Snow gates are up out on the main road,” he informed me after disconnecting.

“The road is closed?”

“Aye, due tae snowdrifts the size o' munros. The patrol gritters are out tae help stranded fools like ourselves, but they won't get tae us fer a spell. So we have plenty o' time tae have a chat.”

“How did you know where I was?”

“The lot o' us have been trying tae keep ye in one place and out o' the mix. That was Vicki's suggestion and a good one, tae spare ye in case things went bad fer yer father.”

“You all knew something was wrong, that he was involved, and nobody told me?”

“Only that it was a
possibility
. And then only after Vicki found out about yer grandfather bein' interred in Tainwick and the dead woman from the same place. She came tae me with her concerns.”

“I wish she'd come to me with those concerns instead.”

“We wanted tae protect you,” he continued. “Both physically, after that incident at the hospital, and also from any potential o' emotional fallout. But it's been mostly a wasted effort keepin' tabs on ye. I might not have been out here tae help ye, except fer a stroke o' luck.”

I saw clearly what had occurred. I'd told only one person where I was going.

“Ami knew that I was going out to the cemetery. She contacted Vicki. Vicki called you,” I said.

“I followed ye this morning tae see where ye would end up, thinkin' ye must be ontae something tae be out with the weather about tae turn bad. I stayed a good deal back, not wantin' tae interfere with yer time at yer grandfather's grave. I didn't realize ye had company out there until the snow started falling in buckets and ye didn't come back tae yer car. Imagine my surprise tae find ye fisticuffin' with Patricia Martin.”

“And was about to win, I might add,” I said. It was easy to insert a little humor into the situation now that it was under control, now that Patricia Martin wasn't a threat any
longer. And as to winning, I could only imagine how I looked down in that hole.

The inspector smiled. “Ye're resilient, that's fer sure, and I'll put my wages on ye fer future events.”

After that I told my story. I didn't leave anything out. By the time I got to the end, my voice was quivering and I completely broke down when I told him where my father's body was buried. Earlier I'd been in survival mode. Now the full impact of my loss and what might have happened to me sank in.

The inspector produced a box of tissues and made more phone calls, then got out and went over to Patricia's car.

While he was gone, through tears I could no longer control, I reflected on Henrietta's solitary life and her voluntary seclusion. In a way she
had
been a criminal hiding away, imprisoned for life after that one destructive act of violence. Ultimately, neither of the sisters had escaped their abusive home life. They'd perpetuated it with more acts of violence.

I thought of Gordon Martin and how he'd cope when he discovered that he'd been raised by his aunt and that his real mother had killed his biological father in cold blood.

It seemed like forever before the inspector returned. I must have looked an absolute wreck with my damp face and red swollen eyes.

“This is going to devastate Gordon Martin,” I said. I wasn't going to be the only one impacted by Henrietta and Patricia's actions.

“Henrietta must not've been capable of raising him,” the inspector guessed. “She had deep-seated emotional issues. But that sister over there”—he gestured toward Patricia's car—“isn't even a wee bit better when it comes right down tae it. What a pair!”

“I just realized that I have a brother,” I said, and somehow that dawning knowledge made me feel slightly better. “If what Patricia said is true.”

“It has the ring o' truth.”

“Did you get her to confess while you were in her car?”

The inspector held up a small recorder. “She decided tae talk after I threatened tae leave her out where she'd tried tae leave you.”

“You? Coercing a suspect?”

“When it's necessary.” He gave me a piercing glance. “And I'll deny that if ye go blathering it aboot.”

“I wouldn't think of it.”

He let me listen to the tape. Her story was the same as the one she'd given me, but with a few more details. Patricia had been aware that Janet Dougal was attempting to infiltrate the group gathering for the tasting. She'd impersonated Henrietta to get Janet out to the house. Patricia had also been the one who called in the anonymous tip placing Janet outside the inn, that tip leading to the American woman's detention. Patricia was a shrewd, evil woman.

“I wonder about the letters my mother wrote. I imagine she sent them to Bridie, and Henrietta intercepted them.”

“'Tis a fair assumption.”

“You shouldn't have fired me in the first place,” I said. “I understand your thought process, why you did what you did, but we could have worked through this together.”

“Aye, it wasn't one o' my better decisions.”

To my surprise he leaned over and wrapped his arms around me. I could feel the warmth of him through our coats. He smelled slightly of aftershave. If I didn't know better, I might think he had been really worried about me.
Or maybe I didn't know better. The inspector's innermost feelings were on full display for the first time.

Once he released me, to lighten up what was becoming an awkward situation, I said, “Now that Janet Dougal is a free woman, she'll be coming for you.”

Jamieson grimaced.

“Don't you feel any guilt about locking up an innocent woman?”

“I was startin' tae suspect that she'd set herself up fer the fall so she could chase me around the jail cell. Thanks tae yer fine detectin' today, I'll be able tae give Janet Dougal a royal send-off. Or better yet, I'll have Sean see her ontae the first plane out o' here, while I begin a process tae ban her permanently from Scotland.”

Shortly after, a snowplow arrived, its enormous blade clearing a swath down the road. Sean descended from the passenger side of the cab and made his way to us through knee-high snow.

“I don't know how Eden got away from me,” he said to the inspector through a crack in the window.

“She's a wily one,” Jamieson agreed, stepping out.

“I'm sorry,” I called out, feeling guilty for having deceived Sean.

Eventually, with the snowplow leading the way, we caravanned back to Glenkillen.

It would have been easy to dwell on the negative, but in fact, I was one lucky woman.

In so many ways.

And I owed a great deal of gratitude to the inspector.

He always seemed to have my back.

The next several days were snowed-in ones. It was a good time for me to reflect on the past and plan for the future. And to grieve for the father I'd lost so long ago.

When the weather conditions improved, a backhoe would dig up my grandfather's grave, searching for my father's remains. I felt confident that the inspector would find what he was looking for and that I'd find closure, although certainly not in the way I'd expected.

I spent those long days and evenings before the fire with Snookie on my lap and the crest sketch my father had drawn on the side table next to me. Between my knitting needles, the most amazing thing was happening. A skein of yarn was slowly growing into recognizable Merry Mittens.

During that time, I turned off my cell and landline, didn't open my laptop at all, and Vicki, somehow sensing that I needed to be alone, kept humanity at bay. She was always hovering nearby, though, in case I needed her.

Once the snow finally stopped falling, I'd had enough
sadness and put away my pain and anguish to focus on the short amount of time I had left.

Vicki squealed in delight when I slipped out of my boots at her entryway and stepped inside her home two days before I was scheduled to depart. I had my laptop along per her mysterious request. Sean arrived moments later and we admired his new police vehicle from the window.

“Sweet,” I told him when he proudly showed it off.

“Aboot time,” he replied.

Leith's Land Rover pulled into the driveway next. Kelly bounded out first as soon as the passenger door opened, followed by Leith's daughter, Fia. Coco and Pepper bolted to the door, and Sean let them out to play chase with Leith's border collie. I could see Jasper venturing out through a crack in the barn door. Even the tomcat was feeling snowbound. He needed some torment-the-dogs playtime.

Leith gave me a bear hug, then stepped back to search my eyes with his Scottish blues. “So what's the occasion?”

I shrugged. “This is Vicki's party and she's being very secretive.”

In fact, my friend was fairly bursting with excitement as we waited for the inspector, who was the last to arrive.

“Okay,” Vicki said, the minute we were all seated. “Eden, get your laptop ready. We are going to video-call Ami.”

Soon we had my Chicago friend on the screen. She was beaming, and I couldn't figure out why everyone was so happy when I felt like I was about to go to my execution.

Ami began, “Last spring I did some research and figured out where your Scottish family lived. You were so bitter and I'd hoped you would discover some of your relatives and reconcile with your past.”

“So the whole idea to set a romance in Scotland really was a ruse?” I couldn't believe she'd go to that extent.

“Not exactly. The two ideas sort of merged. Once you were there, I quickly found out that you weren't doing anything about connecting with the Elliotts.”

I glanced at Vicki. Those two had been in this together from the beginning.

“But I could tell how much you loved the Highlands,” Vicki went on. “And so I did my own digging and found out a few things, and that's how Ami and I started working together.”

My face must have conveyed my puzzlement.

Ami picked up the story. “We used a nationality-checking service, started gathering documents.”

“Like birth and death certificates,” Vicki added. “And marriage certificates.”

“It took over four months,” Ami said, “back and forth, digging through boxes of your mother's stored items, getting the application filed, and then we waited for the mail to arrive.”

So that explained Vicki's weird behavior, especially the day I'd beat her to the mail. And Ami had been extremely resourceful as always. “But what have you accomplished?” I asked.

Something. I sensed it in their elation.

Vicki answered, “You have Scottish-born grandparents.”

“I know that.”

“So you are eligible for an ancestry visa.”

I frowned. “I'm not following. Is that different from my tourist visa?”

“You can stay here in the Highlands for five years with
these.” Vicki picked up several pieces of paper and waved them in the air. “You've been approved!”

Stunned, I took the documents and stared at them, not comprehending until the inspector, who sat next to me, took my free hand. “I believe this means we're stuck with ye.”

And that was all it took for another round of tears. This time I wasn't crying alone.

“We'll take a trip to Applefary next week,” Vicki said, sniffling. “I know just where to find some of your relatives. Gordon Martin wants to join us. He's having a hard time, but he's a strong man, and he'll see his way through. And Bridie Dougal. We can't forget her.”

Later, after we terminated the call with Ami, after thanking everyone and watching Leith pull away with his daughter and his dog, the inspector walked me to the cottage. I still hadn't processed all my good news. So much had occurred. Some awful. Some wonderful.

“I'm rehired?” I asked him.

“Aye,” he said with a sigh. “It was inevitable.”

“You need to know up front that I work best alone,” I told him.

He smiled. I could hear what he was thinking, that this hadn't been Eden Elliott's finest solo job.

And after that was settled, we butted heads for a few more minutes. And as twilight fell, with the inspector at my side, I thanked my lucky stars. Later, in my cottage with Snookie, I indulged in a little wool gathering.

I was learning that anything was possible in the Scottish Highlands.