Too Soon a Death: A Scottish mystery where cosy crime meets tartan noir: Borders Mysteries Book 2 (36 page)
Authors: Janet O'Kane
‘Do they have to know?’
‘Don’t worry, I’m sure saving my life today will mean they’ll turn a blind eye to how you got here. And—’ Zoe gasped as she fought to deal with another contraction. When the pain lessened, she continued, ‘And I won’t mention last week’s near accident to Andrew if you don’t.’
‘I’m sorry, Zoe.’
‘I’m sorry too, about how your father keeping me secret has made the distress of losing your mum so much worse. But you must understand why he did it. He did it out of love, to save her from any more pain.’
‘He wasn’t thinking about me and Nina, though, was he?’
‘Maybe not, which is something you’ll have to forgive him for. Promise you’ll at least try to do that.’
Ewan shrugged. ‘He’s my dad. Guess I have to.’
‘He’s mine as well. Which makes you my little brother, so I won’t tell him about you smoking, either.’
They continued to sit side by side on the floor, silent except for Zoe’s intakes of breath each time a new contraction arrived, until they heard the wail of sirens out on the road.
Ewan got up. ‘I’ll go and meet them.’ He took one step outside the door and looked back at Zoe. ‘You’ll never guess what’s happened.’
‘Oh God, what now? Has the gunman escaped?’
‘No, he’s still here but he’s getting wet. It’s raining. Isn’t that great? It’s raining at last.’
The organ started up again and everyone stood for
All Things Bright and Beautiful
. This had been Zoe’s favourite hymn when she was a child, but instead of singing along, she allowed her mind to drift as she looked at the people around her, most of whom rarely entered Westerlea church under normal circumstances but had attended the Sunday service to be here for her baby’s blessing.
Kate stood with her arm looped through Erskine Mather’s, all the better to show off the pale pink sapphire engagement ring he’d surprised her with during a recent weekend away, turning every now and then to check her children were behaving. Only an occasional cough into a tissue hinted at the lasting damage the fire had caused to her lungs, and which the doctors had said might reduce over time but would never entirely disappear. Zoe knew this worried Kate’s parents; she regularly spotted Etta’s frowns on observing her daughter resort to an inhaler to help with bouts of breathlessness. But at least Ranald and Etta had been spared the ordeal of seeing their youngest son face prosecution for involvement with the people who’d been running a cannabis factory in one of his properties. In Kate’s words, the police recognised Robbie had ‘behaved like a dickhead not a criminal’ in settling one of his gambling debts by lending out his house for the summer, no questions asked.
The authorities were continuing their efforts to trace the family of Ara, the boy who had chosen to die rather than remain enslaved in the cannabis factory. The boy who saved Zoe and Patrick had been reunited with his parents, while Cheek-studs died without regaining consciousness and no one had claimed his body either. The gunman sent to kill Zoe had made a detailed confession, leading to several arrests and Trent’s reassurance there would be no further attempts on her life.
Paul caught Zoe’s eye and smiled. She’d been delighted to grant his shy request to bring a guest, because even Margaret had been unable to discover the identity of the person responsible for giving him a new zest for life and encouraging him to relinquish his beard and tartan ties. When he arrived at the church accompanied by Bette Mather, who wore a perfectly coordinated outfit of grey jersey dress and winter coat topped with a colourful scarf, Zoe and Margaret had looked at each other with satisfaction. The lack of surprise in Kate’s demeanour as she approached her future mother-in-law and greeted her with genuine affection meant she must have known about this relationship for some time. Zoe felt in awe of her friend’s uncharacteristic ability to keep such a big secret.
She gazed down at the sleeping child in her arms, perfect in every way despite arriving a month early. During the terrifying episode at Keeper’s Cottage, she had feared neither she nor her baby would live to get properly acquainted with their family, yet Andrew, Ewan and Nina had been her first visitors in the maternity ward. Kate had arrived soon afterwards, her disappointment at having missed out on being Zoe’s birth partner trounced by glee when she was introduced to the three strangers.
All Things Bright and Beautiful
ended, snapping Zoe back into the present. After a few more words from the minister, the ceremony was over and everyone made their way out into the winter sunshine. Rocking the baby who was now awake, Zoe thanked the minister and invited him to join them for the celebration lunch the Mackenzies had insisted on hosting. She was imagining Auntie Joan putting the finishing touches to the piles of food which would now be sitting on the kitchen table at Tolbyres Farm, when she heard a familiar bark. Patrick stood a little way off with Mac and Peggy straining on their leads. She waved and Patrick waved back.
So did one of two figures standing at the church gate.
Zoe stared.
Sergeant Trent remained still as the second man pulled off his knitted hat, revealing a bald head.
Zoe no longer heard the chattering around her, and was unaware of walking down the path until she found herself at the gate. Trent had moved a short distance away.
‘Hello, Neil.’
‘Hello, Zoe.’
‘I wondered when we’d see you again.’
‘I was never far away. You got my postcards?’
‘Yes.’
His eyes were fixed on the baby. ‘Hope you don’t mind me just turning up.’
‘I’ve called her Poppy. Hope you’re alright with that.’
‘She’s beautiful. I’d like to get to know her.’ He glanced over at Trent. ‘When I have more time.’
Zoe nodded. ‘We’re not going anywhere. This is our home.’
She turned and walked back up the path to the church.
THE END
THANK YOU FOR READING
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Too Soon a Death
:
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If you haven’t already done so, you may like to read my first Borders Mystery,
No Stranger to Death
, which introduces Doctor Zoe Moreland, Kate Mackenzie and Erskine Mather. Both Borders Mysteries are available as paperbacks as well as ebooks.
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When Janet O’Kane outgrew Enid Blyton’s books she moved on to what her Mum liked reading: crime novels. And despite occasional dalliances with other types of fiction, that’s what she has happily continued to read. And now she writes it too.
Her career before turning to writing fulltime included selling underpants to Roger Moore in Harrods and marketing nappies for Boots. It was when she worked for a GP surgery that she decided a family doctor would make an excellent main character for a crime novel.
Janet lives in the Scottish Borders with her stonemason husband and two cats, two dogs and far too many chickens. She is now working on her third crime novel.
Although I created the imaginary village of Westerlea as a backdrop for the main events in this book, many of the Borders locations I describe are real. The Union Chain Bridge, is an historically important yet relatively unknown structure linking Scotland and England. It was the first vehicular bridge of its type in the UK and remains in use, although its continued survival is now threatened. A campaign to have the bridge fully restored in time for its bicentenary in 2020 has been started. You can find out more about the Bridge at
http://www.unionbridgefriends.com
.
I’d like to thank the following for the help I received in writing
Too Soon a Death
: Nigel Adams, Keith Hall, Ruaraidh Hamilton, Lisa Hartley-Elliott, Yvonne Johnston, Phil O’Kane, and the many Facebook friends who shared some of the mysteries of pregnancy with me. If you live in the Scottish Borders and thought you recognised a couple of the characters, you were right: George Romanes and Jacques Kerr not only advised me but also kindly agreed to appear as themselves. Any factual errors in this book are mine.
I and my book have also benefited greatly from the professional services of Jessica Bell, who designed the lovely cover; Julia Gibbs, whose proofreading has saved me many blushes; and Jo Harrison from Writer’s Block Admin Services who once again has taken on some of this self-published author’s essential IT tasks.
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