Chrissie McKay stared out at the landscape. The view was the main reason they’d bought this place. In other respects, it had been pretty much what they’d wanted – the right sort of size, a relatively new build and low maintenance, remote enough to be peaceful but not so much they were cut off from the world and Chrissie’s friends. They’d seen a few places that more or less fitted that bill, but this place had all that, and a spectacular view out over Cromarty Firth.
Not today, though. Today, the rain had come in and the view was reduced to nothing but a grey haze. The normally imposing bulk of Ben Wyvis was invisible in the clouds, and the expanse of the firth was concealed beneath a blanket of mist. She could barely see beyond the end of the garden.
Chrissie didn’t mind too much. It was one of the pleasures of living here. The view on a clear day could be breathtaking, but she’d also developed a delight in the way the weather and the climate could change. When they’d first moved here, she would simply sit at the window and watch the panorama change its character, sometimes even in the space of an hour. You could see the rain sweep in along the length of the firth, the mist encroaching across the waters. You could watch the tide creep out, leaving the face of the firth as still as a pond, reflecting the landscape around it.
As the seasons changed, she could sit in this spot and watch as the barley in the field below their garden was planted, sprouted, grew gradually to maturity, and was harvested, until the cycle started again. She could watch the leaves grow and thicken on the trees, turn in the autumn and fall as winter approached. She could watch the snows come and go on the mountains, feel the pounding of the wind and the rattling of the rain against their windows.
It had felt, in recent days, as if someone was intent on destroying hers and Alec’s new-found happiness. Someone seemed intent on intruding into their idyll, raking up the unhappiness that had beset them in recent years. That thought had worried her. She knew she and Alec were making positive steps forward, but she also feared their current contentment might be fragile. She hadn’t entirely come to grips with her own negative feelings, and she suspected that the same was true of Alec. That was the point, really. That was why they’d moved here. They needed to support each other in putting the past behind them and reaching out to the future. They could do it, but it wouldn’t be easy.
The last thing they needed was some bastard deliberately trying to undermine what they were doing. Alec was probably right that it was just some low-life toerag who could be safely ignored, but in practice it wasn’t that easy simply to move on.
She’d spent the afternoon working on a funding bid for one of the local community groups she’d become involved with. At this stage, it was, or should have been, a relatively straightforward task, collating data from various sources into one document. She’d been making good progress with it but this afternoon she’d been unable to concentrate. The words and numbers blurred in front of her as her mind flitted from one anxious topic to another. After a fruitless hour or so, she’d pushed the papers aside and headed into the kitchen to make a coffee. Since then, she’d been sitting staring out of the window, semi-hypnotised by the falling rain.
She was hoping that Alec wouldn’t be too late home. He’d seemed in an odd mood that morning, both tense and excited. They were beginning to make progress, he’d told her, though as always he shared nothing of the detail. She knew that was how it ought to be but she sometimes wondered if it was good for him to have to keep his feelings to himself. She’d tried to call him earlier in the afternoon, mainly just to hear the sound of his voice, but his phone had cut to voicemail and she’d assumed he’d been tied up in meetings.
She was in this extended reverie when she was disturbed by the ringing of the front doorbell. She immediately tensed. Alec had told her to be careful in answering the door, advising her to check it was someone she knew before answering. It hadn’t been advice she’d really needed, and they had very few visitors here. The postman was a familiar figure, and most of her friends wouldn’t call without phoning first.
The doorbell rang a second time. She rose and made her way down to the hall. If she was careful, it was possible for her to gain a view of anyone at the front door from the kitchen window without being seen. She entered the kitchen and peered out. A young woman was standing by the front door, rain dripping from her hair. She looked soaked to the skin and deeply miserable, and no kind of threat. There was a car parked on the driveway behind her.
Chrissie returned to the hall and opened the front door, making sure she kept the chain in place. ‘Yes?’
The young woman gazed at her anxiously. ‘I’m really sorry to disturb you. It’s just that I’ve got a bit lost. I was just wondering if you could give me some help.’
‘Where is it you’re looking for?’
The woman gave her the name of a house. It was a name Chrissie vaguely recognised, though she couldn’t immediately place it in the local vicinity. She’d spotted the name on a house somewhere in the surrounding backroads, but she couldn’t immediately recall where. ‘I’m sorry. It does ring a bell, but I can’t remember where it is.’
‘It must be somewhere nearby,’ the woman said. ‘We put the postcode into our satnav and it brought us to the bottom of your track.’
‘I’m afraid the postcode covers half the village and a lot of the outlying houses,’ Chrissie said. ‘Satnav’s not a lot of use once you get here. Do you have a contact number you could phone?’
‘It was stupid of us, but I didn’t think to ask for one. We’re supposed to be collecting some items I bought from them online. We’re already half an hour late, and they said they had to go out later.’
‘I’m not really sure I can help you, I’m afraid. All I can suggest is you try some of the other neighbours. They might have a better idea than I do. We’ve not been living here all that long.’
‘No one seems to be in. I imagine they’re all at work.’
Chrissie was beginning to tire of the conversation. The woman seemed to be willing her to come up with some magical solution to her problem, but Chrissie didn’t see how she could help. ‘I’m not sure what else you can do, to be honest. Have you tried looking online? You might find the name on one of the mapping apps.’
‘Perhaps you could have a word with Phil?’ The woman gestured towards the car. ‘I’m not very good at that sort of thing.’
Chrissie wasn’t entirely sure what sort of thing the woman had in mind. ‘I’m not exactly a computer whizz myself. I just meant that if you have a phone–’
‘It might be better to speak to Phil,’ the woman said. ‘I don’t understand this sort of stuff. Bit of an airhead where technology’s concerned.’
Chrissie looked at the woman in exasperation. She’d come across people like this before, hiding behind their own supposed ineptitude to avoid taking responsibility for anything. She also noted that Phil clearly had more sense than to expose himself to the pouring rain.
Even so, the last thing she wanted was to prolong this conversation. If it helped to move them along, perhaps it would be easiest for her to talk to Phil. She picked up the golfing-style umbrella they kept by the front door, and walked out to the car.
She was on the passenger side of the car and as she approached, the driver – presumably the mysterious Phil – pushed open the passenger door and leaned over to speak to her. ‘Can you help us?’
She ducked her head into the interior of the car. ‘I’m not sure I can. The house name does ring a vague bell, but I’m afraid I can’t recall where I’ve seen it.’
‘The satnav said it should be around here,’ Phil said plaintively.
‘I’ve just been explaining,’ Chrissie said. ‘Satnav’s not much use out here. Have you tried looking at an online map? You might find the name on there.’
The man picked up a phone which had been sitting on top of the dashboard. ‘That’s a thought.’ He pressed the screen, clearly going through the routine to open up an appropriate application.
Chrissie could feel the cold rain on her back, and she was growing stiff from bending awkwardly to peer into the car. ‘Look, I’d probably better leave you to it. I need to be–’
Phil held the phone out towards her. ‘Is that where we are?’
She peered at the screen, barely managing to suppress her frustration. ‘No, that’s the other end of the village. Hang on.’ Sick of leaning into the car, she climbed in and sat in the passenger seat beside him, intending to show him the correct position on the map.
Almost immediately, she realised her mistake. As soon as she was sitting, the umbrella was snatched from her hand and the car door slammed behind her. She reached for the handle, but the door wouldn’t open.
The rear door of the car opened and the woman climbed into the car behind her. The man had started the engine and, as soon as the rear door closed, he hit the accelerator and turned the car sharply round in the narrow driveway. A moment later, they were heading down the rough track at speed.
Chrissie opened her mouth to protest, but the man shot her a look that left her silenced. Behind her, the woman leaned forward over Chrissie’s shoulder. ‘If I were you,’ she said, ‘I’d put on my seat belt. We’ve a little way to go.’