Effie was on her way to answer the front door when she heard a distant cry followed by a clatter. She whipped open the front door to find her friend Robbie.
‘Hello,’ he said awkwardly. ‘I was just passing.’ He pointed up the very long private driveway, And—’
‘Quick, I heard someone scream and then a loud bang,’ said Effie almost dragging him inside and through the hotel. ‘I think something awful has happened. Perhaps a plane crash, some sort of natural disaster, or it could be the ghost soldiers from the Battle of Lochy risen up. Or maybe—’
She was interrupted by the hum of a mobility scooter. They heard the sound long before it appeared and blocked their way. Effie’s grandmother, Dolly, rode the scooter into the hallway like she was leading a charge of the clan. The elderly lady sat on the vehicle with her back ramrod straight, her white hair in a neat bun and a shawl draped nonchalantly over her shoulders. It looked like it should be flying behind her; that is, if she was to travel any faster than three miles an hour.
‘What are you two standing there for?’ asked Dolly in her thick local drawl.
‘You heard something too then?’ asked Robbie.
‘See! I didn’t imagine it. And before you say anything about last time, I’m still sure that was a bear.’ Effie stared him down.
‘Aye, I heard something all right and it wasny any animal I’ve ever heard of,’ said Dolly.
‘Could have been Janet,’ said Effie. An icy sensation trickled through her system at the name. She savoured it for a moment.
‘Hmm.’ Dolly seemed to ponder this. ‘I believe Janet is more of a wailer than a screamer. I’d wager that cry was the sound of the living.’
‘Maybe we should check they’re okay then,’ suggested Robbie pointing to the back of the hotel.
‘Aye, hop to it,’ said Dolly, but as Effie and Robbie went to walk through the doorway Dolly set off on the scooter, promptly blocking the way. They slow-walked behind Dolly as she trundled through to the back door. ‘Well, one of you will need to open it,’ said Dolly with a tut.
‘Sorry,’ said Effie trying to squeeze past the scooter and get to the door.
The weather was keen to join them inside as soon as the door was opened – although still mild for the time of year, the rain was unrelenting. The back portico provided a useful shelter for them to survey the backyard. At first the three of them saw nothing as they squinted into the darkness but as Effie turned her head to the right, she spotted something – or rather someone sitting on the ground.
‘There they are!’ she shouted, running towards them. This was the most excited she’d been since Dolly had upgraded her wheelchair. Not a lot happened in Glendormie.
When she reached them, she could see it was a young woman in her twenties who was absolutely soaked through. Effie crouched down and touched her arm.
‘You’re real. Not a ghost. I just needed to check.’ She looked her over and quickly noticed a mix of blood and rain trickling down her cheek. ‘My gosh, you’re injured. Robbie, it’s a girl and she’s hurt! Call the air ambulance.’
‘Oh no, no. I don’t need to go to hospital,’ said the woman blinking slowly as if trying to focus.
‘What hurts?’ asked Effie.
‘Everything,’ she said. ‘My head and ankle are doing the most throbbing. But I don’t think anything’s broken.’
‘Hold the air ambulance,’ called Effie feeling quite disappointed.
Robbie gave her a thumbs up.
‘I’ll get the first-aid kit,’ he shouted.
‘Bring her into the warm!’ called Dolly. ‘I can see from here she’s drookit.’
‘Come on, let’s get you inside,’ said Effie, trying to help the stranger to their feet. Whilst she didn’t like to see anyone hurt, she was beyond delighted to have a visitor.
*
Liv had heard the phrase ‘dazed and confused’ but never before had she fully understood what that felt like. She reached for her phone but it was no longer in her pocket. She glanced around but it was so dark she had no hope of finding it, and she was feeling a bit sick as her head was thumping so hard. The kind young woman helped her to her feet, and she instantly noticed one of her ankles was tender to stand on.
They made their way inside once an old lady on a scooter had very slowly reversed out of the way. Liv now found herself sitting on a chair in a wide hallway clad in dark wood panels, dotted with what she could only describe as odd items. Next to her, leaning against the wall, was a giant spear type thing and on her other side there was what looked like a stuffed giant turkey. High on the walls sat a variety of mounted deer heads, punctuated by an elaborate chandelier that appeared to be made from the antlers of another bunch of unfortunate wildlife. This wasn’t like any hotel she’d ever been in and definitely wasn’t the Travelodge.
‘Jings, did you hear the crash as she went down? She’s cracked her skull open!’ said the young woman. ‘What should we do, what should we do?’
‘Now what you need to do is calm down, Effie,’ said the older woman, inching her scooter closer and closer to Liv. ‘You’ve been watching too much Casualty. There’s some ice on the way for her bumps. She’ll soon be right,’ she added before turning to face Liv. ‘I’m Dolly. Can you hear me?’ she asked.
Liv nodded.
The young man who had gone to get the first-aid kit stepped forward. Liv looked him up and down. He was thin with a shock of dark hair and suspicious eyes. He wasn’t Fraser.
‘I want to know what she was doing around the back of the property. Very suspect behaviour. Do you think she’s a criminal or possibly a spy?’
Dolly backed the scooter up and she and the man had a not-so-hushed conversation. ‘Goodness, Robbie. She’ll not be a spy. Probably just a lost tourist.’
‘She’s wearing a boiler suit. Some sort of tradesperson perhaps?’
It’s a bloody jumpsuit, thought Liv defensively, but she wasn’t brave enough to voice it. Charlotte’s words floating into her mind – nobody knew her in Scotland; she could be whoever she wanted to be. She opened her mouth but thought better of it, and then the moment passed. Maybe she needed to build up to being brave and speaking her mind.
‘I’m Effie. What’s your name?’ The young woman loomed in front of Liv, making her pull her chin back and wince. The pain in her head was making it hard to function. Plus, she was so tired, and she knew she couldn’t give her real name. What if they knew Fraser? How could she explain what she was doing? Oh, I’m just snooping around so I can shout at a man who ghosted me – nope she couldn’t say that. Her addled brain had no answers.
‘Umm… err… Sorry, I can’t think straight,’ said Liv.
‘She’s taken an awful blow to the head. She’s probably concussed. She must have amnesia,’ said Effie, seeming quite excited at the prospect.
‘Do you know your name?’ asked Robbie, looking a little more concerned.
Liv shook her head. It wasn’t that she didn’t know it, obviously, but she really didn’t want to tell them.
‘See!’ said Effie. ‘That’s amnesia. I told you. Didn��t I?’
‘How about you track down Doc McLeod,’ said Dolly, wheeling over and narrowly missing the large spear thing. All Liv needed was for that to land on her head and she would be off to hospital – or possibly a shallow grave in the woods.
‘Okay.’ Effie dashed off.
‘Where’s the ice!’ shouted Dolly making Liv recoil.
‘Coming!’ called back a deep voice.
Dolly was quite close again. Her voice a gentle burble of accent.
‘Now, can you remember anything? Who you are? Why you’re here? How you got here?’
This was beyond awkward. Liv bit her lip and slowly shook her head. Once she felt okay to drive, she’d have to get the tyre sorted and just leave. Then she had a flash of something she did remember, and that she should definitely share.
‘Oh I remember what happened outside. I was attacked by this huge bull.’ She gestured with her hands so they could get an idea of the size of it. She didn’t want it attacking anyone else. ‘He had these massive horns. I thought it was going to gore me with them. It was the bull that knocked me off… um… over. He knocked me over and I must have banged my head.’ She looked to Dolly and Robbie for a response. What she wasn’t expecting was for them both to start laughing. A laughter that built up into belly laughs. Liv sat there soaking wet, with her head throbbing and her mind whirring. Were these people insane?
Effie returned and while she seemed to have an air of the dramatic, she did seem fairly normal.
‘What’s going on?’ asked Effie as Robbie was now holding on to Dolly’s scooter for support while clutching his side with the other hand.
He finally got his laughter under control.
‘She said she got attacked by a giant bull with big horns.’ That was all he could manage before he and Dolly cracked up again. This was weird.
‘Were both horns pointed in the same direction?’ asked Effie turning to Liv.
Probably the oddest question she’d ever been asked apart from someone who stopped her in town to ask if she’d seen any recent signs of alien life. Liv had to think back to the bull. She’d only caught a glimpse of her attacker and that had been enough to scare the life out of her. But now she thought about it the horn nearest her was slightly pointing up but the other not so much.
‘I don’t think so. Sort of one up and one down. What does that mean?’
Effie started to giggle. This was an epidemic. Liv shot her a look and Effie put her hand over her mouth.
‘Sorry. We’re not being mean. It’s just that it wasn’t a giant bull.’
‘It flaming well was,’ said Liv, feeling indignant. She might have banged her head but she knew what she saw. ‘It was right in front of me. I thought I was going to be a human kebab.’ This triggered another burst of laughter from Robbie and Dolly.
‘Actually I think you just met Ginger,’ said Effie.
‘What now?’ asked Liv starting to wonder if she’d taken a harder bang to the head than she thought and she was imagining all this madness.
Dolly cleared her throat and gave herself a shake to quell the laughter.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said gripping her shawl. ‘Ginger is a wee Highland cow, not much more than a calf, and she’s the gentlest soul you could ever hope to meet. Although she has no idea about how big she is, so sometimes she’s a bit…’
‘In ya face,’ added Effie. ‘It’s possible that she thinks she’s a dog. She loves to steal a bucket and kick it around the yard.’
Robbie nodded. ‘Like she’s playing centre forward for Rangers.’
Liv wasn’t sure what to make of all of this. A football-playing Highland cow – that was beyond weird.
‘Right,’ was all she could manage. When she thought her head couldn’t take any more, a door at the end of the hallway opened and out strode Fraser Douglas.