Too Soon a Death: A Scottish mystery where cosy crime meets tartan noir: Borders Mysteries Book 2 (33 page)

Peggy ruined Zoe’s plan to let Patrick sleep on by racing back indoors and jumping up to lick his face. He stirred, groaned, and put a hand down to stroke the small dog.

‘I’ll make you a cup of tea,’ Zoe said. While she stood in the kitchen waiting for the kettle to boil, she heard the toilet flush and when she turned round with their mugs of tea she saw Patrick standing at the door. His hair and beard looked unkempt and his clothes were rumpled, but at least he was standing up straight, which he hadn’t been able to do the previous evening.

‘Hello,’ she said. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘The pain’s subsided a lot, though my legs have stiffened up during the night. Thanks for keeping me company. I don’t know how I would’ve coped on my own. How much sleep did you get in the chair?’

‘It was more comfortable than I expected. But I’ll have to go home soon. Today’s Monday, remember? I’m taking a surgery at ten.’

‘Don’t suppose I’ll be able to work for a couple of days. Getting anywhere’s going to be the tricky part.’

Zoe walked through to the lounge, Patrick following. ‘Do you think you can sit up to drink your tea?’ she asked.

‘I’ll try.’ He perched on the edge of the sofa and grimaced. ‘Ouch. But I couldn’t do this last night, so it’s already an improvement.’

‘You might not manage to walk Peggy today, so I’ll come back after work and take her out with Mac, if you like.’

‘Maybe I should argue with you, but I’m not going to. Do you want to leave Mac here till then? It’ll take the pressure off me having to amuse Peggy.’

‘Okay, it’s a deal. I can make you some toast before I go, if you like?’

‘No, but you could feed the dogs. I don’t know about yours, but mine won’t settle for a minute if she doesn’t get her breakfast on time.’

Zoe’s mobile rang just as she was putting two bowls of dogfood down on the kitchen floor and telling Mac not to steal Peggy’s. The call came from the Mackenzies’ landline.

‘Thank goodness you’re alright,’ Etta said. ‘Erskine told us yesterday evening what had happened and when I couldn’t get hold of you at Keeper’s Cottage last night or this morning I was starting to worry. I suppose you had an early night and you’re walking the dog now.’

‘I’m fine, really, although it was a horrible experience. Did you know poor Patrick was injured?’

‘That’s another reason I wanted to speak to you. We haven’t got his home number.’

‘I have his mobile.’ Zoe called the number up and read it out to Etta.

‘Thank you. Were you planning to go and see Kate today?’

‘I’d like to.’

‘She’s not in Intensive Care any longer, thank goodness. With luck they’ll let her out in a couple of days. In the meantime . . .’ Etta’s voice trailed off.

‘You’d rather I didn’t mention finding the cannabis factory?’

‘Sergeant Trent told you the house belongs to Robert, didn’t he?’

‘Only because he didn’t want me to blurt something out before he got to speak to Robbie about it. Has he done that now?’

‘No, he can’t.’ Etta’s voice wavered.

‘Why not?’ Zoe asked, dreading the answer.

‘They’ve gone away on a last-minute holiday, and Robert’s not answering his mobile. He’s probably turned it off to be sure of getting some peace and quiet.’

From what Zoe had heard from Kate and seen for herself, Robbie wasn’t the sort of person to cut himself off from work, no matter where he went. But she could hear the worry in his mother’s voice, so she said, ‘I’m sure you’re right.’

‘Robert would never have knowingly allowed one of his properties to be used for drugs, but unfortunately Erskine says they can’t confirm this with the man who attacked you because he hasn’t woken up yet.’

Zoe hadn’t watched or listened to the news since getting home from the hospital. ‘I didn’t know he was so badly injured.’

‘He deserved whatever you and Patrick did to him. You were defending yourselves.’

The hand Zoe was extending towards her mug of tea froze in mid-air. Was that what people believed had happened? ‘I . . . I can’t really talk about it.’

‘Of course. I’m sorry for even mentioning it. Are you sure you’re feeling well enough to drive over to the BGH yet again?’

‘You know me, never happier than when I’m behind the wheel of a car.’

Etta Mackenzie rang off after urging Zoe to start taking it easy now the baby’s birth was just a few weeks away. Zoe leaned back in the chair and groaned.

‘What’s wrong?’ Patrick asked.

‘The good news is you’ll get a call soon from the Mackenzies and Etta’s almost certain to send round more food than you can eat in a week.’

‘And the bad news?’

‘The man from the house hasn’t regained consciousness.’

‘Should we care what happens to him?’

‘People have assumed you and I were the ones who hurt him.’

‘The police know otherwise.’

‘Yes, but they’re not saying publicly what happened, presumably because there’s a young person involved.’

‘He was going to kill us. I don’t mind if the world and his wife think I was the one who hit that criminal on the head. Even if he dies.’

‘I do,’ Zoe said.

It took a few seconds for Patrick’s puzzled expression to change to one of embarrassment. He must have remembered their exchange of confidences during the night. ‘I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.’

‘It’s alright. The truth’ll come out soon enough and people will know I’m not some sort of avenging angel.’ She got up. ‘I’d best be going. I’ll need to shower before I go to work. Are you sure you can manage on your own till I get back?’

‘I’ll probably have to go back to lying on my stomach but that’s no great hardship.’

‘Consider yourself lucky you’re not heavily pregnant.’

Zoe’s forlorn hope that her involvement in the previous day’s newsworthy events hadn’t got out was dashed as soon as she entered the health centre. Margaret rushed from behind the reception desk to hug her. ‘I’m so glad you’re alright. Doctor Paul wasn’t sure if you’d be coming in today but I knew you would’ve told us by now if you couldn’t.’

‘Thanks, I’m fine. Just a little shaken.’

‘How’s Patrick?’

Despite Margaret’s fondness for animals, her husband’s allergies meant the couple were unable to keep any pets, something she often reflected sadly on when hearing about Mac’s latest exploit. ‘I didn’t know you knew him,’ Zoe said. ‘He’s not a patient here, is he?’

‘He’s a friend of Hector’s. I’ve never met him.’

‘Well, you can tell Hector that Patrick is going to be okay. He’s at home, though he was injured and won’t be able to work for a few days.’

‘He was lucky you were there to look after him.’

‘I’m not sure if he’d agree with you. I got us into that situation.’

‘Now you mustn’t blame yourself, Doctor Zoe. There are some nasty people going about, even in the Borders, aren’t there?’

‘You’re right, unfortunately.’

‘They said on the news this morning a whole gang of criminals was working out of that house.’

‘We only saw one of them. Which was enough.’

‘My Hector says it’ll be the Russian mafia behind it.’

‘I wouldn’t know about that. Anyway, have you got a busy morning lined up for me?’

‘There’s one less patient than there should be. We’ve just had notification that Mr Griffiths was taken into the BGH last night.’

‘Oh dear.’ Zoe remembered the elderly man’s persistent cough and wondered if she should have done more. ‘Let me know when you hear how he is, won’t you?’

‘I will. And Doctor Paul said to tell you he’d be in before you finish surgery because he needs to see you.’

Zoe moved off towards her consulting room, wondering if the Walter situation had been resolved at last. An hour later, halfway through surgery, she remembered a saying Russell used to trot out if she came home complaining about having had a rotten day: ‘Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you.’ The bear definitely had the upper hand today. Every patient so far had been uncooperative if not downright stroppy, expecting Zoe to identify and offer instant relief from whatever troubled them and blaming her if this didn’t happen. One young man had launched into a tirade against the NHS for being kept waiting for three minutes past his appointment time, while a mother of six-month-old twins had accused Zoe of thinking she knew it all because she was pregnant herself.

Realising tiredness, an aching back and the after-effects of the previous day’s shocks were all contributing to a lower than usual tolerance for bad behaviour, she used the ten minutes which would have been Mr Griffiths’ appointment to do her breathing exercises. When the time came to collect the next patient, she felt more able to cope, although this didn’t stop her from wishing the whole thing was over and she could go home.

Home? Fat chance
.
She had to go back to check on Patrick, walk the dogs, then drive over to the hospital. Again. If Etta hadn’t phoned and Kate hadn’t been expecting her visit, she would have cried off. Still, Kate would be out in a few days, and things could get back to normal.

She scolded herself as soon as she had this thought. Kate’s life wouldn’t be back to normal for a long time. The least she could do was willingly visit her friend in hospital.

Paul appeared at her door soon after her final patient had left.

‘My dear, how are you feeling?’ he asked as he entered the room. ‘Should you even be at work?’

‘I’m fine, although if I’d known what a demanding bunch this morning’s patients were going to be, I might have been tempted to stay at home.’

‘Some days are like that. And then you’ll find another surgery is filled with the most charming people who hang on your every word and apologise to you if their prescriptions didn’t work.’

Zoe slumped back in her chair and stared at the ceiling.

Paul reached across the desk and patted her hand. ‘If you don’t mind me saying, you look exhausted.’

‘I stayed over to look after Patrick last night. Slept in his armchair.’

‘Was he badly hurt? The news is still very sketchy about what actually went on. They seem more interested in reporting the street value of the drugs you found.’

Zoe gave him a brief outline of the previous day’s events in a matter-of-fact fashion, even though her heart started racing as she got to the part where they were at the mercy of Cheek-studs. ‘It remains to be seen if that boy is connected with the dead boy pulled from the Tweed, although I can’t believe he isn’t. I really want to see that particular mystery solved.’

‘I had no idea how much danger you’d been in. The man unconscious in hospital is the one who attacked you?’

‘Yes. I refuse to think about what would have happened if the boy hadn’t taken a swing at him with Patrick’s bolt cutters. Anyway, he did, and we’re all safe.’

‘Where is he now?’

‘With Children’s Services, I expect. It’s not like the police have arrested him. He’s a victim too, poor little thing.’

Paul nodded but said nothing, giving Zoe the opportunity to change the subject. ‘Any developments in the Walter situation?’ she asked.

‘That’s one of the reasons I wanted to speak to you. He called me last night at home to say he’s backing down from his demands, as long as we don’t expect him to work out any notice.’

Tears welled up in Zoe’s eyes. She told herself they had a lot to do with the events of the past twenty-four hours. Or maybe for the first time she was allowing herself to admit how much she wanted the practice partnership.

‘Oh dear,’ Paul said. ‘Have you changed your mind? Maybe I should have checked first before springing this on you.’

‘Not in the slightest. I’m happy. And relieved.’ Zoe took a tissue out of the box she kept on her desk for patients and dabbed at her eyes. ‘I have no idea why I’m crying.’

‘You need to go home and get some rest.’

‘I can’t. I said I’d check on Patrick once I’ve finished here, and then I have to go over to the BGH to visit Kate. She’s out of Intensive Care, thank goodness.’

Pulling his chair closer to the desk between them, Paul said, ‘I’m just a silly old man but I’m a doctor too. And if you were my patient I would sign you off work with immediate effect. You’re doing far too much, not to mention the shock you received yesterday. Zoe, you must slow down—for both your sakes.’

‘I know. But now Walter’s gone, I can’t possibly stop working yet. And I feel fine, honestly.’

‘That’s the other thing I had to tell you. I’ve found a locum to cover your maternity leave. She can start as soon as we need her and stay till you’re ready to come back.’

Embarrassed at the tears which started to course down her cheeks again, Zoe smiled, unable to speak.

FORTY

Once it kicked in, the Jeep’s air-conditioning kept Zoe blissfully cool as she drove to Borders General Hospital on Monday afternoon. She and Patrick had agreed it was far too hot for both her and the dogs to go out walking in the middle of the day, so she had left Mac panting on the floor next to Peggy after promising to exercise them both when she returned. Patrick had regained some of his colour but still moved awkwardly, although he’d felt well enough to prepare them ham sandwiches for lunch.

Looking for ways to stave off the boredom of a journey she had taken several times in the past ten days, she tried to retrace Constable Reid’s cross-country route the previous day. At one point she thought she’d lost her way, but then recognised what the policewoman had told her was Hume Castle, an imposing ruin high up on a hill surrounded by a cornfield edged with poppies. What cheerful, resilient little flowers they were.

Although it wasn’t yet time to make the disclosure, she practiced different ways of breaking the news to Kate about meeting and getting to know Andrew. Her friend would initially be resentful of being kept in the dark about something so important, but Kate’s affection for her own family and her reliance upon them for support meant any pique would quickly be replaced by happiness for Zoe. And intense curiosity, of course.

Today’s scenic route felt a lot slower but actually only added five minutes onto her journey. With the summer holiday season well underway, the car park was a lot emptier than usual and she found a space immediately, albeit nowhere near any shade. At the hospital’s automatic doors, she became aware of flashing lights approaching but forced herself not to turn and stare at the ambulance bearing another poor soul whose life had suddenly taken a turn for the worse.