Too Soon a Death: A Scottish mystery where cosy crime meets tartan noir: Borders Mysteries Book 2 (6 page)

As they strolled down the garden, she asked how long he’d known the Mackenzies.

‘Not long. I was over this morning, putting down an injured sheep, and Mrs Mackenzie invited me here tonight. It’s not really my sort of thing but I didn’t feel able to say no.’

‘They’re very persuasive, aren’t they? Kate’s a whirlwind, taking everyone with her. I find it easier not to argue unless she suggests something really outlandish.’

‘Which is why you’ve ended up stuck with me.’ Patrick smiled again. ‘I promise I won’t hang around any longer than you want me to.’

‘Oh no, I didn’t mean that,’ Zoe said hurriedly. ‘I’m not much of a party animal myself either. I’d far rather talk to one person than flit between groups of people trying to be witty.’

‘Look, there they are,’ Patrick said, pointing. ‘Peggy!’

Mac seemed keen to remain sniffing at the stone wall which marked the boundary between garden and field, but on seeing Peggy race away, he followed. Zoe looked at the tiny dog running towards them and for the first time noticed something unusual about her. As Peggy’s owner scooped her up into his arms, she asked, ‘What happened to her leg?’

‘Someone trod on her when she was a pup and by the time they turned up at the surgery, it couldn’t be saved. In fact, the owner wanted me to euthanise her but I refused. I could only get him to change his mind by offering to rehome her, although at the time I didn’t realise it was my own home she was destined for.’ The little dog started to squirm and he carefully lowered her back to the ground.

‘Doesn’t hold her back, does it?’ Zoe said.

‘Dogs and cats adjust remarkably well to the loss of a limb. I did wonder if having such a long body would make it more difficult for her to balance but as you can see, my concerns were unfounded.’

‘She’s adorable.’ Zoe looked around and nodded towards a wooden bench under a tree. ‘Do you mind if we sit down?’

Remembering Patrick had mentioned coming to Tolbyres earlier, when they were seated she asked, ‘Do sheep often injure themselves? There were some in the field behind me for a while and they never seemed to do anything but eat.’

‘Unfortunately this one had been attacked by something. A dog probably, larger and far less friendly than our two.’

‘How horrible.’

‘It happens more often than you’d think. In my opinion, some people aren’t fit to keep dogs but there’s no way to stop them. Better a sheep than a child, I suppose.’ Patrick pulled a biscuit from his pocket, broke it in half and fed the pieces to Mac and Peggy who then ran off again. ‘Sorry. I’ll climb down from my soapbox any minute now.’

‘No need to apologise for feeling passionate about something.’ Zoe looked towards the house. ‘I can see smoke billowing from the barbecues. The food must be on. We’d best be getting back.’

Rising, Patrick said, ‘It’s been nice chatting. I hope I haven’t set too many tongues wagging by monopolising you.’

‘I’m used to being the subject of gossip.’

‘I suppose you are. Can’t be easy, though, given what you went through last winter.’

Zoe froze. She’d hoped he was different, not pretending to be friendly in order to find out what had really happened.

‘Here.’ He offered his arm. When she didn’t take it, he let it drop to his side. ‘Sorry. I wasn’t suggesting you couldn’t get up on your own. I deal with lots of pregnant ladies but none of them human.’

He looked so genuinely contrite that Zoe said, ‘Try again.’ This time she took hold of his arm and used it to lever herself up. She was about to thank him when they were both distracted by loud shouts coming from near the farmhouse. One of the voices was Kate’s.

‘Sounds serious,’ Patrick said. They set off up the garden. When they reached the lawn nearest the house, numerous other guests had congregated there. All eyes were on Kate and the man she was berating. He wore rimless spectacles which he kept pushing back onto his face and occasionally held up his hands in submission. This was obviously failing to allay Kate’s anger.

‘How dare you come here unannounced!’

‘Please, Kate, can’t we go somewhere and talk this over like adults?’

Kate took a step towards the man and jabbed a forefinger at him. ‘You haven’t wanted to talk for years. Why start now?’

‘I’ve a right to see my kids.’

So this was Ken, the ex-husband Kate regularly spoke so disparagingly about.

As if on cue, Frankie appeared. ‘Dad?’

His grandmother, hitherto hidden behind a group of guests, pushed forward and took him gently by the shoulders and led him away. As if suddenly aware they had an audience, Kate dropped her hand to her side. ‘You’ve spoiled Mum and Dad’s party,’ she said more quietly. ‘Go away and come back tomorrow. I’ll see you at the cottage at eleven o’clock. Not a minute before.’

They both stood in silence as Ken seemed to consider if it was worth arguing further, then he turned on his heel and hurried away, nearly colliding with someone just arriving. Seeing who the latecomer was, Zoe wished Erskine Mather had turned up five minutes earlier. His presence might have prevented the confrontation.

She was surprised to see Mather here at all. Kate’s father made no secret of his disapproval of his daughter going out with a man who appeared unwilling to sever links with one woman before moving on to the next. Etta Mackenzie, on the other hand, was one of Mather’s staunchest defenders, giving him credit for being totally honest about the situation and saving her disapproval for the unknown wife who, despite not having provided him with any children, still felt she had a claim on him. As far as Zoe was concerned, she liked him and respected his abilities as a policeman, but having been instrumental in reintroducing the pair after they had spent many years apart, she hoped their relationship wouldn’t go horribly wrong.

Characteristically, the extent to which Mather had embraced casual clothes for the evening didn’t extend to the shorts worn by most of the other male guests aged under sixty. Instead, he had on crease-free cream chinos with a striped, short-sleeved shirt, but at least he’d forsaken his usual black patent-leather, lace-up brogues for a tan pair.

Far from having a pacifying effect, his arrival prompted Kate to protest noisily at her ex-husband’s audacity in gate-crashing the party. Mather responded with the slight downwards gesture with his left hand Zoe often saw him use to tell Kate she should lower her voice. However, on this occasion it didn’t work.

‘What did he expect? That I’d hand him a glass of Pimms and a burger?’

‘He may not have known there was a party going on,’ Mather said.

‘What about all the cars? Even Ken could have put them together with the fact it’s a sunny Saturday evening and realised Mum and Dad were entertaining. He gave up his right to just turn up the day he walked out and left me with three bairns to raise on my own.’

Mather looked around him, possibly seeking Etta. If anyone could calm Kate it was her mother, but she hadn’t returned from wherever she’d whisked Frankie away to. His eyes met and held Zoe’s, compelling her to join them.

‘Did you see what happened?’ Kate demanded as Zoe arrived next to her.

‘Yes,’ Zoe said. ‘Do you think you should find Frankie and the girls? They may be feeling a bit, well, confused.’ She feared she’d overstepped the mark, given her own lack of parenting experience, but Kate’s anger dissolved in an instant and she started to walk towards the house.

Mather remained with Zoe. ‘Thank you,’ he said.

‘Do you want to get a drink?’ she asked him. Patrick was hanging around as if waiting for her to join him again now all the fuss was over. It might be no bad thing that their tête-a-tête had been curtailed.

Crossing the lawn with Mather towards the drinks table, she noticed how many people acknowledged his arrival with a nod or the raising of a hand, yet no one came over to greet him. She wondered if this was a response to his being a policeman or married. Or maybe no one else had her advantage of knowing him well enough to realise his uncompromising demeanour masked considerable kindness and patience. After all, she’d only discovered this herself by spending more time with him than she would have chosen to.

As if to prove there was still a lot she didn’t know about him, Mather chose to drink Pimms. Zoe suppressed a smile as he led her to a table, carrying a glass with a straw and a sprig of mint poking out of it. They sat down, Mather considerately rejecting the upright chair in favour of a lower one she would have struggled to escape from when the time came to leave it.

‘Sorry about the mix-up yesterday,’ he said. ‘Dave Trent’s mortified you got caught up unnecessarily in the investigation.’

‘As I told him, it really wasn’t a problem. I’m a doctor, so I should be prepared for the occasional dead body.’

‘Even so.’ Mather took a sip from his glass. ‘You know what I’m trying to say, Zoe.’

It still felt weird when he addressed her by her first name, though less so than when she tried to use his. ‘Have you identified the dead boy yet?’

‘No. Early days of course, but it’s going to be a challenge, I think.’

‘But you’ll know now what killed him?’

The policeman gave her a look which could only have been sterner if he’d been peering over the rims of a pair of spectacles.

She spread her hands. ‘You can’t blame me for being interested.’

‘Leave it alone, Zoe. You’re not involved this time. I doubt anyone round here is.’

‘At least satisfy my professional curiosity.’

He continued to stare at her, saying nothing. She hoped his silence meant he was inwardly debating what to do, so there was a chance he would give in.

‘Because that’s all it is. Professional curiosity.’

He sighed and leaned towards her. And Kate chose this moment to reappear, her face still flushed but a lot calmer than she had been earlier. She positioned a chair to face both Zoe and Mather, and sat down.

‘Mum’s told me I should apologise to everyone for creating a scene. Erskine, you weren’t here to see it but, Zoe, I’m sorry I dragged you away from Patrick. You seemed to be getting on like a house on fire.’

‘Were you watching us?’

‘I couldn’t read your lips, if that’s what’s worrying you. But his body language did all the talking.’

‘You’re imagining things.’ Zoe patted her stomach. ‘Look at me.’

Kate shook her head. ‘Trust me, Patrick Dunin is looking past your bump. And it won’t be there much longer, will it?’

‘No, it’ll soon be a baby and then I’ll have all time in the world for a man in my life.’ Zoe smiled to reassure her friend she was joking, while also trying to think of a way to change the subject. In the end, Mather did this for her, by tapping Kate’s arm and rising from his seat.

‘We’d better get a move on if you’re going to say sorry to all your parents’ guests before they go home,’ he said.

‘We can’t leave Zoe sitting on her own.’

Despite a suspicion that his suggestion was more to do with avoiding further questioning from her than anything else, Zoe said, ‘I’ll be fine, really,’ and waved the couple away. She watched as Kate linked her arm through Mather’s and leaned into him as he led her towards a group of elderly ladies in floral dresses. Despite the difference in their heights, they looked like they belonged together.

The baby kicked. ‘I hear you,’ Zoe said. ‘Let’s go and get some food.’

The rest of the evening passed pleasantly enough, but just before ten o’clock, tired from driving to Moffat and back, and weary of endless baby talk from most of the people she chatted with, Zoe sought out Etta and Ranald Mackenzie to thank them for their hospitality. She found them in their enormous kitchen where, as usual, Kate’s mother was surrounded by food she had lovingly prepared for others. Ranald sat at the dining table with a small child asleep on his knee. He looked frailer than she had ever seen him.

Etta gave Zoe a hug. ‘I’m so glad you could make it. Kate said you were out all day so you must be tired.’

‘I am, a little. I don’t sleep well at the moment, what with this heat and being the size of a bus.’

‘I remember that feeling all too well. You mustn’t overdo things.’ Etta lifted a cool-bag from the kitchen unit behind her. ‘I made far too much food, so I’ve put a few bits and pieces in here for you. And half a dozen eggs.’

Zoe knew better than to protest. Losing her mother and being brought up by elderly, somewhat distant grandparents had made her self-reliant and unused to being fussed over. However, in the past few months her relationship with the older woman had developed in a way she would once have resisted: Etta treated her if not quite like a daughter, then a beloved niece. And Zoe took pleasure in this.

Clutching the cool-bag, she went back outside. The guests had thinned out now, the old and very young having departed for their beds, so she easily spotted Mac on the lawn curled up next to Peggy at Patrick’s feet. Patrick introduced her to the couple he was with and offered her his seat.

‘No thanks, I’m going home now.’ As if on cue, Mac rose and came to her side. She slipped the lead over his head, glad her dog wasn’t as low-slung as a dachshund.

‘I’ll walk you to your car,’ Patrick said, picking up the cool-bag.

They were passing the row of lavender bushes when Zoe heard someone call her name. She turned and saw Robbie hurrying towards them.

‘Can I visit you tomorrow morning before we go back to Edinburgh?’ he asked. ‘I’d be interested in seeing what’s been done to the cottage, if that’s alright with you.’

Zoe thought this a little strange but said, ‘Of course it is.’

They agreed on eleven o’clock, the exact time Kate would be meeting with her ex-husband.

SEVEN

Zoe gave up trying to get back to sleep at four in the morning. It was Sunday after all, so she made herself a pot of tea and returned to bed, accompanied this time by Mac. No longer permitted to spend the night with her, the dog flopped down with a contented sigh. He was more than a year old now and she hoped he would accept the presence of a small human in their home when the time came. She should maybe ask Patrick what, if anything, could be done to minimise the dog’s inevitable jealousy. This thought led to other, less welcome ones, like whether Kate was right about the vet’s interest in her and if so, how to handle him. Should she tackle the issue head-on and give him the just-good-friends option, or simply ignore it and wait to see what happened? Instead of reaching a decision, she leaned over for the book on her bedside cabinet.