Amelia was fuming. She had underestimated Liv, and now she needed to get away from Orkney before her past crimes caught up with her. Running away from Freya’s, she crossed over fields to the back road into Kirkwall and ordered a cab that dropped her off close to Jack and Delima’s house in Hoxa. She knew they hadn’t turned up at the party, and vaguely remembered they were away on some half-arsed animal rescue mission, so wouldn’t be at home, and hopefully wouldn’t have heard anything about what had happened.
She needed to buy some time and work out an escape plan. The door was answered by a young English girl. She looked wild-eyed and harassed and peered at Amelia, saying fretfully, “Can I help you?”
Amelia gave her most dazzling smile and made a stab at an Orkney accent. “I’m a friend of Jack and Delima’s.” The girl looked relieved. “I thought you looked familiar. It’s Evie, isn’t it?”
Seeing an opportunity to jump on her confusion, Amelia lied smoothly. “That’s right. I don’t think we’ve met properly, though.”
“I’m Caroline, one of the new volunteers at the sanctuary. You’ve probably heard they are all away on Sanday, trying to save the whales that beached there.” Amelia had no idea what she was going on about and cared even less, but was relieved to hear that, as she had suspected, Jack and Delima were far away.
The young girl looked stricken. “It’s just so awful. We don’t know whether we can do anything but everyone is trying so hard.”
Amelia played along, giving an exaggerated frown of concern. “Oh I know, it’s just such a tragedy. They mentioned you were here taking care of the children, and I thought I’d pop by and check you were OK.”
Caroline rolled her eyes, “Well of course I wanted to go with them to help, but someone had to look after the animals in the sanctuary, and those two of course, but they are a right handful. I’m at my wits’ end.”
“Oh you poor thing” said Amelia, with a sympathetic pout. “Why don’t I look after them for you, at least for a little while, and you can get a break or catch up with the animals?”
Caroline looked at her hopefully, “Do you mean it? I really do need to pop down to the sanctuary. The baby seals need feeding and monitoring, and there’s so much work I need to do there.” She rattled on, “I was just trying to get the kids ready to come down with me but it’s like herding cats. I’ve put them both in their cots but they keep yelling at me. Then the phone kept ringing downstairs and I couldn’t answer because they won’t do a thing I tell them, and I must have changed Hari’s nappy a hundred times.” She made a gagging noise. “It’s so gross.”
“Well, give them to me then. They love their aunty Evie.” Caroline blushed and said uncomfortably, “Do you mind if Ijust check with Delima? I don’t want to get into trouble. She can be quite scary.”
Amelia grinned tightly. “Well, now, haven’t they chosen the right person to help them out. I think it’s admirable to be so very conscientious. Do give Delima a call. Meanwhile, I will pop upstairs and give Ola and Hari a cuddle.”
Caroline rang Delima’s mobile. “What’s up?” she answered tersely.
“Your friend Evie has just come round and says she wants to look after Ola and Hari. Is that OK? Only I’ve got so much to do at the sanctuary.”
“Of course it is,” said Delima impatiently. Despite Evie’s recent strange behaviour and that bizarre row with everyone, Delima knew how much she loved the kids.
“Look, Caroline, it’s pretty bad here so I need to go. Tell Evie thanks and she might have to stay overnight. She won’t mind. She’s done it before for us.”
Amelia, successfully pretending to be Evie, waved a relieved Caroline off and told her she’d make Ola and Hari their tea later, and put them to bed, and was happy to stay the night, so there was no need for her to come back.
Caroline almost ran down to the sanctuary by the shoreline, vowing never ever to have children. She had no idea they were such hard work. Give her baby seals and otters any day.
Chapter Fifty
Sanday
Delima put her phone away. She was cold and anxious. They were losing the battle to save the whales and the weather was threatening to take a turn for the worse. She was so relieved Evie was there. Caroline was a nice girl, but she was a bit useless, and Delima had been worried about leaving the children with her for more than a few hours.
She was about to shout over to Jack that Ola and Hari were in safe hands, but he was in the middle of an interview with Norman Macleod from STV’sNorth Tonight. The story had gone viral all over the world, which was a double-edged sword. It meant more people were aware of what was going on and wanted to help, but Jack was tripping over all sorts of well-meaning media and volunteers who were getting in the way.
Delima looked at the beautiful creatures slowly suffocating on the beach and felt like weeping again. It was more than likely one of the whales had become sick and the others had rallied round and tried to help, finding themselves trapped in shallow water. They would be lucky to save any of them but they had to keep on trying.
Delima consoled herself that at least she didn’t have to worry about her precious babies back at home as Evie would be taking good care of them.
Amelia settled herself in Delima and Jack’s cosy kitchen. It was deliberately designed to look old-fashioned, but everything, including the huge lilac Aga, was brand new. There was underfloor heating and the massive wooden table had been artistically distressed.
Although it was spotless, the kitchen was also the proper heart of the house, with comfy mismatched chairs around the table, colourful pottery on the windowsills and posters of Singapore on the walls.
The massive fridge had snaps of all the rescued seals and otters stuck to the door, and the room smelled of fresh bread and home-cooked meals. The spice rack covered an entire wall and there were recipe books stacked up on every shelf. It was usually a place of comfort and solace, but with Amelia squatting there like a malevolent toad, the atmosphere had turned rank with menace.
She had already snapped at Ola for being noisy and made the little girl cry. Baby Hari was lying on the floor in a dirty nappy and grizzling fretfully, but Amelia wasn’t going to be changing him any time soon no matter how much he whined.
She had to consider her options. The last plane and ferry off the islands were long gone, so she decided to stay here in the warmth overnight then somehow get back to the mainland in the morning.
Before fleeing Freya’s house, Amelia had grabbed her handbag with her passport, credit cards and keys to her London flat. The rest of her stuff could be left behind, she just needed to put as much distance as possible between herself and Orkney.
