Page 76 of A Secret Scottish Escape

“It looks that way,” Dad had agreed, “but I’m trying not to think about it too much.”

Now, I squinted upwards as Dad and Alec raised the sign between them and angled it this way and that.

I knew I was playing a very dangerous game, but despite Dad repeatedly telling me to make it public knowledge that Battalion would not now be appearing on opening night, I’d resisted.

I wasn’t about to give up. Not yet. I had unofficially put another rock band from Fife on standby, just in case they were needed, but I refused to think like that for now. I still had a couple of weeks left to try and reason with Ed.

The boathouse was now painted in a glossy butterscotch, with the exception of the new window frames and doorway. I’d opted for an azure blue for these, to create a brightly coloured beach-hut effect, to tie in with the name.

The sparkling new windows reflected the spearing trees and craggy hillsides. The jetty, now slicked in matching paint, stretched out like a wooden carpet to the edge of the loch.

“Maybe just left a little please, Dad,” I called up to them. “Alec, would you mind maybe nudging the sign a fraction to the right please?”

I watched, trying to conceal my amusement, while Dad rolled his eyes good naturedly and Alec attempted to conceal his growing frustration.

Alec and Dad heaved sighs of relief when I thrust my thumb up at them. “That’s it! That’s perfect.”

Alec finished securing the banner with several thumps of the hammer protruding out of his back pocket, and then he and Dad clambered down their respective ladders.

Alec dashed his dusty hands down the front of his paint-splattered khaki shorts. “Thanks for having a word with Heather. She hasn’t transformed into a bookworm overnight but she’s definitely making more of an effort.”

“Not a problem,” I smiled. “She’s a sweet girl.”

Alec plucked his mobile phone out of his other pocket and gave it a couple of idle jabs. “That she is – unless anyone dares to criticise that Mask character.”

“Oh, I think parents and teenagers often have disagreements about music.”

Alec frowned at his mobile screen and pushed it back into his pocket. “It wasn’t me she had a recent slanging match with about him. It was some stranger in the village.”

I stared at him, intrigued. “Was it a woman, by any chance?”

Alec nodded. “Yes, it was. According to Norrie and Clem, our Heather gave her a right mouthful, ’cos she dared to say this Mask guy should be driven out of town.”

Dad frowned over at me, searching for a reaction.

“Do you know who she was, Alec?” I asked. “This woman, I mean?”

“Lord knows. Heather said she’s never seen her before but that she must be a tourist as she had an Australian accent.”

It was too much of a coincidence. It must be the same person who had been asking in the tourist office about him.

“What did this woman actually say?” I pushed, my curiosity fired up on all cylinders.

Alec made his way across the grass towards the car park and picnic area, where his transit van was sitting underneath a canopy of trees. “Heather said she asked her what she knew about him moving to Loch Harris. Then she started going on about him being a right nasty piece of work, capable of all sorts.”

Dad and I swapped charged glances.

“Did she elaborate?” asked Dad.

Alec raised his bushy eyebrows up to the sky, which was becoming stippled with clouds. “I don’t think she got the chance with our Heather.”

We waved Alec off with our grateful thanks as his van disappeared. I turned to look at my father.

“You need to concentrate on your new business,” he said. “I know that look, Layla.”

“What look?”

“That one,” he warned. “It’s admirable that you care about other people – even when they do behave like insensitive cretins. But did you hear what Alec said? That woman accused this Mask of being dangerous.”