Page 119 of A Scottish Country Escape

‘Dexter is a good person underneath all the gruff and bluster,’ assured Elsa. ‘And I’ve seen him with Nadia. He’s devoted to her.’ She flicked me a look. ‘And he has changed. For the better.’

Elsa offered me a small caring smile. ‘Elle has changed him.’

Linda didn’t say anything. She swivelled her attention from Elsa to me and back again.

‘Linda.’ Cameron, who had been observing our conversation, broke in.

She bit her bottom lip while she watched a blackbird hop along the top of the hedge outside her sitting room window. The silver crescent moon necklace was nestled against her freckled crêpey skin. ‘I was living in the Lake District before I returned here. My husband died. Things changed.’

We all offered our condolences, but Linda carried on. ‘I was in an unhappy marriage. Steven wasn’t a bad man, but he could be selfish and cold. He was a farmer and expected me to adapt to that way of life; to embrace it.’

She continued to fondle her pendant. ‘After Steven passed away, I knew I had to return here. Being married to him showed me what I would have had with Ross.’ She confessed that being free of her late husband meant that she’d felt able to come back and be close again to the man she still loved. ‘I even reverted back to my maiden name.’

She gazed down at Brando by her feet and then back up at the three of us. Her attention locked on to me.

She nodded as though convincing herself of something and cleared her throat. ‘Can you take me to him? Can you take me to see Dexter Grayling?’

Chapter Seventy-Five

It was the oddest collection of people I’d ever seen, piling into one car: a stationery shop owner; an art collector; the housekeeper of a crime writer; and an Italian lady with special powers.

Cameron made sure we were all settled before driving away from Linda’s cottage. The air in his car was expectant.

I was again sitting in the front passenger seat, while Elsa and Linda occupied the back.

To break the expectant silence, Cameron reached for his digital radio and clicked it on. I had already given him Dexter’s address at Hawk West Hall and he entered it into his sat-nav.

Hawk West Hall emerged on the screen, identified by a red dot. My stomach performed an impressive series of forward rolls.

I felt as if I had been awake for hours, despite it only being 11 a.m. I glanced over my shoulder a couple of times at Linda, but she didn’t appear to notice. She was too preoccupied, her misty green gaze boring into the back of Cameron’s groomed head.

Elsa shuffled uneasily beside her, making the odd remark about the countryside. Linda struggled to reply. She was clearly too busy fighting to comprehend the situation she now found herself in.

Cameron’s attention reverted to his backseat occupants. ‘I understand the nature reserve is up for development.’

I sighed. ‘Yes. Developers are planning to build lavish second homes on it for the townies.’

He shook his head, indicating right past a farm and down an avenue of burnished trees, weighted down with tiny red berries. It reminded me of Christmas. ‘I read an article about it in the national press. Isn’t Dexter Grayling supporting your cause?’

‘He is,’ I confirmed. ‘So too is Dean Ellwood, an up-and-coming folk singer, but it doesn’t seem to have made much of a difference.’

Cameron listened, drawing up at a set of traffic lights. They glowed green and we moved off again. The countryside glided past in an endless flow of dry-stone walls and frost-stirred fields, until the sign for the nature reserve materialised over the brow of the hill.

I turned my head to check on Linda, who recognised the area as the place where Ross and Cameron had raced. She swallowed and blinked out of the window.

I almost couldn’t bear to look out of the car window. Goodness knows how much longer the nature reserve would be there.

Hawk West Hall’s Rapunzel style turrets poked through the mish-mash of trees.

As we approached, Cameron examined his sat-nav screen. ‘That’s some area of land your Mr Grayling owns.’

The irony of Dexter being ‘My Mr Grayling’ was not lost on me. ‘It used to be the council offices.’

‘Of course it did,’ nodded Cameron. ‘I thought it seemed familiar.’

We got nearer and the sight of the tall iron gates made my heart swish. Cameron drew to a stop in front of the intercom and Elsa clambered out and entered the security code before resuming her seat again beside Linda.

Linda appreciated the impressive manor sprawling in all directions under the chilly morning. Elsa shot her a concerned, sideways glance. There was the sharp sound of buzzing and then the gates slid open to let us in.