Page 83 of A Scottish Island Summer

Chapter Twenty-One

The woman squinted over her shoulder, back at Portree Library. ‘You’re looking for the Skye Lovers’ Cross?’

Campbell nodded. ‘Do you have any information about the cross?’

The woman looked conflicted all of a sudden, her gaze uncertain under her layered, dark blonde hair. ‘Yes. No. I mean, I think I might.’

She started to move away from the library’s entrance and beckoned to the three of us to follow. ‘I’d rather not talk here though, if you don’t mind. You don’t know who could be listening and I don’t trust Gabriel Jamieson to tell me the right time.’

Logan flexed one brow at me.

‘I’m Ava Fairlie,’ the woman continued, hitching her black and gold shoulder bag higher up her shoulder as she walked. ‘I live just round the corner.’

Ava, who I estimated to be in her late fifties, persisted in delivering cautious looks everywhere as she guided us back to her house.

‘Do either of you know her?’ I whispered to Logan and Campbell as they strode either side of me.

‘I’ve seen her around, but never spoken to her,’ said Logan. ‘I don’t know absolutely every single person on Skye, despite what you might think.’

Ava led us around the corner and past a bijou cashmere shop and another selling picture frames and greeting cards.

Ava creaked open her garden gate, which took us up a path towards her cottage and blush pink front door. The flower beds on either side of us were erupting with heather and daffodils that waggled their heads in the gentle breeze. It was finally starting to feel a bit like spring on Skye.

Ava unlocked her front door and quickly ushered the three of us inside as though we were participating in some covert operation.

The air in her polished hallway smelled of fresh laundry and the wooden floor gleamed, contrasting nicely with the navy and cream swirly patterned carpet of the sitting room off to the right.

Ava encouraged us along the hall and passed framed landscaped pictures into her lounge.

It was small but cosy, with plenty of potted plants erupting from ceramic pots. It felt more like an arboretum than a sitting room.

‘Would you like tea or coffee?’ she asked, hovering on the spot and clasping and unclasping her hands.

We thanked her but politely declined, so she took up residence on one of her apple green armchairs, while Logan, Campbell and I sat down beside each other on the matching sofa opposite.

Ava had removed her swinging camel coat and kept rubbing the knees of her black, flared trousers. ‘I hope you don’t think I was eavesdropping,’ she blurted, her almond-shaped eyes appealing to us. ‘But I couldn’t help but overhear what was being said.’

She pulled at the right cuff of her dark, stripey top. ‘I go to the library a lot. I’m studying for an Open University degree course.’

‘Oh, that’s great,’ enthused Logan. ‘What are you studying?’

‘Botany.’ Ava smiled, signalling to her leafy surroundings and looking a little embarrassed. ‘I felt like I needed to occupy my time after I lost Lennox a couple of years ago. He was my husband.’

‘We’re very sorry,’ I said with a gentle smile.

‘Thank you.’

Ava fell silent for a moment and then recovered herself and resumed speaking. ‘So, like I said, I go to the library a lot. I find I’m more productive there and can focus better on my studies. Too many distractions at home.’

I noticed her fiddle with the simple gold wedding band on her left hand. ‘What that cunning old bugger Gabriel Jamieson said to you just now … well, he’s lying. Pure and simple.’

‘Lying about what?’ asked Campbell, looking puzzled from where he was sandwiched between me and Logan. I was glad of the space, as any time any part of Logan’s body came anywhere near me, my blood pressure threatened to go through the roof.

Ava lowered her voice again. ‘The Skye Lovers’ Cross. Or, at least, he’s pretending he’s not interested in it.’ She shifted forward in her armchair. ‘If he was so ambivalent about it, why is he always looking up information about it online?’

‘How do you know that?’ asked Campbell, his rich, cultivated voice full of intrigue.

‘Because I saw him with my own eyes. I’d been searching for a particular book to read as part of my course but couldn’t find it, so I went up to the library desk to ask him for help.’ Ava’s expression became more animated as she spoke. ‘Unfortunately, the other librarian, Sheena McLure, was out on her lunch break. She’s a lovely lady. Anyway, I approached the desk and Gabriel was tapping away on his computer, with his back to me, so I could see the computer screen over his shoulder and he was reading up about the history of it. He’d no idea I was standing there.’