Page 42 of The Scottish Island Inn

Was that true, though? She didn’t think that it was. It was a nice house, sure. But she’d never really felt the impetus to make it a beautiful and cosy home.

Thinking about homes made her remember the mysterious newspaper and ribbon she and Tam had found at the Inn, and Emma Gordon.

‘Remember that old newspaper we found?’ she said, as Tam drove along the curving roads that led along Loch Cluanie and then the Kyle of Lochalsh, before the main bridge back onto the island. ‘I was thinking. That woman, Emma Gordon. Why would someone hide that newspaper story about her in the basement of the Inn, with that knotted ribbon? Do you still think it was witchcraft?’

‘The ribbon? It might have been.’ Tam shrugged. ‘My grannie used to do things like that. Old charms to protect the house, bring in good luck, charms for weddings, babies, that kind of thing. I think string with knots in is made so that every knot tied secures the intention of the spell. So, it sort of intensifies the magic, or something. What intention the person who tied the knots in that ribbon had, I couldn’t say. Protection, maybe. Maybe that Emma Gordon was trying to protect herself. Or someone wanted to protect the Inn.’

‘Oh, really? I didn’t know your grannie was a witch.’ Sorrel turned to him as he drove along, secretly admiring the way that his muscular biceps and forearms flexed as he drove.

‘Ha. I don’t think she was, just, you know – she knew that kind of stuff. Old ways.’

‘Hm. You know, I had a look in the records room at the castle. I found this enigmatic bit of information about Emma. That she’d gone to the castle for lunch and dinner, with an MB. I presume that was a Balhennie, considering it was at the castle.’

‘Oh? Well, she was trying to swindle them out of money, right? So I guess that might have included lunches and whatnot, especially since she was posing as a wealthy woman. That’s not so out of the ordinary.’

Tam’s phone rang; he swore and peered out of the windscreen at the deep black cloud that covered the sky. Hailstones as big as golf balls began pummelling the car.

‘I have to take this. Hang on… I’m going to pull over. This is terrible, I can hardly see.’ Tam slowed the truck down and stopped on the grass verge at the side of the road. He put on the parking brake and answered the call. ‘Hi, Thomas.’

Sorrel recognised the name; it was one of Tam’s crew at the Inn. Tam listened intently, and then swore again. She watched the hail as it got harder, wondering how they were going to drive in it. She knew that they were a good hour or more from home, and that was in fine weather.

‘Right. Okay. Thanks for letting me know.’ He asked a few more questions and then ended the call.

‘What is it?’ Sorrel asked, looking at his expression with some trepidation.

‘The electrics. As predicted, they were shot, and Tom just put out an electrical fire that started with the rain. Somehow it got into the wiring and there was a massive explosion. It’s going to put us back weeks while it gets fixed. He says there’s fire damage now.’

‘Oh no!’ Sorrel exclaimed. The rain lashed against the car as if it was the sudden harbinger of disaster. ‘Is everyone safe?’

‘Yeah. It was in one of the bedrooms; no one was up there. But Tom says the whole upstairs is in a state now, and there’s smoke everywhere.’

‘Oh, god.’ Sorrel closed her eyes. ‘Just when we think we’re getting somewhere with the Inn, this happens.’ They’d had such a lovely day, but now it felt as if something out there was refusing to let nice things happen.

‘Damn.’ Sorrel jumped as a heavy hailstone hit the bonnet of the truck with a loud thump. ‘Do you think it’s going to smash the windscreen?’

‘Jeez. I hope not.’ Tam frowned. ‘It’ll blow over soon. Probably.’ He got out his phone and studied it for a minute. His expression darkened.

‘What is it now?’ Sorrel wrapped her arms around herself. Thunder cracked overhead. It was so loud that it sounded as if one of the nearby rocky hills was being split apart.

‘The weather says this has rolled in for a good while. It’s not passing anytime soon.’ Tam looked out of the truck window as lightning lit up the dark sky for a moment, and the heavily wooded land around them.

‘Oh no!’ Sorrel cast her eyes outside at the storm. The wind had come up to a gale and was buffeting the truck.

‘We should get off the road,’ Tam said. ‘According to the map, there’s a B&B a quarter of a mile ahead. I think I saw a sign for it.’ He screwed his face up into an apologetic expression. ‘I’m so sorry, Sorrel. I think the best plan would be to hole up there for a while until the storm passes. I’ve got all those chemicals and timber in the back of the truck. I don’t really want anything to happen to it. Hopefully the B&B has somewhere a bit sheltered I can put the truck. And a lounge, or bar, or something, so we can sit somewhere dry. What d’you think?’

Sorrel nodded. ‘I think we don’t have a lot of choice.’ She looked at her phone to see what her weather app said: it agreed. While she was looking, she saw that the notifications on the sister group chat were going wild.

Ugh. She put the phone back in her pocket. ‘Let’s go. At least we can get a coffee and use the bathroom there.’

‘Okay. What a day, eh? I feel like it all went wrong really suddenly. Out of the blue, on the turn of a hair, like my grannie used to say.’ Tam started the truck, pulling out carefully onto the road. They hadn’t seen another car go by; Sorrel supposed that everyone else had done what they had and pulled over to let the storm pass.

‘Yeah. I hope Mum and Dad are okay. I can imagine that they know about the explosion – they must have seen the smoke.’ Sorrel felt sorry for her parents; all of this must be so hard on them. They’d lived at the Inn and run it for so many years. It was like a part of them.

‘Yeah. Tom said they’re okay. A bit worried, but they were worried anyway. They’ll be fine.’ Tam put his hand on hers briefly as he drove, and then returned it to the steering wheel.

When they pulled into the drive for the Cluanie Bed and Breakfast, the storm was still raging. Thunder rolled across the mountains surrounding them, and lightning flashed like a blade, lighting up the dripping pines that surrounded the B&B.

It was a cute place: a large stone cottage that Sorrel thought had probably been extended at some point in its history.