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Of course it was already making the rounds. “She’ll be fine.”
Rina smiled. “Aye, I suppose she will. Back to work, boss.”
Relieved, I nodded. “Back to work.”
I walked out of the police station frustrated as fuck. The town was teeming with tourists and people from across the islands and west coast for the start of the Highland Games tomorrow, and Leth Sholas Police were trying to handle all that on top of Cameron’s case.
They didn’t want to tell me anything, but I convinced PC William to talk to me. He said they’d lost the perpetrator but to the annoyance of the hotel and B and B owners, they’d checked guest lists against their criminal database. Nothing. Nada. Zip. The attacker had disappeared for now. My deep worry was that it was a local. Someone we knew. I hated to think that anyone in Leth Sholas or on Glenvulin could terrorize someone like that.
Then I’d remembered Eoghan McCall, Liam’s father. He’d spray-painted a threat onto Cameron’s Defender two years ago when he returned briefly to the town. He’d targeted Cameron and Taran to get back at me and Quinn for his mistaken belief that we’d had something to do with Liam’s death. PC William said they’d already considered that and traced Eoghan to an intensive care unit in Inverness. The man was dying of kidney failure, so there was no way it was him.
As awful as it sounded, I was relieved to know we’d never have to worry about McCall again. I’d texted Quinn to update him as I walked to Main Street to grab a couple of coffees from Pages & Perks.
As I neared, Quinn and Cameron’s mum, Janice, stepped out of Leth Sholas Bakery & Tea Room. Janice McNulty had never been anything but kind to me when I was a boy. But as an outsider looking in, I’d observed their family dynamics and always thought she was a bit of a strange one. She clearly loved her children, but I’d never heard her say it. While she could be affectionate with Cameron, I’d sensed this distance between them that didn’t exist between Janice and Quinn. I’d thought part of it was that Cameron was shite at asking for help and support, but over the last few months with this whole Greig horror and then last night with the attack … Cameron hadn’t gone to her mum.
I didn’t want that for her, and I believed Janice wouldn’t want that either.
Her eyes lit up when she saw me. “Forde, how are you?”
Cameron got her height and blond good looks from her mum. While she and her husband Greg ran his family’s farm, Janice didn’t look like a cliché of a farmer’s wife. She was always well put together and her now silvery-blond hair was cut into a sharp, short hairstyle.
“Knackered,” I answered honestly as I came to a stop. “Are you on your way to see Cameron? She’s at Quinn’s.”
Janice’s brow furrowed. “No, I’m heading back to the farm. Cameron said she’s fine.”
My chin jerked back in shock at her blasé response. “Do you know what happened last night?”
Her eyes widened. “I know someone broke in.”
Agitated, my tone was harsh. “Well, if that isn’t enough to send you running to your daughter’s side, I’ll fill in the details. A man with a hunting knife broke into your daughter’s bedroom last night and she barely escaped. She currently can’t walk due to a gash on her foot from where she stepped on the glass from her smashed-in front door. But aye, Janice, she’s fine.”
At my contemptuous tone, she flushed angrily. “I can only go by what Cammie tells me, Forde, and she told me she’s fine.”
What the fuck? “And yet if it were my daughter, even if she’d told me she was fine, I’d realize that couldn’t possibly be true and run to her side. The fact that doing so didn’t even occur to you boggles my fucking mind, because if it happened to Quinn, you’d already be there.” I shook my head in disgust and stormed past.
26. Cameron
Seeing the ply board where pretty mottled glass had once been on my front door made me feel queasy. I was trying to put on a brave front as Taran let us into my house. On the crutches I got from the doctors, I swung in after my sister-in-law. Quinn had already been in to tidy up and put the boards over the door front. It had rained the day after the Highland Games and created a small pool at the entrance. Luckily, the flooring was tile at the front door and only some of the wooden boards around it had gotten wet. Not long enough to cause damage or warping.
My gaze moved over the room and except for the front door, it looked the same. Untouched.
It wasn’t.
It was tainted in a way you couldn’t see with your eyes.
My house had once been the safest haven, yet my legs shook as I leaned on the crutches. I’m scared to be here.
Taran rubbed her pregnant belly absentmindedly as she gazed around. “It all looks oka—” She cut off as her attention landed on me. Her brows pinched. “Cammie, you know you don’t have to stay here, right?”
“It’s fine.”
That’s what I’d been telling everyone for days. Mum, friends, my niece Heather. She was currently in France over the uni summer break, but she’d been texting me constantly these last few days after Quinn told her about the break-in.
“Tell that to your face and the crutches you’re white-knuckling. Asking for help doesn’t make you weak.”
“I didn’t say it did.” I rubbed my dry lips together nervously as I tried to convince my brain this was my home and where I needed to be. It didn’t work.
The past few nights at Quinn and Taran’s had been fine. I’d eventually fallen asleep in the guest room, secure in knowing my brother was just down the hall. But it was a fitful rest. Nothing like how it had been at Forde’s. I’d fallen asleep immediately with him next to me. Yet, I tried to convince myself that was due to exhaustion.
