When they pulled into the layby at the bottom of his hill, Lachlan unbuckled and jumped out almost before the car had stopped moving.
‘Calm down, now,’ Meredith chided him. ‘Don’t start doing anything stupid.’
‘Sorry.’ Lachlan fidgeted as he waited for her to disentangle from her own seatbelt. Seeing the handful of other cars parked nearby reminded him that Meredith had been busy when he’d called. ‘Were there many people in the café? I hope it wasn’t too much trouble to leave.’
‘Oh, no.’ Meredith slammed her door shut, slinging a heavy purple handbag over one arm. ‘A few regulars and a handful of tourists. I said I’d forgotten I had a hair appointment and told them all to get out.’
Lachlan’s hands went still as he ran over that sentence again. ‘You told them to what?’
‘To get out.’
‘You said that tocustomers?’
Meredith smiled brightly. ‘Honey, if you or Cam call me in trouble then you better believe I’m not going to wait on good manners to come help you.’
‘I—Okay. We’ll talk about this later. Let’s go find Cam.’
Not for the first time, Lachlan questioned his decision to let Meredith help run The Lucky Teapot in his absence. She’d begun dabbling behind the counter during the weeks when Lachlan lived at the Walker cottage in Glencoe, while he waited for the upper floor of The Lucky Teapot to be rebuilt after the fire. It was a two-hour drive between Glencoe and Loch Ness, and although Meredith was happy to ferry Lachlan each way, she needed some distraction in the hours between.
Lachlan still wasn’t exactly sure what Meredith’s usual line of work entailed (Cam had sheepishly explained once that it had something to do with crystals, incense, and a massage course she’d completed online) but he’d accepted her confident assertion that serving hot drinks and cake was perfectly within her wheelhouse. Allowing her behind the counter meant Lachlan could see more of Cam outside the Teapot, and diverted Meredith from drawing his patrons into innocent but incessant discussions about the perils of mid-life dating and the healing properties of purple amethyst.
On the way up the hill, they crossed paths with Donald and Helen, two of the Teapot’s regulars. The couple were playing fetch with their scruffy brown terrier. Helen waved cheerfully. ‘Hello Lachlan, good to see you! That was a quick one, Meredith. Your hair looks lovely.’
‘What?’ Meredith gave her a confused look before guiltily running a hand over her bleached blonde hair. ‘Oh, hair appointment. Yes, just a quick cut. Nothing special.’
‘Are you reopening?’ Donald asked hopefully. ‘Only I’d have liked to have finished my cup of tea. And the fruit scone.’
Lachlan groaned inwardly. Had Meredith literally kicked everyone out in the middle of their lunch? ‘I’m sorry Donald,’ he said, ‘but I think we’ll need to stay closed this afternoon. How about I owe you both a meal the next time you’re in?’
‘Oh, no need. You seem awfully busy lately.’ Donald sighed wistfully. ‘It was a good scone, though.’
‘You’ll let us know if you need any help, won’t you?’ Helen said, tipping Lachlan a slightly worried smile. Her gaze flicked to Meredith; it held a mixture of amusement and puzzlement, and Lachlan couldn’t blame her for wondering at his choice of staff.
‘Of course,’ he replied. He couldn’t stop himself from asking, ‘Have you seen Cam, at all?’
‘I’m afraid not, dear. Is he well? It’s a while since we last saw him in the café.’
‘He’s got a lot on his plate right now,’ Lachlan said, trying not to squirm as he sensed her about to follow up with more questions. He didn’t want to be drawn into a full conversation right now, especially when Cam might be waiting for him at the top of the hill with a Redcap stuck on his back.
Luckily, she was diverted by the muffled yipping of their terrier, who was enthusiastically begging on hind legs with a large branch in its mouth. ‘Oh, good find, Poppy! Well, you let Cam know we’re thinking of him.’ She picked up the stick being offered by the excited pooch and flung it far down the hill.
Lachlan watched the little dog bound gleefully over the heather and silently thanked Poppy for the distraction. ‘Shall do. Take care of yourselves. And do join us for another scone tomorrow.’
Assuming we’re open,he added to himself, chewing over the worry that Cam’s Redcap problem might take more than a day to solve.
He near sprinted the rest of the way up the hill—then went back to take Meredith’s handbag off her.
‘Thanks,’ she puffed, doing her best to jog up the slope. ‘Cam will be there, hon. I’m sure of it.’
‘Me too,’ Lachlan said, noticing the tremble of Meredith’s bottom lip. He wasn’t actually so sure, himself. A heavy coil of apprehension wound tighter in his gut with each step. He hated watching Cam ripped away from him—and knowing there was no way he could follow. Previously, Lachlan would have shifted into his Nessie form and dived after him, scoured every inch of Loch Ness until he could be sure Cam was safe, witnesses be damned.
His fears were confirmed when they reached The Lucky Teapot and found all the windows still dark inside. Lachlan tried both front and back doors to find they were locked, while Meredith called Cam’s name.
‘He’s not here,’ Lachlan finally said.
‘Where else would he go?’ A spark of anger entered Meredith’s voice. One of her defence mechanisms, Lachlan observed. When Meredith got overly worried, she got angry about it. ‘Heknowswe’d come looking for him here first. Why isn’t he here?’
Lachlan was already striding back down the hill. ‘He must still be in the loch.’
