Beth glanced at the clock. She had a quick job to do at the RNLI station in Lamlash. Two of the crew were receiving long-service awards and she needed to get a couple of photos and some words from them. She sincerely hoped that they wouldn’t get called out in this weather. The conditions looked horrific, and Laura had been right, all the ferries were cancelled until later the following day at the earliest. She quickly printed out some information she thought would be handy for Daisy, pulled on her coat and then ran upstairs to the flat, raiding her emergency chocolate stash. Then she made the journey round to Lamlash, her windscreen wipers barely clearing the rain as itbattered down. There was a reason that the roads were empty. Everyone was staying indoors, which was what she should have done too. Just as she drove down the hill towards the village, her phone rang.
‘Hey Beth, it’s Grant from the RNLI.’
‘I’m just on my way round Grant. Should be there in a few minutes.’
‘Ah, sorry Beth. I was calling to ask if we can postpone. George can’t get down, the road from his cottage is flooded. I’m sorry if you’re already on the way. We were looking forward to meeting you in person.’
‘Of course. Don’t worry. I’ve another errand to do anyway. I’ll call you and rearrange?’
‘Ideal,’ said Grant. ‘Don’t stay out too long though. It’s only set to get worse.’
‘I won’t. Thanks Grant.’
‘Cheers,’ he said ending the call.
Beth shrugged. She was out anyway, so she may as well do what she had planned to. Then she could get back to the flat and hibernate.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Beth knocked on the large red door of the cottage, realising her knuckles were sore and frozen with the cold wind. As she admired the large Christmas wreath on the door, she felt herself shaking slightly. She wasn’t sure if it was nerves or if she was getting a chill. The road through Lamlash had been fairly treacherous — she’d almost turned back. She could hear a dog bark, and then a few moments later Callum opened the door, a look of surprise on his face.
‘Beth . . . what are you doing here? Is everything okay?’ He looked beyond her, as though looking for someone else. ‘I was going to head over sooner rather than later before the weather got any worse.’
Beth looked at him confused. ‘I hope you don’t mind, but I just wanted to drop of some bits and pieces for Daisy.’ Now she wondered if this had been such a good idea. ‘I was out in the area anyway and passing . . .’
He frowned, shaking his head. ‘But I don’t understand, Daisy should be with you at the office studying. Why are you here? And where is she?’
That caught her completely unaware — she hesitated, unsure what to say. She felt herself tremble when she saw the worry etched on his face. Much as she didn’t want to land Daisy in trouble if she had just wanted to skive off their study session, she had to tell him the truth. WhatwasDaisy up to? Where was she?
‘She texted me a couple of hours ago to say she wasn’t feeling well and she wouldn’t make it to our session, asked if we could do it another time. I just assumed she had the flu that’s been doing the rounds.’
‘Look come on in,’ he said. ‘It’s Baltic out there. I don’t want you to freeze.’ He ushered her into a hallway that was littered with shoes. ‘Let me try and get to the bottom of this.’
She carefully removed her mud-splattered wellies at the door, then he led her through to the kitchen with a huge oak table and white painted walls. Beth patted the beautiful Labrador who slowly got out of her bed by the fire and greeted her with her a wag of her tail.
‘This is Ruby,’ said Callum distractedly. He was looking at the clock and had his mobile clamped to his ear. ‘It’s just going to her answer machine.’
‘If she was leaving school she would have left by now?’
He nodded. ‘Yes, the bus would have dropped her off at the end of the road.’
‘And she’s been at school all day?’
‘Yes, she went away this morning quite the thing, though she didn’t eat much of her breakfast now that I think about it.’ He ran his hand over his jaw. ‘This isn’t like her. The thought of her being out in that . . .’ he gestured to the window ‘. . . it isn’t good at all.’ He exhaled loudly. ‘What time did she text you?’
Beth looked at her phone and showed him the message. ‘Just after one.’
‘Think,’ he said, more to himself than Beth. ‘Where would she be?’
‘Any friends you could try?’ Beth watched as he found the contacts on his phone and pressed call. ‘Damn,’ he said angrily. ‘There’s no reception. Honestly, this bloody weather.’
Beth winced and pulling out her phone, saw she had a couple of bars. ‘Here, let’s try mine. Tell me the number.’ She quickly typed as he spoke, waited for it to connect, then shook her head. ‘It’s switched off. Who is it?’
‘Her friend Zola.’
‘Any others?’
He looked desperate as his eyes widened with worry. ‘She’s been a bit out of sorts lately. I should have made more effort to find out what’s been up with her.’
