The House on the Shore (21 page)

Alistair cast his eyes on his schoolmate’s sleeve.
The button was different in s
ize and shape from its fellows.

“I’m better off than I was, but if
Pater
had taken the accountant’s advice, well, I’d be living your kind of life.”

Alistair waved away
Fin
’s invading stream of cigarette smoke.
“My kind of life…isn’t what you imagine.”

“It’s not?”

“And I was hoping you might be able to help me.”
Alistair looked over his shoulder at the adjacent table.
It was empty.
“I need to sell a few things and I was hoping you could
put me in touch with someone
suitable.”

“Dear boy, whatever are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the black market
.
”

“
What makes you think I woul
d know anyone in that despicable trade?”

Humiliated by the admission, Alistair lowered his gaze.
“Look
Fin
, say what you will, I know you have the connections.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.”

Fin
took a deep drag on his cigarette and released a long stream of smoke.
“Sorry to disappoint, dear friend, you can tell whatever you think to whomever you like.
Publish it in the papers for all I care.
Who knows
?
M
aybe it would be a good idea.
Then I could sue you for slander and collect a few pounds in the process.”

Alistair knotted his fingers.
“Don’t even think of suing me.
Think about what might happen if your precious family were to find out that it was really you who disposed of some of their most valuable pieces.”

“I see.”
Fin
raised an eyebrow.
“Now, that would pose a bit of a
problem
.
Might have to have you killed.”

“That would be doin
g me a favour.
”

“What are friends for?”
Fin
smiled, revealing perfect but yellowed teeth.
“Seriously, no more talk of lawsuits and violence.
How’s your sister?”

Alistair started to sweat.
“Not helping me, that’s how.”

“Oh, that’s sad.
Family’s supposed to stand by you,” he
said, laughing.
“
J
ust like my beloved clan has.
I’ll need another drink if we’re to continue talking about a business arrangement.”

Alistair waved over the barman, who refilled
Fin
’s glass, then di
sappeared into the dining room.

“
Fin
,” Alistair hissed.
“Help me.
Please.”

“N
ow that I think about it
,
I believe I do know a couple of gentlemen with the knowledge you require.
I think they prefer to call themselves fences.”

Alistair stirred uneasily in his chair.
“Fences?”

“Admittedly, low-class slang for those who buy and
re-sell property that has been
misappropriated, if you will.”

“It’s not been misappropriated.
It’s mine and I’m disposing of it as I see fit.”

“Well, then why not sell it at auction?
Why involve your poor dear old school chum?”

“Like you
Fin
, I’m just a bit short of cash at present.
I need to move quickly.
What do these fences charge?”

Fin
took out another cigarette, and regarded it as if it were more important than the subject of the conversation.
“It depends on the goods.
They have to be compensated for the risk they take.”

“I understand that.
You may as well know I’m under pressure from the Bank
.
It’s
threatening to freeze my account.”

“You don’t say.
Y
ou want to sell off the family silver, so you can meet its demands?
What a shame
,
that’s true.
I can help you
, a
nd
that’s a shame.
And
more’s the pity, Alistair, that you and I have sunk so very low.”

Alistair rubbed his jaw.
His knees shook.
He was sure his blood pressure was at an all time high.
“Yes, yes.
We’re both complete losers.
I admit it.
But we can help each other.
I’ll make it worth your while.”

“I should hope so.
The entire affair is quite beneath my station, you understand.”

Alistair swallowed hard and tried to conceal his anger.
“I’ll give you two
per cent
of whatever you
r associates
get for the items.”

“That sounds like a very small sum.”
Fin
tapped the ash from the end of his cigarette.
“
W
hat are they worth?”

“Twenty thousand
,
at the last valuation
,
b
ut I would hope to get more than that.”

“Sorry, no can do.
Five
per cent
and I might think about it.”

Sweat beaded on Alistair’s brow.
He couldn’t afford to go back to the estate empty handed.
“All right.
Five
per cent
, n
ot a penny more.”

Armstrong leaned back in his chair and studied his fingers.
“I’m tired of Glasgow.
I need a break.
Throw in a weekend in Paris, and seven
per cent
of what I get for your trinkets and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Armstrong.
You’d better not let me down.”

“Oh, no of course not,” smiled
Fin
.
“Now, shall we have a look at what’s on the menu?
I feel some escargot and champagne are in order
.
D
on’t you?”

Anna hadn’t seen Luke for two days, but every time she wrote about the dark-haired stranger in her book, he stole into her thoughts, making it impossible for
her to concentrate on her work.

“B
otheration!” she said to the dogs as she passed them on the way to the kitchen.
As a student, when she’d had trouble with an assignment
,
she’d found
a glass of wine helped order her thoug
hts
into coherency
.
Maybe it would do the trick tonight, she thought, as she uncorked the bottle
of wine left over from dinner.

She carried
her glass into the sitting room
and
placed it
on the table next to the sofa.
Balancing her laptop on her knee, she started to type.

For five days we journeyed through the long and lonely glens, leaving the hills of Knoydart far behind.
At night
we found shelter where we could,
but more often than not
we
slept under the stars with only b
racken and heather for our beds,
and our plaids for warmth.

Twice we came across a huddle of ruins where a village once stood.
Nearly every cottage had been burnt to the ground by unscrupulous factors and henchmen of the Laird.
Those inhabitants who remained were in a sorry state, being injured, old or too infir
m to travel with their families
who had already left for the coastal lands.
They had little food and shelter and no means of finding more.
I knew in my heart that they would not survive the winter.
Where the hardship was greatest—my husband—as I shyly came to call him—gave what money he could spare, but we knew it would not be sufficient to help these poor destitute souls.

On the morning of the sixth day, we entered a town and
procured lodging in a small inn,
not far from the quayside.
We ate a meagre supper before retiring to our
bedchamber
.
I shook with fear at the thought of
sharing the bed with my husband,
b
ut I need not have worried, for he did not touch me, other than to pull me into his arms for warmth.

As my eyes fell heavy with sleep a vision came to me.
I saw my village with its cluster of cottages, the smoke no longer rising from the chimneys.
Most of the houses lay in ruins, their roof timbers burnt and charred.
The women stood weeping, their shawls wrapped tightly around them against the bitter wind and driving rain.
The men sat in despair, for there was nothing they could do but accept their fate.
What few possessions they had were either burned or destroyed, and those that could be salvaged provided little comfort.
I saw the children clothed in rags, haggard and shivering from the cold.
There were no fires, no cook-pots of steaming broth.

I saw a people betrayed by a mast
er they’d served all their life
.

A glass and a half later,
Anna
gave up working on her manuscript.
Although more relaxed, she was no nearer getting Luke out of her mind than she had been an hour earlier.
Why did he have to turn up just as she was getting over Mark?
Why did he have to be so attractive?
His
sexy grin
sent her heart rate soaring every time he looked her way.
The man should come stamped with a health warning
.
S
he wasn’t completely sure that this woman back home wasn
’t
his
fiancée or wife
.

Stop—stop this nonsense
,
s
he told herself.
Luke
had a smile that would
melt the iciest of hearts
, but he was damned annoying too.
She took another sip of wine.
What was it about him that manage
d to keep her on the defensive?

She looked at the dogs.
“And a fat lot of help you two are!”
Their tails thumped in response, but neither moved from the rug in front of the
fire
.
“He’s your new best friend since
took you for a walk.
”
She leaned back into the sofa
and
took a sip from her glass
.
“At least he’s not blond like Mark.
I now offici
ally hate men with
blond hair.
”

Not quite sure how
to react when she next
saw Luke, she gave up thinking of men and him in particular.
U
nsteadily, she got to her feet and
reali
zed
she’d drunk way too much, and would pay for it in the morning with a ferocious hangover.
S
he turned out the light and
climbed
the steep stairs to
her
bed
room
.

Someone in
her
dream was knocking at the door
.

Only it wasn’t a dream.

In the hallway below, the dogs barked as if the devil was pounding at the door.
Anna bolted upright
and screamed.
Cold, icy sweat trickled down her back as h
er
heart beat erratically
.
H
er
breath caught in her throat
, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t gulp in air.
Panic like she’d never known before coursed through her veins.
She threw back the quilt and traced the line of the wall until her fingers closed around the heavy walking stick her grandmother always kept propped against it.
She slid one foot to the floor, then the other.
Every muscle in her body shook.
T
ip
toe
ing
out of the bedroom, carefully avoiding the squeaky floorboard on the landing,
she made her way downstairs.