Chapter 31
David’s hand clasped hers as he led the way. They walked past a swirl of dancing bodies, heading in the direction of a long trestle table covered by various tartan tablecloths that didn’t match. She could see cakes, and nibbles, and a mobile café serving hot drinks.
Robyn wanted to dance. Watching the couples, she was sure she could get the hang of the steps, but she wondered how David, with his bad knee, would fare. She hadn’t seen him limping, but then she wondered if the pain and stiffness, if that was what he suffered from, came and went, hence the need for a walking stick at times. Maybe dancing was not a good idea. Before the music began, someone in the ceilidh band had announced the dance; it was called Strip the Willow . The first dance of the evening hadn’t turned out to be a slow dance at all. It was a very lively dance, with people forming two lines, turning to face each other, and then weaving in and out to the fast-paced music.
Robyn loved it. It appeared really fun. People were laughing, having a great time. She looked at David, who was still holding her hand and leading her through the crowd of people in the centre of the village. She wouldn’t blame him if he’d just come up with an excuse to avoid the dance; he had said there was something important he wanted to do first. It all sounded rather mysterious, so Robyn went along with it.
They stopped just before the table, behind a small group of people huddled together in the cold with their backs to them. David gave Robyn a nervous smile before he tapped a tall, greying man on the shoulder.
The man turned, his smile fading when he saw the couple. Robyn watched him looked her up and down as though appraising her, without even so much as a hello . Then he looked at David.
David said, ‘This is Ro … Rob …’ He swallowed. ‘Robyn.’ He breathed out.
Robyn glanced up at David in surprise. Had she just heard him stutter?
She looked back at the stranger, waiting for introductions. None were forthcoming . Who was he? Whoever he was, David clearly wanted to introduce her. She held out her hand, and said, ‘Hi.’
He took her hand; reluctantly, it seemed. His large square hand enveloped hers, and inexplicably, Robyn suddenly felt trapped. She wanted him to let go right away and had the impulse to pull away. What suddenly came to mind was the notion of someone holding her hand – not like David did, gently, but instead squeezing her hand, making it hurt.
She hoped to goodness that it wasn’t a memory, because if it was, then she’d rather her memories didn’t come back.
The handshake was perfunctory. She drew her hand back, relieved. Then the man turned his back on them, barely acknowledging her presence.
Robyn frowned at his back. He hadn’t shown her the courtesy of introducing himself.
She looked at David, who was also staring at the guy’s back, frowning. He was trying to speak, moving his lips, but he couldn’t seem to get the words out.
‘David,’ Robyn pleaded in a whisper. She was feeling embarrassed. ‘David!’ She hissed. That got his attention. ‘Let’s go.’ She took his hand and pulled him away from that horrible man. Through the crowd, she spotted another area with wooden trestle tables, and a pop-up café in a little caravan on the other side of the village square.
They stopped in the queue for the mobile café.
‘Who was that?’ Robyn asked as she turned her attention to blackboard propped up beside the trestle table, with a list of drinks and snacks available.
‘What can I get you?’
Robyn turned to find that the queue had disappeared. With three people serving inside the tiny caravan, the service was quick. She looked up at the rosy-cheeked young woman behind the counter, who didn’t look old enough to be serving drinks.
‘I’ll have a hot chocolate.’
She turned to ask David what he wanted, but he appeared preoccupied. ‘David, the lady wants to know what you want. Would you like a hot chocolate too?’
He shook his head, still looking preoccupied.
The young woman leaned across the counter, staring at David. ‘Something stronger for the cute guy, then?’
Robyn frowned at her. She looked sixteen – if that. The two people serving, a middle-aged couple, whom she resembled, were obviously her parents.
‘Just something alcoholic,’ said David.
Robyn raised her eyebrows. ‘Oh, okay.’ She turned to look at the young girl and discovered the middle-aged woman had stepped in, pointing at the girl to serve someone else. The lady smiled at Robyn. ‘My daughter can’t serve alcohol – she’s only fifteen. So, what’ll it be?’
David wasn’t being very communicative, so Robyn shrugged. ‘A draught beer, or a cheap shot, please,’ she said, without thinking, raising her eyebrows, wondering where that had come from.
The lady shook her head. ‘Um, sounds like something you’d buy in a sleazy bar.’ She smiled. ‘No offence.’
Robyn felt the colour rising in her cheeks.
‘Now, what we’ve got are cans of cider, bottles of beer – not a cheap one, I might add – or wine by the glass.’
Robyn glanced at David. He still looked preoccupied. ‘David?’
‘Hmm?’
‘What do you want to drink?’
‘Oh, right. Just a beer.’ He paid for the drinks.
Robyn watched the lady take the cap off the beer and pour a hot chocolate into a takeaway mug.
Robyn thanked the lady for her hot chocolate, warming her hands on the takeaway cup as she took a sip. It tasted delicious. She picked up the beer to hand to David. She carefully turned so as not to bump into anyone in the queue behind her and spill the drinks.
‘So, who was the guy we met over there – was that your dad?’ She looked up, expecting David to be right behind her, but instead she looked straight into the face of a stranger.
‘Sorry, I thought you were someone else.’ Robyn gave the young man a wisp of a smile before scanning the crowd, looking for David. She couldn’t see him anywhere.
‘Where did he go?’ she said under her breath. Her forehead creased into a frown. Not only had David introduced her to someone who had virtually insulted her, but now he had left her standing on her own with the drinks.
‘I see we’ve both lost our partners.’ Robyn turned back to the young man, who was trying to strike up a conversation again. She hoped he was not trying to chat her up. He held up his two drinks. Robyn looked down at hers. ‘Oh, I see.’ She smiled more genuinely this time.
‘Is he a local?’ the guy asked.
‘Huh?’
‘The guy you’re with.’
She stared at him, thinking that it was a strange question.
‘Oh, excuse me – I’m a police officer. I’m not on duty this evening, but I do know pretty much everyone in town.’
‘You do?’ Robyn began to relax. ‘The guy I’m with is David,’ she said, raising her voice.
‘David what?’
‘Gillespie.’ Robyn shouted back. She thought it was kind of the off-duty policeman to help find him, although looking at the huge crowd of people, she didn’t know how. ‘I doubt you could find anyone in this crowd.’
He moved closer, so neither of them had to shout above the music. He was big-built and broad-shouldered. If you had to have someone to protect you, then this would be your guy, Robyn thought. But protect you from what? Robyn had no idea where these strange thoughts were coming from. She looked into his soft, pale eyes, and his kind, concerned expression.
He raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you Robyn?’
Robyn looked at him nervously. ‘How do you know my name?’ She thought it must be the bandage that had given her away. He was a police officer, and she imagined he was aware of the car accident on Christmas Day, and those involved.
There was something she’d been avoiding, putting it to the back of her mind. That morning, when she’d been searching through her things to find something else suitable to wear for the Hogmanay party, she’d been stunned to discover an awful lot of cash in the bottom of her rucksack. She wished she hadn’t found it. She’d been so shocked at what she’d discovered that she’d tried to forget about it; to pretend it wasn’t there. Now she wondered what she’d done, and what or whom she might have been fleeing from on Christmas Day.
Was it stolen? That possibility had occurred to her. It was a wonder the police hadn’t discovered it among her things when they’d retrieved them from the car. But they would have, if only they’d taken out all the clothes, for there at the bottom of the bag were some wads of cash carefully wrapped in cellophane to keep the notes in neat little piles. Of course, she’d attempted to innocently explain it away to herself, but the last thing she needed was some small-town police officer looking into her past, and discovering something she’d rather the law didn’t know about her – let alone something she didn’t want to discover about herself.
The other thing that had been bothering her was that she might not turn out to be at all what she appeared to be – kind, helpful, sincere. Was it possible to go through a complete personality change on top of losing your memory after a head injury?
She had wanted to visit the public library in town earlier on to find out more about David and the accident that had ended his career. She had also wanted to do something else – to look at old newspapers and see if there was mention of a theft from a house or a shop over Christmas. A large theft, judging by the wads of notes in the bag. Local law enforcement was bound to be on the lookout for anyone who had stolen that amount of cash – if it had been reported. But in the event, she had been unable to go. Gayle’s neighbour had been out, so there had been no one to keep an eye on her mum while they drove into town. And now she was standing in front of a police officer, wondering what he was going to say next.
What a fool I am to think I could just turn up at a big social do like this and think I wouldn’t run into the law , she thought . And that was the other thing – what if she ran into someone who recognised her – not the kind, empathetic Robyn, but one who might have stolen all that cash, and quite possibly was involved with some shady people.
Robyn frowned, wishing she could stop thinking such thoughts. If only she hadn’t found that money …
Robyn looked at the hot chocolate in one hand, and David’s cold beer in the other, and lifted the bottle to take a swig. It was frothy, making her throat tickle as she swallowed the cold liquid. She lowered the bottle and coughed.
‘I’m Joe.’ She watched him put one of the drinks he was carrying down on the nearby table and hold out his hand.
‘Oh.’ Robyn hastily put the hot chocolate down on the table. She was keeping hold of the bottle of beer. They shook hands. Robyn wondered what was going on with all the formal introductions tonight. Didn’t anyone just say hi around there?
He smiled as he spoke. ‘You don’t have a clue who I am, do you?’
‘Yes, I do. You just said you’re a police officer.’ And you’re about to arrest me , she thought.
She picked up the bottle and took several gulps of David’s drink. Within seconds, the bottle was empty. ‘Just one moment …’ Robyn held up a finger in front of Joe. She turned around, and stepped back up to the mobile café. The queue had disappeared. They were the only ones standing there. ‘I’ll have another of whatever this was.’ She put the bottle down in front of the middle-aged lady.
‘All right.’
Robyn watched the lady reach over to a tall glass cabinet, presumably a fridge of some sort, and get out a bottle of beer. She undid the top and placed it in front of Robyn.
Robyn took it.
‘Um excuse me … sorry, but we’re not running a free bar.’
Robyn had just put the bottle to her lips. ‘Oh, of course.’ She’d forgotten that without David around, she’d actually have to pay for it herself. She stole a glance at Joe as she lowered the bottle. Well, this was beyond awkward. If he hadn’t intended to arrest her for stealing, he would now.
‘Cash or card?’ the lady asked.
A nervous laugh escaped her. She wasn’t exactly short of cash. Would the lady believe her if she said she had wads of cash, just not on her. Oh, and she had a passbook full of money, and a nice fat cheque, but she couldn’t find a bank yet where she could withdraw the cash.
She was staring at the bottle, wondering what to say, when Joe said, ‘Here, let me get that. And another one for me, too.’
‘Thank you,’ said the lady, and got out another beer.
Joe picked it up. ‘Now, where were we?’ he said, turning to Robyn.
She said in a small voice, ‘You were about to arrest me for not paying for the beer.’
He threw his head back and laughed. ‘I told you, I’m off duty,’ he said, swigging from his bottle. ‘Honestly, where is that brother of mine? I can’t believe he ditched his pretty date.’
Robyn looked at him, wide-eyed. Did he just say he was David’s brother? She couldn’t see the resemblance, but there was something familiar about his voice. She cocked her head. ‘You’re David’s brother?’
‘One and only.’ He looked at her. ‘I’m guessing you didn’t know he had a brother – much less one who’s an officer of the law.’
‘You’re guessing right.’ Robyn took a sip of beer, aware that she really should save it for David. But he wasn’t there. As his brother had said, he’d ditched his date.
She looked at the bottle, looked at David’s brother, and thought what the heck . She might as well keep the bottle and spend the evening in his brother’s company instead. At least she had someone to talk to.