Chapter Five
As soon as she was out of the long drive, Clem pulled the car to the side of the road and took a deep breath. She got out of the car and jumped about a bit, swinging her arms and trying to flex out some of her temper. It was stupid to drive angry and Clem was raging. She had screwed up her first meeting, but she didn’t feel like she was entirely to blame. Miss Farano had been rude to her, then lied to her and finally she had been rude about her mother. Clem could quite happily push her off one of the battlements. She felt her anger boiling up again and she paced backwards and forwards along the empty road. There was no pavement and she was in her Manolos, so couldn’t step on to the grass verge. One of the joys of having a successful model for a kid sister meant that Paddy was always keeping an eye out for bargains for her from end-of-season catwalks and runway shows. Just because they were cheap, though, didn’t mean she didn’t treasure them and she certainly couldn’t justify ruining them, hiking across the Scottish wilderness.
Looking down at the pretty orange and pink floret on the toe of her shoe, she tried to envisage a Manolo hiking boot. Grinning to herself she took a deep breath. She needed to go and find some pavements and civilisation, coffee on IV and some inspiration.
Once back in her car, she was surprised by how far away the satnav was suggesting it was to civilisation, even when she selected the direct route. But she headed off and soon the road began to rise. Wherever she looked she was treated to glorious views, the tension receding from her shoulders and neck. As she summited a hill she saw a collection of tall stones, standing in a circle just by the side of the road. She pulled into a layby and went to have a look. Stepping down onto the tarmac, she was surprised to see the puddles on the side of the road were actually iced over and indeed there was still snow in the dips in the land. She had considered removing her shoes to walk over to the stones, but the ground was frozen hard and her heels didn’t sink. It was freezing up here but beautifully still. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and wherever she looked all Clem could see was countryside. Apart from the road she stood on, and the stone circle, there wasn’t another man-made thing in sight.
She zipped up her coat and tip-toed over to the stones, picking her way through small clumps of bare heather. Below, the land swept away to a collection of lochs dotted throughout with small islands. Behind her in the distance was a run of mountains shining white in the sun. As she listened, all she could hear was her own breath and a large bird calling out overhead. She looked up and followed its wide wings as it floated high up in the blue. She wondered if it could see her. Did it care? Turning to return to the car, she froze as a pair of deer walked across the land about fifty metres away from her. She took a step towards them but, noticing her, they changed direction and disappeared as quickly as they arrived. Clem stood still for a few minutes longer, hoping that they might return, but gradually her nose told her she’d been standing in the cold for too long. Back in the warmth of the car, she giggled quietly to herself.
All her concerns had simply melted away, Symeon was a backstabbing arsehole but that was done. She had learnt a harsh lesson but it was behind her. She had enough skills and talent to start over and she had enough self-worth to not feel ground down. The old woman in the castle was a ball ache but that was also okay: she could either get in line or leave.
Up here, in the cold fresh air and the huge sky with only deer and eagles watching her, Clem felt a sense of total calm. She still had a thousand and one ideas running through her head but now they were more like children playing in a ballpark, than hornets in a jam jar.
Driving off, the road continued through the open moor and Clem realised that she might need to change how she used her satnav in the mountains. She was confident that this massive Range Rover could handle all conditions, but maybe she needed to have a few lessons herself before she ever got stuck up here. Eventually, the road began to widen and drop down into a valley; for at least fifteen miles she hadn’t passed a single car or seen any houses. The isolation was incredible and she realised just how totally relaxed and happy that had made her feel. Was there something funny about the air up here? She was a London girl through and through but somehow she felt at home. She had finally found somewhere where she didn’t feel hemmed in. A landscape that was large enough for her personality, and she felt liberated.
She was still in awe of seeing those two magnificent deer on the hillside. Until that moment, she had thought that deer were just an overused fashion motif, but up there amongst the wilderness she realised that they were an intrinsic part of the countryside, not simply this season’s must-have fad. Clem was about as down-to-earth as you could get but something up there on the hills had moved her.
Pondering what that meant, she decided she needed a cup of coffee; admittedly, she probably drank too much anyway but today was not the day to go cold turkey. Ari had sent her up here to do a job and storming off was not going to get it done. She’d head back to the castle and start the property inspection, but first, coffee.
Checking the satnav, she was appalled by how much further she had to go to get to a Starbucks. Where the hell was she? Deciding that she’d typed it in wrong, she tried voice control. Ever since she was little she had struggled with her letters. She was probably dyslexic, but her school wasn’t very hot on that and right from an early age she had been bright enough to work around the problem. She could read okay, but when the text became too much she would get Ari to lend a hand or get the twins to “practise” their reading. Clem laughed remembering the occasions when it was like the blind leading the blind. Throughout the year, she would get through her lessons and homework to an adequate level, but would always collapse at exams. It was a sad fact that most dyslexic children couldn’t see that their ability to adapt and mask their issues was an incredible achievement in itself. They simply judged themselves by a system that said if you had trouble reading you weren’t clever.
Her folks never cared, saying that not everyone could be good at everything and would encourage her in her sewing and art. By the time she sat her GCSEs, she flunked the lot, but then her folks dying the previous month hadn’t helped.
School had taken pity on their sassy, argumentative pupil and offered her re-sits with an exemption certificate, but she told them to do one and walked out of the school for good.
Now she used voice control and asked the satnav for coffee using her nicest voice. It had no effect: there still appeared to be no coffee nearby.
‘Bollocks!’
‘Right,’ she muttered to herself, ‘call Ari.’
She sat back and listened to a bird singing high above her whilst she waited for the phone to connect her to the lovely comforting voice of her big sister.
‘Hello you. I was about to call. How’s it going?’
Clem laughed, feeling instantly better.
‘I’m fine although there’s no sodding coffee and I appear to be in the middle of nowhere and can’t find a shop or a café for miles. And I mean miles!’
Ari groaned sympathetically.
‘If it gets that bad I’ll post you some! So tell me more about this housekeeper.’
And Clem went on to tell her about the run-in with Miss Farano.
‘And she’s been paying them all out of her own pocket?’
‘Yep.’
‘Jesus, Uncle David’s actions just keep rippling out. Okay, let me speak to Mr Fanshawe and see where we stand with that. I can’t imagine any of them are currently protected legally. Has she been paying their pension contributions?’
‘I have no idea. We didn’t get into that. We had a big old row and I stormed out.’
Clem listened but Ari had fallen silent. She knew she was trying not to be critical, but Clem losing her temper was something of an unhelpful pattern.
‘She slagged off Mum.’
‘She did what?’
‘Said she’d heard all about her and it was no wonder I was like I was.’
‘Bitch.’
‘Totally. Do you remember my old geography teacher?’
‘Miss Ferguson? God she was a nasty piece of work.’
‘This woman makes her look like Mother Teresa.’
‘Oh Clemmie, I am sorry. What a nightmare. Do you want me to come up?’
Clem paused, of course she wanted Ari to come up. They were always there for each other and had pulled each other through some very dark times. But this wasn’t one of them. This was time for her to pull on her big girl pants.
‘No, I’ve got this. But I will need guidance about how we are going to sort out the staff situation. I don’t want them to lose their jobs, but I don’t think she should be paying their wages either.’
‘Agreed. Still, you have to admit it is a nice thing of her to do. I wonder why, if she’s so nasty?’
‘Maybe they’re all blackmailing her? Maybe she feels she owes them for being so horrible all these years? God I can’t imagine how awful she must be as a boss.’
‘All right, look, let me go and get on the phone to Mr Fanshawe. I’ll call you back as soon as I’ve had some advice. In the meantime, stay out of her way and find some coffee. Love you.’
As she hung up, Clem smiled and turned the car around. She could do this. She would head back to the castle and start to unpack. Coffee would have to wait.