Chapter Fourteen
Clem opened her eyes and stretched. As her limbs pushed out into cold sections of sheets she grinned and snuggled back in again. Today was going to be a good day; she had loads to do and had finally, after four nights, had a great sleep. After breakfast she was going to go and find her necklace and all would be well.
Yesterday, she had spent a few hours lying down, waiting for the headache to pass and had eventually got up and unloaded the shopping. Thankfully, the freezing temperatures had meant nothing in the car had spoilt. She stocked the kitchen and then took the electric blanket up to her bedroom.
Having called Ari and secured a loan for her business, she had then placed a call to upgrade the castle’s internet access and had finally gone to bed. She hadn’t seen a soul the whole time.
Pulling out her clothes from underneath the covers, she slipped into them and ran across the cold room to the bathroom. Placing her clothes in the bed was an old trick she had learnt as a young girl. There was nothing worse than trying to struggle into a cold pair of jeans or putting on a freezing cold bra. Grabbing the woolly socks and a jumper, she headed downstairs for a coffee and a fry up. She realised that apart from Mari’s excellent breakfast, she had barely eaten a thing yesterday. That had probably contributed to the headache and now she was starving. As she walked into the kitchen, the cat from the first night ran towards her expectantly and then stopped and started to groom itself, studiously ignoring her.
‘Not who you were expecting hey? C’mon then, let’s see where your food is or you can share some of mine.’
Clem tried a few cupboards but gave up and added an extra rasher of bacon and opened up a tin of tuna. Again she couldn’t find a cat bowl, so she forked it out onto something pretty and delicate.
‘Just like you. So what do they call you then?’
‘Abdul.’
Clem swung around. Otto was standing in the doorway, her face its usual blank expression, radiating disapproval.
‘Oh good morning,’ said Clem brightly, keen to start again with a clean slate. ‘I couldn’t find the cat food so he’s sharing mine. I’ve put some bacon on, would you like some?’
Clem was determined that she was going to do better today. Nothing Otto said was going to provoke her; she was going to be calm and serene.
‘The cat food is out in the parlour, and I would prefer it if you didn’t spoil him. He is here purely to keep the mice down, he’s not a pet.’
Calm and serene.
‘Oh right. Come on now, Abdul, spit it out.’ She looked at Otto and shrugged. ‘Sorry, seems he won that round. And I’ll know tomorrow morning. Just taking a while for me to find everything.’
‘The writing paper is in the drawing room.’
Clem paused, trying to catch up with the turn in conversation.
‘You’ve lost me. Why do I need writing paper?’
‘I assumed that you were planning on writing to Rory Gowan to thank him for his efforts and apologise for running off yesterday.’
Was this woman trying to school her? Calm and sodding serene.
‘I was going to be sick! And anyway, he offered to help.’
‘You didn’t leave him many options, did you? His farm had a big day yesterday; his absence will have really mucked them about and may have cost him money for the season ahead.’
‘Well how the hell was I supposed to know that?’ Clem turned the bacon over and glared at Otto.
‘You weren’t but a proper thank you and an apology would have been a start. Highlanders are generous and proud to a fault. They won’t teach you your manners but they’ll certainly judge you on them.’
‘Did he criticise me! Jesus, I was being sick.’
‘It’s hardly his fault that you were hung over.’
‘I was not. Oh what’s the point.’
Turning her back on Otto, she slid the contents of the frying pan onto a plate and decided to find somewhere else to eat.
As she walked out of the room, she turned and clicked her tongue. Abdul sprang down from the stool and trotted along to join Clem. It was pathetic but she couldn’t resist a small smug smile, the sort that her mother would have ticked her off for.
Otto simply arched an eyebrow and then shook the packet of dry cat food. Without even so much as an apologetic look, Abdul ran straight back to Otto. Flushed with embarrassment, Clem continued to walk out the room when Otto called out again.
‘Incidentally, he called by this morning and asked me to give you this.’ Slipping her hand into her pocket, she pulled out a small medallion on a cheap metal chain. ‘Apparently you were quite concerned about it?’
Otto’s expression suggested that no one could be so worked up by such a tatty bit of jewellery, but Clem dashed back into the kitchen and all but snatched it from the old woman’s hand. Otto was about to admonish her again, when she found herself engulfed in a massive hug and then Clem dashed out of the room.
***
As Clem was finishing her breakfast, her phone rang and she saw with delight it was Nick. First Da, now Nick. This was going to be a great day. For a while, when the twins had moved out of the family house, the three of them had flat shared in London. It had been huge fun but eventually it had just been too cramped, and Clem found a room closer to work. However, the three of them still ran together whenever Nick or Paddy was in the country. She often thought she must look like a Jack Russell running between two Salukis, and the image would make her smile. Now she was looking forward to a catch-up.
‘So. Are you dead yet?’
‘No, you’ll have to give me some more clues?’
‘Up in the back of beyond, light years away from the motherland.’
Clem grinned; this was indeed light years away from London. She settled down into an armchair and tucked her feet underneath her.
‘You don’t know the half of it! Two days ago I tried to find some coffee and ended up in a ditch with a sheep on top of me in the middle of a blizzard. Plus, I’m having to cook everything from scratch. I’m living on fry ups at the moment.’
‘Why don’t you just get a takeaway delivered?’
Clem rolled her eyes. Nick had no idea.
‘Are you kidding? There’s no delivery services up here. There isn’t even any takeaways.’
‘Behave!’
‘No, seriously. I was in the local town the other day and the only takeaway was a fish and chip shop. And I kid you not, on the menu it had “deep fried mars bar”.’
‘I think that’s a joke.’
‘No, seriously. I saw it.’
‘Yes, I’ve heard of it but I think it’s like an in-joke. Like Bombay Duck is actually a fish or something like that.’
Clem thought about it and realised her sister was probably right.
‘Ah. That makes more sense. Tell you what, when I’m there next, I’ll order one and let you know what it actually is.’
‘Fair enough. Now look, the reason I’m calling is to find out when you are going to recommend to Ari that she sells the castle.’
‘What!?’ Clem choked on her tea. She may have had a change of heart about the castle but she was the only one.
‘It’s a colossal drain and I was chatting to her yesterday and she told me all about the additional staffing bills. It’s ridiculous. The place brings in zero income, costs a bomb to run and Ari says there are also a tonne of repairs to catch up on?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Clem slightly desperately. She was already envisaging relaunching her career from here. How could she let her super-smart whizz-kid sister know how much she had screwed up on her previous contract and how much she needed to start over? Ari had clearly been as good as her word and not said anything to Nick about her problems with Symeon, or even that Clem had taken out a loan. Although no doubt Nick would spot that any day now. Clem wondered if she should mention it now, but bottled it. Better to find a solution first.
‘She wants to keep the estate together.’
‘I know she does, but you and I both know that some mouldering castle in the back of beyond isn’t worth sinking money into.’
‘You haven’t even been up here!’
‘It’s a property with dodgy electrics and staff issues, costing thousands a year in council rates and water alone. I don’t need to go up there to see it’s a problem. Hang on.’
Clem waited whilst her sister muttered in the background, tapping away on a keyboard. Clem could just picture her at her desk, three screens on the go, and probably a second phone as well.
‘I’m back. So, what’s wrong with you? I thought you’d be desperate to get back to London and get on with a new collection?’
‘Actually, I’m finding a lot of inspiration up here and I think this place could bring in money. Wildlife holidays, upmarket accommodation, stuff like that.’
Clem had zero intentions of sharing this castle with a bunch of strangers. Ever since she saw the ballroom, she knew she had her design studio. Everywhere she looked, designs were bouncing around in her mind. Inspiration was positively seeping out of stones and floorboards. But first she had to find a way to stave off Nick.
‘Seriously Clem, I think you’d be better off searching the cellars for vintage bottles of booze or priceless antiques we can sell off. The castle is dragging the rest of the estate down. If you can’t see a way to turn things around, I honestly think selling it is the only smart option.’
The conversation moved on and then, having made her point, Nick said she had to get back to work and hung up.
Clem looked out the window and worried. How the hell could she convince Nick that this was a worthwhile venture? She was certain that creatively she could make money as a designer, but she needed time, space and inspiration. She had found the last two in spades but now she had a deadline. She had to save Ruacoddy. She kissed her medallion and wondered where she would start.