Chapter 28
A week had passed, and Ally was back home at the malthouse.
She didn’t remember much about being hospitalised, only that they’d insisted she stayed there under observation.
She’d had a knock-out blow to her head which could well have killed her, they said.
And if Ross hadn’t read her text – in between treating an elderly cat and a sickly spaniel – and alerted Amir, then she would probably not be here now.
Ally would forever be grateful to those two men.
Amir was due to arrive any minute, and Ross was filling the kettle. They’d talk about it all over a cup of tea – what else? Ally was to sit by the log burner and do absolutely nothing, Ross instructed her.
The village had again been wonderful. When the news of her confrontation had got around, she had been inundated with flowers, scones, oatcakes, shortbread and several bottles of whisky.
And Linda had excelled herself, having arrived with two cakes.
Ross had now laid all these goodies out on the table, in anticipation of Amir’s visit.
She owed Amir her life. If he hadn’t come in through the back door at that precise moment, she most likely wouldn’t be here.
‘How are you feeling, Ally?’ Amir asked solicitously when he arrived a few minutes later.
‘I’m fine,’ Ally assured him. ‘Just a sore bump where the wretched woman landed the rolling pin.’
‘Well, we’ve had a full confession,’ Amir said, accepting a cup of tea and choosing a piece of shortbread. ‘It was quite strange really because, at first, we thought she’d deny everything, but in the end, it all came pouring out, almost as if she was glad to get it off her chest.’
‘I’m guessing it was the laburnum seeds that made Patti so sick?’ Ally asked.
‘Yes, it was indeed, and thank you so much for having the foresight to hand over a few of those to the medics,’ Amir replied.
‘Patti is recovering well in a hospital bed in Inverness, still awaiting trial for conspiracy to murder. Wendy Watson is, of course, in custody, accused of killing her own husband and trying to kill her sister-in-law and, not least, yourself. Apparently, she found out before they left Canada that Greg and Patti were having an affair and so knew that Greg probably fired the shot that, one way or the other, killed her brother.’
‘What about the girls?’ Ally asked anxiously.
‘They refused to leave their mother and have been rescued by Patti’s estranged sister, who runs a transport café in Ayrshire.
She seems very kind, but also, to be honest, I think she’s been looking for two waitresses.
She agreed to take them in for now provided they help her out in the café, which they’re apparently really excited about. ’
Ally tried very hard to imagine those two serving burgers and chips to big, brawny truck drivers. Would they still be chewing gum?
‘And what about Angus?’
‘Well, Angus will have to appear in court charged with withholding information from the police – vital information, in fact. But the earl will doubtless get him a good solicitor. It also seems that Tom wasn’t telling the whole truth to us – he did hear Patti asking for a gun, but he didn’t hear Angus tell her where to hide it.
Apparently, he was angry at Angus for favouring Gordon over him and so was trying to get his own back. ’
‘And Joel?’
Amir rolled his eyes. ‘Joel Watson is back in Canada, where he belongs, running the cabin-making business.’
‘Try as I might,’ Ally said, ‘I cannot see how Wendy managed to kill Greg. I worked out that it was she who was blackmailing him, but…’
Amir smiled. ‘She obviously faked the injury with her boots, sped back here once she was out of your sight, then sprinted up to where she’d arranged – via the note – to meet her husband, where she killed him. She appears to be gifted when it comes to knocking people on the head.’
‘She left a note to say she’d gone up to the castle early to see Greg arrive,’ Ally said. ‘We all thought it was because she’d have been limping.’ Her thoughts turned again to Greg’s body and the massive wound on his head. Wendy had plainly planned the same fate for her.
‘No, she attacked the guy before she ran off, limping again, of course, as she arrived at the castle. She was extremely devious and clever,’ Amir added. He accepted a slice of cake.
‘Well, Amir, I owe you my life. I saw what she did to her husband…’ Ally shuddered, and Ross took her hand tightly in his own.
‘All part of the service,’ Amir said modestly. ‘You’d done such a brilliant job of solving the case, and holding Wendy off, it was the least I could do. Oh my goodness, this cake is delicious!’
‘I’ll get my friend Linda to make you one just like it!’ Ally said, laughing.
As Ross refilled the teacups, he said, ‘We’re planning to dine at the Craigmonie tonight, Amir, so why don’t you join us? My treat!’
Amir looked uncertain for a moment.
‘Oh, please do!’ Ally said. ‘And you must try their desserts – Linda makes them.’
‘This is very kind,’ Amir said, looking from Ally to Ross with a smile.
As she and Ross watched him drive away, Ally thought for the umpteenth time what a very lucky woman she was.
Here she was, in this glorious spot, on this beautiful autumn day, surrounded by a hillside of purple heather and looking down over the golds and bronzes of the trees beneath in the funny little village she called home.
Ross took her arm. ‘Come inside, Ally,’ he said. ‘It’s getting cold.’
And, not least, Ross! Ally smiled up at this handsome man who made her life so much richer. Whatever would she do without him? She was indeed an extremely fortunate woman, and she knew it.
Holding him close, Ally let him lead her over the threshold of The Auld Malthouse, and shut the door.
* * *