Chapter 22
Bex didn’t bother locking the office door. She was outside, on the cobblestone road, without so much as checking she’d even closed it. And she wasn’t the only one. Several people had come out of their houses and shops, alerted by the ruckus.
LochDarroch wasn’t the type of place where people threatened violence in the street. Especially not people like Roddy.
He stood with his back to Bex, blocking the view of whoever he was talking to. But even from where she stood, she could see how furious he was. His entire body was shaking.
‘Roddy,’ she said gently. ‘Roddy, what is it? What’s happened?’
He didn’t so much as flicker in her direction. All his attention was fixed on the source of his anger.
‘Today! It had to be today those bleeding things got into my house!’
Bex shifted to the side to see the man Roddy was yelling at as more and more villagers came out to see what all the commotion was about.
The man in question was around fifty, dressed in a Fair Isle sweater, with a neatly trimmed beard and a pair of thick glasses that looked about three decades out of date.
His face was bright red, as if he’d been chased down several streets, but even though Bex had never seen him before, she knew exactly who he was.
Roddy and Fi’s neighbour. Identifiable by the two large rats: one in his hands, the other resting on his shoulder.
‘I… It was an accident…’ the man stuttered. He was obviously distressed, yet it didn’t stop the rage that was ebbing from Roddy.
‘Roddy,’ Bex tried again, this time gaining a flicker of recognition from the estate worker. ‘What is it? What happened?’
‘What happened?’ Roddy let out a bitter laugh before pointing directly at the neighbour. ‘He’s what happened! Him and his bloody rats. They got into the house. My house!’
‘It’s never happened before.’ The man looked at Bex with pleading eyes. ‘I’m not sure what went wrong. Their cage – I must not have shut it properly.’
‘You think?’ Roddy snorted. ‘They were running around my kitchen. You should be arrested.’
Bex got that Roddy was upset. Lots of people didn’t like rats, and she could only imagine the fear quickly turning to rage if you were one of those people and suddenly found them in your home. But arrested? That was a step too far.
‘Roddy, it was just an accident,’ she said softly, aware that no one else was trying to intervene.
Instead, all eyes were on her, as if, as future laird, any problem in the village was her problem.
And while that might not apply in all situations, in this one, with Roddy and Duncan so close and Fi working for her, she felt like maybe she was the best person to handle it.
‘You know what it’s like. The number of times the dogs have run off. You can see he’s sorry,’ she continued. ‘And they’re just pets. No harm’s been done, right?’
Roddy swivelled around, his eyes flashing with an anger she’d never seen in him before.
‘No harm done? I had the health inspector visiting!’
‘What?’ Bex frowned.
‘Aye! The Hart said they’ll sell my ales. Give it a go, if I got the okay. Well, I’ll no’ pass now. Not with rats running around the kitchen!’
Suddenly, it clicked into place. This wasn’t about the rats themselves. It was about what the rats had just cost Roddy. The chance to make money from his home brews.
‘Roddy, I’m sorry. I’m sure you can get them to come back. Explain the situation.’
‘Aye, in three months! Three months! That’s how long it took them to come.’
Bex was truly torn. Her heart ached for Roddy, who was clearly devastated, but so was the neighbour. So much so that one of the other villagers had finally braved moving across to comfort him, although they kept their hands a notable distance from the rats.
‘There’ll be a way to appeal,’ Bex said, lowering her voice so only Roddy could hear.
‘I’m sure there’s a way to appeal this. My friend Daisy – she has a café on her boat, her home – she’ll know about health and safety laws.
I’ll contact her now, okay? I’ll speak to the inspector myself, and I’m sure Mr… ’ She paused, turning to the neighbour.
‘Grunten,’ he offered, in a manner that was remarkably fitting of his name.
‘Mr Grunten will explain the situation too?’
Whether it was her tone, her look, or simply the desire to put the situation right, Mr Grunten nodded rapidly.
‘Aye, aye. ’Course. Course I will.’
Roddy’s attention turned back to his neighbour, his jaw locked.
As if he still had plenty more choice words to give him, but was using all his strength to hold them in.
‘Honestly, Roddy. We’ll find a way around this.
Come on. Come and sit in my office while I ring Daisy.
You don’t want to be out here, making a scene like this, do you?
’ She placed a hand on his arm. ‘Come on. Come with me.’
Thankfully, the anger had started to fizzle out of him, and Bex managed to lead Roddy back to the office without complaint. She promptly sat him down in one of the chairs in the waiting room and handed him the bowl of sweets.
‘They were gonna pay me for them,’ Roddy said. His voice was utterly deflated. As if the anger had left him empty. ‘Not loads, but a bit. But every bit helps, right? Can’t sell ’em now though.’
‘I’m sorry. Really, I am,’ Bex replied truthfully. ‘Do you want me to ring Fi?’
‘No!’ Roddy snapped, dropping the sherbet lemon he’d been holding. ‘No. She dinnae need this. It’s fine. I’m fine. Just a lot, you know.’
‘I do,’ Bex said. She didn’t mean for the words to come out quite as solemnly as they did, and yet a look of fear flashed across Roddy’s face.
‘I shouldnae be here, takin’ up your time, Bex. I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be sorry.’ She waved his remark aside. ‘Like I said, I’ll ring Daisy. Find out if she knows anything about appeals.’
‘I can do that,’ he insisted. ‘Sorry. Sorry again.’
And before she could stop him, he was on his feet. Before he reached the door, he stopped and spun back to look at her.
‘Don’t tell Duncan about this, will you?’ he said quietly. His voice was almost trembling. ‘Or Fi. They’ve both got enough on their plates without this.’
His eyes locked on Bex’s and caused a tightness in her throat.
She didn’t want to keep things from Duncan; that wasn’t what they did.
But she could see that there was only one answer Roddy needed to hear.
Besides, it wasn’t like she was the only person who saw what was going on.
Half the village was out there. Someone else was bound to tell them first, weren’t they?