Chapter 29
‘You sure you’re right about this?’ Duncan said that evening as they sat on the sofa, struggling to make conversation.
It should’ve been a fun night. Amanda had also quit her job working for them, which was a strange relief.
The entire family was gathered together, along with Daisy and Claire, who Bex hadn’t seen in months.
She should have been bursting with joy, and it was as if a dark cloud had settled over them and in the end, everyone had gone to bed early, citing tiredness from their early flight, leaving her and Duncan to sit there in stalemate.
Neither of them wanting to broach the elephant in the room. And yet they had to.
Bex sighed as she took a sip of her coffee. It was far too late for caffeine, meaning there was no chance she would get a good night’s sleep. But given what had gone on, she wasn’t expecting to.
‘It makes sense,’ Bex said sadly. ‘And Lorna confirmed it. She knew which ring’s missing too. The smallest diamond one. Just like a plain engagement ring. Roddy admitted to being in that room, and he’s the only one with any motive.’
‘I just don’t get why he wouldn’t tell me if he had a problem with something I was doing. I didn’t think that was the way things were with us.’
The sadness that filled his voice was enough to make Bex’s heart throb. ‘Things have changed,’ she said. ‘We’ve been hoping they haven’t, hoping we could just be the same people we always were. But we’re not. We’re the lairds now. That means people treat us differently.’
‘But Roddy… I just can’t see it.’
‘Are you saying you don’t believe me?’ Bex asked, a pulse suddenly surging in her throat.
‘I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but I just let you accuse one of my best friends of stealing.
I just stood there while he walked out. I’ve also lost one of the best workers I had.
To be honest, I don’t know how to do this job without him.
I need to make sure you’re absolutely certain about this. ’
‘I’m sorry,’ Bex said, that throbbing deepening.
‘I mean, I’ve trusted him with everything. He’s even helped me interview people for the groundskeeper’s job, even though he’s got no ex—’ Duncan stopped and he turned to look at Bex. ‘The groundskeeper’s job,’ he said slowly.
‘You think Roddy wanted it?’
‘I should’ve seen it.’ Duncan pressed his fingers into his forehead.
‘Everything he’s done… I didn’t think about him because he didn’t have the experience.
But… he has so much more than that. He’s turned into the new me.
What I was for Fergus. He’s probably been thinking I was going to offer it to him for months, and instead, I’ve been getting him to find people for the job he wants. ’
‘And if you gave him the job of groundskeeper,’ Bex said, joining the dots together, ‘then it would’ve come with the cottage. No rent to pay. His and Fi’s money worries gone.’
Duncan let out a long whistle. Bex didn’t know if she was relieved or not. On the one hand, she could see that Duncan now believed her in thinking Roddy had been the one stealing from them. But she could also see how much it hurt. How he’d end up believing it was his fault, even if it wasn’t true.
‘Still, I need to be certain,’ he said.
‘He said he’d been in the room,’ Bex replied. ‘Probably because someone saw him coming out, and he was worried he’d get rumbled. Why else admit it? Why not just deny going in there?’
‘Well, he said he was in there to stop Rosie. To stop Rosie,’ Duncan repeated. ‘That’s what he said.’
‘You think he was going to tell the truth after going in there to steal from us?’
‘No, you’re not listening to me.’
‘I am,’ she said. ‘He said he went in there.’
‘He said yes, but to stop Rosie—’
Duncan didn’t finish his sentence; instead, he was on his feet. A strange pallor came over his face.
‘I don’t understand what you’re saying,’ Bex said, exasperation taking hold of her.
‘Rosie.’ Duncan stressed the dog’s name as if Bex didn’t know who he was talking about. ‘Rosie was in the study. Remember what we called her? Rosie, half dog, half—’
‘Magpie.’
Her stomach sank so suddenly, it was as if she’d swallowed a set of dumbbells. ‘Crap.’
Bex didn’t want it to be true. She didn’t. She would rather have one of Duncan’s oldest friends be a thief than the other option – because that meant she’d made a terrible, terrible mistake.
‘You check the corner she uses in here. I’ll check the library,’ Duncan said.
Neither of them wasted any time. While Duncan rushed out of the room, she moved the cushions aside without hesitation, not sure if she was relieved or disappointed when there was nothing.
‘It’s not here,’ she said, before moving over to the dog bed and finding nothing but Rosie’s soft toys and a dressing gown cord. ‘It’s not—’
‘Bex?’
She turned around to find Duncan standing in the doorway, a small ring pinched between his fingers.
Gold band, medium diamond. A perfect small engagement ring.
The very same one that had been missing from the box.
The weight that filled her stomach multiplied, causing her to drop back onto the chair behind her.
‘No…’ she whispered as the impact of what she’d done took hold.
‘It was in the library,’ Duncan said. ‘Inside a slipper.’ A beat passed as he took it over to her. ‘You know what this means?’
‘Aye,’ Bex replied. She was going to have to do some serious grovelling.