Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Ihurried back to the annexe and located Mason’s black-and-white business card propped up near the toaster. To avoid losing it, I entered his number into my contacts list before dialling it.
After a few rings, Mason answered and I explained about Alex Lapley, who he was and what he’d said.
‘Are you all right? He didn’t threaten you, did he?’
‘Well, yes and no,’ I admitted. ‘But my brother and sister-in-law are here helping me today.’
There was a considered pause.
‘Look, I’m going out to dinner tonight, but I’ll pop by before then.’
A rush of something coursed through me and I gripped my mobile tighter to my ear. ‘There’s no need. Really.’ Oh no. What if he thought I’d told him this deliberately to get him to come round here? ‘I just thought I’d tell you but there really is no need for you to drop by…’
‘I think there is,’ he insisted. ‘I can give you an update on some new research I’ve dug up.’
What the hell was wrong with me? I happen to talk to a handsome man and my face sizzles like a frying pan. ‘Okay,’ I agreed reluctantly after a moment. ‘That would be good. Thank you.’
I spent the rest of the day in a frenzied blur, working with Katie and Caleb. We donated some of the older pieces of furniture from the cottages to the local charity shops, and anything else I thought we could use, or that was too big to move, we covered in huge old bedsheets.
Caleb borrowed a transit van from one of his old schoolfriends and transported the furniture we decided to keep for now to his huge garden shed for storage. In between times, Mum rang in a flap, saying she wasn’t sure she and Dad were ready to take off on their bucket-list round-the-world jaunt.
I assured her that yes, she was prepared, as she was the most organised person I knew, no, she shouldn’t worry about me, Caleb or Katie, and yes, she had bought plenty of sunscreen; no, her new floppy straw hat didn’t make her head look too big and yes, I would accompany Caleb when he took them to the airport on Monday morning, to wave them bon voyage.
After having made Katie, Caleb and myself endless drinks and demolishing takeaway sandwiches and cookies from the local deli, I packed them off home later that afternoon with many grateful thanks.
I was bone weary but welcomed the hot needles of water pressing down on me from the shower. I washed my hair, blasted it with my hairdryer and slid into my black jeans and a slim-fitting red jumper.
I’d only just cleared away my debris from making spaghetti bolognese for dinner when there was a polite rap on the door. I peered through the spyglass to see two silver eyes fringed with ridiculously long lashes staring at me.
I jumped backwards. His eyes were like lethal weapons.
I tucked some loose hair back behind my ears and straightened my jumper. ‘Good evening,’ Mason said with a smile when I opened the door. ‘Sorry I’m a bit early.’
‘No. Not at all,’ I insisted, feeling gawky and weird.
He strode in, attired in a dark-green shirt, navy trousers and a thick black jacket. His hair had been freshly washed and was falling in crisp raven waves to the nape of his neck.
You can cut that out right now, Summers, warned a dark voice in my head. Remember what happened the last time you fell for a good-looking man.
Pictures of Nick flashed in front of my eyes. I could hear my heart warning me not to even go there. ‘Can I get you a drink? There’s some wine in the fridge. Oh, sorry. You’ve brought your car.’
‘I have. Don’t worry, but thank you, anyway.’ Mason looked around. ‘I like what you’ve done with the place.’
I found myself going into protective mode; on the defensive, like a cornered animal trying to protect itself. ‘Are you being sarcastic?’
He grinned, displaying even white teeth. ‘Not at all. All the little touches, they’ve made it much more homely.’
I couldn’t help it. Much to my annoyance, I found myself giving him a bashful smile back. ‘Thanks. Well, seeing as it’s going to be my home for the foreseeable future, I thought I should put my own stamp on it.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Oh yes. I need to be here to oversee all the changes and make sure everything is on track.’
He sat down in the pale-blue armchair. ‘I admire your determination and enthusiasm. It’s a lot of hard work, but I’m sure you’re more than capable of making it a success.’
‘Thank you. I do hope so.’
Silence descended, until Mason spoke again. ‘So, spill. I want to hear about what happened this morning.’
I sank onto my sofa opposite him and regaled him again with what Alex Lapley had said and that he knew Mason was investigating the Scarlet Highwayman story.
Mason’s full mouth tightened. ‘So, the Port Starr Broadcasting Corporation has been in full swing, I see.’
I tucked my feet up underneath me on the sofa. ‘I suppose it’s only natural. Not much gets past the gossips round here.’
One of his dark brows twitched. ‘I had noticed. A very pleasant elderly lady accosted me yesterday in the main street. I thought she was going to ask me the time. Instead, she proceeded to interrogate me about my love-life.’
I tried to stifle a laugh. ‘That’s the norm round these parts. I must warn you, what they don’t know or can’t find out, they make up.’
A kernel of curiosity grew inside me about whether Mason was involved with anyone, until his eyes flickered and his voice dragged me back. ‘I think she was rather taken aback when I told her I wasn’t in a relationship and have no desire whatsoever to be in one.’
I processed the forceful way he spoke. ‘I bet that put her straight.’
That was good. I didn’t want to be involved with anyone else either, I reminded myself with determination. Not after my sham of a marriage to Nick. Pictures of us getting married on Port Starr beach danced in front of my eyes again.
Mason tugged his mobile out of his jacket pocket. He offered no information about where he was going for dinner or who with. Not that it was any of my business anyway and I wasn’t at all interested, I assured myself.
‘Are you sure you’re safe up here?’ he asked, glancing around the place.
‘Yes. It’ll take more than some weaselly creep to frighten me.’ I hoped I sounded far more confident than I felt. ‘So, what was the research you’ve dug up?’
Mason frowned down at his mobile. ‘I’ve made some notes on here.’ He looked up. ‘I didn’t realise that the Scarlet Highwayman was accused of so many crimes. I was reading up more about that fire at the Port Starr orphanage that he caused… It was lucky there were no casualties.’
‘You mean allegedly caused,’ I answered, trying to conceal my annoyance. ‘From what I can recall, nothing was ever proved.’
Mason’s eyebrow arched. ‘From what I’ve read in the newspaper archives, there were witnesses who said he was seen fleeing the scene on horseback.’
My defence of the Scarlet Highwayman kicked in further. ‘Well, I don’t understand why a highwayman would set fire to anywhere, when his sole aim is to rob people.’ I narrowed my eyes. ‘You aren’t changing your opinion of him already, are you?’
He shook his head. ‘Not at all. I’m just repeating what I’ve read.
’ He eyed me. ‘What you’ve got to understand, Poppy, is that in Scotland at that time, the wealthier classes had learned how to manipulate Scottish affairs, created by the expanding British empire.
’ He added that the landed gentry were therefore able to exert considerable control over their less wealthy compatriots.
‘So, what you’re saying is that the highwayman might have become so frustrated at the social inequality of it all that he set fire to an innocent orphanage?’ I shook my head, dismissing this. ‘Who were these witnesses who claimed to have seen him escaping from the scene?’
Mason scrolled through his electronic notes. ‘They were a … oh, here it is. A Mr Rylance Lapley and two associates of the family, an Archibald Savage and an Ernest Cotter.’
‘A Lapley?’ I repeated, incredulous. ‘I wouldn’t trust any of that lot to tell me the correct time!’
Mason Cooper slid his phone back into his jacket pocket and half smiled. ‘And I suppose you’re going to tell me the Scarlet Highwayman wasn’t responsible for all the robberies around here? Let me guess – it was the tooth fairy.’
‘I never said he wasn’t,’ I bit back. ‘All I’m saying is I don’t believe he did half of what he was blamed for – that violent murder of a local judge and the attack on his wife or almost killing a coach party of clergymen on the coast road.
There have been stories that any of the spoils he stole, he donated to the poor. ’
Mason studied me. ‘I think the role of Robin Hood has already been taken.’
I clicked my tongue in annoyance.
‘Please forgive me, Poppy, but you seem to be rather blinkered when it comes to this man.’
I sat up straighter on the opposite sofa. Damned cheek! Who did this guy think he was? He knew nothing about me. ‘And will you forgive me, but you now seem rather determined to find him guilty!’
His smoky eyes swept me from head to toe. ‘I’m not a detective, Poppy. I’m a historian.’
I pushed my shoulders back. ‘We’ve had numerous other people come to Port Starr over the years, snooping about in the hope of getting something juicy on the Scarlet Highwayman, trying to blame him for everything that happened around here.’
Mason’s mouth flatlined. ‘I don’t snoop.
I research.’ His dark lashes looked almost as uncompromising as the cut of his stern jaw.
‘And historians don’t tend to look for juicy tales.
We aim for objectivity. We try to be even-handed with evidence and don’t cherry-pick.
’ He looked into my eyes, his own resembling searchlights.
‘Historians research and analyse. We have to interpret and write about the past by studying documents and sources.’
‘Yes, and I’m an artist,’ I clarified through clenched teeth. ‘We allow for poetic licence and for using our imagination. We don’t tend to see things in black and white.’
His face was impassive. ‘I’m sure you don’t, but I should point out that historians have expertise in—’
‘You may be able to decipher old documents and scrolls,’ I interrupted, ‘but in my opinion, the human condition and the human heart are full of passion and unpredictability.’ I let my hands rise and fall back into my lap.
‘That isn’t easy for anyone to predict with any degree of certainty – even well-known historians.
’ I pushed out my chin. ‘You’ll be blaming the poor man for climate change next. ’
A small smile played at the corners of his mouth. ‘You’re assuming this Scarlet Highwayman character was misunderstood. I respect your faith in him. I admire it. But you do understand that as a historian, I’ll need to see the facts before I’m fully convinced.’
Yes, it was easier to focus on an irresistible figure from the past, who couldn’t let me down or hurt me, rather than allow myself to be heartbroken again by someone real.
But my gut instinct had always said the Scarlet Highwayman had been awarded the wrong reputation.
Perhaps I could prove it now once and for all.
‘I appreciate that,’ I said, ‘but you’ll see in time that I’m right about him. I’ll prove it to you.’
Mason’s eyes glittered with amusement. ‘I don’t doubt for a minute that you’ll try.’