A Christmas Wish on Arran (Scottish Romances #4)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Beth knocked on the large red door of the cottage, realising her knuckles were sore and frozen with the cold wind. As she admired the large Christmas wreath on the door, she felt herself shaking slightly. She wasn’t sure if it was nerves or if she was getting a chill. The road through Lamlash had been fairly treacherous — she’d almost turned back. She could hear a dog bark, and then a few moments later Callum opened the door, a look of surprise on his face.

‘Beth . . . what are you doing here? Is everything okay?’ He looked beyond her, as though looking for someone else. ‘I was going to head over sooner rather than later before the weather got any worse.’

Beth looked at him confused. ‘I hope you don’t mind, but I just wanted to drop of some bits and pieces for Daisy.’ Now she wondered if this had been such a good idea. ‘I was out in the area anyway and passing . . .’

He frowned, shaking his head. ‘But I don’t understand, Daisy should be with you at the office studying. Why are you here? And where is she?’

That caught her completely unaware — she hesitated, unsure what to say. She felt herself tremble when she saw the worry etched on his face. Much as she didn’t want to land Daisy in trouble if she had just wanted to skive off their study session, she had to tell him the truth. What was Daisy up to? Where was she?

‘She texted me a couple of hours ago to say she wasn’t feeling well and she wouldn’t make it to our session, asked if we could do it another time. I just assumed she had the flu that’s been doing the rounds.’

‘Look come on in,’ he said. ‘It’s Baltic out there. I don’t want you to freeze.’ He ushered her into a hallway that was littered with shoes. ‘Let me try and get to the bottom of this.’

She carefully removed her mud-splattered wellies at the door, then he led her through to the kitchen with a huge oak table and white painted walls. Beth patted the beautiful Labrador who slowly got out of her bed by the fire and greeted her with her a wag of her tail.

‘This is Ruby,’ said Callum distractedly. He was looking at the clock and had his mobile clamped to his ear. ‘It’s just going to her answer machine.’

‘If she was leaving school she would have left by now?’

He nodded. ‘Yes, the bus would have dropped her off at the end of the road.’

‘And she’s been at school all day?’

‘Yes, she went away this morning quite the thing, though she didn’t eat much of her breakfast now that I think about it.’ He ran his hand over his jaw. ‘This isn’t like her. The thought of her being out in that . . .’ he gestured to the window ‘. . . it isn’t good at all.’ He exhaled loudly. ‘What time did she text you?’

Beth looked at her phone and showed him the message. ‘Just after one.’

‘Think,’ he said, more to himself than Beth. ‘Where would she be?’

‘Any friends you could try?’ Beth watched as he found the contacts on his phone and pressed call. ‘Damn,’ he said angrily. ‘There’s no reception. Honestly, this bloody weather.’

Beth winced and pulling out her phone, saw she had a couple of bars. ‘Here, let’s try mine. Tell me the number.’ She quickly typed as he spoke, waited for it to connect, then shook her head. ‘It’s switched off. Who is it?’

‘Her friend Zola.’

‘Any others?’

He looked desperate as his eyes widened with worry. ‘She’s been a bit out of sorts lately. I should have made more effort to find out what’s been up with her.’

‘I’m sure there’s a simple explanation,’ said Beth as calmly as she could. ‘She’s a teenage girl. She can’t be far away.’

‘Unless she’s run away? Left the island.’ Callum sounded like he was beginning to panic.

‘The ferries are now off and it’s highly unlikely she would have done that. Unless she’s done it before and went this morning?’ She tried to rationalise what a teenage girl might do.

He shook his head vigorously. ‘No, never.’

‘And if she had missed school earlier then I assume they would need to let you know.’

He nodded.

‘Okay. Where else might she be? Just take your time and think. Any neighbours?’

‘Of course, Maisie, she lives in the wee house next door.’ He tried his phone again. ‘It’s no use, I’ll be quicker running and asking.’ Within seconds he run out the front door, banging it shut behind him.

Beth stood anxiously in the kitchen as Ruby started to whimper. ‘It’s okay.’ She patted the dog’s head. ‘He won’t be long.’ Beth watched out the window as the rain lashed against the glass. It was difficult to see anything or anyone.

A few minutes later he burst through the door, soaked to the skin. She could see the fear in his eyes as he desperately raked his hands through his hair. ‘She wasn’t there. Maisie hasn’t seen her all day. Where is she? What if something’s happened to her?’

Beth had never seen him so emotional. She longed to reach for him and tell him that everything would be okay. But she had a nagging sense of unease. Where on earth could Daisy be?