The Secrets of the Glen (Scottish Highlands #2)

Chapter 7

On the journey to the hospital in Aviemore, she sat feeling subdued in the front of the car. David was in the back, sitting with his feet up on the back seat. He had insisted on taking off the skate.

She looked out of the passenger side window and stared at the familiar scenery along the forest road into Aviemore. Through the dense wood at the side of the road, she caught glimpses of the loch and the backdrop of the Cairngorm mountains. Robyn wished David hadn’t taken her back to the loch. The sun was now setting. Gayle wouldn’t be worried when she didn’t return soon, though. She knew it was another date, and had said she wouldn’t set a place at the dinner table for her – or wait up.

Do you know something I don’t know? Robyn had said to her, partly in jest. But even so, she had wondered if David had said something to Gayle.

Gayle had said that he hadn’t, although she had said that if David was taking her out on a date, she imagined it would involve dinner. Robyn had hoped so. Now, after what had happened on the frozen loch, all she wanted was for the day to be over.

She felt guilty that she’d refused to accompany David in the car until she was forced to because the van wouldn’t start. But if David had been bothered by that, he hadn’t said anything; most likely because he was too preoccupied. She glanced back at him. The painkillers had kicked in, but she could tell by his expression that they weren’t helping as much as she or he would have liked. He needed something stronger.

She glanced at Joe, who hadn’t stopped talking since they’d set off for the hospital. She couldn’t blame him for trying to lighten the atmosphere in the car. She sat with her hands clasped tightly in her lap. She couldn’t wait to get out of the car. Every time the police radio went off, she had to try to remain calm and not flinch.

Every now and then, she nodded to show that she was listening to Joe’s overly jovial attempts at conversation, although she wasn’t really listening – her mind was elsewhere; on the thought of getting out of the car, and on hoping that David’s injury wasn’t too bad.

She thought that someone ought to tell Joe that his jokes were pretty awful, but seeing his worried frown, she guessed it was just his way of dealing with what was going on.

‘Will you please stop with the bad jokes, Joe?’

David’s voice from the back of the car made Robyn jump.

‘I was only trying to pass the time.’

‘I get that, and I get that you’re worried. You always tell bad jokes when you’re anxious about something – have done ever since you were a little kid.’

Robyn glanced at Joe and caught him looking her way, embarrassed. ‘Sorry.’ He asked, ‘How are you feeling back there?’

‘How do you think?’

At the hospital entrance, Joe pulled the handbrake on and jumped out of the car.

Robyn stared intently ahead, hoping that Joe would just deposit David on the nearest hospital trolley and come back to take her home. She knew it was very insensitive of her, but she didn’t want to hang around at the hospital.

The car door clicked open. It made her jump.

The door opened wide, and Joe stood to one side.

Robyn looked dumbly up at Joe, who was standing there holding the door, and suddenly realised that he thought she was sitting in the car waiting for him to be the gentleman and open the car door for her. She didn’t know what was worse; that he thought she wouldn’t get out of the car unless he opened the door for her, or that under the circumstances he was actually standing there doing it.

Like a child reluctantly climbing out of the car for their first day at school, Robyn got out. She still just wanted someone to take her home.

‘Joe?’ David called from the back.

Robyn stared at the entrance to the hospital. She hadn’t expected to see the place again this soon. It was only the previous Friday, the day before New Year’s Eve, that she’d been discharged. David had been there, turning up in the van to see if she needed a lift anywhere, although it had been Gayle she’d gone home with that day.

She would never have thought she’d be back there, just five days later, with David being brought into A he was referring to Joe’s stocky build.

Robyn offered a weak smile. She wondered if this wasn’t the first time David had benefited from Joe’s position as a police officer, and how far Joe would go for his brother.

She still wished she wasn’t there, back at the hospital. She wanted to phone Gayle, explain what had happened, and ask her to come and pick her up. Now, she wished she had her own mobile phone. She’d have to borrow Joe’s or David’s. She knew Joe would give her a lift home, but she didn’t want another ride in a police car.

She had money, and lots of it, to buy a mobile phone. I should have used some of that cash to buy one, she silently berated herself. She knew why she wouldn’t. Why she wanted to wait until Rose paid her for the work she was doing on her house.

She stole a glance at Joe. She’d found wads of bank notes at the bottom of the bag that she’d been told was hers, under some clothes. Why would a student have all that money? Until she remembered, she wouldn’t touch it. She hadn’t minded finding the savings book among her things. The deposits matched the cheques that she knew, from some letters, her mother had been sending her from abroad.

Her mother was travelling, and the letters Robyn had read from her had not triggered any memories from her past. The cheques that she’d apparently already deposited in her savings account matched the sums her mum had described sending, and were intended to cover air fares and expenses for Robyn to join her mum during her holidays from university. Robyn had apparently not withdrawn any of the money, and had concluded that she hadn’t visited her mum once during her travels.

She knew she must have had her reasons, but until her memory returned, that would remain a mystery. Unless she contacted her mum. Robyn was still thinking about that. If anyone could tell her about her past, it would be her mum. So why did she feel hesitant to contact her? Just then, all Robyn had was her gut instinct. And her gut was telling her to leave things be – for now. And not to touch any of the money.

She couldn’t touch the savings account just then even if she’d wanted to. Although she had the savings passbook, she imagined she’d need some form of ID to withdraw money from the account at a branch. Her driving licence and passport – if she had one – must be in another bag; one that had somehow been lost in the car crash.

Even if she’d had ID, she didn’t feel inclined to walk into a bank and access her account. She was afraid a bank clerk might start asking questions when they saw the last deposit in her account. It hadn’t been a cheque. It had been deposited straight into her account, presumably through another bank. If the wads of cash weren’t worrying her enough, that six-figure deposit in her savings account certainly was. She thought there might be a simple explanation. She could just contact her mum, and ask. But if it was that simple, why was her gut instinct telling her not to?

‘Are you okay?’ David asked.

‘Who – me?’ Robyn looked at him, surprised he’d asked that question. He must have caught her expression. I want to go home to Gayle’s, she wanted to say. But despite not wanting to be there, she did want to stay long enough to make sure David was going to be okay. She reached for his hand. They held hands as Joe pushed the wheelchair down the corridor.