ON DEVIL'S BRAE (A Psychological Suspense Thriller) (Dark Minds Mystery Suspense) (20 page)

Julian nodded. “The contents of my hamper are probably more interesting than the menu at The Wild Rover. Last time we went there, we received some odd looks.”

“Well, that’s because you talked about sheep-shagging in an overly loud voice. Honestly, Julian, you are so insensitive at times.”

“No, just straightforward. Hey, don’t go all huffy on me.”

“I’m not, but it’s true. You have this annoying habit of forgetting where you are.”

When he grinned, she knew he
was
being plain awkward, and in spite of herself, she grinned right back. They reached the last summit, the top of the brae above Inverdarroch, and her legs were aching from the climb.

“I must say I’m a hundred per cent fitter than a year ago,” she began and looking round, stopped. “Where’s Bailey?”

They scanned the area and called. Julian tried whistling, but there was no sign of the golden-haired retriever. Cassandra held her hand above her eyes to keep out the rain and yelled his name, again and again.

“It’s no use. He can’t hear us,” she said as panic caught hold of her. “Perhaps he got left behind.”

Julian shook his head. “No, he was out in front, I saw him go in the direction of the cairn over there. Come on, he’ll be off down the other side no doubt. We just have to catch him.”

“But he never goes off. He’s never done this before.” Cassandra bit her lower lip to stop it trembling. “He’s only a baby still and can easily get lost.”

“Hey, don’t worry,” he pulled her into his arms. “He won’t be far away.”

Cassandra allowed Julian to hug her for a few seconds, breathing in his familiar Hugo Boss aftershave. Then she was pulling away from him and running towards the rocks. Bailey had to be there. The rain was falling harder, and a chill began to seep through into her bones. Julian moved off to one side, shouting for the dog. Within minutes, they parted, each going round the cairn on separate tracks. After ten minutes, calling and looking into the distance, Cassandra had walked the whole way round before discovering that both dog and Julian were missing.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” she muttered under her breath. “Now he’s bloody disappeared, too.”

In desperation, wondering what to do next, she turned a full circle, and suddenly there he was. Standing motionless, the featureless stranger, dressed all in black. Cassandra felt as if her blood had turned to ice. She stood rooted to the spot, not wanting to go over and ask if he had seen a dog or a man. Again she experienced the same feeling of recognition creep through her. It was as if she
knew
the man. Was it imagination? Did she recognise him from some other time? The way he stood and moved his head… There, a faint almost imperceptible drumming on the wind, and then, when he moved and the breeze caught his coat, Cassandra noticed what he had by his side. She blinked and opened her eyes wide. Strapped round his waist was a scabbard, the sword, he held lightly in his right hand, point resting on the ground.

It was a long, cruel-looking sword, the steel dull in the poor light. But that wasn’t all. From where Cassandra stood, she saw blood glistening on the blade. It was as if all her nightmares were appearing before her. The liquid was fresh blood.
Bright crimson blood
.

Stunned, Cassandra found she couldn’t move an inch; her legs were trembling like mad. “What do you want from me? What have you done?” she screamed. “What have you done to my friend and dog?”

The black, garbed figure stared before swinging the basket-hilted claymore sword up level with his face. Cassandra uttered a terrified wail, thinking he was about to sweep down and impale her body on the sword. She wondered if she had time to arm herself with a stone—there wasn’t anything else—when, without uttering a sound, he turned and slipped behind the rocks.

Shocked, Cassandra couldn’t help her legs crumpling beneath her as she sank into the heather. While all the time she kept saying,
oh my god, oh my god,
over and over and over.

Chapter 25 The Present, Inverdarroch

Rain dripped from her nose as she scrambled to her feet. She had to find Julian…and Bailey. Cassandra’s heart was still thumping from her encounter with the stranger, and even though he had disappeared, she was in no doubt he was still lurking somewhere near.
She could feel his presence
. She wanted to sob in terror, she felt so sick, but Cassandra knew it wouldn’t help.

What should she do first? She had enough wits about her to remember the phone in her pocket. With shaking hands, she dialled Angus’s mobile number. As she listened to the ring, she wondered why she hadn’t called the police first.

Eventually, the phone was picked up, and relief flooded through her when she recognised his voice. “Angus,” she croaked and then let rip.

“Slow down, Cassandra. Please. I only got half of what you said.”

Cassandra took a deep sobbing breath before repeating her tale. “Shall I call the police?” she asked.

There was a second’s pause before Angus answered. “No, I will. You might not get through on a mobile, but I can from my landline. Listen, get away from the rocks, and make sure you’re standing in the open where I can see you. I’ll be with you as soon as I can. And Cassandra…try not to panic. He might not have done anything.”

“But I saw
blood
!” she gasped.

“Yes, so you said, but we don’t know who or where it came from, or if it really was blood. Sweetheart, the light’s poor—you might have imagined it.”

Here we go again,
she thought. “My bloody mind’s not going!” she shouted. “I know what I saw!”

“No, okay, okay. Just calm down. As I said, I’m coming, and you can always ring me again on my mobile if you’re afraid or anything else happens. Keep your phone handy. Did you see this man’s face?”

“No!” she wailed.

“Okay, just a thought. Hang in there.”

As soon as he rang off, Cassandra left the cairn and moved into open land. She suddenly realised she hadn’t tried calling Julian. As she stared down at the phone in her hands, she wondered why. The answer was easy...she somehow knew Julian wouldn’t or couldn’t answer. Cassandra dialled his number anyway, but there was no dialling tone, and she realised the phone was dead. She tried calling for Bailey and Julian, but she heard no answering cry. Fresh tears coursed down her cheeks as she paced up and down, all the while keeping a lookout in case the stranger reappeared. Cassandra just
knew
something awful had happened.

Why were these horrible things happening to her? She hadn’t done anything wrong, but then neither had Susan. She merely wanted to live a quiet life before she got mixed up in the death of
an innocent girl. And Susan’s own death. Suicide, they said. But Susan hadn’t been taking pills for depression, had she? Did Cassandra know that? Did she know anything for certain? Images of her parents, Susan, and a shadowy recollection of her brother flashed through her mind. Why did this keep recurring, making her uneasy?

After fifteen minutes, she could see a figure moving towards her, and she flew down the hill to meet him. “Angus!” When the wind blew in her direction, she heard the telltale sound of a police car.

Angus caught Cassandra by the shoulders and hugged her to him. “Easy, darling. It’s okay now, I’ve got you. I can hear the police on their way.” He cradled her head in the nook between his shoulder and chin, and Cassandra closed her eyes in relief. Angus’s scent, so different from Julian’s, and the warmth of his firm body held tightly against hers felt unbelievably exquisite. Not only did she feel safe, but hearing his voice whisper in her ear made her feel as if she could have stood there for hours. “Now do you feel calm enough to explain everything to me or would you prefer to wait until the law reaches us? Either way, we ought to go down to the road to meet them.” He lifted her chin and smiled. “You know you can trust me, don’t you?”

Cassandra felt her heart soar as she stared into Angus’s dark blue eyes; he had just called her darling, and her trembling was nothing to do with her recent fright. She nodded and once more went through what happened. As soon as the two police constables joined them, Angus took charge and explained in a sober tone exactly who he and Cassandra were.

“Aye, we got your call. Something about a missing dog and the lady’s man friend. Perhaps you can tell me your name, Miss, and exactly what’s happened, and the name of your missing friend. I’m Constable Kerr, and this is Constable Murray, by the way.”

Cassandra looked at the burly officer muffled up in a heavyweight jacket and thick gloves. She bit her bottom lip to stop it quivering. Swallowing and in a halting voice, she asked. “Can we please go back up on the mountain and look for them?” Her eyes begged as she looked from one policeman to the other. “Julian’s a stranger round here. He might not know his way down from the mountain, and Bailey’s still only young.”

“I take it Julian is the name of your friend and Bailey is the dog? And there were just the two of you out walking?” asked Murray, whom she saw was a younger and skinnier version of Constable Kerr, clothed in the identical attire. The tips of his ears matched the red tip of his nose, and she thought he looked completely frozen as well as irritated. Cassandra didn’t have time to care; she desperately wanted them to find Julian.

“Yes, yes…Julian Pope and me! Look, can’t we get on. Please! We’re wasting time standing here talking. I’ve gone over everything once.”

The law was not to be hurried. The constables raised their eyebrows and looked at each other from beneath the dripping peaks of their caps. “All in good time, Miss Potter, first things first. Tell me…have you tried calling him? Does he have a mobile?”

“Yes, of course I did, almost as soon as Julian disappeared. There was nothing, his phone is completely dead or maybe he has it switched off. It didn’t ring while we were out walking.”

Agitated over their procrastination, Cassandra hopped from one foot to the other, until eventually the police decided they had enough background information and agreed to take a look at the area where Julian disappeared. “And my dog, I can’t forget him. He’s still only a puppy.”

“Och, the dog will probably find his way home when he’s finished rabbiting. I shouldna bother about him,” Kerr advised between puffs as the four began the uphill climb. Cassandra wondered why they hadn’t brought a Land Rover with them. They would have been able to drive at least half the distance before the terrain became too rough.

She felt Angus slip his hand around her gloved one and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll all look. Don’t worry…I’m sure we’ll find them.”

Back up on the summit, Cassandra showed the officers where she had last seen Julian.

“Going over what you told us earlier. You hadn’t had a row, you said. Not a lover’s tiff?”

Cassandra rolled her eyes. “We’re friends not lovers. Julian’s not interested in that sort of thing,” she said, knowing she would never normally have volunteered such additional personal information if Angus hadn’t been there. Because he was with them, she wanted to let Angus know she was still a free woman—if he was interested. Not wanting to catch his eye, she looked away, bemused and unsure. Julian’s disappearance was uppermost in her mind, and yet at the same time, she was so in love with Angus, she couldn’t think straight.

When the constables stared at her before exchanging looks, she knew they were thinking Julian was gay.
Oh, for Christ’s sake,
she thought. Surely they weren’t that bigoted? She could understand prejudice in a tiny hamlet like Inverdarroch, but these men were from the town. They must have met all sorts.

“He’s asexual, celibate,” she muttered, when really she wanted to shout at them and shake the self-righteousness and narrow-minded smirks from their faces. “No! We didn’t row. We were looking for Bailey. Julian went one way round the rocks and I the other. When I came back to this spot, he never returned to me.”

“And then what happened?” the skinny young one said, while his eyes never quite met hers as they slid over her face and down her body.

“I…I think I turned round. You know, I turned right round in a circle as if I expected him to appear from another direction, only he didn’t. It was then I heard the drumming, felt it almost, and I saw the man in black.”

The two police looked at each other again. “Drumming? Man in black? Sounds like that film.” Murray sniggered.

Cassandra glared. “Yes. He was dressed all in black, head to toe. And...he was wearing a sword.”

“A sword?” Another exchange of amused looks.

“Yes, well not exactly. He was wearing a scabbard, and he was holding the sword in his right hand.”

“I see. Anything else?” Kerr scribbled in his notebook, which he was having difficulty in keeping dry.

“Yes, I saw blood on the sword.”

“Blood?” Kerr looked up at this and exchanged yet another glance with his co-worker.

Cassandra nodded. “Yes, at least it looked like blood to me. Bright red.”

“Miss Potter, the light isn’t very good. Could you have been mistaken in this?”

“No. It was definitely a sword, and what’s more it was a Scottish one.”

“Really? And how do you know that?”

How did she know? In a flash, she recalled where she had seen another just like it. In fact, there was a pair hanging above Angus’s fireplace. Basket-hilted claymores. Shocked, she almost gasped as she shot a look in Angus’s direction. Were such swords commonplace?