Read Online Too Soon a Death: A Scottish mystery where cosy crime meets tartan noir: Borders Mysteries Book 2 by Janet O'Kane - Free Book Online
Authors: Janet O'Kane
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undergrowth at any moment, she attached the lead to Mac’s collar and steered him towards home, remembering just in time to pick up her mobile.
Her first priority on getting back to Keeper’s Cottage was to tend to Mac’s poorly eye, bathing it with cotton wool dipped in warm water. It gradually opened, then the dog passed with flying colours the only sight test she could think of, catching the biscuit she threw to him. As she wiped the blood from his scratched nose and brushed his coat to remove all traces of oilseed rape, she wondered if she should inform anyone there was a dangerous dog on the loose. Then again, it must surely be the same animal which had attacked the Mackenzies’ sheep, so it would already have been reported.
She glanced at her mobile to check the time. It was only just after eight but felt much later after such an eventful walk. Robbie Mackenzie wasn’t due until eleven, which gave her enough time to eat a leisurely breakfast, take a shower and put her feet up for a while. She looked again at the phone, remembering those calls she’d missed during the night. They were logged as having come in at one-ten, one-thirteen and one-twenty. Because the caller identification had been blocked, she had no way of knowing if they were from the same person, although it seemed likely. This alone was strange, as her personalised message, albeit brief, would have told the caller the first time that they had reached the wrong number. It crossed her mind that the photographer she’d encountered on the Chain Bridge last week may have recognised her and somehow obtained her mobile number, but she swiftly dismissed this idea as paranoia.
Mac started to bark just after eleven, rousing his owner from a nap she’d had no intention of taking when she put up the umbrella and lay down on the sun-lounger an hour earlier. Unlike his sister, Robbie didn’t come round to the garden, choosing instead to ring the bell and wait for Zoe to let him in. He was on his mobile when she opened the door, an apparently important conversation because he nodded to her and stepped inside without stopping talking. Zoe might have taken offence, had he not given her the broadest of grins, reminding her of Kate, when he did eventually end the call.
‘Sorry,’ he said, keeping his mobile in his hand.
‘No problem. Can I get you a drink of something?’
They agreed on tea, and while the kettle was boiling, Zoe led Robbie around the house, showing him the work which had been done since she bought it from him at the start of the year. Seeing Keeper’s Cottage through someone else’s eyes, she appreciated for the first time what a major undertaking the extension and remodelling had been, and what a difference this had made. The single-storey house now had a proper bathroom and a separate loo, a decent-sized kitchen and a second bedroom which she refused to call the nursery, despite everyone else doing so.
‘They’ve made a good job,’ Robbie said as he scrutinised the bathroom tiling.
‘I gather some of your work was delayed in order to fit me in so quickly. I hope that didn’t cause you any problems. Time’s money in your business, I imagine.’
‘My deadlines aren’t as pressing as the one you’re working to.’
Zoe smiled politely at this first pregnancy reference of the day and made her way to the kitchen.
Although she expected her visitor to prefer to stay indoors while he drank his tea, he carried his mug through the new French doors and repositioned a chair to face the garden. ‘What are your plans for out here?’
‘Something low maintenance. Lawn and a few shrubs are about the extent of my green fingers.’
‘It’s not very big. Children need more space than you’d think, once they start running around.’
‘I’m not thinking that far ahead, to be honest.’
‘How do you feel about having livestock at the end of your garden?’
‘I liked looking out on sheep earlier in the year and quite miss them now.
Her first priority on getting back to Keeper’s Cottage was to tend to Mac’s poorly eye, bathing it with cotton wool dipped in warm water. It gradually opened, then the dog passed with flying colours the only sight test she could think of, catching the biscuit she threw to him. As she wiped the blood from his scratched nose and brushed his coat to remove all traces of oilseed rape, she wondered if she should inform anyone there was a dangerous dog on the loose. Then again, it must surely be the same animal which had attacked the Mackenzies’ sheep, so it would already have been reported.
She glanced at her mobile to check the time. It was only just after eight but felt much later after such an eventful walk. Robbie Mackenzie wasn’t due until eleven, which gave her enough time to eat a leisurely breakfast, take a shower and put her feet up for a while. She looked again at the phone, remembering those calls she’d missed during the night. They were logged as having come in at one-ten, one-thirteen and one-twenty. Because the caller identification had been blocked, she had no way of knowing if they were from the same person, although it seemed likely. This alone was strange, as her personalised message, albeit brief, would have told the caller the first time that they had reached the wrong number. It crossed her mind that the photographer she’d encountered on the Chain Bridge last week may have recognised her and somehow obtained her mobile number, but she swiftly dismissed this idea as paranoia.
Mac started to bark just after eleven, rousing his owner from a nap she’d had no intention of taking when she put up the umbrella and lay down on the sun-lounger an hour earlier. Unlike his sister, Robbie didn’t come round to the garden, choosing instead to ring the bell and wait for Zoe to let him in. He was on his mobile when she opened the door, an apparently important conversation because he nodded to her and stepped inside without stopping talking. Zoe might have taken offence, had he not given her the broadest of grins, reminding her of Kate, when he did eventually end the call.
‘Sorry,’ he said, keeping his mobile in his hand.
‘No problem. Can I get you a drink of something?’
They agreed on tea, and while the kettle was boiling, Zoe led Robbie around the house, showing him the work which had been done since she bought it from him at the start of the year. Seeing Keeper’s Cottage through someone else’s eyes, she appreciated for the first time what a major undertaking the extension and remodelling had been, and what a difference this had made. The single-storey house now had a proper bathroom and a separate loo, a decent-sized kitchen and a second bedroom which she refused to call the nursery, despite everyone else doing so.
‘They’ve made a good job,’ Robbie said as he scrutinised the bathroom tiling.
‘I gather some of your work was delayed in order to fit me in so quickly. I hope that didn’t cause you any problems. Time’s money in your business, I imagine.’
‘My deadlines aren’t as pressing as the one you’re working to.’
Zoe smiled politely at this first pregnancy reference of the day and made her way to the kitchen.
Although she expected her visitor to prefer to stay indoors while he drank his tea, he carried his mug through the new French doors and repositioned a chair to face the garden. ‘What are your plans for out here?’
‘Something low maintenance. Lawn and a few shrubs are about the extent of my green fingers.’
‘It’s not very big. Children need more space than you’d think, once they start running around.’
‘I’m not thinking that far ahead, to be honest.’
‘How do you feel about having livestock at the end of your garden?’
‘I liked looking out on sheep earlier in the year and quite miss them now.
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