‘But what’s been happening—’
‘No time just now. Tell you when I see you,’ he said.
He sat back in his chair and relief flooded over him. He and Fin had always been such good friends and he had hated that it had become like a bad marriage where every small irritation became amplified. He had little doubt that this went both ways, and sooner or later the relationship would be destroyed.
It was true he would miss Betsy’s naughty charm and her extravagant cuddles, but they wouldn’t be far away and being the indulgent uncle was a lot more fun than being the enforcer. He was smiling as he went back to his car.
A pale, cold dusk was just creeping in with a hint of mist over the Forth when he got back to the house. There were no lights on, as there had been these past few months, and just for a moment he wondered if he would miss them after all when he always came back to an empty, silent house.
Fin and Betsy had obviously left in a hurry. Betsy’s toys were scattered across the floor and there were dishes sitting on the draining board that hadn’t been put into the dishwasher. He tidied everything away, poured himself a drink and sat down by the window in his favourite seat to watch the lights come on across in Fife.
He’d have his own space back after they had gone, but it would only be his own space. The last traces of Alexa had vanished; he couldn’t feel even the faintest aura of her presence any more.
On an impulse he went to his desk and opened the drawer where a framed photograph lay face down. It had always been his favourite photo of Alexa, one he’d taken himself; he’d called to her and she’d turned her head, looking back over her shoulder at him and laughing. He hadn’t been able to look at it since the accident.
Now he set it up on the surface. It looked almost as if she was saying goodbye to him and he found he was able to smile back. Alexa had gone. So be it. He had to let her go.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My grateful thanks go to my agent Jane Conway-Gordon, my publisher Susie Dunlop and the team at Allison & Busby, especially Kelly Smith and Fliss Bage.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aline Templeton grew up in the fishing village of Anstruther, in the East Neuk of Fife. She has worked in education and broadcasting and was a Justice of the Peace for ten years. She has been Chair of the Society of Authors in Scotland and is a director of the Crime Writers’ Association. Married, with two children and four grandchildren, she now lives in a house with a view of Edinburgh Castle. When not writing she enjoys cooking, choral singing, and travelling the back roads of France.
alinetempleton.co.uk @AlineTempleton
By Aline Templeton
di kelso strang series
Human Face
Carrion Comfort
Devil’s Garden
di marjory fleming series
Evil for Evil
Bad Blood
The Third Sin
COPYRIGHT
Allison & Busby Limited
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London W1F 8AN
allisonandbusby.com
First published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby in 2020.
This ebook edition published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby in 2020.
Copyright © 2020 by Aline Templeton
The moral right of the author is hereby asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library.
ISBN 978–0–7490–2606–6
Devil's Garden Page 30
