‘Naughty Blossom!’ said Fiona, sounding not at all put out. ‘I’m sure you’ve got something to clean that up, haven’t you?’ She turned to Kate, smiling at her.
That’s more of a smirk than a smile, thought Kate, but the customer is always right. She reached into the cupboard under the sink and pulled out a bottle of all-purpose cleaner and a J-cloth.
‘That’s absolutely fine,’ she said, through gritted teeth. ‘Everyone has a little accident now and then.’
Fiona laughed, a fluting and unpleasant sound. ‘Oh, it’s more than now and then with my little Blossom, but never mind, darling.’ She reached down for the dog, stroking her on the head. ‘It’s only a rented house anyway.’
‘Yes,’ said Sandra, disapprovingly, ‘and your father and I have no idea why you’ve come all the way out here. We could easily have let down one of the hotel guests and told them there was a problem with the room. I hate to think of you out here on your own.’
Fiona looked at Sandra and winked. ‘Ah well, Mother, I’m hoping not to be on my own all Christmas.’
Kate was in the garden, putting the wee-soaked cloth in the bin, when she realized. Inside the cottage was the Fiona: the one who’d been in a relationship with Roderick; the one who’d left the island to be a journalist; the one from whom he’d split up and who’d put him off women altogether. She felt a little pang of disappointment, realizing that Roderick was obviously as shallow as most of the men she’d met, and that he’d fallen for Fiona’s brittle blonde looks. The fact that she had no personality, and a mouth like a cat’s bum, seemed to have passed him by.
Kate was still smiling to herself at that thought when she returned to the cottage kitchen to retrieve her bag.
‘Look what they’ve left: that bloody rock-hard bread from Paine’s the baker,’ Fiona was complaining as Kate walked in. ‘What the hell is wrong with good old Mother’s Pride?’
Rather than get into a disagreement, Kate grabbed her bag and, after making her goodbyes, left the cottage. The sun was low in the sky, but there was just time, she decided, to take a quick look down at the beach and check the seals. She pulled on her wellies and grabbed her binoculars from the car, before marching off, muttering to herself about Lady Muck, and her badly behaved dog peeing on her furniture.
The beach was deserted. Kate scanned the whole stretch of rocky sand for signs of the seals, but there were none. Blossom’s rampage around the beach had clearly disturbed them. Without the seals, the beach seemed bleak and empty. Kate walked down towards the shoreline, scanning for any signs of the familiar faces poking out of the sea, but there was nothing. She sat down on a rocky outcrop, deciding to watch the sunset. Bloody Fiona was vile, she thought, and God knows what Roderick ever saw in her – besides, obviously, the swishy blonde hair, the slim perfect figure, the immaculate clothes and the aura of entitlement. She reached down to the side of the rock, aiming for a stone to throw in the water. Her hand touched something furry and icy cold and she leapt up, screaming.
She peered over the side of the rock. Lying there, not moving, was a seal pup. It looked at her and tried to roll over, but only managed to flap its flippers feebly.
Disaster! She remembered Roderick’s first rule: never touch a seal. Only he hadn’t mentioned anything about accidental seal-groping. Kate leaned over the side of the rock, this time being careful not to get in the pup’s eyeline. Its skin looked too big and its eyes were dull and lifeless.
She ran up the beach, cursing herself for leaving her phone in the car. Blooming island life, thought Kate: a year ago I’d have had that phone fired up and ready to go in my jeans pocket.
She was rummaging desperately through the detritus in the footwell of her car when she heard Roderick’s voice.
‘Looking for something?’ He sounded faintly amused.
‘My phone. But you’re here now – are you psychic? I’m impressed.’
Roderick looked at her with a curious expression. ‘I said I was going to come out and check on the seals after bloody Sandra let her bloody dog loose on the beach.’
‘Not Sandra’s dog,’ said Kate, unthinking. Roderick snapped her a quick look, but said nothing.
‘Whatever. Have you been down to the shore?’
‘They’re gone – well, all of them but one, a pup. I found it by mistake. I assume its mother has gone fishing or something, but I’m scared she’ll be put off by my smell on her baby.’
‘I don’t think so. Can you show me where it is?’
Kate took Roderick down to the shore, leading him to the rocks, where the seal pup was still lying on its side. It looked up at him through huge brown eyes, but made no attempt to move. Even to Kate’s inexpert eye it looked dreadful.
‘Hello, little one,’ said Roderick, in a gentle voice. ‘Let’s have a look at you.’
He pulled on some gloves and softly ran his hands down the pup’s sides. ‘This pup is dehydrated, I’d say, and hasn’t fed for a few days. You remember I said that newborn pups need thousands of calories a day? It doesn’t take long before starvation takes effect.’
Kate found her eyes were filling with tears, but she batted them away. ‘Poor little chick.’
‘Yep, and now we need to work out what to do.’
‘You can’t leave it here – it’s so cold at night,’ pleaded Kate. ‘Can’t we take it back to the house?’
‘Absolutely not. The first thing we need to do is call Seal Rescue and tell them what’s happened.’ He patted his pockets, hopefully. ‘Can I borrow your phone? I think I’ve left mine back at the house.’
He tapped a number from memory into the keypad.
‘Reception’s hopeless on this side of the island.’ He looked at the phone, irritably. ‘Mark, it’s Roddy. I’ve got a grey here, probably no more than a week old, maybe two – it’s dehydrated, I’d say it hasn’t fed for a while . . . ’
He paused, eyes closed and concentrating, while the person on the other end of the line spoke. Kate stuffed her hands in her pockets before she could reach out and run her fingers through Roddy’s hair, which was ruffling in the wind.
‘Right, that’s fine. Yep, I know it’s not exactly standard procedure, but I’m worried about this one making it through the night. Okay, we’ll take it from here.’
Roderick switched off the phone, then took a couple of photographs of the seal. ‘I need to text these to Mark, so he can see what we’re dealing with.’
‘What happens now?’ Kate asked, as Roderick handed her back the mobile, having sent the messages.
‘Mark works at the Seal Sanctuary on the mainland. I’ve had to take abandoned pups over to him before. They do a wonderful job, caring for them, bringing them on and then releasing them back into the wild when they’re ready. Usually we’d watch an abandoned pup from a distance for a day or so, before we made any decisions about what to do. But I don’t think this little one will last another day, and I think that, given what happened yesterday, there’s no chance the mum is coming back.’
Kate took a sharp intake of breath. ‘That bloody dog.’
‘Never mind the dog,’ said Roderick with feeling. ‘The owner’s even worse. Come with me.’
He turned, stalking up the beach at speed. Kate marched along beside him. ‘So what happens now?’
‘We’ll get it off the island and to the sanctuary. Judging by the look of it, I’d say it’s only a week or so old – you can still see the dried-up umbilical cord. But its eyes are dull. I’m worried we might be too late.’
Kate dug her fingernails into her palms to stop the tears that were threatening to escape. Roderick leaned into the back of his Land Rover, pulling out what looked like an Ikea shopping bag, but fluorescent orange instead of the familiar blue.
‘We need to get the pup in here, and get down to the ferry – if get a move on, we’ll catch the four o’clock.’
Together they ran back down the beach, scrambling across the rocks to the pup’s hiding place. The light was failing rapidl
y, darkness creeping across the sky.
‘Hold the bag open – now, this might be a bit of a struggle.’
Kate looked at the seal pup, which was lying passively beside the rocks, and looked back at Roderick, one eyebrow raised.
‘A struggle?’
‘Watch.’
He moved stealthily, gloved hands reaching down to grab the pup. As he did so, the seal flipped over with a sudden last burst of defiance, yowling and snapping. With practised ease, Roderick scooped the pup across and into the open bag.
‘Feisty little thing.’ His eyes met Kate’s and he smiled: the first genuine smile Kate had seen from him in weeks. ‘You take that handle, I’ll take this one. The bag is deep, to stop the pup from getting out.’
‘They can’t jump, can they?’
‘You’ll be amazed what an angry seal can do. I’ve rescued a few injured ones from this beach who’ve not been happy. And, believe me, you don’t want to find out what a seal bite feels like.’
‘Ouch!’
He smiled ruefully. ‘Let’s just say I’ve been there, and it’s not pleasant.’
They reached the top of the beach, where Roderick’s Land Rover was pulled in on the grass verge. Kate looked up the hill at the cottages, where the light was glowing gently through the windows. A furl of smoke twisted gently from the chimney. Following her gaze, Roderick looked up at the cottage.
‘That’s Sandra’s car. What’s she doing there?’ He was trying with one hand to release his car keys from the back of his jeans. The seal bag was wriggling impatiently.
‘Our first visitor is Fiona Gilfillan. I assumed you knew?’ said Kate.
Roderick closed his eyes and groaned. ‘You are joking?’ He opened his eyes and looked at Kate, hopefully. ‘You’re not. You’re telling me that Fiona and Sandra are sitting up there in our cottage?’
Kate’s stomach did an Olympic-sized back-flip. Our cottage.
‘They are. Large as life and twice as—’ Kate stopped herself. By no stretch of the imagination could the polished, glamorous Fiona be called ugly.
‘Ah. This day gets better and better.’ Roderick flicked open the back door, pulling out a cat basket. ‘Right then, little one, let’s decant you into this.’
‘Is this something you make a habit of?’ asked Kate, watching as he deftly slid the furry contents of the seal bag into the cat carrier and closed the door.
‘Seal-rescuing – just another service I provide.’ He reached into his pocket, pulling out his wallet, and flipped it open, pulling out a card. ‘Roderick Maxwell, certified Marine Mammal Medic, at your service.’
‘You’re a vet?’ Kate was astounded.
‘No, I’m not a vet. I’m a qualified Medic – the British Divers’ Marine Life Rescue organization trains members of the public. Our job is to look out for stranded mammals and do what we can for them.’
‘So not just seals then?’
‘No, we’re trained to help with beached whales, porpoises, dolphins and seals,’ said Roderick, throwing her the empty seal bag. ‘Let’s go.’
‘My car – won’t they wonder why I’ve left it sitting on the road?’
‘Sandra and Fiona, no,’ he said shortly. ‘They’re too wrapped up in themselves to notice anything. Why don’t you ring Murdo up at the hotel, let him know?’
‘Too late.’ Kate pointed at the two women speed-walking down the lane from the cottages. ‘I think we’ve been spotted.’
‘Roddy! You dark horse, were you coming out here to surprise me?’
Fiona was at the window of the car, tapping it with perfectly manicured scarlet nails. Roderick sighed and pressed a button, so that the window opened fully. ‘Fiona.’
‘You came all the way out here to welcome me, and I thought you were still sulking.’
‘I’m not sulking,’ said Roderick, his voice measured and patient. ‘Look, Fiona, we have to get going. Your mother let that lunatic dog of yours loose on the beach and it caused the seals to stampede.’
Fiona leaned inside the window, kissing Roderick on the cheek. ‘That naughty dog. Sweet of you to give me a puppy, Roddy, but I’m not really the dog-training type.’ She looked up, catching sight of Kate for the first time. ‘Oh.’ Her nose wrinkled slightly. ‘I see. Have I been replaced already?’
‘Of course not,’ said Roderick, rather too emphatically for Kate’s liking. Was she such a hideous prospect? ‘Kate works for me – and she’s helped rescue this seal pup. Now we must go: we have to catch the four o’clock ferry.’
‘You must come up to the hotel for drinks,’ Fiona was saying, but Roderick had already started the engine and was driving away, leaving her mouthing furiously.
9
A Rescue
They sat in silence all the way to the ferry. Roderick drove on to the boat, grim-faced. The seal pup had stopped crying for its mother, which was a relief, because Kate was worried that the eerie, child-like noise was going to arouse suspicions on the boat about their motives.
‘Is it breathing?’ Kate was too scared to look closely.
‘It’s fine.’ Roderick closed the door of the carrier. ‘We’ll be there in forty minutes, and Mark is waiting for us with everything it needs. Now we need to get you sorted out.’
‘Me?’ Kate was baffled. Roderick shut the door and locked the Land Rover.
‘Your lips are blue.’ He looked at her face, placing his scarf around her neck. ‘You’ve been out in the cold for so long, your hands are blocks of ice.’ He took both of her hands and cupped them inside his. They were burning hot. Kate had been so wrapped up in rescuing the seal that she hadn’t noticed she’d spent the best part of an hour standing on a remote beach with the Atlantic wind whipping in on her.
‘Shall we get a cup of tea?’
‘I think that would be an idea,’ said Roderick, gently letting go of her frozen hands.
It felt strange being on the ferry with him. He ushered her into a corner, next to a radiator, and disappeared, returning a couple of minutes later with a pot of tea and a couple of warm fleece blankets.
‘Where did you get those from?’ Kate nursed the hot teacup, feeling warmth slowly seeping back into her bones. It was amazing how cold that island could be.
‘Aha. It’s all about who you know,’ Roderick tapped his nose. ‘I’ve been here fifteen years, remember – there’s not a ferry worker I don’t know by name. And believe me, when you’ve been stuck out here on the sea for six hours because it’s too rough to dock, you need blankets to keep the cold off.’
Kate pulled the blanket closer around her shoulders. ‘It’s amazing, really, isn’t it? Most of us consider ourselves island dwellers, just by virtue of living in Britain. But we have no idea what it’s really like.’
‘Ah, but we’re the lucky ones,’ said Roderick.
‘Thank you for travelling with Caledonian MacBrayne. The ferry will be docking shortly. Please make your way back to your vehicle.’
Kate had fallen asleep, lulled by the repetitive hum of the boat’s engine.
The clipped voice of the recorded announcement woke her up. Oh God, she was leaning on Roderick’s shoulder. Worse still, she realized, closing her mouth, which was dry as parchment, she’d obviously been snoring. Attractive! She rubbed her eyes furiously and sat up.
‘Oh.’ She was dazed and took a moment to place herself. ‘It’s the boat – every time I get on it, I conk out, instantly. I’m sorry, I must have fallen asleep for a minute.’
Roderick rolled his eyes. ‘Twenty actually, and by God, you can’t half snore.’
Kate emitted a vague sort of harrumphing noise and scrambled up, escaping to the loo.
Looking at herself in the mirror, she was horrified, but not surprised, to discover that her crumpled face was imprinted with the rib of Roderick’s jumper. Her eyeliner was non-existent on one eye, and smudged on the other. She made a vague attempt to make herself respectable and set off downstairs to find the Land Rover.
‘The pup’s fi
ne,’ said Roderick, as she opened the car door. ‘I’ve checked. Still sleeping.’
The ferry pulled into the dock, and Kate tapped her fingers impatiently on the dashboard as they waited for all the cars and lorries in front to unload. It seemed to take forever. Finally they rolled off the ferry and up the ramp onto the mainland. Roderick turned the car left into a car park, where a battered four-wheel drive was waiting.
‘Mark, hello.’ Roderick jumped out of the car. ‘This is Kate. She found the pup, and she saw the disturbance yesterday.’
Mark grinned at her and held out a filthy hand. ‘Might be a bit fishy, it’s just been feeding time. But lovely to meet you, Kate.’ He turned to Roderick, who was opening the back of the Land Rover. ‘Bit late in the season for a grey, isn’t it?’
‘I thought so, too. But this little one is still hanging on, even if its mother has legged it.’ Roderick opened the carrier, and Mark peered in. Still nervous in case her pup hadn’t made it, Kate hung back.
‘Let’s get it back to the sanctuary. We can get some food down it and see how we’re doing. Melanie’s back home, getting all the stuff ready for a tube feed.’
Phew, still alive then, thought Kate. They climbed back into the Land Rover and followed Mark out of town. They drove in silence for a couple of miles, then Roderick indicated right and pulled over, through a wooden gate. The Seal Sanctuary sign was tattered and weathered by the elements, and the buildings had seen better days. Inside one of them they found Melanie, Mark’s wife. As she expertly scooped up the seal, weighed it, then placed it down on the table, she explained how they’d ended up on the west coast of Scotland, saving seals.
‘I was taking a year out from teaching biology at secondary school, and Mark was a chemist for a big pharmaceutical company. We came up here on holiday, saw the seals and fell in love.’
Roderick glanced at Kate quickly. She felt herself blushing, and looked down at her feet. Mark raised his eyebrows at Melanie. The whole thing happened in a split second, but was excruciating.
‘How’s Fiona?’
‘Mark! Roderick’s here to deliver us a seal pup, not to discuss his love life.’ Melanie shot him a warning look.
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