Shortbread and Sorrow

by Agatha Frost

  “Our marriage is over, Mary,” he yelled, tossing the woman to the floor at the top of the stairs. “It’s been over for a long time. I’ve had enough of you digging your claws into my fortune.”

  He hurried back into the room, and two more black bags flew over the balcony, landing with the others. Julia and Sue jumped back, both of them looking at the woman who was sobbing at the top of the stairs.

  “Henry, let’s talk about this,” Mary pleaded, her accent distinctly English against Henry’s. “I love you.”

  “You wouldn’t know love if it hit you in the face!” he cried again, appearing at the top of the stairs with a suitcase in his hands. “You’ve got an hour to get out before I call the police.”

  He opened the case and projected the clothes into the air. Before they even had time to flutter to the ground, he launched the suitcase after it. It cracked and split into two halves on impact.

  “Dad!” a voice called from behind the reception desk. “Guests!”

  Henry glared down at Julia and Sue, before turning and disappearing back into the room, slamming the door behind him once more.

  Julia turned to the young woman behind the counter, unsure of what to do. She looked to Sue, who shrugged as Mary’s sobs echoed around the grand hall.

  “Is she okay?” Julia asked, looking down at the woman’s name badge, which read ‘Charlotte McLaughlin’. “She seems quite upset.”

  “Leave her,” Charlotte snapped, her tone cold. “She brought this on herself. Total gold-digger, just like the last three. I’m sorry you had to witness that, but it’s been a long time coming.”

  “It’s a good job we’re not paying, or I’d ask for some discount!” Dot cried, her face red and eyes wide. “Quite unacceptable, young lady!”

  “I can only apologise,” Charlotte said through almost gritted teeth. “So, you must be the competition winners. Welcome to Seirbigh Castle. I hope you had a pleasant drive through our beautiful corner of the world.”

  Despite her friendly smile and soft Scottish accent, Julia could tell the girl was reading the lines from a mental script she had recited hundreds of times. She was strikingly beautiful, with large doe eyes and thick lashes, and soft auburn hair, which cascaded over her shoulders, only stopping in the small of her back. Faint freckles scattered her nose and cheeks, which only made her pale green eyes even more striking. Just like the beautiful landscape outside, it looked as though the woman had been painted by a skilled artist’s brush.

  “Let me show you to your rooms,” Charlotte said as she pulled two keys off the board behind her. “I’ve got you down in one double and a twin room.”

  Before they could debate who got what, Dot snatched the double bed key out of Charlotte’s hand and smiled unapologetically at her granddaughters. Julia couldn’t begrudge her gran the bigger bed; it was her competition prize after all.

  Sue picked up the bags once more and headed awkwardly towards the foot of the stairs, stepping over the large pile of clothes and broken suitcase. Mary was still sobbing at the top.

  “This way,” Charlotte called over, stopping Sue before her foot even touched the bottom step. “That’s staff quarters. Out of bounds to guests.”

  Sue frowned and turned on her heels before stepping back over the clothes. Julia scooped up the rest of the bags, grateful that Dot had at least grabbed one of the lighter ones this time. They followed Charlotte through a door, and along a narrow stone corridor, with windows on either side looking out onto the loch, which wasn’t any less striking on second viewing. They entered one of the other parts of the castle, which appeared to be the largest and most recently built, although still centuries old.

  “The spa and pool are through there,” Charlotte said, directing a finger towards the end of the corridor as they walked to a less grand, but still stunning, sweeping staircase. “Breakfast is served at eight sharp every morning. You’ll find the dining room by going back towards reception and through the double doors to the left of the office. Lunch and dinner are served at twelve and seven respectively. Since you’re the only guests, try not to be late.”

  “Only guests?” Dot asked, a faint brow arching high.

  “We’ve been quiet recently,” Charlotte replied quickly, her customer service smile still plastered across her face, but something else entirely twinkling in her eyes. “Rest assured, you will still be getting the best treatment. We’re running with a skeleton staff at the moment, but the spa is still fully functional.”

  “As it should be,” Dot said with a stern nod.

  They reached the top of the stairs and walked along another long corridor. Charlotte paused outside of one of the doors and took the key from Dot. She unlocked it and swung the door open. Julia felt her jaw drop before she realised she was doing it.

  “Since we’re empty, I thought I’d make use of our bridal suite,” she said, glancing smugly to Dot. “I think you’ll be quite comfortable in here.”

  Dot swallowed down a lump in her throat and nodded as she walked into the room. She walked straight over to the four-poster bed and looked to the large windows overlooking the loch. Julia knew it was a tactic as old as time, and one she had used herself in the café more than once. Always give the tricky customers something special because they’re less likely to complain.

  “I think I will,” Dot said with a nod as she led back on the bed and closed her eyes. “Put my things on the dresser, Julia.”

  Julia shuffled in and dropped her gran’s bag, gazing at the beautifully decorated room, which looked bigger than her whole cottage combined. Elaborate tapestries covered the wood lined walls, with ornate mahogany furniture filling the space. Through an open door, Julia could see an ink-green tiled bathroom with a freestanding bath with gold feet. She would be happy if her bedroom were only half as beautiful as this one.

  “You ladies are next door,” Charlotte said, sounding eager to move them along. “There’s an adjoining door if you would like me to unlock it?”

  Sue glanced at their gran’s room and shook her head. “It’s okay. Keep it locked. I came here to relax.”

  Julia smirked as they carried their bags to the next door. She was relieved to see an equally beautiful smaller room, which was similarly decorated, with two wooden single beds next to each other.

  “If you need anything, the phone on the bedside connects straight through to reception,” Charlotte said as she bowed out of the room, her hand already on the door handle. “I hope you enjoy your stay.”

  “I’m sure we will,” Sue said as she jumped onto the bed. “Thanks.”

  Unlike her gran’s room, their room was on the corner of the building, so they had two windows. One was overlooking the loch, and the other looked over the rest of the castle. From this height, Julia could see her Ford Anglia parked in the shadows. Her eyes wandered to a figure sitting on the stumpy wall of the bridge with a pile of clothes at her feet. She realised it was Mary. She a packet of cigarettes from her pocket and with shaking hands, put one between her lips and lit it with a match.

  “I wonder if she’s going to be okay,” Julia whispered.

  “Who?” Sue mumbled through a content and calm smile. “The wife? Well, soon to be ex-wife. Who cares? It’s not our problem. We’re here to relax. Speaking of which, I think we should hit the spa right now.”

  Sue grabbed Julia’s hand and dragged her towards the door. She looked back at her bed, wishing she could curl up and have a nap, but she knew that wasn’t why she had agreed to come on the trip. She had come for quality sister time, and even though face masks and massages were more Sue’s style, she was sure she was going to enjoy every second of it with her little sister by her side.

  3

  Julia woke with a smile five minutes before her alarm the next morning. Her skin felt soft with the floral scent of the massage oil still lingering. Her muscles felt relaxed and loose, and her mind was clear and at peace. She looked over to Sue, who was snoring soundly, a glistening trail of dribble across her cheek.
She snorted and rolled over, pulling the covers over her head, as though she knew it was nearly time to wake up for breakfast.

  After a quick shower in the freestanding bath, Julia quickly dressed in a simple dark grey knitted jumper, fitted black jeans, and tennis shoes. She hadn’t brought any of her typical 1940s style dresses with her because hadn’t been sure the weather would call for it, but as she looked out of the window and down at the tranquil loch, she knew she had majorly misjudged the retreat.

  Sue woke with her alarm, which had been set to go off at ten to eight. She groaned and rolled over, before sitting up in bed, her highlighted hair matted and sticking up. She looked around the room, her eyes landing on Julia in the dark, who was half hiding behind one of the curtains as she looked down at the loch.

  “Morning, sleeping beauty,” Julia exclaimed as she tossed back the heavy silk drapes. “Sleep well?”

  Sue shielded her eyes and groaned even louder. Julia was sure she was about to try and go back to sleep, but she suddenly darted out of bed and hurried into the bathroom in her nightie. She slammed the door behind her and by the sounds of it, buried her head in the toilet.

  “Are you okay in there?” Julia called through the wood with a wince.

  “Must have been the beef last night,” she groaned back.

  “I feel fine.”

  “You know I have a dodgy stomach.”

  Julia tried to remember if she knew that, but she couldn’t recall that being a known fact about her sister. She remembered one time when they were kids that their friend, Roxy Carter, had pierced her own ear with a hot needle and a piece of apple, and Sue had thrown her guts up on the village green, but that was the only thing that sprung to mind.

  Leaving her sister to get ready, Julia thought about calling Jessie or Barker to check how they were getting on. She got as far as hovering over the green call button, but hesitated, knowing they probably didn’t need checking up on. She trusted them not to kill each other, or run her café into the ground.

  She tossed her phone onto her bed and turned to look out of the other window and down at the rest of the castle. She immediately spotted Charlotte’s striking auburn hair, which glistened brightly under the piercing morning sun. She was walking along the bridge where Mary had been sitting and crying with her clothes and cigarette the afternoon before. A tall redheaded man in a business suit was by her side. They appeared to laugh at something, not that Julia could hear it. She was sure if they looked up, they wouldn’t see anything other than a shadow. When they reached the end of the bridge, they hugged and parted ways, with Charlotte walking up the slope towards the entrance, and the suited man disappearing around the side of the castle and out of view.

  “What are you looking at?” Sue mumbled as she came out of the bathroom, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and scratching her head with the other.

  “Just taking in the view,” Julia muttered as she watched Charlotte walk through the castle entrance. “We better get going. Gran won’t miss a free breakfast for anything.”

  Just as Julia suspected, Dot was already waiting outside her room, obsessively checking her watch. With Sue trailing behind, they hurried down the staircase, along the corridor overlooking the loch, and into the entrance hall. Dot headed straight for the double doors by the reception desk, but Julia hung back to hold open the door for Sue, who had turned a ghostly shade of white.

  “Why don’t you go back to bed?” Julia suggested.

  “I’ll pass,” Sue said with a shake of her head. “I’m already starting to feel better.”

  Julia smiled as supportively as she could, but her sister looked anything but ‘better’, in fact, she looked worse than she had when she had stumbled out of the bathroom. When Sue walked through and headed towards the double doors, Julia let go of the door and turned to follow. A man had appeared at the reception desk, and for a moment, Julia wondered if he was the same man she had seen out on the bridge with Charlotte, but she immediately noticed he was much older. He was wearing a weighty brown overcoat, which had been patched up in many places. His sparse hair was wiry and coarse, sprouting out of the sides of his head without any style. He turned to Julia, a dark shadow of stubble covering the lower side of his face, and a definite smell of whisky on his breath.

  “You my replacement?” he barked, his accent the thickest yet. “Cannae believe they’ve picked a lass to take over my job.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You’re the new groundskeeper?”

  “I’m a guest,” Julia said with a small laugh. “But I’m sure if I were the new groundskeeper, I could do the job just as well as any man, thank you very much.”

  The man scowled and grunted. He shook his head and lumbered past her, the scent of moss and heather following him, hinting at a lifetime spent outdoors in the same jacket.

  When the man vanished, Julia laughed in disbelief to herself and headed for the double doors. She walked down another corridor to a different part of the castle, and she came out into a long hallway lined with framed portraits. At the end, there was what looked like a glass sunroom overlooking the water. She guessed that was a more modern addition. An arrow on the wall pointed her to the dining hall, which was on the left through a wide stone arch opposite a room marked ‘Drawing Room’.

  Dot and Sue were already sitting at a table in the middle of the empty dining room. There was a canteen style buffet, but the lights weren’t turned on, and there was no food on display. Ceiling high windows looked out over the hills, flooding the room with light, but the cavernous room still looked dark and gloomy somehow.

  “Sit down,” Dot said, offering a chair to Julia. “Doesn’t look like we’re going to get served anytime soon. This place is run like a sinking ship!”

  At that very moment, a flustered young woman with rosy cheeks pushed through a door on the far side of the room. Her frizzy mousy hair flew free of the bun on top of her head, and her baggy apron was stained in flour and various sauces. It was a look Julia knew all too well.

  “Sorry,” she mumbled, her accent English, like Mary’s. “I’m not used to serving. Orange juice and coffee?”

  “Tea,” Dot snapped, not seeming to notice the girl’s stress. “And it better not be the cheap stuff!”

  The girl dropped four tea bags into an already filled teapot, and placed it in the middle of the table with shaky hands. Julia attempted to give the young girl a smile, but it was either unwanted or unnoticed. Knowing how stressful a kitchen could be without the proper support, she hoped it was the latter. She could remember many times in her café’s early days when she had been so overwhelmed that she had regretted ever opening.

  The girl pulled out a notepad and scribbled down their breakfast orders. Dot ordered a full Scottish breakfast, making sure to mention the tattie scone and sautéed mushrooms specifically. The girl seemed relieved when Sue asked for corn flakes and Julia asked for poached eggs on toast. The sound of a full Scottish breakfast intrigued her, but she decided she would leave that for a day when she wasn’t likely to cause the girl, who didn’t look a day over nineteen, a breakdown.

  “It’s a good job we haven’t paid for this,” Dot whispered under her breath as the girl walked away. “Could you imagine?”

  “Give her a break, Gran,” Julia replied. “It’s not easy doing it on your own. Charlotte said it was a skeleton staff at the moment, remember?”

  “Skeleton staff?” Dot cried, craning her neck to look at the girl before she vanished back through the doors with her trolley. “She looks very much alive to me, sweetheart.”

  “It means they have the bare minimum working,” Sue added, a little colour returning to her cheeks after a sip of tea. “It’s what we do at the hospital during the late shifts and on days like Christmas.”

  “Well if this is the skeleton, I’d hate to see the ghost staff,” Dot said through pursed lips. “Although, the lady in the spa is a miracle worker. I feel twenty-five again!”

  To demonstrate, Dot
cracked her neck and stretched out her arms. Julia laughed and glanced at the large windows, the view taking her breath away once more. She didn’t care about the skeleton staff or the empty dining room, or even the ruckus that had welcomed them yesterday. Nothing could ruin the next five days of total relaxation.

  There was a loud bang, and the doors opened again, making them all jump. The cook hurried back with their food, along with a rack of golden toast and a dish of yellow butter. When Julia smiled at her this time, she seemed to notice and smiled back, appearing relieved that breakfast was over for the morning.

  “Thank you,” Julia made an effort to say while their eyes briefly met.

  “You’re very welcome, miss,” she said with a small nod before hurrying back through the doors again.

  The doors banged again, causing Dot to slop baked beans down the front of her white blouse. She pursed her lips tightly and let out a long sigh through her flared nostrils as she dabbed at the stain with a napkin. Julia and Sue caught each other’s eyes and shared a little grin.

  Julia’s eggs were poached to perfection, and Dot didn’t complain once about her breakfast, which both sisters knew was a good sign. Sue barely touched her corn flakes, instead choosing to move them around the bowl while staring at them with a curled lip as though she was looking into a bowl of rotten eggs.

  A third bang made them all jump, so much so that Julia spilt her tea in her lap. She dabbed up the tea with a napkin as she looked to the door, but the young cook didn’t appear, and the doors were still in their frame.

  “What was that?” Julia asked as she dried her jeans.

  “Sounded like a gunshot,” Sue whispered.

  “Deer hunting is very popular around Loch Lomond,” Dot exclaimed before reaching into her bag to pull out her guidebook. “Let me find the chapter. It’s a fascinating read.”