Page 56 of Highland Getaway
‘Up to something? What do you mean, “up to something”?’ says Daniel Foster, in the tone of a man who’s trying to re-establish his authority after he ran off and abandoned a group of women to their fate earlier. ‘Are you trying to accuse us of something? Because I’d like to know exactly what it is, if so.’
He pulls his GoPro out of his pocket and thrusts it into Dante’s face, obviously intending to record him as evidence.
‘Um, I think Dante’s referring to the recent goings-on in the hotel,’ I venture, seeing the hotel manager swat at the camera as if it’s a particularly pesky fly.
‘The goings-on?’ says Bex blankly. ‘Whatgoings-on? Am I missing something here? Is it something to do with the contest?’
‘Well, it’s just .?.?. some strange things have been happening since we got here,’ I say, feeling stupid now that I’m about to talk about this in front of them all. ‘To me.’
‘Is it the invisible woman?’ asks Millie excitedly. ‘You still haven’t told us about that? When did you see her, Rosie? Wait –howdid you see her, if she’s invisible?’
Her brow furrows as she tries to figure this out.
‘Those from the spirit realm have ways of making their presence known,’ says Izzie darkly. ‘I wish ye’d told us about this yesterday, Rosie; I’d have brought some sage with me to flush her out. Is the spirit in the room with us now? Are ye able to make contact with it? D’ye want me to give it a try?’
‘No,’ I protest, seeing Millie’s eyes flick nervously back to Dante, who doesn’t help matters by giving her a Dracula-like smile which is just missing a set of fangs. ‘No, there’s no ghost, Izzie. The goings-on are .?.?. well, it’s hard to explain.’
‘Why don’t you try us?’ says a cold voice from the doorway. Millie screams again, then blushes as she realises it’s just Sabrina, who’s chosen this moment to join us, Luna lurking behind her, looking terrified as usual.
‘Oh, good,’ says Dante from his corner. ‘It’s the Angel of Darkness. That’s all we need. Look,’ he goes on, addressing Sabrina, who approaches us in her usualarmy generalmanner. ‘This is your problem. You’re the one who came up with the idea of a “pre-launch” event, or whatever you call it – I was just stupid enough to go along with it. Well, enough is enough. This is your circus, Sabrina, so you better look after your monkeys.’
‘Who are you calling monkeys?’ begins Daniel, but Sabrina waves him imperiously aside and turns to face me instead.
‘You were saying?’ she says, in a tone that would sound almost pleasant, if it wasn’t her. ‘Something about “goings-on”, I believe? Why don’t you enlighten us, Rosie?’
My stomach is churning so loudly it’s probably going to be providing the soundtrack to the video Daniel thinks no one can see him filming, but every eye in the room is locked onto me, so I haltingly tell them about the missing clothes, the stolen itinerary and, finally, last night’s turnip revelation; none of which sounds nearly as dramatic in my retelling as they all seemed at the time.
‘Well, I never!’ says Izzie in astonishment as my story comes to an end. ‘Can you believe this, Ian? A dirk in the turnip!’
‘It’s no way to treat a turnip,’ says Ian gravely. ‘No way at all. That one would’ve made a fine soup, too.’
‘Why didn’t you tell us about any of this at the time, though, Rosie?’ says Zara. ‘I mean, we obviously knew about the thing with the sauna, but I thought that was just an accident. Wasn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ says Hunter firmly. ‘It was absolutely an accident.’
‘Um .?.?. I’m not sure,’ I say, staring at my feet in their paper spa slippers. ‘I was starting to think it probably was, but then the turnip turned up with the dirk in it, and now I’m not sure. I’m notsureabout any of it, though,’ I add hurriedly. ‘That’s why I haven’t mentioned any of it until now.’
‘Oh,’ says Yasmin, wrinkling her nose. ‘Right. I just assumed you hadn’t told us because you thought it might be one of us doing it.’
Millie gives a gasp of horror, and Daniel turns his camera on her.
‘Well, it’s the most obvious explanation, isn’t it?’ goes on Yasmin. ‘We’re all in a competition together. It would make sense for the person who wants to win it most to start bumping off the rest of us, one at a time.’
Everyone immediately looks at Bex.
‘Oh, comeon,’ she says, putting her hands on her hips. ‘You want to win as much as I do, Yas. How do we know it’s notyouwho’s been doing it?’
Everyone switches to Yasmin.
‘No, that’s a fair point,’ she says, patting her hair in its slicked-back bun. ‘Itcouldbe me. It could be any of us, really.’
‘It’s true that none of us have been particularly nice to Rosie,’ puts in Zara. ‘I don’t think we can really blame her for suspecting us.’
‘This is ridiculous,’ says Sabrina, who’s been listening to all of this with her arms crossed and one foot tapping impatiently. ‘Of course we can blame her! This isn’t some kind of murder mystery, for goodness’ sake.’
‘Isn’t it?’ says Yasmin seriously. ‘Or is it just that the murder hasn’t happened yet?’
The room falls silent, with the exception of Daniel Foster, who’s still shuffling around, trying to get close-ups of everyone’s faces.
