Page 23 of Snowy Surprises in the Highlands (Scottish Highland #5)

Harris and Bella sat on one sofa and her parents sat on the other.

They were all staring at the TV in silence, watching the lunchtime show’s chef making a rather tasty-looking chicken shawarma with flatbread and homemade tzatziki, as they waited for the outside report from Kendric MacKinnon to be announced.

Because, in turn, that would hopefully lead to finding Isla and Maeve.

Bella chewed the skin around her thumbnail which had become sore due to this repeated action over the last couple of days.

She watched as the chef plated up the food and pondered that if she didn’t feel so nauseated she could fancy it.

She watched the other presenters tucking into the dish, ooh-ing and ah-ing about how succulent the chicken was and how the spices in the marinade came through with every bite.

She almost envied them for having an appetite because hers had vanished.

The next segment was a travel piece on Shieldaig in Wester Ross, Northwest Highlands.

An instrumental version of Dougie MacLean’s ‘Caledonia’ played as the camera panned over the pretty village that was home to around eighty-five residents, and was surrounded by the stunningly rugged scenery of the Torridon Hills.

After the voiceover had talked about the Celtman triathlon that was held in the area annually, there was an interview with a man called Jim who owned and ran a coffee bothy on the main street that looked quite idyllic.

He waxed lyrical about the beauty of the area but insisted that the best bit was its people.

Bella made a mental note that they should visit one day.

The main row of white-painted houses in Shieldaig looked out over the water and towards a tiny island that was, according to the reporter, mostly inhabited by birds and Scots pine trees.

The island reminded Bella of Pabay, the wee island off the coast close to where her granny and Maeve lived.

Once again, she was plunged back into a state of worry.

Harris sighed. ‘You know, I always thought my first TV appearance would be me in the background, on your arm, while we walked a red carpet at an awards ceremony for your interior designs.’

Bella nudged him with her shoulder. ‘It’s a lovely thought but I don’t think there are any such grand events for the likes of me.’

He frowned. ‘Hey, you never know, that posh English bloke Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen must have walked a few red carpets in his time. I used to love watching Changing Rooms ,’ he mused.

‘Aw, Bella, you used to love watching that with your granny. He was her favourite,’ her dad said.

Bella was reminded of her granny’s name for the flamboyant designer and smiled. ‘Yes, she used to call him Lulu Lemon.’

Harris threw his head back and guffawed. ‘Oh God, that’s hilarious, isn’t that a company that makes fancy leggings?’ Bella nodded. ‘They really did break the mould after Isla Douglas was made,’ he said, shaking his head and grinning.

Bella’s dad chuckled. ‘You think that’s funny. She used to switch off Antiques Roadshow that followed Changing Rooms , because one of the presenters on that show, apparently, gives her the Bee Gees .’

Bella’s mum giggled. ‘I remember the time she told me about her neighbour back in Inverness who she was looking after because they’d just had Cadillac surgery.’

‘And then there was her old hairdresser who used his scissors in his right and his left hand because he was amphibious ,’ her dad added.

They all laughed, their memories of Isla lightening the tense mood as they forgot themselves for a brief moment until they were silenced by the announcement on the TV.

‘And we now cross to Kendric MacKinnon who’s on the Isle of Skye, covering a heartbreaking and worrying story. Over to you, Kendric…’

Suddenly there they were on television. It felt a little like an out-of-body experience – much like this whole situation had.

Bella hated seeing herself on the screen.

She looked pale and drawn with sunken eyes.

And even though they say the camera adds ten pounds, it didn’t on this occasion.

Bella noticed the hollows of her cheeks and for the first time she understood why her granny had been so worried about her.

Although she felt sure that she didn’t look like that under normal circumstances, just these current ones.

She shook her head to dislodge the thought and reminded herself it didn’t matter what she looked like.

It was Isla and Maeve that were the focus.

And Tam too if he hadn’t miraculously turned up at his daughter’s. She would need to call Dorothy and ask.

When the photo of Maeve and Isla was shown, the two of them giggling like teenagers, a lump lodged itself in Bella’s throat.

She vividly remembered taking the snap of them when they were round for Sunday lunch a couple of weeks before.

As Harris was cooking the roast in the kitchen, they had been sitting in the lounge clutching their glasses of sweet sherry as they told Bella all about a film one of the home helpers had told them was her favourite, and they had subsequently watched it out of interest.

‘Och, it was a strange one, wasn’t it, Isla? Not our usual watch. We like to watch Bergerac , don’t we? He has a lovely car, Bella, and he’s vera handsome.’ Maeve patted her hair with her free hand as her cheeks tinged with pink. ‘Isn’t he, Isla?’

Isla’s face was scrunched as if she was deep in thought.

‘Aye, aye. Now what was it called again, Maeve? The film that young Chelsea told us about.’ Maeve had opened her mouth to speak but Isla had evidently had a light bulb moment.

‘Och, aye, that’s it! Mechanic Mike ! We thought, ooh, that’ll be nice because we liked their songs when they used to play them on Radio Highland back in the day, didn’t we, Maeve,’ Isla had said.

‘He had a lovely voice, that singer chappy. Although that one song of theirs made me greet whenever I heard it. I think he wrote it about his dad or something, talking about all the things he wished he’d told him afore he passed away.

I could greet now just thinking about it.

So sad it was. But anyway, it turned out it wasnae about them! The film, I mean.’

‘Aye, it wasnae about them at all!’ Maeve had added for emphasis.

‘No, really?’ Bella had said, feigning shock and trying to keep a straight face.

‘No! It was about male dancers.’ Isla had looked around conspiratorially and whispered, ‘ Strippers , Bella. Male strippers. The ones that take their clothes off and everything.’ As opposed to the strippers who stay fully dressed?

Bella had thought, chewing the inside of her cheek.

Isla had pursed her lips and folded her arms across her chest as if completely disgusted, which had lasted all of five seconds.

She had, of course, seen Fifty Shades of Grey !

Then the two elderly women had howled with laughter as they had described the scantily clad Channing Tatum ‘cavorting’ on the screen in a thong.

‘They don’t look comfy, those things,’ Maeve had added with a crumple of disdain to her mouth. ‘Right up the crack o’ yer erse they go! I mean, who wants that?’

Bella had almost lost the fight with the laughter threatening to burst forth and Isla went on to insist she had no idea why it was called Mechanic Mike because…

‘The thing was, Bella, he never seemed to be mending cars. Not once was he under a bonnet. And he never had anything up on a ramp either.’ There had been genuine surprise in her expression and Bella had to fight extra hard not to fall on the floor in hysterical giggles.

Maeve had added, ‘Mind you, he didnae really need to mend cars, did he, Isla? Because it looked like he was quite well paid by all the lassies stuffing money into his knickers!’

It was when Bella had explained that the film was actually called Magic Mike and that there was no connection to the band Mike + The Mechanics, or mechanics at all for that matter, that the laughter kicked up a notch.

Isla had ended up holding her stomach and making a high-pitched squeaking noise that could’ve called all the village dogs to their house if it had continued.

Maeve’s face had been a shade of purple Bella had never seen on a human, and at one point, she was concerned an oxygen tank might be required.

She had snapped the photo to remember the looks on their faces and the sheer hilarity of the situation. Priceless.

Back in the present, the news segment ended, and Harris squeezed Bella’s hand. ‘Are you okay? You seemed to drift off there for a bit.’

Bella shook her head. ‘Yes, sorry, I was just thinking about the day that photo was taken.’

Harris chuckled. ‘Oh, yeah, Mike and his stripping mechanics.’ The room fell silent for a few moments.

‘You did really well, both of you,’ Bella’s mum said, her chin trembling.

A wave of what could only be described as deep, overwhelming grief washed over Bella.

Her stomach knotted and her heart lurched.

‘Where are they? This island isn’t so big that they can have completely vanished.

So, where the hell are they?’ Tears spilled over and streamed down her face leaving hot trails, and her head pounded from all the crying and worry.

Her dad leapt to his feet and made his way across the room to where she sat. He crouched down before her and took her hand. ‘We’ll get to the bottom of it, sweetheart. I just know it. The calls will start to come in and this mystery will be solved.’

Bella hoped with every ounce of her being that he was right because this not knowing was torture.

* * *

For the next two hours, Harris’s phone went crazy. As Kendric had warned, however, there were some ridiculous calls from time wasters and some from genuine people who really thought they were helping, even though they weren’t.