Too Close To Home - Part 2

Part 2

Gask Lodge � 20 miles south of Inverness � one hour later:

By the time we�d stopped by my flat and I�d collected Horus and my bags, and had driver by Ambers place for her own necessities, the weather had begun to clear a little. On the road out to the cabin, we�d met only one other vehicle in the darkness, and I�d been pretty sure I�d recognised it as being one of the local farmers Land Rovers.
Having arrived, it had only taken me a few minutes to turn the power and water back on, and within ten minutes Amber had found the shower and Horus had found the fireplace. He meowed expectantly after realising it was stone cold.
Twenty minutes later I had the place locked up again (at the request of Amber), a fire beginning to take nicely in the hearth, and a pot of strong coffee on the stove.

We�d settled into the armchairs on either side of the fireplace, relishing the heat that was now beginning to radiate through-out the room. Amber looked over her shoulder around the room approvingly. �This is a gorgeous house, Tom. You�re lucky.�

�Yeah. I like it. It�s my haven,� I replied. I thought about letting the small talk continue, but couldn�t wait any longer, �Amber, forget the house for a minute,� I said this with a little more sternness that I�d intended, �Don�t keep me in suspense any longer.�

She took a sip of her coffee and nodded. The firelight played across her fair skin, making her look older than the 26 or 27 I�d guessed her to be. Her shoulder length blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and was drying quickly in the rising heat.

�Okay,� she said after a long moment, trying to decide where to begin, �After you left the petrol station this morning, I thought that car was going to follow you. They made to leave again but reversed back in and parked up. Four of those guys I told you about, in the suits, they came in and started asking questions about you. They were really freaking me out.�

The hairs on the back of my neck tingled uncomfortably, �What kind of questions?� I asked, not certain I wanted to hear the answer.

�They wanted to know if I knew you. They knew your name, Tom. They wanted to know if you came in every morning, and if your family still lived in the area.�

�They obviously don�t know that much about me, otherwise they�d know there is no family. Who are �they� though? They didn�t show you any ID?�

Amber shook her head, �No, and when I asked, they just told me not to discuss the conversation with anyone, especially you. Tom, I could have been wrong, but I think one of them was carrying a gun.�

I couldn�t help but chuckle, despite the seriousness of her tone, �Oh come on, when did you become an expert in concealed weapons?�

�I�m serious! I�ve seen enough movies, his suit jacket had a hell of a bulge under his left arm. It was either that or he had a really fat wallet. It was obvious as hell!�

I held up a hand to try and placate her, and cringed inwardly at the tears I could see welling in her eyes, �Okay, okay I�m sorry, carry on.�

She regained her composure and swallowed another mouthful of coffee, �I thought they were going to arrest me or something, but another load of trucks arrived and they seemed to get distracted. It was then I noticed they were all wearing ear pieces of some sort. They told me to wait where I was and went outside. My shift had already finished though, and they were taking ages� so I just left.�

�They just let you go?�

She shook her head, �I just left through the staff entrance at the back.�

I sighed and finished my coffee, setting the mug down on the floor beside my chair. Placing another log on the fire, I patted Horus, who gave a lazy stretch on the rug before rolling back over in the direction of the heat. �Amber. Don�t get me wrong here, I�ve been pulled over by the cops plenty times over the years. Hell I even got arrested and dragged into the station for questioning once over a reported dangerous driving thing once, so I know how un-nerving that kind of situation can be. But just what has gotten you so on edge? Really now.�

Amber blurted it out, the tears returning afresh, �When the trucks arrived and the men went outside I� I got a glimpse in the back of one of them when they moved the cover aside. It was parked right outside the window.� The tears were flowing freely now. �There were men in suits, like�.like you see on TV. Bio-hazard suits or whatever they are, and they were sitting alongside a container of some sort, with tanks strapped to the side of it, you know, oxygen or something and� and�� She forced herself to come to the point. �It looked like one of them was trying to talk to or signal to whoever was inside the container.�

�You saw someone inside it?!� I asked, now more concerned.

She shook her head, �I couldn�t see, and I only caught a glimpse, but one of the men was leaning over the top of it, looking inside, and it was though he was trying to talk to someone inside it.�

-*-

The following morning I woke already feeling ten times better than I had done the previous day. I opened my eyes to see what looked to be the start of a beautiful day filtering in through the closed curtains. In the distance I could hear one of the local farmers� sheepdogs barking playfully and the quiet rattle of a tractor somewhere. A glance at the clock on the bed-side table showed the time to be nearly 11a.m., but I didn�t care. What use was your vacation if you couldn�t sleep late?

I got up and showered, running the previous nights events through my mind whilst trying to make sense of what Amber might have seen. Having seen how upset she�d initially gotten whilst telling me, I�d changed the subject completely, and for that she seemed grateful. We�d talked for hours afterwards. About anything and everything, putting the world to right and getting to know each-other. Any misconceptions I�d had the previous night about her sanity were now gone. I�d come to learn a lot more about her, finding she was a genuine and sensitive person with an intelligence that was being wasted in her current job.

I didn�t bother shaving, but got dressed and wandered through the cabin to the lounge. In the daylight the place brought back even more memories from childhood; good ones. Having found the lounge empty though, I headed for the kitchen, following the strong smell of coffee hanging in the air.

�Good morning,� said Amber cheerfully from beside the open back door. �I thought I could hear you,� she pointed to the coffee pot on the stove.

I smiled and helped myself, absently rubbing the remaining tiredness from one eye as I poured. �Feeling better? Sleep okay?�

Amber nodded and smiled, �Yes, thank-you.�

�For what?� I asked, stepping past her in the doorway. The weather wasn�t quite as good as I�d thought it would be but it would do. A crisp breeze spread gently through the surrounding trees, bringing a smell of pine and heather with it. I sat on the bench below the kitchen window and lit a cigarette.

�For listening, I suppose. I know plenty folk who would have done nothing but laugh and fob me off, or not have come to meet me like that in the first place. You heard me out, and I�m grateful.� She sat on the bench beside me, supping her own coffee.

�You don�t need to thank me for things like that, it�s what friends are for,� I exhaled a cloud of smoke that the breeze caught and lifted back over the roof of the cabin, �Where�s Horus?� I asked, realising I hadn�t seen him since getting up.

Amber immediately pointed out to the right, in the direction of the gate at the edge of the clearing. �Getting his own breakfast by the looks of things.� Horus could just be seen amongst the long grass, settling down into a pounce as he tried to track the mouse or vole that he was obviously hearing or seeing. He was quite happy.

After a few moments comfortable silence, during which I finished my �breakfast,� Amber turned to me, her expression similar to that the night before. �Did you hear them last night?� she asked.

�Hear who?� I said, wondering if I should be hearing alarm bells again.

�I don�t know. Out on the road, lots of traffic, I woke up around two thirty and went to get a drink of water. I could hear them off and on when the wind died.�

I thought for a moment. The main road was about a mile from the cabin at its closest point, but didn�t really lead anywhere that would be of interest at that time of night. Occasionally you could hear farm vehicles passing by if the wind was going in the right direction, but even that was unusual. �You�re sure?� I asked. She nodded.

�That road doesn�t really go anywhere. The Duntelchaig reservoir is up there, about five or six miles from here, but after that there�s nothing but a couple of sheep farms, which are much further on.�

�Don�t you believe me?� she asked, her expression one of hurt.

I turned and looked directly in her eyes, �I believe you heard something, Amber. One thing I learned whilst living out here was that nothing ever happens. So you tend to really notice when something does.� I stood up from the bench and looked over to where Horus had been hunting. He was still there, poised and ready, brimming with patience. �How about we take a walk down to the loch? We can catch something for lunch, come back here and eat� and then we can go take a look.� I motioned in the general direction of the reservoir, further up the strath [that�s a smaller version of a glen! � UF]. Amber nodded.

We gathered up two of the old rods from the lean-to shed at the back of the cabin, and I checked through the tackle box, making sure we had everything we�d need. Horus started off following us through the gate and down the gloomy path through the dense trees, but eventually lost interest and wandered back towards the cabin. The small, man-made loch was only a quarter of a mile away, and we could soon see the water glinting at the edge of the narrow strip of pine that the path had just cut through. I�d been going there for years with both my grandfather (who�d originally had the loch constructed back in the early 50s) and my father. The whole area was rich in memories of long summer afternoons of fishing from the small jetty.
We followed the path down by the rushes at the edge of the water and I stopped to put together the rods. Amber continued down to the end of the rickety old jetty and let out a shriek that echoed around the loch. I dropped the rods and ran to her side, only to find her looking down into the water, one hand clamped over her mouth.

�Jesus, Tom. What happened?� she asked, her voice muffled.

The surface of the water surrounding the jetty was littered with dead fish. Looking along the banks of the loch in each direction, I guessed that the entire stock has suffered. When looking for them, the greying carcasses could be seen the whole way round.

To be continued...