A Trick of the Light by Ali Carter (surface ebook reader txt) 📕

‘Just one?’

‘Yes, just one, in pencil on paper.’

‘I think it’s such a good idea of Susie’s,’ said Fergus. ‘You can’t possibly work outside in this weather.’ He turned to look out of the window. ‘That reminds me. Darling, you said you were going to look up tomorrow’s weather?’

‘Yes, I should have said, it’s going to remain below freezing with a brief spell of sun in the morning.’

‘Brrr.’ Felicity’s whole upper body shook.

‘Good lord,’ said Rupert, ‘Jules will never forgive me if I don’t get home to help with the dogs.’ He looked genuinely worried.

‘And I’m meant to be going skiing on Saturday.’ Giles’s shoulders slumped.

‘Don’t worry,’ said Zoe. ‘I’ve spoken to the airline and your flight’s been rescheduled for the morning. Porridge and toast in here from seven and Donald will take you to the airport at eight.’

‘How brilliant of you,’ said Felicity.

‘Well, I’d hate to think of you stuck up here.’

‘Yeah,’ said Shane. ‘I like it and all but I want to get home.’

‘You will. Inverness only has two flights south a day. The airport is quite used to bringing the evening one forward when the weather’s bad.’

‘This means we won’t get to finish our pictures,’ groused Minty.

‘Blast,’ said Rupert. ‘So it does. I really felt I was going places today.’

‘Susie,’ said Zoe, ‘is there anything you can do about this?’

I was glad to have an answer. ‘It’ll be easy to finish them when you get home, you just have to glaze over the tones.’

‘How?’ snapped Jane.

‘Mix up two colours, green and blue, add a fair amount of medium to them and brush them lightly over the objects.’

‘Will that work?’ asked Giles.

‘It should do.’

‘Should do or will do?’ said Jane.

‘It will work as long as you keep your paint thin. You have to allow the tones we painted today to come through your greens and blues.’

‘I’m definitely going to try it,’ said Rupert.

‘Does anyone want more shepherd’s pie?’ said Zoe.

‘Depends what’s for pudding,’ piped up Giles.

Mhàiri stepped in to clear. Zoe looked at her. ‘I think…it’s blackberry crumble with custard?’

Mhàiri nodded.

‘Help yourself from the hotplate,’ said Zoe and everyone, apart from Minty, got up.

‘Zoe,’ said Jane, ‘I do hope you won’t mind having my pictures wrapped and sent south? I can’t think how I’ll manage them on the plane.’

The cheek.

‘Hmmm,’ mumbled Fergus. I think he was embarrassed they hadn’t thought about this before.

‘You could,’ I said, ‘fit them in your suitcase. They should be dry.’

‘That’s what I’m going to do,’ said Rupert.

‘I hadn’t thought of that. I shall go right now and give it a try.’ Jane got up and left the room.

‘Would anyone like seconds?’ said Zoe, and when Felicity joined a long line of takers I realised it was my moment to rush upstairs and have a bit more time alone with Jane.

Knock, knock …

‘Come in.’

‘Hi, Jane.’

‘Susie, I don’t want you bothering me again.’

I watched as she folded some clothes into her suitcase. The very one Mhàiri had found the necklace in. Jolly lucky for Jane Mhàiri hadn’t recognised it from the portrait above. Although, even if she had put two and two together she’d never say she found a necklace in Jane’s bag. Mhàiri’s words ‘I’ll watch your back if you watch mine’ gave me reassurance her relationship with Fergus and Zoe wasn’t close. It’s not like she’d confided in them about Jane having been here before. Hang on a minute…

‘Jane,’ I said. ‘If your parents were friends of Fergus’s parents, you must have come to stay once he was born?’

‘Were is the key word there.’

‘Did they fall out?’

‘Don’t you ever learn?’ She stopped packing and turned her slitty little eyes towards me. ‘Stop right now, poking your nose into my business.’

Eeeee, eeeee, eeeee, came the loud call of a raven. It was outside the window, sitting on the sill frantically flapping its wings. Jane got up and banged the glass.

‘If you want a mystery to solve, young lady, off you go and work out what these blasted birds are doing here.’

‘Fine.’

I walked straight out of her room adamant I’m going to get to the bottom of everything odd going on here.

Although Zoe referred to the library early on as ‘a snug’ it will take a lot of renovation before Auchen Laggan Tosh gets anywhere close to cosy. However, for this afternoon’s drawing from paintings the Muchtons have attempted to brighten the place up. Fires are crackling, chandeliers alight and Haggis is padding around, making people feel at home.

Rupert and Minty are drawing George III’s coronation round the back of the main staircase. Lianne is in the library studying Thomas Warrender’s trompe l’oeil and Giles has disregarded my instruction for the afternoon. I’ve just stumbled across him in the hall. He’s got his watercolours out and is tackling the cupola, à la Gavin Hamilton.

‘Didn’t want to draw?’ I said sarcastically.

‘No, not on my last afternoon. We have rather a good painting collection of our own at home. I can draw from that any time.’

‘I get your point. Would you like any help?’

‘Do you think this is bad?’

‘No, it looks a good start. I was just offering.’

‘Thank you but no thank you,’ he smiled.

I found Felicity in the drawing room sitting by the fire, under Ramsay’s portrait of the 1st Earl’s wife.

‘Great choice. How are you getting on?’

‘I,’ her voice cracked. ‘I,’ she stopped again. I looked at her picture; most of it had been rubbed out.

‘Felicity, you mustn’t worry, anything good is hard work. You’ve come on such a lot this week.’

‘But it’s so difficult. I simply don’t know where to begin.’

‘Think of it like this.’ I crouched down beside her. ‘Fifty per cent is studying the painting, the tone, the brush strokes, the detail, and fifty per cent is drawing something that looks like what you have chosen.’

‘If you say so.’

I changed tack. ‘I bet you’ve never looked at the same painting for more than an hour?’

Her head shook.

‘You’ll be looking at this picture for at least an hour