Page 121 of The Boathouse By the Loch

Judith said, ‘Bonnie, do you know what happened to Robyn?’

‘She’d been in the middle of packing her things, said I could help myself to whichever clothes I wanted from her suitcase. Then she shut her suitcase and put it in her car, ready to leave the next morning. I guess she was returning to university. She said I could stay the night, and in the morning she could phone a local garage, see if they could come out and repair the car. That seemed like a good idea, unless Logan had decided to sleep in the car. But I couldn’t see that in sub-zero temperatures. I imagined he would check into that hotel and return to his car in the morning. Either way, I knew I had to abandon the idea of leaving town in his car. I couldn’t explain that to Robyn, but she came to my rescue and said she doubted they’d be any car mechanics working on Boxing Day, so if I wanted, she’d take me where I wanted to go the next day.’ She sighed. ‘I didn’t know where I was going, and I didn’t care. All I knew was that I needed to get out of Aviemore, away from him.’

Judith said, ‘But I don’t understand … you were driving out of Aviemore in Robyn’s car, alone, when you had the accident.’

‘Yes.’ Bonnie halted. She knew she had to tell them. She felt her resolve slipping. Bonnie took a deep breath and forced herself to continue. ‘Robyn asked me if I’d do her one small favour in return. Her friend, Eleanor, wanted to go skiing, but she had some things she still wanted to do in the shop before she left the next day. Would I drive Eleanor to the ski slopes? Of course, I said yes.It was such a small favour to ask. It was the least I could do. They both went upstairs, Eleanor to change into her ski stuff, and Robyn to tidy up the flat.’

‘So you drove Eleanor in Robyn’s car?’

Bonnie looked at her hands. ‘Yes. She looked like some sort of professional skier in her lovely ski wear. I had no idea you needed so much kit. She had dark reflective glasses on, a large cosy bandana type sleeve wrapped around her head and ears, and a silk scarf that she’d pulled up to her nose.’

She stole a glance at Jake. ‘I’m so sorry about what happened on the ski slopes. I wish … I wish I’d never driven her there.’

Jake shook his head. ‘Don’t say that. It wasn’t your fault. She’d have got there one way or the other. Obviously Robyn was going to drive her there before you appeared.’

Bonnie looked at him. It didn’t make her feel any better – not after what had happened after she’d dropped Eleanor off.

Judith said, ‘But you didn’t return to the shop, did you?’

Bonnie shook her head, avoiding Judith’s gaze. ‘We drove through Aviemore, on the way to the ski slopes, and we passed Logan, standing by his car, scratching his head with the butt of his gun, not even bothering to conceal it. I couldn’t see a broken window, but he had a crowbar in his hand, and the boot of the car open. I guessed he’d returned to his car for the crowbar to prise open the shop door, when he realised I was gone, along with the money.’

Bonnie had left her mobile phone in the car, so he’d had no way of contacting her, or tracing her whereabouts through his phone. She’d also had the presence of mind, in the split second that she’d fled, to take his keys so that he couldn’t get the car started.

‘He spotted me, in her car, and quickly jumped in his own car, but there was no key. So I saw him in the rear-view mirror, running along the pavement with the gun in one hand and the crowbar in another. That was when I realised I couldn’t return to Wilbur’s Bookstore. He was still in town. He’d find me. I needed to get out of Aviemore immediately.’

‘So you stole my stepdaughter’s car?’

‘Yes, it’s true. I … I’d made up my mind before we even arrived at the ski slopes that I wouldn’t return to the shop. But I wasn’t going to keep her car, not at all. I’m not like Logan. I don’t steal stuff. I was desperate, and I just needed to borrow it to get out of town. There wasn’t time to explain. But as soon as I got someplace else, I was going to phone Wilbur’s Bookstore, let her know where her car was, pay to have it returned to her.’

‘And that’s why you were speeding out of Aviemore,’ said David, ‘on Christmas Day.’

‘And you had the accident in Robyn’s car,’ Judith added.

‘But you never made it past the town limits,’ said Gayle.

Bonnie looked at each one of them in turn and nodded.

Judith said, ‘So, where is Robyn?’

‘I … I don’t know.’

Melissa’s boyfriend, Brodie, who’d taken over running his grandfather’s bookshop said, ‘Last Christmas, when my grandfather, Wilbur, returned from his Christmas break, expecting the young lady he’d employed to still be there minding the shop, he found the keys to the shop posted through the letter box, and her things gone. I never thought to ask her name, but then he didn’t seem all that bothered, to be honest. He just said she was a student at university, and had probably changed her mind about the holiday job, and returned to campus early. He’d decided toretire anyway. I think he’d lost interest in the shop, and was just biding his time until I took over the place.’

Bonnie looked over at Brodie. ‘Robyn said she was leaving. I don’t know where she was going, but her things were packed up in the car, ready to go.’

‘The car you … borrowed,’ said Gayle.

‘Yes.’

‘So, the question is,’ said Joe, ‘What happened to Robyn Parker when you didn’t return to the shop with her car? She obviously left the shop, just like she’d planned. But where did she go?’

It was a rhetorical question. Nobody in the room knew. The only thing that was obvious was that she’d locked up the shop, put the keys through the letterbox, and disappeared.

Chapter 44

Joe opened the door to the hypnotherapist’s garden office and stepped outside. Bonnie could see Joe and Sean talking in hushed voices, just outside the door, as everyone inside the room rose from their chairs. Everyone apart from her. She didn’t know whether she was free to go. She imagined it was more likely she’d be arrested for stealing Robyn’s car. She had confessed to it, after all. And if she was free to go – where would that be? Her friends, the people she knew and loved, were filing out one by one. Nobody was speaking to each other – let alone to her.

Joe and Sean stepped into the therapist’s office. They stepped aside to let David past. He was the last to leave.

---