Off Kilter (A Scottish Highlands Mystery) by Hannah Reed

Author:Hannah Reed [Reed, Hannah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-10-07T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 23

I tried to keep up with Vicki on the drive back to the farm, but like all the others drivers I’d encountered in Scotland, she drove as though the road were a racetrack. She quickly left me in her dust.

When I arrived at the farm, I saw Leith Cameron’s Land Rover parked by the farmhouse and his dog Kelly trotting along the fence across the lane. Kelly watched the sheep with that intense border collie stare and visibly quivered with anticipation. The sheep watched her right back but without the calm they had exhibited while observing me. They stared in unison, seeming skittish, nervous—and no wonder. The sheep were expecting to be herded any moment.

Vicki and Leith had been chatting when I pulled up, but as soon as I exited the Peugeot, Vicki hurried away toward the house. “I have a few things to do inside,” she claimed, but not before she gave me a conspiratorial wink behind Leith’s back.

I did an internal head shake. The woman was absolutely tenacious when she set her mind to something.

“Eden Elliott, I heard ye took a fall. How are ye feeling?” He seemed genuinely concerned.

“Pretty much back to normal,” I told him.

“That’s good tae hear.”

At Leith’s call, the obedient border collie left the fence and trotted behind us as we entered the barn and approached the stairs leading to the loft. Meanwhile I explained about John Derry on his tractor, the bales of hay, and how he’d left us to haul them to the loft.

“Ye broke the step, ye did,” Leith said.

“It turns out that someone tampered with it,” I told him, explaining what had caused my fall and how Sean Stevens had found the sawed stair piece. “It’s hard not to think that Vicki was the most likely target. And I believe it has something to do with the litigation started by her half siblings.”

By Leith’s darkening expression I knew he was becoming increasingly upset and angry as I shared what had happened. “Ye must be right about it being a MacBride up tae no good,” he said. “Nobody else would have a reason tae do such a thing. But the inspector will have a tough time proving it.”

He looked around for Kelly. “She was a fine herder in her day,” Leith said proudly. “Not every dog o’ her breed is born with the ability to herd sheep. Either they have it as pups, or they never have it. Herding isn’t something that can be taught. Some o’ the working dogs here at the MacBride farm are from one or another of her litters.”

“How old is she?” I asked, surprised to learn that Kelly wasn’t a youngster, and that she’d been a mom multiple times.

“Goin’ on twelve,” Leith told me. “She has a bit o’ arthritis in her legs and the beginning of cataracts. Her herding days are behind her. Time tae turn the task over tae another generation, but as ye can see, she’s still got plenty o’ spunk even in retirement.

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