Tartan and Thyme by Zoe Tasia

Author:Zoe Tasia [Zoe Tasia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zoe Tasia
Published: 2023-10-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter twenty

“Poor Mrs. Nivens must be sick of me,” I said as I entered the home. As large as it was, I suppose it would qualify as a manse. It had been in the McNeil family for decades.

“I guess she’s working with Tate on the inventory,” I said as I took in the empty parlor.

“Tate left about a half hour ago. I think she had some homework,” Dorcas said as she closed the door behind me.

“She didn’t mention it to me. I hope she didn’t get assigned extra.” Tater Tot, what are you up to?

I had already explained what I was looking for on the phone.

“Mrs. Nivens is napping and, if you don’t mind, I’d like to let her rest,” Dorcas said apologetically.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Is she sick again? I’ll come back another time.”

“It’s fine. Since her illness, she’s tired out by teatime.”

“I knew I should have come earlier.”

Dorcas patted my hand. “It’s fine, dear. Mrs. Nivens gave it some thought. She thinks that Hamish’s wife kept the items pertaining to the curse to aid her in her writing. That’s why you had no luck with the boxes.”

I didn’t admit I’d barely scraped the surface of all the papers she had given me earlier, so I just nodded. I felt bad enough that Kay made the trip to fetch them and bring them to me.

“After she died, Hamish moved. He was pretty shaken up. Mrs. Nivens is sure that he left all his wife’s belongings here.”

“I spoke to Hamish during the pub opening. He mentioned his wife had papers in the cottage where they lived. He said it was okay for me to look at them. Do I need to ask him to talk to Mrs. Nivens about it first?”

“No need. The family was living on the grounds in the gatekeeper’s cottage. It’s located at the front gate. I’ve been told to take you there to look about if you don’t mind waiting for Mrs. Nivens’s sister to arrive.”

The estate included several outbuildings in the back of the house, but since I’d always entered from a footpath through the wall, I’d only been to the entrance once when David’s family visited. I’d been so worried about them I had taken little notice of the place. The serpentine drive and many trees that lined it made it impossible to see completely up the paved entrance to the gate.

We hadn’t been waiting long when Mrs. Nivens’s sister arrived. Dorcas led me outside to an antiquated golf cart. “It’d take us forever to walk it,” she explained. As we toddled down the road, Dorcas said, “That nice man Mr. Jakob looked at the property but rented something closer to the water. Apparently, young Lily is quite the swimmer.”

The Gatekeeper’s Cottage sat snug against the opening leading to the house.

“The portcullis is always up. To this day, it makes me nervous to pass underneath. I always worry the gate will fall and crush me. Truth is, the apparatus has probably rusted in the up position and would take a lot of work to get it down.

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