ON DEVIL'S BRAE (A Psychological Suspense Thriller) (Dark Minds Mystery Suspense) by Faith Mortimer Read Free Book Online Page A

and telling them Susan’s side: how she had been an innocent bystander, who was only there due to circumstances. What good would it do? Their minds were made up, and most importantly, nothing was going to bring little Natalie back to life. Was it?
    Insidiously, the rot set in. Susan fled back up to Inverdarroch and sadly died not long after in the summer of 2012. Cassandra was devastated and blamed herself for not being there and most of all for not being a good enough sister.

    Chapter 9 January, 2013, Inverdarroch
    Back at the cottage, Cassandra started to blitz the place. The snow had almost melted with the sun and rise in temperature. She climbed on a chair, took down all the remaining curtains, and gathered them up to throw in the washing machine. With the breeze blowing down the valley, they would dry—partially at least—and she could iron them whilst damp and rehang them before nightfall.
    Next, she dragged out the cooker and fridge and cleaned up a small army of dead insects and dried onion rings and chips. The kitchen drawers and cupboards needed a good scrub and the wooden floors a sweep and wash. When they were dry, she unrolled the rugs she had bought and laid them down. With her new cushions, throws, lampshades, and a few pretty dishes full of pot pourri, the whole place took on a fresh feel and look. Not what you’d call home , she thought, but a hundred per cent nicer than when she first saw the cottage. It was amazing what a thorough clean and a few hundred pounds spent on soft furnishings could do. She planned to give the white-washed walls a new coat of paint to cover the stains and scuff marks, once the warmer weather came.
    She tackled the bathroom last. The mirror above the basin was speckled with iron mould and had a crack running down one corner. She had bought a replacement but needed a hefty screwdriver to take the old one down. Not wanting to get in the car and drive to the nearest town, she decided to leave it for another day. By then, she would most probably have a list of essentials she had forgotten. A handyman about the place would have been good, but Cassandra was used to doing things on her own. Besides, handymen often brought along their own share of problems, and those she could do without. She paused as an image of Angus flashed across her mind. She wouldn’t have minded seeing him in tight jeans and wielding a hefty screwdriver, sweaty and smelling of man. The memory of the line of his jaw, his five-o’clock shadow, and sensuous mouth made her heart thud in her chest. Crikey, girl, you’ve only met him once, and you’ve got it bad!
    Thinking of men reminded Cassandra she hadn’t rang her friend, Julian, since her arrival. Julian was a university lecturer, whom she had known for years. She couldn’t quite remember how they met—she thought it was at a mutual friend’s party—but he was always in the background. There was nothing between them: no romance beyond a goodnight kiss when they went out together, but he did tend to keep an eye upon her. Julian had his camping weekends, his book-club chums, and a love of hiking. Like Cassandra, he had never walked down the aisle or felt anything was missing. Cassandra wondered if he preferred men, but despite knowing Julian all those years, she had never dared ask. She assumed it was a reticence she had inherited from her parents.
    Cassandra promised she would ring as soon as she reached Inverdarroch, but for some reason she kept putting it off. Like Cynthia and Rosie, Julian considered her move to the Highlands way over the top and told her she was batty even considering it.
    “Cassandra, you’ll never cope. One week in a draughty cottage with no mod cons, and you’ll be climbing the walls,” he had vented a few days earlier.
    Cassandra laughed. “For heaven’s sake, you’re as bad as the terrible twins. I’ve coped living on my own for over twenty years, and the place has running water, electricity, and a massive fireplace for