Winter's End Read Online Free Page A

terminal and handing it over to her.
    Emma punched in her
pin. “Lisa,” she asked quietly over her eyebrows. “Is there something I need to
know about Mr.s . Kinnaird?”
    Lisa stared at her
blankly. “No,” she muttered at last. “Here’s your receipt.” She handed Emma the
small slip of paper.
    Emma took it hesitantly.
She bit her lips thoughtfully as she picked up her shopping bags.
    “Stay away from the
old lady,” said Matthew.
    Emma turned but
Matthew was not looking at her. He was laying his gallon of milk and box of
cereal on the counter. Lisa tried to avoid Emma’s questioning stare.
    “She’s trouble.
Always have been,” added Matthew, turning slightly towards her now. He gave her
the same icy cold look that he had given her earlier.

 
    *****

 
    It was almost three
o’clock in the evening and Emma was enjoying the last rays of sunlight as she
walked up the road. She slowed briefly at property number 27. She could see the
large white mansion in the distance. Rows of cypress lined the private road to
the estate. From what she had learnt, the vast majority of the land on this side
of the road belonged to Mrs. Kinnaird and so there wasn’t a house to be seen
for at least a mile- the one reason she loved to take her usual afternoon
stroll in this direction than the one that would lead past Lisa Johnston’s
house.
    She re-assessed the
small talk she had had with Lisa and Matthew Allaway .
It was obvious that Lisa was uncomfortable about speaking of Mrs. Kinnaird any
more at the supermarket and Matthew seemed that he had said all that he needed
to. But there was something in the way they had spoken of her that irked her
greatly.

 
    After having done her
shopping earlier that morning, she had picked up the children and drove further
down the highway.
    “Where are we going,
Mum?” said Jai noticing.
    “To Portree ,” she answered. “I need to speak to Mr. MacGregor about something.”
    Half an hour later
she found herself sitting in the small realtor office. Jai and Hannah waited
patiently on the customer couches provided.
    “Hello, Mrs.
Winston,” said Mr. MacGregor emerging from the back.
“ Ciamar a tha sibh ? ”
    “ Tha gu math ,” Emma replied with a smile.
    Mr. MacGregor smiled. “You’re brushing up on your Gaelic, I
see?”
    “I’ve learnt a bit,”
Emma said. And a few other things, she thought to herself.
    “Well, Mrs. Winston,
what can I help you with today? You are well settled at the house?”
    “I am, thank you, Mr. MacGregor .”
    “And the folks around Breakish , Broadford? They treating you well?”
    “I couldn’t be more
welcome,” she answered as politely as she could. “Mr. MacGregor ,”
she added quickly before he could continue with his small talk. She was well
aware that he knew she had money and he was probably counting on his good
fortune that she would buy another property to add to his sales. She was
banking on this in the hope that she would get the answers she was looking for.
“You said the previous owners were selling because they wanted to move closer
to Portree .”
    “Yes,” said Mr. MacGregor . “They could no longer maintain the size of the
land. Five acres of farm land is no easy feat to manage Mrs. Winston.”
    “So this has nothing
to do with the fact that the adjoining property to mine belongs to Mrs.
Kinnaird?”
    Mr. MacGregor licked his lips nervously, slightly taken aback.
“Why, er , of course not. Mrs. Kinnaird is an
upstanding member of the community. I don’t know who has been talking to you
but it’s all gossip.”
    “What gossip?” said
Emma immediately attentive.
    Mr. MacGregor stammered slightly. “What? No…no gossip. Like I
said Mrs. Kinnaird is a well-respected member…”
    “I know she is a
well-respected member,” Emma snapped in annoyance. “And that is why no one
wants to tell me exactly why people avoid her. Particularly so, of why no one
wants to buy a five acre property that was on sale for pittance