Once again I had several choices. I could go back to the parking lot and see if their motorcycle was still there. I could go back to the BB if it wasn’t and spend some more quality time in the hedge waiting for them to come back. Or, and this was my favored option, I could go and have lunch. I was actually starting to feel a little light-headed, and realized that if I didn’t count dinner—and why would I under the circumstances?—I hadn’t eaten since breakfast the previous day. I wandered down the main street and chose a pleasant looking little cafe. They looked full, but they told me there was an upstairs room. In it I found Kenny and Willow, talking to none other than Lester Campbell, antique dealer from George Square in Glasgow. I had no trouble looking genuinely surprised. They didn’t either.
“Lara!” Willow exclaimed after a moment’s confusion. “You’re here.”
“Hi,” I said. “Am I ever glad to see you. I wondered if that was your motorcycle in the parking lot. And Lester, what an unexpected pleasure!”
“For me as well,” he said, rising from his chair politely, knocking over his water glass in the process. Fortunately there wasn’t much in it, but it gave us all a moment to collect ourselves.
“I left you a message,” I said to Willow. “I slept for a couple of hours after I talked to you and felt much better, but you’d already left when I called.”
“I’m so glad you’re feeling better,” Willow said.
“This is great, Lara,” the adorable Kenny said, pulling out a chair. “Please join us.”
“I will,” I said. “I’m starving.”
“Good sign,” Willow said. “We seem to have stumbled on the place to be in Kirkwall, Kenny. We went to a pub first, Lara, but it was so dark we decided to try for something else, and we picked this place, and what do you know, here’s Lester. And then you come in, too. I can’t believe it.”
I couldn’t either. “How do you know each other?” I said brightly. Kenny and Willow looked discomfited. It was left to Lester to reply.
“Kenny and I met at the University.”
“Interesting,” I said. “Which one?”
“Glasgow,” Lester said, as simultaneously Kenny offered up Edinburgh. I suppose I looked perplexed.
“Was it Edinburgh, Ken?” Lester said. At least his name was really Kenny apparently, unlike other people I’d met lately. “I suppose it must have been. I give courses at both universities from time to time, and obviously have trouble keeping them apart.”
Didn’t this just strain one’s credulity? “Has to be,” Kenny said. “I’ve never been to Glasgow University.”
“That solves it, then,” Lester said.
“You give courses, Lester?” I said. “You are a man of many talents. Antiques? History?”
“I have made something of a hobby of Viking jewelry,” Lester said. “Nothing to do with the shop, but from time to time I give a lecture or two.”
“He’s being modest,” Kenny said. “He’s a real expert, unlike me who is just trying to be.”
“So you’re talking about…” Willow gave me an almost imperceptible shake of the head, but there was no mistaking her meaning. “Vikings,” I said. “How fascinating. Tell me more.”
“It is,” Willow said. “But how do you and Lester know each other?”
“Fellow antique dealers,” Lester said.
“Yes, we met in Glasgow when I happened upon Lester’s shop. He was kind enough to suggest I attend a rather splendid fund-raiser at a lovely home in Glasgow.”
“I think we’re going to be fellow houseguests this evening, in fact,” Lester said.
“Are we?” I asked.
“You’re staying at the same B B in Stromness?” Willow said. “What a coincidence!”
“Stromness?” Lester said.
Oh, dear. “I received a very nice invitation today,” I said. “I ran into Maya a couple of days ago, and she’s just invited me to stay with them.”
“She told me last night you were coming,” Lester said.
Kenny and Willow looked at me. The tables had somehow been turned here, and I was the one who was under suspicion. I didn’t think that was exactly fair under the circumstances. “I think she must have meant she intended to invite me,” I said. “I was just talking to her this morning.”
“That must have been it,” Lester agreed, but he looked doubtful.
“I see,” Willow said. I expect she did, too, which was too bad, but given I didn’t believe a word she was saying, maybe she shouldn’t believe me either.
“The Alexanders are fabulous hosts,” Lester said. “I know you’ll enjoy it there. I e-mailed Robert a couple of days ago with a photo of a pocket watch I thought he’d love, and he invited me to come for a visit. I never turn down an invitation from the Alexanders.”
“This would be Robert Alexander the entrepreneur, would it?” Kenny said. “The rich guy?”
“One and the same,” Lester said. “They have a wonderful weekend home here.”
“Very nice,” Willow said, but she didn’t mean it. The conversation was a little strained after that, and I didn’t learn anything more of interest. Lester rattled on about antiques and Vikings, Kenny joined in on the Viking stuff, and Willow just picked quietly at her food. I concentrated on eating everything in sight.
“So, are we going to get together tomorrow as planned?” I asked brightly as we left the restaurant.
“Kenny and I were thinking of taking a day off,” Willow said. “Given you’ll be spending time with Lester and your hosts, maybe we should regroup the next day.”
“Fine with me,” I said. “Should I just come to your B B first thing the day after tomorrow? Then we can take my car.”
“Sure,” Willow said, and with that we parted company. I offered Lester a ride to Hoxa, but he declined saying he had some business to attend to in town, some banking or something, and had already rented a car. I went back to the parking lot and waited awhile to see if Willow and Kenny came back. I felt I had to make a better effort at explaining myself, although of course all I’d be doing would be making a lie worse. They didn’t come. I eventually gave up and drove across the Churchill Barriers to St. Margaret’s Hope and Hoxa once more. Or maybe what I was heading for was The Wasteland, the maze, and the wounded king.
My reception at the Alexanders was not quite what I was expecting, although Maya and Robert were waiting for me, and Drever the Intimidating, still in army fatigues, took my bag with exemplary speed. Unfortunately Detective Cusiter was awaiting my arrival as well.
“I’m sorry to trouble you,” he said in his polite Orkney fashion, looking as if he was personally pained by any inconvenience he might be causing. “But I’m afraid I have some more questions. The Alexanders have very graciously said we can use the downstairs study.”
I thought he wanted to ask me about Percy’s last words, but that wasn’t what had brought him to Hoxa. “You were telling us you gave Mr. Budge a ride,” he began.
“I did, yes,” I said.
“You picked him up on the side of the road,” he said, consulting his notes.
“Yes.”
“Not a safe thing to do, really, is it? Pick up a stranger? This is Orkney, of course, but I wouldn’t have thought you as a tourist would want to do something like that.”