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

with Susan and Cassandra’s family. So far, her sister hadn’t divulged anymore about why she and their brother had left home. It made Cassandra feel jittery thinking about it and tentatively skirted around the subject.
    “Mother told me you were a handful and got up to mischief and told lies.”
    Susan sat silent, her face growing even paler than usual. “I was no more of a handful than anyone else my age at that time. I’ll tell you about it sometime, Cassie. I promise I will, but there’s too much going on in my head right now. Just remember this. I never told lies. I may have been naughty, but I was not a liar. Everything I said happened was true. They just chose not to believe it.”

    Chapter 14 January 2013, Inverdarroch
    Early the next day, when Cassandra drew back the curtains, she saw the snow had completely disappeared. But with the sky looking heavy and dark, she wondered if more was due.
    After a breakfast of fruit and a piece of toast, Cassandra planned to paint a coat of whitewash on the wall of the bathroom. She discovered a can of paint and some brushes in the shed, and after giving it a stir, she decided the paint wasn’t too old to use. There were also some bottles of white spirit and linseed oil on the workbench at the back.
    Before she started work, her phone rang, and she saw the caller was the solicitor who first contacted her when her sister died. When Mr Triggs of Triggs, Graham and Turner first got in touch, Cassandra had been intrigued by how he found her.
    “Originally from your sister’s birth certificate, Miss Potter. We didn’t have anything else other than that to go on. We made enquiries in the place where she was born, Liverpool, and took it from there. It took a little time to trace you.”
    Cassandra felt a pang as she thought of Susan, all alone in the world apart from a bottle of anti-depressants. “It was lucky my parents were still in the same house as when Susan left home.”
    “Yes, indeed. It was also fortuitous the present owners knew where you worked. We traced you through your employment.”
    Cassandra suddenly understood. After her mother died, she sold the family home and she remembered meeting the new owners. “I must have mentioned I was a photographer with a local wedding-planning agency.”
    “Indeed, Miss Potter. Well, it appears your sister lived here for many years.”
    “I’m afraid I didn’t really know her, Mr Triggs. Susan left home when she was still a teenager, and nobody knew what became of her. She had no communication with any of us until fairly recently.”
    “I see. Well, she died at home. There was an inquest, of course. But it was assumed she was suffering from depression, and it was the overdose which caused her death.”
    “Yes, she was a heavy smoker. Who found her?”
    There was a pause, and she heard a crackle of paper at the other end. “A neighbour. A Miss Elizabeth Blackmore of Inverdarroch. That’s all, I’m afraid. Your sister was found not long after her death.”
    ***
    Cassandra wondered what Mr Triggs was calling about this time. She didn’t have to wait long. Mr Triggs said in a triumphant voice that he had a buyer for the cottage and that the price he was willing to pay was an attractive one, right at the top end of the market.
    Replacing her phone in her pocket, Cassandra sat down feeling slightly stunned. Well, that was unexpected and so soon. But why did she feel lukewarm about it? This was ridiculous. She knew all along she would sell the cottage. This place was hardly where she envisioned living, and she had to work. She couldn’t see herself relocating and travelling to work in somewhere like Edinburgh or a nearby town.
    Inverdarroch was like living in a lost valley, but certainly no Brigadoon. She had surly neighbours at Lochend farm—well, the mother certainly was—she had yet to properly meet the others. Cassandra had only spoken a few times to the Blackmore sisters and once to Donald and Fiona. Angus seemed