‘So, what are you going to do? It’s something of a pickle, isn’t it?’ Kirsten leaned over her coffee like a housewife advising a neighbour on a replacement garden fence.
Jessica shook her head. ‘There’s nothing I can do. My phone’s sitting in a bag of dry rice at the moment, but I’m not too hopeful it’ll ever work again. I asked Barry about the nearest phone shop, but he said I’d have to go over to Inverness. There’s one in a village a few miles over but he said it only opens in the summer. And with heavy snow forecast from tomorrow, he doesn’t think I’d be able to get back. They’re already getting cancellations because the roads aren’t cleared.’
‘Oh, that’s too bad.’
‘Yes … and no.’
‘Really?’
‘I told you about my nightmare lodger, didn’t I?’
‘Doreen?’
‘Well, she claims that she’s o
