There had been lots of bad nights in the past, but nothing to compare with this. Since returning to her chalet she had slept off and on, with her thoughts and dreams merging until it was hard to know which was which. Her first stop was Nick’s chalet to see if he had returned. There was no reply to her knocking, and a peep inside revealed that nothing had changed since her earlier visit. Rose poked her head out the window and confirmed that he had not returned. Christine moved to the common room where she found Lofty and Betty in the kitchen. ‘Hello, dear,’ greeted Betty. ‘How are you feeling?’ Christine welcomed the look of concern on the woman’s face. ‘I feel stupid. Stupid and lonely. I had an argument with Nick.’ ‘I think the whole lodge knows that, dear. Nick was a very unhappy man last night.’ ‘He’s not in his room. Do you know where he is?’ Lofty replied, ‘I think he went off to Jamie’s house. I wanted to close the bar, so the pair of them went off together.
