by Penny Kline
‘I’ve always been susceptible to insect bites.’ She searched in her bag for a tube of anti-histamine cream.
‘What was it? Not a tick?’
‘Ticks don’t bite, they suck your blood. A midge, I expect. Or a mosquito.’
‘Wrong time of year.’
As they passed through a wooden gate, the whole valley came into view, with its sloping sides and outbreaks of rocks. Gus liked maps, also seabirds, rock formations, and ships on the horizon. Today’s walk had started in Lynton, looking down on Lynmouth harbour. The hotel had been reasonably priced and comfortable, and the breakfast large, and eaten at a leisurely pace.
After leaving Lynton, they had followed the signs for the Abbey, climbing between trees, then realised their mistake since their intention was to traverse the valley and, with any luck, spot a feral goat or two. He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. Eddie had gone through a phase of wanting to keep goats, but Jane had put her foot down. They eat the washing on your line and if they were nannies I know who’d have to milk them.
‘Ragged Jack on the left.’ Gus shaded his eyes against the glare of the sun. ‘And Castle Rock on the right.’
‘You’ve been here before.’
He shook his head. ‘Read the guidebook at the hotel. The goats and ponies help to keep the vegetation under control.’
‘It was near here that John Ridd visited Mother Meldrum.’
‘Who?’
‘Lorna Doone. Wonderful book, set mainly on Exmoor, during the turbulent time of Monmouth’s rebellion.’
‘The ponies are Exmoors. Hardy. Roam free on the moor. Recognisable by the mealy markings around their eyes and muzzle.’
‘You’ve always been interested in wildlife?’
Gus felt in the pocket of his new trousers. ‘Isn’t everybody?’ He handed Jane a strong mint.
‘I’m not so sure about that.’ She had spotted a narrow path that ran towards the cliff top. ‘Shall we go up there and look at the sea?’
‘Right you are.’
Urged on by Gus, it soon became a race, terminating in an alarming drop to the sea below. Fortunately, an iron railing had been erected for the benefit of foolhardy visitors. Jane was thinking about another holiday. With Eddie. They had stayed in a bed and breakfast place on the moor, and found themselves sharing the place with a stag party. Jane had found the men a little disruptive but Eddie had enjoyed listening to their escapades, described at the top of their voices. What would she have thought if she had known where Jane was now? Her friend and companion on a walking tour with their neighbour. She smiled to her herself and Gus asked what the joke was and she said she was just imagining what Eddie would think. ‘Eddie when she had her wits about her.’
‘The two of us on holiday together? She’d disapprove?’
‘I expect so.’
They continued in silence, both deep in thought, although it turned out Gus was thinking about the geology of the area.
‘Some of the oldest rocks in North Devon,’ he told her, ‘and the area is known for its interesting fungi.’
‘And insects, I expect.’
He bent to look at her face. ‘You mocking me?’
‘Not at all. With your love of nature and mine of literature, we make a good pair. Sit on that bench for five minutes, shall we, get our breath back?’
‘Right you are. From what you’ve told me, you and the Molloy boy seem to have hit it off. They say it can be like that if you skip a generation.’
‘Were you thinking about your grandchildren?’
‘No, I was thinking about you.’
‘I had a word with Willa, and later with Brian, and they’ve accepted Arthur doesn’t want to be a doctor. Last I heard, he and Simmy had embarked on a new computer game. Not based on Greek myths this time. Birds of prey, I believe, vultures.’
‘What d’you suppose Corinne will do? Return to her ex?’
‘Arthur says he has a girlfriend but I don’t know if it’s serious.’
He touched her arm. ‘Look, goats, four of them.’
‘Oh, yes. I suppose they’re so sure-footed, they’d never fall into the sea.’
‘It said in the guidebook they used to push sheep over the cliff.’
‘There aren’t any sheep.’
‘Exactly. We’ll have lunch at a place I read up about. Grub’s supposed to be good. A few miles on, if you can manage it.’
‘Of course I can manage it. At first I thought ... well, you know what I thought. I thought Eddie had seen Noel leaning over the balcony and been unable to resist giving him a push.’
‘So you did a spot of detective work. Needed a different culprit. Oh, don’t worry, I know I was on your list. Well, it could’ve been me. Not that Noel’s departure has put an end to the racket, and God only knows who’ll be moving in above me.’
‘I’d almost convinced myself Eddie was innocent, then Rousseau ran up to the new loft conversion and when I went to retrieve him I found some pink fluffy handcuffs that had been pushed down the sofa. Oh, it’s no good, I’ll have to tell you the whole story. The parcel I told you about, the one that came for Willa. It was coming unstuck at one end —’
‘So you gave it a little extra encouragement.’
‘A teacher’s outfit in black patent leather. Not real leather. Plastic. Together with a pair of handcuffs with pink fluff attached to them. I re-packed the parcel but forgot to include the handcuffs so I hid them in a kitchen cupboard and Eddie must have found them.’ She paused for breath. ‘You’ve no idea how relieved I was when you said you’d seen Eddie outside Sainsbury’s at two-fifteen. She must have gone up to the loft earlier on, when I slipped out to buy her some ice-cream. You see Corinne said Noel only left the house at ten past two and Eddie couldn’t possibly have reached Sainsbury’s by two-fifteen if she’d been next door – when Noel was there.’
Gus was running his hand through what was left of his hair.
‘What? It was two-fifteen, wasn’t it?’
He nodded. ‘You said there weren’t to be any lies between us, Jane.’
‘Did I? Well, not many. Some lies are necessary. White lies that spare other people’s feelings and —’
‘Jane!’
‘What?’
He sighed, staring into the distance at a group of small children running through the bracken. ‘Not the big supermarket that’s almost a mile away. Sainsbury’s local, the convenience shop round the corner. That’s where I saw her.’
Jane hugged her knees. She was thinking about Corinne, furious that Noel had lied about his vasectomy. And Dave, determined to protect Simmy from discovering the truth about her dead mother. Willa, the scorned mistress. Brian, terrified his wife was going to leave him. Then there was Nicky, from number twenty-two, who had come to Rousseau’s rescue, unaware that Jane had harboured evil thoughts about her woolly hat or, to be more precise, her friendship with Gus. What a fool she had been. No, not a fool – she had wanted to protect poor Eddie and it had affected her judgement.
The fresh air was bracing and it was a long time since she had felt so alive. Gus took her hand. ‘Come on then, coffee and cake. Don’t know about you, but cake always works wonders with me, makes the world seem a better place.’
THE SISTER’S SECRET
PENNY KLINE
How well do you really know her?
Erin is devastated when her pregnant sister Claudia is left brain dead from a tragic accident. When Claudia’s boyfriend Ollie wants to switch off her life support, a desperate Erin finds herself fighting to give the baby a chance.
THE GIFTED CHILD
PENNY KLINE
How do you deal with what comes after a death?
When her partner, William, is murdered, and her beloved stepson is returned to the birth mother who never really wanted him, Kristen’s life falls completely apart. The police think the murder was a mugging gone wrong, but did Kristen know William as well as she thought she did
?
NOBODY’S BABY
PENNY KLINE
What happens when the past turns up on your doorstep?
When Izzy finds a baby on her doorstep it looks like the random act of a desperate mother... except that the baby’s name, pinned in a note to its carrycot, brings back a striking memory from her childhood.
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