Death Plays a Part (Cornish Castle Mystery, Book 1)

by Vivian Conroy

  ‘But Mr Haydock was a customer here, right?’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Mr Grunwald said. He tapped the tweezers on his free hand. ‘He bought many pieces for his home here. He knew exactly what he wanted.’

  Oliver pursed his lips. ‘If he didn’t buy the ring with you, do you have any idea where he might have got it?’

  ‘Well, it’s odd that you should ask me this question.’ The elderly man leaned closer across the counter, lowering his voice as if he was worried that somebody might overhear. ‘Two months ago I happened to have a very fine coin, minted in this area, with the engraving on it still legible. I offered it to Mr Haydock, and he just laughed at me. Laughed, you know.’

  The antiquarian was clearly indignant. ‘Mr Haydock said that he had much more like that coming to him and he didn’t need me to offer him one. He could be quite brusque – Mr Haydock.’

  Oliver glanced at Guinevere. ‘Much more like it coming to him?’ he repeated the antiquarian’s puzzling quote.

  Guinevere shrugged, as she had no idea what it could mean.

  Oliver asked Grunwald, ‘Through the historical society?’

  ‘I have no idea; I didn’t ask him. I was rather annoyed at the tone he took with me. We’ve done business for many years, and he never had a complaint about my services. Why would he suddenly turn to another supplier?’

  The old man looked pained. ‘Now that you mention this ring, I have to conclude that Mr Haydock was indeed buying elsewhere. Maybe even on the internet? People turn to those auction sites and such. They don’t value personal service any more. Or guarantees that if something is wrong with it, they can come back and get help. Who says that if you buy something online, it isn’t even stolen?’

  ‘That’s a very good question,’ Oliver agreed. ‘Thank you for your time.’

  Guinevere said, ‘You have some lovely theatre glasses there. How much are they?’

  ‘I got those from an old lady’s estate just the other week. The handle is decorated with real mother-of-pearl. They’re in good shape as well. You could still use them if you wanted to.’

  Guinevere smiled. They were lovely and practical too. She already saw herself with them on opening night when Well-mannered Murder would have its much-anticipated premiere. ‘How much are they?’

  ‘One hundred pounds.’

  She winced. That was a lot of money to spend on a gift for herself. ‘Thank you. I was just asking on behalf of a friend.’

  Oliver thanked Mr Grunwald for his information again, and they left the little shop.

  Dolly stopped to sniff the rocking horse’s long black tail and sneezed as the hair tickled her nose.

  Oliver said, ‘So Haydock didn’t get his ring here. And Kensa claimed he never turned in a receipt for it. Looking for the place where he got it will be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. It could be anywhere. Including online.’

  Guinevere nodded. ‘A dead end, it seems. Too bad. I really believed the ring was significant. Kensa was so adamant about wanting to have it back. She must know something about it.’

  Oliver looked at her. ‘You should have bought those theatre glasses. They were in prime condition.’

  ‘I know, but I don’t really need them.’ She didn’t want to mention to him they were too expensive for her budget.

  Oliver said, ‘Too bad, you could have used them to spy for spooky lights on the beach at night.’ He drew out the oo in spooky into a half-howl.

  Guinevere made a slapping gesture at him. ‘Will you cut it out? I know what I saw. There was a light there. And it wasn’t Branok with a lantern.’

  Oliver didn’t respond. His expression had changed to pensive as if some thought had struck him. But he didn’t tell Guinevere what it was.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Back on Cornisea Oliver said he was going jogging. ‘May take a while.’

  With a frown Guinevere looked for Cador to ask him how Bolingbrooke was holding up and if any threats had come in while they were away.

  The taciturn butler was cleaning windows, perched on a tall ladder to reach the upper end. ‘I can see everything from here,’ Cador declared. ‘Nobody will come near the entry gate without me noticing him. Aha.’ He peered out with a frown over his blue eyes. ‘Oliver is leaving again, with a spade. I’m rather curious what he’s up to.’

  A spade. Guinevere’s heart skipped a beat. ‘In what direction is he going?’

  ‘To the north of the island.’ Cador rinsed his sponge in the bucket that was attached to the ladder, wringing it with his sinewy hands. ‘There are some rocks there.’ He applied the sponge to the window again, with force, because the pane cracked in protest.

  Guinevere said, ‘Just rocks? Why would Oliver have taken a spade?’

  ‘I have no idea.’

  Guinevere thanked him and went down to leave herself. North was the direction in which she had seen the nightly lights. It was also, she had gathered from the Branok trial re-enactment, the place where witnesses claimed Branok had been hiding the revenues from his illegal activities. But at the time of the trial there had been a search in that location and nothing had been recovered. One of the reasons why Branok had never been convicted. No proof.

  Guinevere wondered what Oliver was really up to with his spade that might take a while. Did he suspect Kensa knew more than she had written down to share with everybody involved in the re-enactment? Had she been collecting information for herself?

  Or more probably for Haydock?

  Had Haydock even put her up to it? Had their arguments been about that? Leah had mentioned her father leaving Kensa’s house banging the door closed so violently it had almost come off its hinges. Had Kensa refused to be used any longer?

  Before the re-enactment it had seemed like Haydock was trying to make eye contact with her but she had avoided him. Had she felt bad about going behind Bolingbrooke’s back? After all, she had been Oliver’s nanny and she had even once hoped she could become his stepmother.

  Overhead the sun was hiding behind light clouds, and the wind breathed right through Guinevere’s pullover. There might even be sudden rain. She wished she had taken her raincoat but didn’t want to turn back to get it.

  Dolly ran ahead of her, not minding the wind or the path’s sharp inclination. Her passing disturbed a few small birds in the brush. They flew away with an indignant chatter.

  Eager to find more feathered friends, Dolly ran through some brush and came out again with a small twig and leaves caught under her collar. They seemed to tickle as she twisted her head and tried to rub herself against a tree trunk to get them off.

  In the distance Guinevere could see the rocks, grey and unforgiving in the bleak light. She listened for sounds indicative of Oliver’s presence, but there were none. She seemed to be all alone.

  Seemed to be.

  Her neck pricking, Guinevere glanced over her shoulder, suddenly a little uncomfortable. Nobody to be seen.

  Still she picked up a thick branch from beside the path and snapped off the side branches to use it as a walking stick and impromptu defence weapon.

  The whole atmosphere here is really getting on your nerves, she chided herself. There’s nothing creepy on this island. Just a lot of talk about hiding places and people who might not have been as bad as they were portrayed. Nobody can go back and find out if Branok was guilty of anything. The accounts weren’t clear.

  She halted a moment as she caught the sound of metal on rock. It came from straight ahead of her. She rushed on.

  There, around a bend of the path, Oliver was prying into a crack in the rocks with his spade. The sweat on his face suggested it took force.

  ‘Looking for something?’ Guinevere called, and he dropped the spade. It fell to the ground in a deafening clang.

  Oliver cringed and said, ‘Do you have to give me a heart attack?’

  ‘I’m sorry. Just jogging, huh?’

  ‘What gave me away?’

  ‘Cador saw you leave, with a spade. He told
me.’

  ‘Out of the blue? Or did you ask him?’ Oliver had picked up the spade again and leaned on it. ‘You’re too curious for your own good.’

  ‘I can put two and two together. There were lights in this area. Not here, but down there towards the beach, the sea. You think someone came over by boat in the night to look around here. To find Branok’s secret stash.’

  ‘Well, you must admit that with everybody talking about it people might have got the idea. Branok is rumoured to have stolen from lots of locals: coins, jewellery, silverware. If the stuff is still really around here, it would be a real treasure.’

  ‘But wasn’t it a story to start with?’

  Oliver shook his head. ‘I looked around before I started my search here. I found footprints and a lens cap. You know, the protective plastic cap you put on a camera lens when you bag it? Somebody has been out here to look and take pictures.’

  ‘Maybe of birds? It needn’t have been about Branok’s stash at all.’

  ‘I suppose not.’ Oliver rolled back his shoulders. ‘But I found tool marks on the rocks. Somebody has been working here. Recently.’

  Guinevere considered it. ‘Haydock? Do you actually think he found the ring here on the island and he lied that he had purchased it somewhere to cover up his activities?’

  ‘Well, we know for sure he never came up with a receipt to support where he had purchased it and from whom. And he did say it had a special connection with Cornisea. He said it in a gloating manner. Imagine how smug he must have felt when he had indeed found it right here. Had taken it away from under my father’s nose.’

  Guinevere was sceptical. ‘But Haydock let the historical society pay for it. He took money from their bank account. Would he have done that if he had found it on Cornisea and hadn’t bought it at all?’

  ‘Of course. Haydock was just the man who would believe he had earned the money simply because he had found the ring. But if he found it here, on my father’s land, it’s my father’s, not his.’

  Oliver looked at her. ‘Kensa is already after the ring, and I guess the Haydocks will claim it’s theirs now. But if I can prove that Haydock took it from the island, without anybody knowing about it, it should be returned to my father. It should be at the castle. Grunwald said that Haydock claimed to be able to get coins and didn’t need him to offer them. Maybe he wanted to find them here.’

  He looked her over. ‘Such finds could get a nice centre place in the exposition for the castle you’re so keen on.’

  ‘I’m not sure that would be a good idea with the bloody history attached. I already see the writing in the papers: Murder treasure on display.’

  ‘Might pull in a crowd.’

  ‘Not to my taste. How would Leah take it?’

  Oliver sighed. ‘Anyway. I want to prove it came from here. And since Haydock’s no longer around to confess what he did, and I’m not sure anybody else knows about it, I have to prove it by finding something here that is of the same age. A matching piece so to speak.’

  ‘Seems like a wild goose chase to me,’ Guinevere said. ‘I mean, you’re not even sure Haydock found the ring on the island. And if he did, where he found it exactly.’

  ‘I know, but I need to do something.’ Oliver turned his back on her and began to put the spade into a crack again when a voice rang out. ‘Ollie! Are you there? Hello?’

  Guinevere hitched a brow at Oliver. ‘Oh, Ollie,’ she repeated in a sugar-sweet tone.

  Oliver waved at her. ‘Will you shut up?’

  He had barely said it, when Tegen appeared on the path. She wore a tight turquoise bathing suit. Her long raven hair hung wet around her shoulders. She flashed a smile like a model in an ad for a tropical holiday, but her arms were full of gooseflesh and her lips rather bluish.

  ‘What on earth are you doing?’ Oliver asked.

  ‘S-swimming.’

  ‘The water can’t be very warm and this wind … You’re catching your death out here. Where are your clothes? Get dressed quickly.’

  Tegen kept smiling. ‘Don’t be a spoilsport, Ollie. I know you always do push-ups. Do you want to see me do some? Now?’

  Oliver shook his head. ‘That might get you a little warmer, but it’s not a good idea. Guinevere, give that silly girl your pullover and take her to the B&B at once.’

  ‘I’m not a baby!’ Tegen protested. ‘And I don’t want her pullover.’

  Oliver gestured at her. ‘Just look at you. You’re blue all over.’

  Tegen planted her feet apart. ‘I need to talk to you.’

  ‘Now? Here?’

  ‘Yes. I used the swimming as an excuse to come out here.’ Tegen glanced at Guinevere. ‘I don’t want her present. Send her away.’

  ‘Guinevere is helping me with a little chore,’ Oliver said. ‘Just tell me what you have to say or leave again.’

  Tegen looked uncertain for a moment. ‘It’s rather private.’

  Oliver exhaled. ‘I can hardly take you seriously when you come asking for a conversation dressed like that. Why don’t you stop by the castle later today?’

  Tegen waved her hands. ‘All right. I need a little money.’

  ‘Money?’

  ‘Yes. I was going to get some from Haydock, but he’s dead now and can’t pay up. I’m just short a few hundred pounds.’

  ‘For what?’ Oliver asked in bewilderment.

  ‘A one-way ticket to LA. I know a girl there who models. She can get me in as well.’

  ‘Someone local now lives in LA?’ Oliver asked, even more puzzled.

  ‘No. She’s American. I met her online. I liked a few of her photos, and we got talking. If I can get to her, she’ll take me in.’

  ‘You want to buy a ticket to LA and just fly out there to someone you’ve never really met because you believe you can just live with her?’ Oliver shook his head. ‘No way, Tegen. What would your mother say?’

  ‘Mum’s just crying her eyes out because Haydock’s dead. Now we’ll never get anywhere, she said. So I’m taking my chances in LA.’

  Guinevere piped up, ‘Why would you not get anywhere any more now that Haydock is dead? Because the themed stays and all he wanted to do have fallen through?’

  Tegen didn’t seem to follow. ‘Themed stays?’ she repeated.

  Guinevere sighed impatiently. ‘He was organizing something with your mother, right?’

  Tegen grinned. ‘Oh, yes, right.’

  Guinevere tilted her head at the girl’s suggestive tone. ‘And why would Haydock have given you any money?’

  Tegen rubbed her arms. ‘I’m getting very cold now. I’d better be getting back. If you won’t help me.’

  Oliver stepped over and grabbed her shoulder. ‘You’re not going anywhere until I know exactly what’s up with LA and leaving.’

  ‘Let go of me.’

  ‘I’ll tell your mother you want to go to America. She’ll never let you.’

  ‘You’re so mean! I’m all grown up.’ Tegen tried to pull away, but Oliver grabbed her other arm as well. ‘Out with it. What about Haydock? He’s dead, and somebody killed him.’

  Tegen looked up at him with huge eyes. Suddenly her lips were wobbling. ‘What if Mum did it?’

  ‘What? Your mother? You just said she’s so upset about his death.’

  Guinevere stood motionless, watching the nervous twitching of Tegen’s lips. She had wondered before whether mother and daughter were really certain of one another. They had probably not been together all of the time.

  ‘Something just doesn’t gel.’ Tegen looked down, her chin on her chest.

  Oliver sighed and looked at Guinevere as if to ask her for help.

  Guinevere said, ‘Look, LA with some girl you don’t even know isn’t a very good idea. But maybe you can use that money you do have to travel to Paris or something. If we can find someone who’ll go with you and keep an eye on you.’

  ‘I’m not a baby any more,’ Tegen said, but she was no longer struggling to be released.

&nbs
p; Guinevere said, ‘You do have friends, right, who could come along.’

  ‘I suppose,’ Tegen said. ‘Paris would be cool.’

  ‘Now,’ Oliver said, ‘why do you think your mother might have killed Haydock?’

  ‘I’m not sure. I’m just scared.’ Tegen’s eyes filled with tears.

  Oliver looked at Guinevere. The worry about what they might be about to learn that she saw in his eyes was churning in her own stomach.

  Tegen said, ‘It was something Haydock said before he died.’

  ‘What did he say then?’ Guinevere asked softly.

  ‘He said to me as he gave me the money that it was the last time. That it would be over soon.’ Tegen bit her lip.

  Oliver tilted his head in bewilderment. ‘That what would be over soon?’

  ‘He was having an affair with my mother, all right? I knew about it, and he gave me money to keep my mouth shut. So his wife and Leah would never find out. Then he suddenly said it was the last time he was giving me money and it would all be over soon. I assumed he meant their affair.’

  ‘So,’ Oliver said, ‘Haydock intended to end the affair with your mother.’

  He looked at Guinevere. ‘That would explain the arguments between them that we heard about earlier. Haydock didn’t press her to sell the B&B, and they weren’t planning something big for the castle’s future either. It was a very personal thing. Kensa wanted their affair to continue while Haydock didn’t want that.’

  Tegen looked up. ‘I don’t understand any of it. When Mum told me we were going to be skiing by Christmas, I thought she meant because Haydock would pay for it. He has plenty of money. But it seems he wanted to end their affair. So what was Mum talking about? How could we go skiing if it wasn’t with him?’

  Guinevere asked, ‘Had she met somebody else? Did she want to end it? Exchange Haydock for another man?’

  Tegen shrugged. ‘Who? Who could be better than him? They had a pretext to meet under, the historical society, and the castle and all. That stupid trial re-enactment. And he was loaded.’

  Oliver said, ‘Let’s get this clear. Haydock was paying you to keep the affair under wraps. Your mother didn’t know about that.’