DEATH IN THE NETS a captivating historical mystery by PAULINE ROWSON

Author:PAULINE ROWSON [ROWSON, PAULINE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books crime thriller, mystery and suspense
Published: 2023-06-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Thursday

Ryga woke at six. Eva had already left. He didn’t know when, maybe in the night unable to sleep, seeking excitement or peace. He hoped to God she would reach London safely and return safely. By eight he was in his temporary office typing up his reports, by ten he was on Brixham railway station, and by eleven he was stepping off the train into a blustery fine day in Kingswear, overlooking the River Dart.

He made his way to Higher Street, the address of Atherley’s office, which had been on the correspondence in Wrexham’s school file. On the train he had wondered if the legal practice would still be in operation, and if any staff remained who had worked with Mr Atherley. He was pleased therefore to find a shiny brass plaque outside the solicitor’s door that proclaimed the offices were the premises of Messrs Richard Hartley and Walter Walton, Attorneys at Law established in 1949. Which, from the date, suggested to him that they had purchased the practice a year after Atherley’s death. Next he needed to discover if anyone working here could tell him more about Atherley and possibly Lance.

Inside, Ryga found a woman in her late fifties, with short wavy light-brown hair, dressed in beige and with a complexion to match, sitting at a desk behind a typewriter that looked almost as old as the building. Instinct told him she had been at that same desk and behind the same machine in Atherley’s days. He smiled, removed his hat, and introduced himself in a quiet voice. Her brown eyes widened and a faint flush suffused her face, enlivening it and making her look years younger. He caught a glimpse of a woman who must once have been very pretty. She ought to be retired and living in a small lodging house along the seafront, he thought, somewhere with invigorating daily sea walks to get her blood circulating. He asked if she had worked there in Mr Atherley’s time.

‘Of course,’ she declared proudly.

‘Then I wonder if I might have a word with you about him, Miss . . . ?’

‘Rainmore. I’m not sure there’s anything I can tell you about Mr Atherley,’ she whispered, as though afraid either Messrs Hartley or Walton would hear her. In fact, she dashed a glance over her shoulder to a door behind and to the left of her. She continued in a low voice, ‘He died in 1948, a car accident. Mr Hartley and Mr Walton bought the practice from his executor and asked me to stay on. Mr Atherley had a lot of clients and they like continuity.’

‘How long did you work for Mr Atherley?’

‘Since he started the practice in 1920,’ she said, still in a whisper.

‘Then you’ll have known one of his clients, Mrs Kathleen Pickhurst.’

‘Why, yes. I did.’ Her eyes lit up.

‘I believe she lived in Kingswear.’ Ryga quoted the address he’d seen in the correspondence.

‘Yes, but she left here in 1944 and died two years later. Mr Atherley handled her estate.

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