The Mill Cottage: A novel of loss, family secrets and unexpected love (Barbara Whitnell Cornish Novels) by Barbara Whitnell

Author:Barbara Whitnell [Whitnell, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2022-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

SEVEN

I couldn’t sleep that night. It might have had something to do with the rich food I had consumed at dinner, or the bottle of wine Ben and I had shared — for, needless to say, although the restaurant had appeared to be full, the proprietor had somehow managed to make a small table for two available once Ben had made his presence known. But mainly it was my restless brain and churning thoughts that were to blame for my sleeplessness.

On top of everything else I felt guilty. I had said that I would phone Lynn to tell her of my whereabouts and to let her know if I had been able to make any progress, but in Ben’s company the matter had slipped my mind until too late. Now it would have to wait until the following evening, after she returned home from the office.

I stared into the darkness, reaching out for the hundredth time to haul the slippery eiderdown back on to the bed. It was cold — so cold! Where was Simon? Sleeping rough, somewhere on the cliff, or was he somewhere further afield? Maybe I ought to start looking in St Petra, the next village along the coast.

Whatever I did that day, it would be without Ben. He had told me the night before that he had agreed months ago to open a charity fete in Plymouth and that he would be leaving around ten o’clock to make sure of getting there by lunchtime. He wasn’t looking forward to it, he told me. He had outgrown the adulation, the signing of autographs, all the trappings of fame, and if the charity hadn’t been one that was particularly close to his heart he would never have agreed to making an appearance.

Was it a pose, I wondered? No, surely not, for he had voluntarily turned his back on stardom and come to live in Poldrissick, which — if not the back end of nowhere — was not far distant from it. Yet he traded on his celebrity status. That much had been made clear to me several times during the short time I had known him. And what, I asked myself, could be more human than that? It was a very small thing, really, in return for all the warmth and genuine interest that he dispensed to others.

Had Jessica really been frightened, as he had suggested? Her voice had taken on a shrill edge. I remembered the restless fingers fidgeting with her hair as she had incredulously refuted any chance of Simon sheltering in the Folly. It had sounded like anger to me, but perhaps Ben had been right. Could it have been the possibility of an unknown intruder on her property that had frightened her?

My thoughts circled round and round. Had Max already got to Simon — and what about Max? I was prepared to believe all manner of things about him, but stopped short of thinking that he could be a murderer. Ben had gone too far there, I thought.

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