The Standing Stones: A DI Rowan Penhallow Mystery (The Moorland Shadows series Book 5) by Wendy Cartmell

Author:Wendy Cartmell [Cartmell, Wendy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Costa Press
Published: 2026-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11: The Collector

The warrant for Claire Renfrew's property came through at eight a.m., but Rowan was already at her desk, having been there since seven a.m., going through auction records. What she'd found kept pulling her away from the Claire Renfrew angle, dragging her attention back to the Hardings.

Marcus arrived with coffee and found her surrounded by printouts, photographs of Bronze Age artifacts spread across every surface.

"You look like you haven't slept," he observed.

"I haven't much. Look at this." She shoved a document toward him. "Sotheby's auction, London, March 1985. Twenty-three lots of Bronze Age artifacts, sold anonymously on behalf of, 'a private collector who wishes to remain unnamed.' The catalogue descriptions match items from Blackwood's excavations pieces that should have gone to museums but disappeared after his death."

Marcus scanned the document, then pulled up the list of buyers. "And the primary purchaser was..."

"Robert Harding. Sir Geoffrey's father. He bought eighteen of the twenty-three lots, spent over two hundred thousand pounds. In 1985, that was serious money for Bronze Age material."

"Where did the artifacts come from? Who was the anonymous seller?"

"That's what I've been trying to trace." Rowan pulled up more documents on her computer. "The auction house has records, but they're protected by client confidentiality. I've got someone working on a warrant to access them. But here's what's interesting the same anonymous collector sold Bronze Age pieces in 1983, 1985, and 1987. All bought primarily by Robert Harding."

"Someone had a stash of Blackwood's artifacts and was selling them off gradually," Marcus said. "Someone who'd held onto them for sixty years, then decided to liquidate."

"Or someone who inherited them and didn't know what else to do with them." Rowan pulled up another document. "Robert Harding died in 1995. His collection was inherited by Sir Geoffrey, who's been sitting on it ever since. And according to the insurance inventory I managed to get hold of, the collection includes several pieces that match descriptions from Blackwood's falsified records."

Marcus was reading through the insurance document now, cross-referencing with Blackwood's journals. "This bronze torque, Blackwood's journal says it came from Thornworthy Barrow, but official records say it came from a site near Tavistock. And it's in the Harding collection, insured for seventy-five thousand pounds."

"This gold earring," Rowan pointed to another entry. "Blackwood says he found it at Thornworthy, sold it to 'W.H.' in 1923. Official records say it came from a burial near Okehampton. Also in the Harding collection, insured for ninety thousand pounds."

"Therefore, the Hardings have been holding stolen artifacts for decades, possibly since Blackwood's death. That's major motive for Sir Geoffrey to silence Kellaway." Marcus looked up. "But he was in London with an ironclad alibi."

"Which brings us back to Tom Pascoe, or someone else acting on Sir Geoffrey's orders."

Rowan stood, started pacing.

"We know Pascoe was following Kellaway, searching the same sites. We know Sir Geoffrey was worried about what Kellaway might find. What if Sir Geoffrey arranged for Kellaway to be killed, used Pascoe or another loyal employee to do

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