The Wild Wood Enquiry by Ann Purser

Author:Ann Purser
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Group, Inc.
Published: 2012-04-30T23:00:00+00:00

Twenty-nine

IN A SMALL café in a narrow backstreet of Aberdeen, with grey granite buildings looming all around them, Gus and Katherine sat drinking scalding coffee. He had found her easily, first asking the housekeeper if she was a guest and then being led straight into the baronial Hall. There Katherine had jumped up and hugged him and begged him to take her away from all this. She had hopped onto the back of the bike with glee and had ridden back into Aberdeen, arms around Gus’s waist, laughing and shouting in high spirits.

Now they were talking seriously about the theft of valuable jewellery from their London flat, and Katherine had said she was convinced the thief was Sebastian Ulph. She felt a bit of a fool about her brief and impulsive search in Barrington woods and had already decided to keep it to herself.

Gus was a little sorry for Katherine, but more than that, most of the jewellery had belonged to his mother, and it had held many warm memories for him. Katherine, typically, had seldom worn any, saying it was old-fashioned, and anyway she did not like wearing a dead woman’s jewellery.

“It was a terrific surprise when you appeared this morning,” she said now. “How did you know where I was?”

“Guesswork,” Gus said. “I remembered you were sweet on Hamish Granfield before we were married. I thought he was going to carry you off before I could screw up enough courage to pop the question myself. I know his wife left him a couple of years ago, and I knew you often came up to commiserate.”

Kath was silent for a minute and then said she had become something of a rolling stone and had thought a lot lately about settling down into a more steady way of life. Gus heard alarm bells ringing and said hastily that he had more or less done that himself and had decided he was happier living alone. “Some people should never marry, don’t you think?” he said hopefully.

“Depends who they marry,” Katherine said sadly. “But you’re right, Gus, I reckon I am not the marrying kind. Living with you was the nearest I got to being a faithful wifey but not near enough.”

“So,” replied Gus, relief palpable in his voice, “having got that out of the way, how did you know Ulph was in Oakbridge, and what do you propose to do about him? He’s a slippery fish, and having said he was going to France, he clearly remained locally, turning up only when I accidentally ran into him at a friend’s swimming pool.”

“The lovely Deirdre? Was she the friend?” asked Katherine, ignoring his questions.

“None of your business. What matters is what exactly Ulph is doing hanging around Oakbridge and Barrington. I know he had a job with Sid and His Swingers, but now he’s resigned from that, ostensibly to go abroad. He turned up at my friend’s house, asking for help getting a place in the town band. Before she had a chance to do anything about it, he appeared again, asking to use her pool, pleading a damaged leg.

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