A Sprig of Sea Lavender by JRL Anderson

Author:JRL Anderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction

VII

Sally at Lavenham

SALLY DIDN’T HAVE to be at Moat Cottage until her first class at eleven thirty but since Piet had to be in London by noon they got up early and were away soon after seven o’clock. Roger and Trudi had not stirred. It was too early for breakfast at the mill, but there was an oil stove in the botter’s galley, and Sally made a pot of tea. It wouldn’t matter, she said, if she got to Lavenham early – she had an unfinished flower picture there and could get on with that. And she had her own detective work to do in finding out who had been away from the studio recently.

They were careful not to discuss anything but tea on board the botter, but when they were safely in the car Piet asked if the Trish and Malcolm cruiser often left her mooring on the Fen. ‘I don’t know what you mean by “often”,’ Sally said. ‘And I can’t say that I’ve ever recorded her movements – I’ve not been that much interested. In the two months or so that I’ve been here she may have been away a couple of times – at least, I know she’s been away twice, because Trudi went with her to get impressions for seascapes. She may have been out more, of course. I haven’t been here all the time.’

‘How long does she go away for?’

‘Oh Piet, it’s awfully difficult! She was away for two nights on one of Trudi’s trips – I know that because Sandra was so happy to have Trudi out of the way. The other trip that Trudi went on was simply a day outing. All I can say is that Trish and Malcolm have generally been around.’

‘You don’t know where they go when they leave the Fen?’

‘No.’

*

Not wanting to be seen again at Moat Cottage for the moment, Piet dropped Sally at the bus-stop in Lavenham, promising to get back as soon as he could for their rendezvous at the pub. ‘It’s going to be a very lonely day without you,’ Sally said.

‘I’m going to miss you, too, Sally, and much more than I can say. When this wretched business is over I want to talk to you about all sorts of things.’

‘What sort of things?’

‘You’re not much of a detective!’ He kissed her hand lightly, and drove off.

*

He had to call on all his powers of self-discipline to stop thinking about Sally and concentrate on the case. As a matter of fact, he couldn’t stop thinking of Sally, who stayed as a warm glow in his mind. But he could make other parts of his mind go over the various problems that had emerged at Poplar’s Fen. Why did Sandra apparently have two sugar tins? And why was Roger using one of them? The tin in his pocket had been right at the back of the shelf, and the shelf was in a dark corner of the mill. Could she have lost one tin

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