by S M Hardy
But that’s not all the story.
I let it lie. It was, when all was said and done, none of my bloody business, but that didn’t stop me from wondering.
‘So, going back to Darcy – why do you think she was up at Goldsmere House?’
Jed returned to picking at the wrapping around his muffin. ‘No idea, but I could ask around a bit. There’s a few old boys at the pub who have never left Slyford for more than a couple of weeks at a time, except for perhaps during the war, and they’ll flap their chops for the price of a pint.’
‘Cedric?’
‘Aye, he’s one,’ Jed said with a laugh, his humour returning now we were on a safe topic. ‘You’ve met him, then?’
‘He’s the one who told me Goldsmere was a “loony bin”.’
‘Not one for political correctness is our Cedric, but if anyone knows anything interesting about the Garvin girls it’ll probably be him.’
‘I saw them in the street just outside here a few days ago,’ I said, suddenly remembering. ‘I think they were having a row. Darcy looked furious and Miriam was practically having to trot along to keep up.’
‘I’m not surprised. They may be sisters, but they’re like chalk and cheese. About the only thing they have in common is their interest in spiritualism,’ Jed said, breaking a piece of his muffin and popping it into his mouth. His face lit up as he chewed on it. ‘Heaven.’
I broke a lump off mine and for a minute or so both Jed and I munched away happily in silence, washing the chocolate sponge down with swigs of coffee.
‘They argue like cat and dog.’
‘Pardon?’
‘Darcy and Miriam.’
‘Siblings can be like that.’
‘Hmm. That was good, thanks,’ he said, screwing up the empty paper wrapper and dropping it on his plate.
I caught Lil’s eye and she hurried over with the bill. ‘See you both again soon, I hope,’ she said, beaming after seeing the over-the-top tip I’d left her.
‘Next week, if not before,’ Jed told her. ‘Emma’s got a hairdressing appointment, so I expect I’ll bring her over.’
We said our goodbyes and took a leisurely walk back to the car. It was quiet out on the street. A car was idling outside the paper shop just up the road and an overwrought mother was trying to calm a screaming infant as it struggled in her arms while her other child tugged at her skirt shouting ‘Mummy, mummy’ as he pointed at something in the toyshop window. I noticed a poster had joined the Halloween display advertising fireworks as the next of the year’s main events, reminding me winter would soon be on its way despite the warm weather we were having.
‘Do you want to come back to Emma’s?’ Jed asked as we drove out of the car park. ‘I know she’d like to see you.’
‘If we won’t be intruding?’
‘It’s a nice day. We’ll drag her out to the pub. If anyone can get old Cedric talking it’s Emms. She’s more subtle than I am, so it won’t be so obvious that we’re digging.’
It was a good idea. I hardly wanted either of the Garvin sisters to find out I was enquiring about them. Particularly if one of them knew ‘the man’ and had tried to do away with him. As far-fetched as it might seem, it could have been Darcy I’d seen pushing him off the cliff, and it could have been Darcy I’d seen at the cemetery. Then again it could have been someone else altogether and her visit to Goldsmere House could have been to see an elderly family friend or neighbour.
Perhaps Jed was right – not everything was a mystery. In this particular case, though, I wasn’t so sure. I felt like I’d been drawn to the place, and if I had it’d been for a reason.
We dropped the car off at the cottage before walking around to Emma’s, seeing as there was a possibility we’d be going on to the pub. We found her sitting out on her terrace reading the newspaper and nursing a cup of tea. On seeing me she got up and gave me a huge hug.
‘I’m so glad you’re all right,’ she said. ‘I was worried.’
I felt my cheeks heat up enough to glow. ‘I’m sorry,’ I told her. ‘I should have at least called you or Jed.’
‘No matter. No matter,’ she said, patting my arm and gesturing that I should sit. ‘Tea?’
‘No thanks,’ I replied.
‘Jed?’
‘Me neither, thanks. We’ve just got back from Chalfont and a couple of Lil’s muffins.’
‘So,’ Emma said, turning her attention back to me. ‘Jed tells me you’ve been stepping out with Lucy Duffield.’
And if my cheeks hadn’t been red before they certainly were on fire now.
‘Emma! Give the lad a break.’
‘Jim doesn’t mind, do you, Jim?’
‘You’re embarrassing him.’
‘You’re not embarrassed, are you?’
‘Um …’
‘Emms, I could boil a kettle on his face.’
‘She’s a lovely girl,’ Emma said, unperturbed.
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘she is.’
‘Maybe you’ll think twice about leaving?’
‘Maybe.’
‘Emma,’ Jed interrupted and shot me an apologetic look, ‘you know the Garvin girls pretty well.’
She gave him a quizzical look. ‘As well as one can do, I suppose. They’re a strange pair. Miriam prattles on, but not about anything much that really matters.’
‘I seem to recall they were brought up by their grandmother.’
Emma frowned as she thought about it. ‘I’d not heard that one.’ She frowned some more. ‘Do you know something? Now I think on it, I don’t really know much about them at all.’
‘What do you mean?’ I asked.
‘It’s as I said. Miriam does most of the talking.’
‘She can talk for England that one,’ Jed mumbled.
Emma shushed him with the flap of her hand. ‘But it’s about nothing personal.’
Jed stroked his beard, staring at her for a moment. ‘Do you know what? You’re right. When I think about it, I know nothing much about them either, and anything I do I reckon is hearsay.’
‘Where did you hear about their parents dying and them living with their grandmother?’ I asked.
‘It wasn’t from them, I’m pretty sure,’ he said. ‘My ma probably told me. I knew they lived with the old girl as I’d sometimes see them in the back of the car with her, when I came home from school for the holidays.’
‘Why so interested?’ Emma asked.
‘Jim here saw Darcy coming out of that care home on the way to Chalfont.’
‘Goldsmere?’
‘The same.’
Emma turned her attention back to me. ‘You think she might be visiting this man you keep seeing in your head?’
I shrugged. ‘It’s a possibility.’
Emma wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.
‘Are you cold?’ Jed asked.
She shook her head. ‘No, not cold.’ She gave him a tight smile. ‘Afraid … I feel afraid.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Jed said Cedric usually arrived at the Sly just after twelve and stayed there nursing a pint to almost two. The only time he missed his lunchtime pint was when his daughter came over once a week to do his washing and cleaning and drop off a load of dinners she had precooked for his freezer.
‘He may be an old curmudgeon,’ Jed said, ‘but he loves his daughter.’
Sure enough, when we walked in, he was the sole patron and sitting at the end of the bar. George was poring over his newspaper, pencil in hand. I wasn’t sure what his reaction to me would be after my day out with his daughter, but his smile was welcoming enough, though it was probably more for Emma’s benefit than mine or Jed’s.
‘Two pints and a VAT,’ Jed said, ‘and put one in the pipe for Cedric and yourself while you’re at it.’
‘You won the pools or something?’ Cedric asked.
‘Nah, just thought I might raise a smile on your miserable, old face.’
Cedric grinned at him showing missing teet
h. ‘Well, you got your wish. Thanking you.’
‘And how are you, Cedric?’ Emma asked.
‘Pretty well, all considered.’
‘Becki been around this week yet?’
‘Tomorrow. This week she’s coming tomorrow as she’s got a thing at little Maisie’s school the day after.’
While Emma chatted to Cedric, George poured and served our drinks, then went out back. When he returned he was followed by Lucy.
She gave me a slow, warm smile that had my heart doing cartwheels and then leant across the bar to give me an unexpected peck on the cheek. I heard Jed chuckle from beside me, but I didn’t care.
‘Just thought I’d pop out to say hello,’ she said. ‘You still on for tomorrow?’
‘Looking forward to it.’
‘Good,’ she said.
‘Can I buy you a drink?’ I asked.
She glanced at her father. ‘Go on, take a few minutes – we’re hardly busy,’ he told her.
She grinned at me. ‘Then yes, please, a white wine would be good.’
‘Put it on my tab,’ Jed said and raised a hand to stop me before I could argue. ‘This one’s on me.’
‘Thanks, Jed.’
‘You two young folk sit down, we’ll be with you in a bit,’ Jed said, passing Emma her drink and joining her and Cedric. Crafty old goat, he was giving me and Lucy some space and at the same time keeping her out of the way while he and Emma tried to get some information about the Garvin girls from the old man.
We sat down at Jed’s usual table, leaving his seat in the corner free.
‘I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon,’ Lucy said.
‘I think Emma and Jed are trying their hands at matchmaking.’
‘A bit late for that,’ she said, her eyes sparkling.
I took hold of her hand. ‘Yeah, just a bit.’
‘They’d make a nice couple themselves.’
‘I think so.’
‘Maybe we should try a bit of the same with them.’
‘No need,’ I told her. ‘They’ll get there in the end.’
‘If they haven’t already.’ She took a sip of her drink. ‘I hope the weather holds for tomorrow.’
‘They’re saying this could go on right into October.’
‘It’d be nice.’
‘Your dad was OK about you seeing me, then?’
‘Surprisingly enough, yes, he was.’
I raised an eyebrow at that. ‘Surprisingly?’
‘I don’t think I’ve ever had a boyfriend who he’s liked, but when I said I was going out with you for the day he didn’t bat an eyelid.’
‘Maybe he doesn’t expect it will last,’ I said, looking down at the fingers curled around mine and giving them a squeeze.
She squeezed back. ‘I think it’s more like he’s expecting it will.’
I mulled on that for a bit while Lucy sipped her wine. At one time such a comment from a new girlfriend would have seen me running for the hills, instead I could feel my lips curling into a stupid smile.
‘Are you all going to stay for lunch?’ Lucy asked, glancing towards where Jed and Emma were still chatting to Cedric.
‘I probably shouldn’t, but your mother’s chips are to die for.’
‘Ah, her secret recipe.’
‘Do you know it?’
She tapped the side of her nose with her forefinger. ‘It’s a secret passed down from mother to daughter.’
‘In which case I’m going to have to buy a deep-fat fryer.’
She grinned at me. ‘I’d better get back to work if I’m going to be cooking up a load of Mum’s chips.’ She knocked back the rest of her drink, gave me a quick peck on the lips and got to her feet. ‘I’ll see you before you go.’
I returned her smile, then watched her walk away until she disappeared out into the kitchen.
‘Well, it was lovely speaking to you, Cedric. Give Becki my regards,’ I heard Emma say, and she and Jed made their way over to the table as the old boy paid up his tab.
‘We’re going to eat,’ Jed said as he sank down onto the chair opposite. ‘You want something?’
‘At a risk to my waistline, I think I will.’
‘Della’s chips?’ Jed asked with a chuckle.
‘Oh yes.’
‘They are exceptionally good,’ Emma said, handing me a menu. ‘Every time I eat here I promise myself I’ll have salad, but I always succumb.’
George appeared from behind the bar to take our orders. As soon as he’d gone out back and we were alone, Jed and Emma moved their chairs in closer, leaning over the table.
‘Learn anything interesting?’ I asked, and realised I was whispering.
‘We did, though Cedric’s probably left us with more questions than answers,’ Emma said, ‘but it reached the stage that if I’d asked him any more he would have begun to wonder why we were so interested.’
‘So, what did you find out?’
‘To start with, the Garvin girls were indeed brought up by their grandmother. Apparently, their mother died when they were both very young. Miriam wasn’t much more than a toddler.’
‘I was right about Darcy being the eldest,’ Jed said.
‘I was sure Miriam said something about looking after the baby,’ Emma said with a puzzled frown, her brow knotted as though she was trying to remember.
‘Cedric said there was some sort of scandal back in the early seventies concerning their father, Phillip Garvin. He couldn’t remember what it was all about, but he did recall that there was a woman involved and old Ma Garvin got sonny Jim out of the way pretty damn fast.’
‘This was after their mother died?’
‘So Cedric said.’
‘But why would the girls’ father getting into a new relationship cause a problem?’
Emma gave a sigh. ‘The young woman was probably considered unsuitable. Apparently, the Garvins were old money and those sorts of people have expectations of their children and the social standing of their potential spouses. With me and Reggie it was the same. It didn’t go down at all well with his family when he married me.’
‘Really?’ I asked, surprised.
‘Again, they were old money, but Reggie didn’t care.’
‘I should bloody well think not,’ Jed said, and Emma patted his hand.
‘Reggie stood up to his family, apparently Phillip Garvin didn’t,’ Emma said.
We sat in silence for a few moments. Then a thought occurred to me. ‘Do you think this woman was pregnant?’ I asked.
‘Pregnant?’ Jed said in surprise.
I shot him a look. ‘Why else would his mother get him out of the way so quick?’
Emma leant back in her seat. ‘It makes sense. Not so many young women were on the pill in those days and certainly not in rural areas like here,’ Emma said.
‘I wonder what happened to her,’ I said.
‘She can’t have stayed around here, otherwise everyone would have known about it,’ Jed said.
‘They probably paid her off,’ Emma said, and with that Lucy and George came over with our meals, ending our deliberations.
We didn’t resume our conversation until we were walking home. I’d said a quick goodbye to Lucy, and she promised to be knocking on my door at ten the following morning, which made me happier than I’d have thought possible. Consequently, I was practically walking on air when we left the pub. Jed and Emma soon brought me back to earth with a bump.
‘What happened to Phillip Garvin, do you think?’ Emma asked.
‘Ah,’ Jed said, and there was something about his tone that made both Emma and I look his way. ‘Now there is a story.’
‘Jed?’
‘He never came back to Slyford St James.’
‘What? He deserted his children?’ Emma was outraged.
‘Not really, though I suppose he did in a way. By all accounts he was a weak man.’
‘Sounds it – ditching his girlfriend and running away on his mother’s say-so,’ Emma said.<
br />
‘Well, after hearing what Cedric had to say, a few things are beginning to make sense,’ Jed said. ‘I was only about nine or ten when this was all happening so none of it meant much to me, but I do remember Phillip’s funeral.’
‘He died?’ I asked, glancing his way.
Jed gave a bob of the head. ‘It was very sudden, rumour had it that it was suicide, but the family said a hunting accident. Anyway, the village practically closed down for the morning. I still remember the coach being pulled by four black horses. They were the blackest creatures I’d ever seen.’ We stopped at the corner of my lane. ‘I said that to my ma, and you know what she said?’
Emma and I both dutifully shook our heads as he looked at us in turn. ‘She said they were nowhere near as black as Ma Garvin’s heart.’
‘What did she mean by that?’ Emma asked.
Jed stroked his beard in thought. ‘I have no idea,’ he said. ‘When I tried to draw Ma on it further, she refused to say any more and clipped me round the ear for being a nuisance. To be honest, I’d pretty much forgotten about it until today.’
‘I wonder what drove him to suicide?’ Emma asked.
‘If it was suicide, Emms – it was only a rumour. You know what it’s like around here.’
‘I suppose,’ she said with a sigh.
‘Well, I’ll be seeing you,’ I told them.
‘What are you doing tomorrow?’ Emma asked.
‘He has a date with the lovely Lucy,’ Jed said before I could answer, and it felt like my cheeks had turned the colour of cherries.
Emma’s face lit up. ‘You make a lovely couple.’
‘Easy on, Emms, it’s only their second date.’
‘I reckon she could be the one,’ Emma said.
‘You’ll scare the poor lad off.’
‘If he’s stupid enough to let Lucy slip through his fingers without at least making a play for her, then she deserves better. You men can’t see what’s right in front of your noses,’ Emma said, and she wasn’t smiling. Then she gave me a brisk kiss on the cheek and was marching off towards The Grange with Jed staring after her with a nonplussed expression upon his face.
‘What’s got into her?’ he muttered.