‘Wait! Can I at least hold Spencer’s hand?’
‘You love him, do you? I thought yours was a marriage of convenience for the kid.’
‘Yes, I love him. I haven’t known it for long. Please, grant me this last wish, Bruce.’
‘You’ve got thirty seconds.’
As she backed away towards Spencer, she saw the kitchen door opening very slowly. She held her throat to stop herself making a noise.
Suddenly Pawley was in the room and Barney came in with him.
‘Now!’ Pawley commanded.
Barney leapt at Bruce’s arm and brought him down. He dropped the gun and Pawley sprinted and grabbed it. Bruce scrabbled to get it back but Pawley lowered himself to his haunches and aimed between his eyes. ‘Don’t even think about breathing.’
Laura knelt beside Spencer. She turned his head so she could see his face. ‘Darling, are you all right? Please don’t die on me.’ His eyes were open, flickering. They focused on her.
‘Mmmmmm, my head aches.’
‘Hush now, let me look.’ The bleeding was easing and she could see a furrow in his scalp. She cried with relief. ‘I don’t think it’s a bad wound.’ She looked gratefully at Pawley. ‘Thank God you and Barney arrived.’
‘I’ve suffered from insomnia ever since I was injured,’ Pawley said, keeping his sight rooted on Bruce. ‘Sometimes Barney comes for a walk with me. Tonight he was very restless so I came down into the yard to check that everything was all right. I heard the gun being fired. You saw the rest for yourself.’
‘I shall always bless the day you came here, Pawley.’
Laura had to use a sharp knife to cut through the tight bonds to free Spencer, and then Pawley used the rope to tie up Bruce. Bruce had pulled out the telephone line, and rather than leave him with Laura and Spencer while he ran to knock up Tregorlan Farm where the nearest telephone was, Pawley hauled him outside and locked him in an outhouse, leaving Barney on guard.
* * *
‘It’s nearly dawn,’ Dr Palmer said, half an hour later, as he put a dressing over the couple of stitches he had made in Spencer’s wound. They were up in the bedroom where the doctor had insisted his two shocked patients rest. ‘I don’t want you working on the farm today. You need at least twenty-four hours in bed. I’ll leave some analgesic for the headache.’
‘I’ll make sure he does as he’s told,’ Laura asserted wearily. She was sitting on the bed beside Spencer, holding his hand, and she squeezed it affectionately.
Dr Palmer looked grimly across the bedroom at Chief Inspector Whitehead and the sergeant standing patiently beside him. Bruce Tamblyn had been taken away to Bodmin police station. ‘Are you up to being questioned, Spencer? How about you, Laura?’
Spencer answered immediately, with feeling, ‘I’ll be more than happy to help put Bruce Tamblyn behind bars.’
And Laura echoed the statement.
Chapter 37
Vicki ran into her parents’ bedroom and found them both asleep. As she so often did, she jumped on the bed and smothered them with kisses. They both groaned and Spencer touched his aching head.
Felicity came in. ‘I’m so sorry, my dears. She ran inside before I could stop her. I’ve just heard from Daisy downstairs about what has happened. You poor things. Why didn’t you ring me? I would have kept Vicki longer at Hawksmoor. It will be hard for Daisy to come to terms with what her son has done but she’s doing the right thing, staying here and looking after the pair of you.’
‘Alfie’s got a baby sister,’ Vicki blurted out, happily bouncing on the bed, blissfully unaware of the danger her parents had been in just a short time ago. ‘She came last night. Uncle Ince stopped the car and told us as we were driving through the village. Mummy, can Alfie come and play with me soon? He’s such fun.’ Vicki went on chatting nineteen to the dozen and Spencer groaned and reached for his pills.
‘Off the bed, Vicki,’ Laura said sternly.
‘But I want to tell you—’
‘Now, Vicki! Daddy’s got a headache and Mummy has to get out of bed and fetch some water for his pills.’ Vicki climbed down obediently. ‘Sorry, Daddy.’
‘You weren’t to know, pipkin,’ he murmured drowsily.
‘Daddy needs some rest. Perhaps if Grandma wouldn’t mind, it would be a good idea if she took you back to Hawksmoor House for another night. You can help her prepare Uncle Harry’s room for when he comes out of hospital.’
Felicity was delighted. ‘Of course I’d love to have her. Come along, darling.’
‘But I want to stay here with Mummy,’ and Vicki wound her arms round Laura’s legs and looked up at her beguilingly. ‘I want you to put up those new curtains you made for my playhouse.’
For a moment Laura’s heart was torn. She looked down at the beautiful, golden-haired little girl, then at the handsome man lying weakly on the pillows. Then she was resolute. ‘It won’t hurt you to go with Grandma today, Vicki. Mummy has to look after Daddy. He needs me.’
After a little more fuss, Vicki was taken downstairs, kissed goodbye and packed off in Felicity’s car.
‘It’s not like you not to put Vicki first,’ Spencer said. He was groggy but he had been thinking hard while Laura was fetching the glass of water for him.
She kissed him softly on the cheek then held his head lovingly against her breast as he took the pills. ‘It’s just a matter of getting your priorities right.’
‘Oh? Am I now high on your list then?’
Laura slipped back into bed beside Spencer and cuddled in close. ‘When I thought you’d been killed last night I realised that you’re right at the very top. I do love you, Spencer.’
‘I’ve been hoping for ages that one day you would say that to me. I love you too, Laura.’ He grinned boyishly.
‘This could put Vicki’s nose out of joint though. She’s used to you running to her first every time.’
Laura took his hand and put it on the gentle swell of her stomach. ‘It will be better for this little one and it will be better for Vicki. Right now, it’s nice just being the two of us.’
Then they snuggled down together and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
The Kilgarthen Sagas
Kilgarthen
Rosemerryn
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First published in the United Kingdom in 1995 by Headline Book Publishing
This edition published in the United Kingdom in 2019 by
Canelo Digital Publishing Limited
57 Shepherds Lane
Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 2DU
United Kingdom
Copyright © Gloria Cook, 1995
The moral right of Gloria Cook to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781788636476
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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