He broke off and drew a long, shuddering breath. I wanted to reach out to him, but something kept my hands tightly clasped in my lap.
“So, to go back,” I said, more or less steadily, “you leaked the whereabouts of those antiques. Was that true?”
“Yes; it had to be, so much hung on it. It’s amazing the contacts you can make when you try. Bryn rang me, as we’d hoped, to offer his sympathy, and things went from there. He introduced me to business colleagues, they passed me on to others, and the thing snowballed. But it was all very small-hat at first; they were cagey of me for a long time, and took some convincing that I was in it for as much as I could get.
“I’m still not sure how far Bryn trusted me – I was never given any job which could be traced back to him – but I had undeniably useful contacts.
“So I was sent to the States to find a buyer and I lit on Zimmerman. He’s well-known as a private collector who doesn’t ask questions about provenance. Consequently he has quite a cache of stolen goods stashed away. He did, however, insist on coming over for a ‘holiday’ to view what we had on offer before any commitment was made.
“Once the dates were set, Matthew arranged for undercover police to be laid on, and over the last few days all the suspects – including you, though of course he didn’t know that – were kept under surveillance. Hence that red car you were so worried about on Sunday.”
And possibly, I thought, the fisherman whom I’d come across twice yesterday.
“You could have told me the truth when I said I wasn’t involved. That was the second time you didn’t trust me.”
He said gently, “It wasn’t a question of not trusting you, darling; each time I kept things from you, it was for a different reason. The first was because I thought you didn’t love me, the second because I hoped you might. But God, Clare, if you’d known what a strain it was! When you asked me not to give you away for Matthew’s sake, it was almost more than I could bear. I suddenly saw myself as you must – a ruthless, hardened criminal, capable of anything.” He gave a short laugh. “It wasn’t a pleasant experience, I can tell you.”
“What happened at the castle?”
“Well, the original plan had been that I’d tip Andrew off before we set out. As you probably know by now, he and Cindy were our police contacts – which, though I couldn’t tell you, explained his returning to the TV room that night: we used it as our post-box, leaving notes for each other inside the video recorder. No one ever used it.”
“You even suggested that Cindy could be ‘Cinderella’,” I said indignantly.
He shrugged. “At that point you were still the enemy, and I was intent on muddying the waters. Anyway, last night I’d no chance to warn him, which was why I enlisted your help. Fortunately, though, he became alarmed by our absence and reinforcements set out after us.”
“Just as well, because I didn’t get the chance to phone.”
“No; as soon as I’d passed you that note, I regretted it. I was praying you wouldn’t go near the cottage because Morgan, spitting mad at losing you in the dark, was hanging round there, thinking that’s where you’d make for.
“The police came down the road with their lights off, and the wind and sea were making so much row he didn’t hear the car. Before he knew what was happening, he was securely handcuffed in the back of the police car. Then two of the men came round the headland and were waiting for Carol and me when we returned with the loot.
“After which, of course, we came posthaste in search of you. I couldn’t think how you’d got so far unless you’d managed to get a lift. Then Carol remarked with great satisfaction that Bryn must have picked you up. That was the first we knew of his being up here.
“We tore along, and sure enough came on his empty car and, just round the corner, the Dacombes lying out cold by the side of the road. It turned out they’d been given the tip-off when Bryn’s car was sighted, and were following it at a discreet distance. They even saw him stop to pick you up, but of course didn’t know who you were until we rang them on the mobile asking them to look out for you.
“The rest you know. Incidentally, you probably saved my life up there on the cliff, for which I haven’t yet thanked you.”
“You’re welcome,” I said facetiously.
There was a brittle silence, which Philip broke by saying quietly, “Was I right, Clare, about you feeling differently now? Are you going to give me another chance?”
I said in a small, choked voice, “I’m surprised you still want me.”
He turned then, and the look in his eyes removed for all time any doubts I might have had. But I went on wretchedly, “I can’t think why you loved me in the first place. I was silly and shallow and selfish, and when you needed me most, I turned and ran.”
“Sweetheart, don’t be too hard on yourself. It was partly my fault, anyway; I handled things appallingly badly. Still, it’s all behind us now, and it’s the future that’s important. Will we be spending it together?”
“Oh yes, please!” I said.
They were the last words spoken for a considerable time. We were both very conscious of how close we’d come to losing each other, and that knowledge made our coming together doubly precious.
Much later, Philip raised his head and said with a smile, “I should have known you couldn’t be Goldilocks – you were the Sleeping Beauty. All I can say is, thank God you’ve woken up at last! It certainly felt like a hundred years!”
I lifted a hand to his face, my fingers gentle on the stretched, bruised skin of his jaw. “Even if it had been, it would have been within my rights; this is the storybook ending, isn’t it?”
Philip reached into his pocket, drew out my engagement ring, and slipped it back on my finger.
“It’s the storybook beginning,” he said.
Dangerous Deception Page 19