What Happens In Cornwall...

by T A Williams

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Don’t be. I’m happier like I am. No ties, not even a Clio. That suits me just fine. Men? I haven’t found too many good ones so far in my life.’ As she said it, she found herself wondering if this run of bad luck was changing.

  They sat and talked for quite some time. She learnt that he was thirty-seven and had never settled in any one place for long. He explained this by referring to his previous job that had involved a lot of travel. Again, he didn’t go into any detail. Even so, Sam felt she knew him a lot better as a result and she also knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she wanted to spend more time with him. A lot more time. They stayed in the church for quite a few minutes, taking in the atmosphere and she, at least, digesting what she had heard. After a while he stood up.

  She nodded towards his leg. ‘Feel better?’ She stood up as well.

  ‘Much better, thanks. It just needs a rest from time to time.’

  At last they set off once more. James pulled out his phone and took numerous shots of everything from the roof trusses to the flagstones on the floor. Finally, they locked the doors and Sam returned the key to Freddie Griffiths upstairs. There was no sign of Ann or the dog, so Sam imagined they were probably out for their morning walk. She went back down to James and led him through the double doors onto the field. He stopped as they came out, blinking in the sunlight.

  ‘That was just amazing.’ He reached over and took her hand. ‘Just amazing.’

  She wasn’t sure if he was referring to the church or to their brief conversation. She felt the pale blue eyes rest upon hers for a few moments before he released her hand and reverted to being a history lecturer. ‘Do you realise, Sam, we’ve got the only pictures of the inside of the Abbey Church of St Bernard? As far as I know, it’s never been photographed before. Wait till I show my colleagues.’

  Sam did her best to reply in kind, relegating their moment in the church to the past, at least for now. ‘Miles Vernon is going to be green with envy.’ She couldn’t resist it. James rolled his eyes.

  ‘If he’s that interested, he can come down and chip his way through the guano.’

  Samantha grinned as she reflected that Miles Vernon and bird poo would make a good pairing.

  The weather was fine and dry once more, although the wind had started to pick up. They walked across the grass and found Henry the dog over by the ruin. He had already worked out that the students brought food with them and often had coffee and a snack before starting work. Bits of biscuit often came the way of a Labrador looking suitably hungry. By the time Sam and James got over to the tent, the dog was sitting in front of Becky as she drank coffee and ate custard creams. His eyes followed her every move as she raised food to her mouth. At her feet, he was doing his best to look unloved and unfed. He failed miserably at both.

  ‘Sam, do you think it’s all right to feed the dog?’ Becky didn’t know much about dogs so she deferred to Sam. The question was fielded by Ann who emerged at that moment from the tent where she had been inspecting the dig.

  ‘It might save you from drowning in a pool of Labrador drool if you do. But don’t let him give you a hard time with those big brown eyes of his. I really do feed him. He’s just such a greedy animal.’

  Becky gave Henry the last of her biscuit and he took it delicately from her fingers. She scratched his ears and he grunted appreciatively.

  Ann stopped dead as she saw an unfamiliar face. Sam hastily introduced James to her and watched as they shook hands. Then she gave Ann the latest news. ‘James is still reeling from having had a look at the old abbey church. Have you been inside it yet?’

  Ann shook her head. ‘No, but I’d love to.’

  James caught her eye. ‘Maybe I could be your guide. My speciality is the medieval period.’ He glanced across at Sam with a smile. ‘Any excuse to get back in there.’ Sam was pleased to see James being so gallant. For some reason she felt less pleased when she saw the two of them walk back towards the abbey together, deep in conversation.

  The Labrador was caught in two minds; stay where the food was or follow his mistress. After a pause for thought, he jumped up and followed Ann and James.

  ‘They seem to be hitting it off.’ Becky, still recovering from another energetic night with Giancarlo, was happy to relinquish any interest she might have had in the medievalist. Sam grunted and turned to the tent, her mind still trying to process what had, or hadn’t, happened in the church.

  The ground level inside the old ruin was a lot further down and there were now seven steps visible, as was the top of a skull protruding from the soil. Sam could see that it would take a fair bit of time to clear away around it enough to remove it. The slow progress was frustrating for Virginia, but as far as Sam was concerned, every day down here on the island was a bonus, especially now that James had appeared. Sam saw Virginia down on her knees and raised her eyebrows.

  ‘Find anything?’

  ‘It might be nothing, but it looks to me as if the stairs finish here. I’ve found a level stone slab. Maybe we’re down to floor level. Anyway, I need to stretch my legs. Ouch.’ Virginia pulled herself to her feet and followed Sam back up the steps while the others filed in to begin the day’s work. She and Sam stood in the fresh air, enjoying the view back towards the abbey and, beyond that, the cliffs of Tregossick. Now that Henry had left, a family of rabbits appeared from the gorse bushes and set about the rich harvest of grasses and flowers, unworried by the presence of humans so close by. Idly, Sam wondered how rabbits had got to the island. As she knew to her cost, it was a fair way out from the mainland. They both watched them for a moment before Virginia turned towards Sam with a query.

  ‘Have you seen James Courtney? He said he’d be here early. I thought he’d be on his hands and knees in the pit by now.’ Virginia looked round, clearly surprised not to see him.

  Sam pointed towards the abbey. ‘He’s here on the island, but he’s showing Ann round the abbey church.’ Seeing the interest on her supervisor’s face she had an idea. ‘I tell you what. Why don’t you go over and join them? It’s unlocked. He and I had a look round first thing and I’m sure you’d love it. They’re there now.’

  Virginia didn’t need any prompting. She set off for the abbey eagerly, leaving Sam to question whether her suggestion that Virginia join them was for sound academic reasons, or just so as to introduce a chaperone between the beautiful actress and the handsome academic.

  Just at that moment, her thoughts were interrupted. A voice called out from the pit, followed by more shouts. Sam looked down to see Ryan come charging up the steps. His face was red with excitement. ‘Where’s Virginia? We’ve found more bones.’

  ‘Bones? What, a skeleton?’ Sam relegated James to the back burner in a flash.

  ‘Very definitely. Maybe two or more. It looks like a whole heap of bones. It’s got to be more than one person. Virginia’s got to come and see this, now.’

  Sam pointed across the field. ‘She’s just gone over to take a look at the abbey church.’

  Ryan took off at a run.

  Chapter 33

  Ann and Henry came over to the dig at the end of the day. James had returned from the abbey church almost immediately after the news of the new bones had reached them, and then spent most of the rest of the day helping with the dig. Virginia’s theory had been proved right as they slowly excavated more slabs. They had, indeed, reached floor level. By the time they stopped for lunch, they were starting to unearth almost intact skeletons, along with the rusted remains of a small knife. In the afternoon, yet another skeleton was discovered. One thing had immediately become evident. From the jumbled positions of the bodies, they had been thrown down there without ceremony. They were all very excited. Ann was delighted for them.

  ‘So, when do you find out how old the bones are?’

  Virginia looked up from her phone. ‘Good news. I’ve just had a text telling me the results of your original thigh bone will be ready tomorrow. It doesn’t normally take
this long, but it’s August and there’s only, if you pardon the pun, a skeleton staff working in the lab.’ Virginia waited for the groans to subside. ‘So, by this time tomorrow, we’ll know just when he died.’

  ‘Any of you prepared to take a guess?’ Ann had an idea. ‘I tell you what, there’s a case of champagne and a slap up dinner in the abbey to the one who gets closest.’ There was a distinct stirring of interest among the group. ‘OK, who’s going first? Virginia, you’re the boss, so you’re up.’

  Virginia looked around at the others. ‘All right, my guess is some time around the dissolution of the monasteries. I’ll say 1539. Maybe Henry VIII’s troops killed some of the monks and buried them here.’

  Ryan shook his head. ‘I’ll go later. I’ll say 1588. I reckon they were killed by or were part of the Spanish Armada, shipwrecked along this coast.’ There were hoots of ‘earlier, earlier’.

  Predictably, Becky opted for them being Vikings and said 850. There were further catcalls and a chant of ‘later, later’. James went with 1350, seeing as building work on the abbey was supposed to have been taking place then. ‘Maybe this was a mass grave for workers killed in the construction of the abbey.’

  Sam decided on 1307 when the Knights Templar had allegedly sailed off from La Rochelle with their legendary treasure. ‘There might even be chests full of gold buried underneath the bodies of the seamen.’ The others picked dates in between. Ann scrupulously noted the names and dates on the whiteboard and promised to award the prize to the winner the next day.

  The launch took them back to the mainland in two trips. Sam found herself in the first party, along with Becky, but James elected to wait for the second round. Sam was sorry not to have the chance to talk further to him. Apart from odd words, she had had no opportunity to speak to him in the course of the day and she missed that. There was, however, the good news and the bad news. The good news was that although he had to go home to feed his cat and see some people, he would be back in the morning. The bad news was that as the launch nosed out of the little harbour carrying Sam’s group, she could see him sitting on the sea wall beside Ann, chatting amicably. Sam gave a silent snort.

  To make matters worse, there was another man waiting for her on the pier. Becky spotted him first and nudged Sam in the ribs.

  ‘Trouble, Sam. It’s your friend.’ Sam looked up and her heart sank. There, sitting at the end of the pier by the telephone box was Miles Vernon. She toyed with the idea of staying on the launch and returning to the island with Ronnie, but she realised that she would only be putting off the inevitable. She took a deep breath and gritted her teeth.

  ‘Becs, will you stay with me?’

  ‘Of course I will. If he lays a finger on you, I’ll give him the pepper spray in the face treatment.’

  ‘You’ve got pepper spray with you?’ Sam was impressed.

  ‘Erm, no, actually, but he doesn’t know that.’ They collected their things and followed the others off the boat and walked up the quayside.

  ‘Samantha, Becky, how nice to see you.’ Miles Vernon was wearing a pair of blue shorts and a bright yellow polo shirt. His arms and legs were tanned golden brown, although Sam thought uncharitably that this might well have come out of a bottle. For her taste, he was just too damn perfect. He looked like something out of a perfume advert. Grudgingly she acknowledged to herself that he was a good-looking man, for women who liked that sort of thing. And there was one of those beside her. Sam sensed a surge of interest on the part of her friend and she rather hoped Becky might go for him, Viking style. Alas, Becky restrained herself.

  ‘Hello, Miles.’ Becky, all thought of pepper spray now gone, went over to shake him by the hand. Reluctantly, Sam followed suit.

  ‘Hello. Fancy seeing you here.’ She shook hands briefly and stepped back. He could see her reticence and she could see he had to get something off his chest. He glanced at Becky.

  ‘Becky, I wonder if you could give us a couple of minutes. There’s something I’ve been trying to talk to Samantha about for a good while now.’ Noting the expression of animosity on Sam’s face, he added. ‘If you like to wait here, Samantha and I can just walk back up the pier for a talk. You’ll be able to see her all the time.’ He gave a ghost of a smile. ‘I won’t kidnap her or anything, I promise.’

  Becky glanced at Sam, who shrugged her shoulders. When all was said and done, there was very little he was likely to do to her here in broad daylight. She gave Becky a nod. ‘I won’t be long, Becs. Just hang on there, will you?’

  Keeping a safe distance away from him, Sam accompanied Miles Vernon along the stone pier until they were close to the end and out of earshot of anybody else. When he slowed, she turned to him, determined to have it out with him, once and for all.

  ‘This is going to have to be pretty good, Professor Vernon. I was about to lodge a formal complaint with the university for your harassment of me. I’ve told you time and time again that I’m not interested, so please can’t you just accept that and leave me alone.’ She was surprised to see the look that swept across Miles Vernon’s face. It was one of complete and utter stupefaction, immediately accompanied by one of horror.

  ‘Oh my God, Samantha, I didn’t realise. You think I’m, I’m… after you?’ He didn’t wait for her to answer. ‘I’m most terribly sorry. I don’t know how on earth you could have got that impression.’ He paused, pretty obviously thinking back to the previous times they had met. It didn’t take him long to recognise his mistakes. The expression on his face changed to one of comprehension. ‘Oh, God, I’m sorry, I see it now. How could I have been so stupid?’

  By this time Sam’s expression was equally surprised, but she wasn’t letting him off the hook that easily. ‘I’ve been really creeped out, you know. I’ve been looking over my shoulder for days now. It’s not much fun being stalked.’ He looked appalled and hastened to apologise.

  ‘Oh, Samantha, I don’t know what to say. How awful! Look, all I’ve been trying to do is to get you on your own to talk to you about something, something personal.’ He was now looking embarrassed, shy even. ‘You see, we have a friend in common and I wanted to talk to you about her.’

  Sam raised her eyes and stared at him in disbelief. This was news. ‘A friend? Who’s that?’

  ‘A friend of yours from school. She lives in Salisbury, your old home town. She and I are good friends. Very good friends.’ Samantha’s jaw dropped.

  ‘Karen? You’re talking about Karen?’

  Miles Vernon nodded. ‘Yes, Samantha. You see, Karen and I met a few weeks back and, since then, well we’ve got very close. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.’

  Samantha sat back and digested the fact that she had clearly got Miles Vernon all wrong. Her brain was working furiously. So, if he and Karen were an item, then pretty obviously, the information about Rock Island must have come from him. She looked up at him.

  ‘I saw Karen a couple of weeks back. She told me she had a friend in Exeter. So that was you?’

  Miles Vernon nodded. He was blushing now. ‘Karen’s a wonderful girl and I’ve completely fallen for her. She’s loads younger than me, so I know it isn’t going to be easy to keep her.’ He caught Sam’s eye. ‘It was sort of about that that I wanted to talk to you.’ He hesitated.

  ‘Go on.’ Sam couldn’t see where this was leading. As she waited for him to finish, she looked down the jetty and saw Becky sitting on the sea wall with her eyes trained on the pair of them. Sam raised a hand in a thumbs up gesture and saw the relief on her friend’s face. ‘What can I do to help, Miles?’ She saw him register the fact that she had used his first name for the first time. Encouraged by this, he took a deep breath.

  ‘Karen’s a journalist. You know that, don’t you?’ Sam nodded. ‘And if you’ve seen her recently, you’ll probably know that she’s not very happy with life at the moment.’ Sam nodded once more. ‘Well, I came up with a plan to help her with her career.’

  ‘She’s a really good old friend. If ther
e’s anything I can do…’ Sam wasn’t following. Then Miles Vernon outlined his plan and it all suddenly made sense.

  ‘The fact is, Samantha, she’s dying to know who’s out there on Rock Island. You see, I told her the university had been invited over and she asked me to find out who’s there and anything about them. I couldn’t ask Virginia, because if it ever came out that we’d leaked the information, both she and I could be in serious trouble, but I thought you, with our shared friendship of Karen, might be able to help. And it could remain in confidence just between the two of us.’ He looked up, hopefully.

  Sam realised she was in a predicament. On the one hand, Miles Vernon was, ultimately, her boss. On the other, she had been sworn to secrecy. Having said that, she hadn’t hesitated to tell James the true identity of the owners of the island only a few hours previously. Thought of James caused her to turn her eyes towards the island. She saw that Ronnie had already embarked the remainder of the group and the launch was heading back towards them. She thought of things Ann had told her the previous night about her life and she knew that exposing her as the owner of the island and adding a few snippets of information would be enough, more than enough, to totally reverse the decline in Karen’s career prospects.

  ‘Do you know who the island belongs to?’ Miles Vernon’s voice interrupted her thoughts. He sounded unusually hesitant.

  Sam nodded. At the same time, she knew that the promise she had made to Ann was not something she was prepared to break. She looked up at Miles, took a deep breath and told him the truth. ‘Yes, I do. I know who owns the place and I know Karen would be delighted if I told you, and you told her. The problem is that I’ve given my word that I won’t reveal a thing. For what it’s worth, the owner is a very, very nice person and I can’t go back on my promise.’ She looked up at Miles, conscious as she did so that the launch was approaching fast. ‘I don’t want to be unkind to Karen. She and I go back a long way and she’s just about my only friend from school that I’ve got left. I don’t want to be unkind to you either. After all, you’re my superior and you could do my career a lot of good or a lot of harm, but I just can’t, Miles. I’m sorry.’ She steeled herself to look up and catch his eye.