A Vengeful Deception. Lee Wilkinson
In just a minute we’ll be passing where I was born and brought up… There… If you can see for the snow? The row of cottages on the right of what used to be the old village green… Ours was the second from the end.’
A lump in her throat, she added, ‘I always loved Drum Cottage.’ Then swallowing hard, ‘Cleo, the friend I’m going to spend Christmas with, used to live next door.’
‘No family left?’
‘No. My parents and my younger brother died four years ago in a train crash.’
After all this time it still had the power to hurt.
As though he knew, he said, ‘Tough.’
Then, after a moment, ‘So you’re planning to spend Christmas with a friend?’
‘Yes. At first I refused the invitation. You see, Cleo’s husband isn’t fond of company, and I thought I might be intruding… But she said the spare bed was ready and she had enough food to feed an army, so if I changed my mind I was simply to turn up…’
Finding she was babbling again, Anna resolutely closed her mouth.
By now they had reached the outskirts of the town and were bypassing the new estate where Cleo and her family had a neat, semi-detached house.
Leaving the last street lamp behind them, they started to wind their way up Old Castle Hill, the headlights making a tunnel between the trees and picking up the driving white curtain of snow.
‘So where do you live now, Anna?’
‘I have a bedsit in Grafton Street… What made you call me Anna?’ she asked sharply.
There was a barely perceptible pause, before he queried, ‘Do you prefer Savanna?’
‘No… It’s always been shortened to Anna. I mean, how did you know my name?’
‘It’s on the board above your shop for all to read. Savanna Sands. Very alliterative.’
‘How did you know that was my shop?’
‘I walked past earlier this afternoon and caught sight of you through the window.’
She frowned. ‘What made you presume I was the owner? I could have been anyone.’
‘The shop appeared to be empty of stock, and you were wielding a hammer with great determination.’
Before she could point out that he hadn’t really answered her question, he went on, ‘I rather got the impression that Savanna Sands is due to close down?’
‘It’s closed,’ she said flatly.
‘The end of a business, or a dream?’
His percipience was uncanny.
‘The latter. Since I was a child I’ve dreamt of running my very own bookshop.’
‘So what happened? Not enough customers, or not enough cash?’
‘Both. Tourist trade picks up in the summer, but I couldn’t wait till then. My overdraft was stretched to the limit, the lease was up, and the new owners of the building had doubled the rent.’
‘What will you do now?’
It was the same question Cleo had asked.
Anna gave the same answer. ‘As soon as Christmas is over, start looking for a job.’
‘An assistant in a bookshop maybe?’
Stung, she said, ‘I’m a qualified librarian.’
Out of the corner of her eye she saw him raise a well-marked brow, before he murmured, ‘Really?’
‘Yes, really.’
‘In a town this size I can’t imagine there are boundless opportunities, even for a qualified librarian?’
Hearing the mockery behind the politely phrased question, she made a point of not answering.
‘Of course, there’s always London,’ he pursued. ‘Or perhaps you feel a big city isn’t for you?’
He had the smooth abrasiveness of pumice-stone.
‘I know it isn’t. I lived and worked in London after I left college, and I was glad to leave it.’
‘You worked in a library?’
She shook her head. ‘I had a job as a secretary.’
‘But you were still keeping your dream alive.’
Though it was a statement rather than a question, she found herself answering, ‘Yes. At weekends, and in my spare time, I went to salerooms and auctions to try and collect together enough rare manuscripts and first editions to start my own business.’
‘An expensive undertaking, even for a well-paid secretary,’ he commented drily.
‘I had some capital.’ Annoyed that she’d let herself be provoked into telling a perfect stranger so much, she relapsed into silence, concentrating on her driving.
At the top of the long hill they skirted a bare spinney, where as a child she’d gathered wild primroses, before turning on to Old Castle Road.
The lights of Rymington, below them now and to their left, had vanished, blotted out by the falling snow. It was coming faster now, the wipers having a job to keep the windscreen clear.
Glancing to the right, Anna glimpsed the old red-brick wall of the Manor. The darkness and the conditions made it difficult to judge distances, but they couldn’t be too far away from the main gates.
Apparently reading her thoughts, her companion broke the silence to say, ‘Only a hundred yards or so to go. You’ll see the entrance in a moment.’
Just as he spoke, the headlights picked it up.
Anna had only ever seen the tall, wrought-iron gates closed. Now they stood wide open.
As she drove carefully through them and up the long, winding, unlit drive between tall trees, she remarked, ‘The weather seems to be getting worse. I expect your wife will be relieved to see you back.’
‘What makes you presume I’m married?’
‘Well…with all the shopping and everything…’
‘Even poor bachelors have to eat.’ He was undoubtedly laughing at her.
A shade stiffly, she said, ‘Of course.’
Through the snow the headlights picked up the bulk of a house and flashed across dark windows. It appeared to be deserted.
But of course it couldn’t be. A place the size of Hartington Manor was bound to have staff.
Yet, if there were servants, why had he been doing his own shopping?
She brought the car to a halt, and, remembering his injured arm, asked, ‘Can I help with the groceries?’
‘I’d be grateful if you would.’
Turning off the engine, she made to clamber out.
‘May I suggest that you wait here for a moment while I open the door and put on some lights? Normally the security lights would have been working, but the storm you mentioned earlier put an electricity substation out of action. We do have an emergency generator, but unfortunately it has only a very limited capacity.’
He retrieved the carrier, and she watched him walk through the snow to the house. Awkward, one-handed, he held the bag tucked beneath his arm while he felt in his pocket for the key and opened the door.
A moment later, the hall lights and a lantern above the door flashed on.
Switching off the car lights to save the battery, Anna lifted out the box and followed him into the house.
Shouldering the door shut against the snow blowing in, he led the