But as I climbed painfully down pity was alien to me. At that instant it was utterly unknowable. Her arm swayed like the limb of some obscene reptile as I splashed into the water below the waterfall. My side oozed blood.
I stood knee-deep in the millrace, the onrush thrusting against my legs. Looking around it became obvious most of the fortune was in copper and the occasional silver coins. I didn't blame Bexon, picking out the golds like he had and putting them in the Castle for bait. It was exactly the sort of thing I would have done. Anyway, the Romans considered copper the mediocre twin of gold itself. There was a small crusted bronze statue, a she-wolf suckling two infants.
I caught a glimpse of one dulled yellow. Her palm was tilted in the water, exposing a Roman gold between two fingers. I took it carefully from her.
'Hold them by the edge,' I said. I keep telling people this but they take no notice.
I thought of saying something else to her submerged face through the rippling water layer, but finally didn't speak.
CHAPTER XXII
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JANIE WAS telling me off again.
'We didn't leave,' she was saying angrily, 'because a polite note from you was just too good to be true. You'd have just gone.'
'Charming.'
We'd all but packed. The bungalow stood clean and aired ready for more, for all the world like a runner on starting blocks before another race. I knew Janie was working up to something. She attacked suddenly in the lounge, unfairly bonny and colourful with white net gloves and pastel shades.
'Lovejoy.'
You can tell it's trouble from the way they say things.
'Yes, love?'
'Look at me.'
I'd been staring admiringly at the hillside. St Lonan's chapel with the valuable engravings was only two miles off and nobody would be there as early as this. I'd visited briefly. Some scoundrel would nick them one day. He could slip up the hedgerow, turn left at the road and cut through the sheepfold. Nobody'd see him.
People are rogues and can't be trusted.
'Yes, love?' I gazed innocently into her lovely eyes. They looked full of suspicion.
Women get like this.
'Lovejoy. The Roman coins.'
'Don't,' I got out brokenly.
'You didn't mention them very much to the police, did you?' She waited.
'They almost slipped my mind. When I heard how Nichole had been… well, ill for so long, in close care and all that…' I paused bravely. 'Still, I did own up. Eventually.'
'Did you take any?'
'Me? Take -?' I was outraged. 'Certainly not!'
'Look at me, Lovejoy.'
I'd accidentally turned away, honestly not because I wanted to avoid her eyes. I steadied up and gazed back.
'Did you,' she asked, grim all of a sudden, 'did you go back and steal some?'
I gasped, injured. Women have no sense of grief, not really. It takes a woman to be savage, even barbaric. Look at Nichole.
'Steal?' I demanded coldly. That hurt. 'I showed the police where they were and everything. I said how I'd been looking for Bexon's find. And how she'd followed me and tried to keep the Romans for herself. Shooting me as soon as I'd found them. And pushing poor Edward off the cliff…' I shuddered. No need to act for that.
'Steal,' she said, still suspicious as hell, very determined. 'Steal. As in nick, lift and thieve.'
'No,' I said, wounded to the quick.
'And,' she added unabashed, 'as in Lovejoy. There seemed very few coins. Only a dozen or so. Wouldn't a Roman army carry more than that?'
'How should I know?'
'Janie!' Algernon was suddenly there. I was very glad to see him. She never moved or took her eyes off me. 'How dare you!' He quivered with indignation.
'How dare I what, Algernon?' Janie kept judging and weighing me up. She's basically lacking in trust. It must be terrible to be that way.
'Make - ' he steeled himself - 'well, what can only be designated… suggestions about Lovejoy's character.'
'Go and see to the car, Algernon,' Janie said evenly. 'I've business with Lovejoy.'
'N - n - no, Janie.'
She stared at him then, astonished. Served her right for losing confidence in her fellow-man. She repeated her
