astonishment, she realised how out of the blue the suggestion must have sounded when they were oblivious to the suspicions surrounding Harry’s death.
‘What makes you say that?’ Lettice asked, and Ronnie looked at her inquisitively.
‘Oh, I don’t know. It just seems strange that he should fall from the path when he managed the jump so easily. And you never know what’s in people’s minds, do you?’ she added rather weakly.
‘This crime business is going to your head,’ Lettice chided her. ‘You’re spending too much time with unlikely scenarios.’
Ronnie, however, was more persistent. ‘Do you know something we don’t?’ she asked.
‘Only that I won’t come to Lettice if I want a glowing review of my plots,’ Josephine said evasively. ‘Look – that constable’s coming over. I wonder if they’ve found him?’ But the only announcement was that the police were just a few minutes away now, and someone would be along to talk to everyone as soon as possible.
‘Oh, I thought that was some definite news,’ said Lettice, disappointed.
‘Even so, I find that young man’s presence
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ said Lettice. ‘He must be at least fifteen years younger than you.’
‘Perhaps, dear, but look after the nights and the years will take care of themselves. I might just go and see if he needs some sugar in his tea.’
Josephine watched her go. ‘You have to admire her spirit, I suppose,’ she said, ‘and he
‘He won’t do anything stupid,’ Lettice said, squeezing her hand. ‘I’m going to pass these last few drinks round and go back up for more. Come and fetch me if anything happens.’
‘All right, but let me give those out,’ Josephine said. ‘I can’t just sit here.’
She took the three glasses from Lettice’s tray and gave two of them to a couple standing near her, then carried the third over to the balustrade, where an elderly woman stood clutching a rug round her shoulders and looking anxiously out to sea. ‘This might warm you a little,’ Josephine said, holding out the drink.
The woman turned to her, and startled Josephine by putting the glass straight down on the stone ledge and taking her hand instead, clasping it affectionately as if they knew each other well. ‘You’re Archie’s friend from London, aren’t you?’ she said, and Josephine – who was getting used to being at a disadvantage whenever she met anyone for the first time in Cornwall – smiled and nodded. ‘I saw you with him backstage before the play. I’m Morveth Wearne.’
So this was the woman she had heard so much about. ‘I was looking forward to congratulating you tonight,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry that something so wonderful has ended in tragedy.’
Morveth brushed over the compliment as if the play had never existed. ‘What happened exactly?’ she asked anxiously. ‘I know Nathaniel’s fallen, but has Archie said anything else to you?’
‘No, I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet, and he’s the only person who could have seen how it happened. No one else seems to know for sure what went on. William’s with Nathaniel’s parents, but it hardly seems possible that there’ll be anything other than the worst news for them.’
‘He was barely more than a boy,’ she said softly, more to herself than to Josephine. ‘I taught him, you know, him and all the other children on the estate – Harry and Morwenna, Simon Jacks, and Archie, of course.’ She smiled sadly. ‘I still can’t look at them without remembering what they were like as children, and they haven’t really changed, not any of them – not deep down, where it matters.’
‘What was Nathaniel like?’
‘Clever, but shy and terribly earnest. He came from a loving family, but he seemed lost at times and desperate to find a place for himself in the world. He thought about that at a much earlier age than most of us do.’
‘And did he find it in the Church?’
‘He found it in the scriptures, which isn’t always the same thing. His faith was remarkable. It was the words he loved, and he knew his prayer book off by heart – in the truest sense of that phrase, though, not as an exercise in learning. He always found a way of making it mean something to people, no matter who they were or where they came from.’
‘That’s a rare talent to have.’
‘God-given, some might say. Perhaps it made him a little naive – there’s a limit to how much faith can help people at times, and he didn’t always see that. Sometimes he tried too hard when it would have been wiser to let go, but that’s hardly a crime.’ It was an interesting choice of words, Josephine thought, looking down into the blackness. There was a pinprick of light over to the right, stationary as though someone had put a torch down on the ground and left it there, but she could see no sign of Archie, and her unease was growing as time went on. She found Morveth’s presence faintly unsettling, too; it was as if their conversation had a number of layers and only the most superficial was obvious to her. ‘There’s something not right here,’ Morveth said eventually. ‘I can sense it.’
‘What do you mean?’ asked Josephine.
‘Nathaniel seemed troubled of late. He wouldn’t talk about it, and I suppose it’s arrogant of me to think that I could have helped if he had. But I wish he’d come to me, and now it’s too late.’ She turned back to Josephine, and the anxiety in her eyes was infectious. ‘Whatever happened here tonight, I don’t believe it was an accident. It’s too much of a coincidence, coming so soon after Harry.’
It seemed to Josephine that the time to keep silent out of loyalty to Archie’s confidences was long gone, and this cloud of secrecy was beginning to irritate her. In any case, she had no doubt that Morveth would see right through any pretence that Archie had not discussed people on the estate with her. ‘Do you mean it was suicide or murder?’ she asked bluntly, and then, exasperated by Morveth’s reluctance to continue the conversation she had started: ‘Look, if you know something about Harry’s death
The older woman looked genuinely startled. ‘Why should it have anything to do with them?’
‘Well, Morwenna’s taken against Nathaniel for some reason, I doubt there’s a woman on the estate who doesn’t know what Beth Jacks goes through behind closed doors, and I can hardly believe that Jasper Motley is particularly well disposed to his curate after that little stunt with the coins. And that’s just what
‘What are you talking about? What stunt?’
‘During the play – didn’t you see it?’
‘No. I had to go back to the bus for something.’
Morveth listened quietly while Josephine described the improvised scene which had taken place in her absence. ‘You’ve no idea what that man is capable of,’ she said at last.
‘The obvious inference is that he’s defrauding the Church of funds, but Loveday told me that much. She also said that Nathaniel had found out about something more serious. Perhaps that’s earned him more than he bargained for – more than a book off your shelf, at least.’
Morveth looked at Josephine with a growing respect. ‘You’ve met Loveday, then? What do you think of her?’
‘I like her very much. She says what she means, and so far she’s the only person I’ve met here who does anything of the sort.’
Her honesty seemed to defuse the tension and drew a reluctant smile from Morveth. ‘I don’t know a better way of finding out what someone’s really like than through their reaction to Loveday,’ she said. ‘Most dismiss her instantly; some feel sorry for her; only a handful are wise enough to listen to her.’ She held out her hand again, and Josephine sensed a fresh start between them. ‘I can see why Archie trusts you,’ Morveth continued, ‘and I’ll ask something from you, if I may. The past is dead and buried now. Don’t let Archie unsettle it if there’s anything you can do to stop him.’
Was Harry the past, Josephine wondered, or was Morveth speaking metaphorically? She didn’t seem the type to deal in cliches. ‘Archie’s a policeman,’ she said, more gently this time because the request had been a plea rather than a threat. ‘I can’t stop him doing his job if that’s what it comes to, and I wouldn’t try.’
