‘They’d be wise to if he’s anything like the Airedales I’ve known,’ Penrose said, catching Treg’s eye in his rear-view mirror as he turned the car round and headed towards Penzance.
There was no reason to call in at the station again and, in any case, Penrose was keen to get back to the Loe estate. As he drove, he asked Trew about his work and his hopes for the future and, in the young man’s answers, he could not help but recognise the enthusiasm and determination that he himself had had for the job when he was twenty-five – and which, he was relieved to say, he still felt, at least most of the time. But if Angus Trew’s zeal was similar to his own, their reasons for turning to the force in the first place could not have been more different. It had never been Penrose’s first choice, but he remembered as if it were yesterday the anger and bitterness which had accompanied him home from war. By then, the naivety and good intentions with which he had set out on his medical career seemed laughable to him, and made him a figure of ridicule in his own eyes, and he had turned instead to policing – not because he wanted to fight evil, but simply because he knew that there would always be evil to fight. Evil and ignorance and selfishness. Perversely, in this sad realisation, he also found comfort and a reassurance that there was a place for him – as long as he wanted one – in a world which bewildered him with its injustice. He admired, perhaps even envied, Trew’s more positive reasoning, though; it reminded him of Nathaniel’s passionate belief in his own role amongst the community, at the same time as the cynic in him muttered that such dedication had hardly served the curate well.
Jago Snipe’s workshop was deserted, so they carried on through the village and reached the estate in good time. Penrose parked outside Loe House. ‘I need to make a quick call, so we’ll go inside for a minute,’ he said, ‘then we’ll try Jago at home and you can start to get a feel for this place. Something tells me we’ll be spending a bit of time here.’
‘I practically lived here as a lad,’ Trew said, looking affectionately out over the parkland.
‘Really? Are your family nearby then?’
‘They’ve moved out St Ives way now, but I grew up in Helston. There were five of us kids – I’m in the middle – and we used to come here a lot. Dad was away for most of the war, and Mum was pleased to have us out of the way for a bit.’ He blushed slightly. ‘If I’m honest, Sir, I think we might have had a rabbit or two from you in our time.’
‘You and the rest of the village,’ Penrose laughed. ‘There was no one here to stop you with all the men gone. My uncle was at his wits’ end. Still, at least you’ve come over to the right side now. Did your father make it back in one piece?’
‘Yes, we were lucky. He doesn’t talk about it much, though – never has. I’ll wait here,’ he added as Penrose let himself in.
‘Don’t be silly – come and wait inside. I’ll only be a minute.’
Ronnie and Lettice were in the hall, getting ready to go out. ‘Archie! This is a nice surprise,’ Lettice said, coming over to give him a kiss, and welcoming Trew with a smile. ‘We thought we’d pop over and see Rowena – lift her spirits a bit after last night.’ She left a decent pause before adding: ‘I don’t suppose there’s any news we could give her to cheer her up? All in the strictest confidence, of course.’
‘Of course, but I’m afraid we can’t disclose anything yet,’ Archie said diplomatically, aware that his cousins could dress up a fact as efficiently as they could a tailor’s dummy. ‘We’ve just come from the Minack, actually, so Miss Cade knows all we can tell her at the moment.’
‘Oh, that’s a shame,’ said Lettice, deflated.
‘I didn’t recognise you in your uniform, Constable.’ Ronnie was standing in front of a full-length mirror, adjusting her hat. She glanced up and down at Trew’s reflection in the glass. ‘I do hope you haven’t been hard at it all night. My cousin can be a terrible slave-driver.’ She turned round to make a big fuss of Treg and Lettice raised an eyebrow: Ronnie wouldn’t normally give a dog a second glance, something which was clearly evident to Treg, who ignored her completely.
‘I’m fine, Miss, thank you,’ Trew said, embarrassed.
Penrose went through to the library and dialled the Lodge on the private line. ‘Sorry to interrupt your work again,’ he said when Josephine answered, ‘but I wondered if you could do me a favour?’
‘Of course,’ Josephine said. ‘And actually, you’ve called at a good time. Is chapter four too early for an inquest?’
‘No – they hold them as soon as possible.’
‘And would Grant go? Even if the body isn’t on his patch?’
‘I’m assuming it’s not a straightforward death, so yes – he’s likely to be called in by the chief constable. I know how the poor devil feels, so give him my regards when you see him.’
‘I will, but I’m afraid I’m only at the plotting stage, so it’ll be a while yet. Now, what can I do for you?’ She listened as Archie gave a brief account of his visit to Morwenna. ‘Jesus, that poor woman,’ she said when he’d finished. ‘How very cruel that so much tragedy should come from a love as strong as that. No wonder she’s angry. Part of her must hate him for leaving her like that. She’s got no life left, has she?’
‘Not at the moment, no.’
The implication that Morwenna might, in time, get over Harry’s death seemed to Josephine to be wishful thinking, but she said nothing. ‘I don’t think she’ll take kindly to any hand of friendship from me, if that’s what you were going to ask. I’m happy to try, but if she thinks you’ve broken her confidence, it’ll destroy her trust in you as well.’
‘That wasn’t quite what I had in mind,’ Archie confessed. ‘Morwenna told me that Harry started seeing someone else. She said it was no one I knew, but I think she was lying. I wondered if you might find a way to see Loveday and have a chat with her – see if she knows anything. I’m particularly interested in finding out if Harry was closer to Nathaniel than Nathaniel admitted.’
‘I see – nothing too difficult, then. You just want me to find out from a sick and grieving fourteen-year-old if her adored, dead brother started having sex with the vicar after his sister jilted him?’
‘I think I can trust you not to put it quite like that,’ Archie said, amused. ‘To avoid any confusion, at least call him a curate and not a vicar.’
Josephine laughed. ‘All right. I’ll see what I can do. If there was a different picture from the one we know, it’s something that she might in all innocence be happy to tell me about. She loved them both, after all. Is she at their cottage?’
‘Yes. Do you know where it is?’
‘Ronnie pointed it out to me on the way in from Penzance. I’ll call there later this afternoon. I don’t fancy my chances of getting past Morwenna, though. She’ll know immediately that you’ve told me, of course – are you prepared for that?’
‘She won’t necessarily guess that you know everything.’
‘She’s not an idiot, Archie – far from it.’
‘I know, and I’m sorry to ask you to lie for me.’
‘That doesn’t bother me, particularly. But I know she’s important to you, and I don’t want to be responsible for destroying your friendship or making her feel any more betrayed than she does already.’
‘To be honest, I think she’s past caring. She told me nothing else could hurt her.’
‘Yes, but when that’s how you feel, something can come from nowhere and destroy you completely. Don’t underestimate the effect that the smallest thing could have on her state of mind at the moment.’ He said nothing, so she left it at that. ‘William’s asked me to have dinner with him and the girls tonight. Will I see you there?’
‘I’ll do my best, but it depends how the rest of the day turns out. I’m at the house at the moment, but there’s a lot to do this afternoon.’
‘You haven’t stolen my thunder with Ronnie and Lettice, I hope?’
‘No, a promise is a promise, and your reputation is still intact. Which is more than will be said of my young assistant if I don’t get back to him.’
‘Is Ronnie still on the prowl?’
‘Yes, but she’s having problems getting past his dog.’
He heard her laugh again and realised how glad he was to have her to talk to – now more than ever. ‘I’d better let you go, then,’ she said. ‘I don’t suppose there’s any news on Christopher Snipe, is there? It would be nice to tell Loveday something positive.’
‘No, I’m afraid not, but you might find out gently from her if she has any idea where he could be – without worrying her, obviously. We’re off to Jago’s now – I’m sure there’s something he’s not telling us, and it might
