Free Days Without Number by Robert Goddard Page B

ones.'
    'Let's hope you're right.'
    'Of course I'm right.'
    'OK, OK.' Nick sipped some more whisky and smiled appeasingly. 'The shock's probably got to me too.'
    'Probably.' Irene looked fondly at him, her anger fading as
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    quickly as it had flared. She leaned forward and patted his hand where it was resting on his knee. 'I didn't mean to be tetchy. We need to help each other through this, not bicker.'
    'You're right. Sorry.'
    The too.'
    'Have you spoken to Laura?'
    'Yes. She's coming down at the weekend. The school were happy for her to leave earlier, but I couldn't see the point. It'll be nice to have all the formalities out of the way when she arrives.'
    'She'll be needing her room. I'll move out.'
    'Where to?'
    'A hotel, I suppose.'
    'Wouldn't it make more sense to stay at Trennor?'
    It would, of course. Nick could not deny it, intimidated though he was by the prospect, for reasons he preferred not to analyse.
    'It'd be good to have one of us in residence, however briefly. So that the place doesn't feel completely abandoned.'
    Nick decided against challenging his sister's ascription of feelings to a pile of granite and mortar. That's settled, then,' he said, before finishing his whisky.
    Nick did not sleep well that night. He was glad he had pulled back when he had in his conversation with Irene. There was no knowing how she would have reacted had he pursued the logic of his argument. Their father had died as the result of a fall, attributed by Irene to a trip or a slip, which he was undoubtedly prone to. He could equally well, of course, have been pushed. In theory, at least. But if so - theoretically then who might have pushed him? And why? What kept Nick awake was not the difficulty of finding answers to those questions. It was the effort needed to avoid finding them.
    Next morning, on his jogging route round Saltash, he dropped the torn quarters of the condolences card into a litter bin he passed.
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CHAPTER SIX
    Their appointment with Baskcomb was at four o'clock, timed so as not to interfere with opening hours at the Old Ferry or Anna's shift at the nursing home. Nick was glad of the delay in one sense, since it gave him an opportunity to learn what he could from the only person with any first-hand knowledge of the circumstances of his father's death.
    After Irene had opened up for the day, he slipped out and drove north towards Landulph. Trennor was embargoed, he knew. But Pru Curnow's cottage was not. And the old lady was scarcely noted for her reticence.
    Rain was falling and had been since dawn. Either side of the main street sloping down through Cargreen towards the river had become a watercourse. Drains were spouting and gutters overflowing. There was no-one about and Nick was hardly surprised. He was actually quite pleased by the weather, since it reduced the chances of Pru being anywhere but in her own home.
    He parked as close as he could to the door of Chough Cottage, but that was not close enough to spare him a drenching dash through the rain. Nor did the cottage boast much in the way of a porch. Fortunately, though, Pru responded promptly to his yanks at the bell-pull.
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    'Nicholas,' she announced, peering up at him through glasses that made her eyes look like those of some giant deep-sea fish. 'This is a nice surprise. You best ways come in before you drown.'
    The front door led straight into the sitting room, which was crammed with a car-boot sale's worth of bric-�-brac. Nick had forgotten just how small the house was. The same applied to its owner. Pru Curnow bustled ahead of him, a tiny figure in a floral housecoat, her white hair recently permed and blue tinted. A West Highland terrier yapped excitedly from its station by the television and cocked a snowy-fringed eye at Nick.
    'I'm that sorry about your father, Nicholas. Twas a fearful shock, I don't mind telling you.'
    'It must have been.'
    'Will you have some tea? Or sherry? I sometimes have a glass around this time. I had to have several