Free Just Desserts by Jan Jones

dreadful air crash was hard to imagine.
    â€˜Perhaps it was the plane itself?’ suggested Penny in a practical voice. ‘Maybe the model was one the company were trying to sell? Could they have covered it up because they didn’t want it known that it was dangerous under certain circumstances?’
    â€˜That’s one possibility. I can find out.’ Leo stared around in frustration. ‘I just … I just have a gut feeling that there’s something more. I’m missing something.’
    â€˜Come on,’ said Penny. ‘Let’s deliver Rachel’s forms to my son-in-law and then get home. I could do with lunch – and I daresay you wouldn’t say no to a bite to eat.’
    He quirked a sideways look at her. ‘Never do.’
    She stopped outside Tom’s lab and took the envelope inside. Leo stayed with the car, leaning against it to stretch his legs, listening to the seagulls and the sound of the waves slapping against the cliffs below. He kept his eyes on the horizon, carefully not watching the men working at the Lowdale Screw Fittings site directly, but noticing the comings and goings with a minuteness that would have surprised anyone observing him. Which they were. He had no doubt of that. Just what was going on here? Maybe Penny was right and he was thinking of too many things at once to make sense of any of them.
    â€˜Sorry,’ he said when she came back out. ‘I’m being a complete grouch over this Andrew Collins story. I need to push it to the back of my mind and wait for the thing I’ve missed to surface.’
    Penny rolled her eyes. ‘I am so glad I don’t live in your head. I’ve got some nice chicken soup at home – it’ll do you the power of good.’
    Leo laughed. ‘Don’t. You sounded just like my mum then.’ A thought suddenly struck him. ‘Listen – I’d like to interview Henrietta Ingle in person. Do you want to come too? My parents would put you up overnight.’
    â€˜I … ‘ Penny stared at him, clearly flustered. ‘All I had in mind for the WI history was phoning her or writing.’
    â€˜But wouldn’t it be nice – as part of the project – to meet the woman who started it all?’
    â€˜Maybe. I’ll think about it. There’s no hurry.’
    He grinned. ‘There is, you know. Didn’t you say the Salthaven Show was struggling for entries? If I can get Mrs Ingle into this week’s paper as a ‘Famous Daughter of Salthaven’, it will ramp up the publicity for the show no end.’
    She bit her lip. ‘Oh, you wretch, Leo. You’re right. And now I’ll feel guilty if I don’t go.’
    â€˜Up for it then?’
    â€˜You’re doing it again. You’re rushing me.’
    â€˜Somebody has to. You’d never move out of your rut at all, left to yourself.’
    â€˜It’s a nice rut.’ But she was tempted, he could see that.
    â€˜Go on,’ he said. ‘You know you want to.’
    â€˜I … oh, I must be mad. Yes, all right.’ She switched on the ignition and pulled away. ‘I daresay you’d like me to drive us there too.’
    He laughed aloud. This trip was going to be fun.

Chapter Four
    As Penny drove through Salthaven to pick Leo up from his boat, she had the uneasy feeling that this trip was likely to wreck their friendship. What had she been thinking of to let him persuade her that they should interview Henrietta Ingle together? Not that the interview would be a problem – after her explanatory phone call with Mrs Ingle’s daughter she was looking forward to meeting the sprightly old lady. No, it was driving two hundred odd miles in her car with Leo that was worrying her.
    Journeys with her ex-husband had been fraught with stress. Julian had required constant attention while he was driving, and whenever she had spelled