Bulbury Knap Read online

  ‘Enjoying being with Helen, my sister, down in Cornwall. She’s glad to be able to keep an eye on things and not let Helen do too much now she’s expecting another baby.’

  ‘So it’s working out well all round?’ he said with satisfaction.

  ‘Perfectly,’ said Kathryn, feeling her eyes cloud at the sudden thought of Nick and the reason it was so convenient for her to be here. She hadn’t thought of Nick all morning, not until now in fact and it was the middle of the afternoon. ‘I’d better get back,’ she added, standing up.

  Michael stood up too. ‘I’ll walk you back. The boys will be all right for a little while.’

  The distance seemed shorter to her now the route was familiar. In no time they had reached the gate to the pathway through the trees and were walking across the grass to the drive at the front of the house.

  Someone, in jeans and a green sweatshirt with a rucksack on his back, was standing looking up at the front of the building.

  Michael stopped abruptly. ‘A visitor,’ he said. ‘Or has someone lost his way?’

  Iain, of course! Helen had warned her that he might show up at Bulbury Knap in due course and now he was here. Kathryn rushed forward to greet him, delighted he had taken the trouble to seek her out.

  ‘Iain!’ she cried.

  He caught her to him in a warm hug and then let her go again. She looked round for Michael but he had gone. ‘Thanks for moving out to allow room for Mum,’ she said.

  The smile Iain gave her made him look years younger than his thirty years. ‘It gave me the incentive I needed to take to the open road with an objective in mind,’ he said cheerfully.

  Even though he had often changed direction in his life and seemed content at the nomadic life he’d willingly embraced for her mother’s sake Kathryn was grateful to him for making it sound so easy and uncomplicated. This project of Iain’s was only last in a succession of job choices and sounded the best yet. She wondered if he’d started writing his book.

  ‘And now I’ll be able to report that all is well here,’ Iain said. ‘I take it that’s so?’

  Kathryn hesitated. He looked at her keenly. ‘Uncle Iain’s a dab hand at solving problems.’

  ‘I don’t think you’ll be able to crack this one.’

  ‘Just try me.’

  They went through the arch and into the yard.

  ‘Mmm,’ said Iain, looking at Andrew’s low-slung sports car with appreciation. ‘A friend of yours?’

  Kathryn shuddered. ‘Not after the scene he created this morning.’

  ‘Want to tell me about it?’

  ‘Come inside, Iain, and bring that great rucksack with you.’

  Iain was a good listener. As they drank their coffee at the kitchen table, Kathryn confided everything and found a great feeling of release in doing so to someone so closely connected to her family. Unlike Michael, who was an employee at Bulbury Knap, Iain could be truly objective.

  ‘I don’t understand it,’ Iain said pensively when she had finished. ‘It’s as if the chap’s deliberately blocking everything.’

  ‘Michael has already suggested to him that he could organise a plant stall for the visitors,’ she said. ‘He thought it would be a good money spinner.

  Iain raised an eyebrow. ‘And?’

  ‘Andrew wouldn’t hear of it. Squashed the idea at once.’

  ‘Doesn’t anything occur to you in all this?’ Iain asked. He sounded really serious.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Has Andrew Hewson done anything about the break-in?’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘Been on to the police again? Got someone in to check the existing burglar alarm? Discovered how they immobilised it?’

  Kathryn hesitated. ‘He knows it’s inadequate and that the Hewsons can’t afford a better one.’

  ‘So why not look into ways of raising the money then? You’d think it the obvious thing to do in the circumstances.’

  She was silent. When she’d been busy clearing out the conservatory earlier she had even considered raising the matter with Sir Edwin, but not wanting to jeopardise Mum’s position, felt he might consider what she had to say completely out of order.

  ‘We mustn’t forget that Andrew was on to the doctor at once when Sir Edwin collapsed,’ she said. ‘And he comes so often to see them.’ She glanced surreptitiously at her watch.

  Iain drained the last dregs of coffee from his mug. ‘I must be off.’ He got to his feet and hauled up his rucksack.

  She heard Andrew’s car start up and the roar as he set off through the archway far faster than was safe. ‘You’re not going already?’ She tried to keep the relief from her voice that the two men hadn’t met. Not this time, anyway.

  As he reached the outside door Iain paused to fish in the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a card. ‘This is my mobile number. Give me a buzz when you get some time off.’

  He shot her an unfathomable look. ‘I’ll go now and leave you time to think about it. Have a word with your employers about your idea, why don’t you? Talk it through. Sounds as if the chap, Michael, will back you up. I don’t suppose for one moment that Andrew discussed it with anyone. He sounds a mite high-handed to me.’

  Kathryn smiled wryly. ‘There’s no way I can take anything upon myself without falling foul of Andrew.’

  ‘Coward!’

  CHAPTER SIX

  Kathryn stood looking out at the yard through the smeary cottage window, imagining clean paint on the walls and flowery curtains blowing in the breeze. When serving breakfast this morning her employers had been concerned that she should have some time to herself and on impulse she had asked for permission to take a look inside the empty cottages across the yard.

  Sir Edwin had helped himself to toast. ‘The workmen’s cottages? Of course, my dear. They’re structurally quite safe so you’ll come to no harm.’

  ‘The workers on the estate lived there long ago,’ Lady Hewson said.

  Sir Edwin gave a small sigh. ‘No-one would want to live there nowadays.

  ‘No electricity …’

  ‘There was water laid on,’ Lady Hewson said. ‘They managed quite well. But first, dear, we have something to show you.’

  Sir Edwin pulled a folded sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it to Kathryn.

  ‘Andrew printed out Jane’s e-mail for us,’ Lady Hewson said proudly.

  Kathryn saw that the words on the subject line of the e-mail were Crisis at Bulbury Knap. In dismay she read that Jane was deeply concerned about the state of the house and of her parents’ ill health and inability to cope. She wanted them to move out immediately while Andrew dealt with what had to be done. A wave of anger at the absent Jane swept over Kathryn so quickly she gasped.

  ‘So worried about us, dear Jane,’ said Lady Hewson calmly. ‘There’s really no need for her to come all the way from New Zealand and we shall tell her so when we speak to her on the telephone.’

  ‘Your daughter’s planning to come over?’ asked Kathryn.

  ‘It would be lovely to see her, of course,’ Lady Hewson said wistfully.

  But not if the object of the visit was to turf them out of their beloved home and put it on the market, Kathryn thought as she turned away from the window and went downstairs. She dusted down the front of her jeans as she shut the front door behind her.

  ‘Kathryn!’

  She spun round. ‘Andrew.’

  ‘You’re wanted indoors,’ he said. ‘There’s been a phone call. Urgent, my uncle said. You’d better hurry.’

  Kathryn hadn’t known what to expect as she rushed indoors. Now, a couple of hours later, on the drive to Cornwall with Iain seated in the car beside her, she wondered at her calmness on hearing that her mother had been taken to hospital again after a fall in the road outside the Polmerrick cottage.

  The Hewsons had said at once that she could take the rest of the day off, that Andrew was here and would stay overnight so Kathryn was not to worry about hurrying back.
Iain’s chance phone call soon after was welcome and so was his offer to accompany her on the long drive.

  She was grateful for Iain’s continuous talk about the Jurassic Coast. He had begun investigating the Devon end, the oldest section, and was already planning his book. The cliffs on their own part of the coast were made up from rocks that dated from the Lower Jurassic period of approximately 180 to 200 million years old capped by rocks from the Cretaceous Age of about one hundred million years old.

  ‘I see,’ Kathryn murmured though of course she didn’t. The numbers meant nothing to her in her present state of mind. They arrived in the crowded hospital car park just as someone was pulling out of a space in the corner.

  ‘Back to square one, I’m afraid,’ Helen said when she saw them, her voice clipped.

  ‘How bad is she?’ said Kathryn. ‘What happened? Is it worse than you thought?’

  ‘She insisted on going out for a walk by herself and fell off the kerb on the other side of the road. Only a few steps from the house. I didn’t know at first. She collapsed you see. Someone rang the door bell. You’ll say it’s all my fault.’

  ‘Hey, calm down,’ Iain said. ‘No-one’s blaming you.’

  ‘I wanted Mum to come to me,’ said Helen, close to tears. ‘I wanted to look after her.’

  Kathryn started to say something but was silenced by a warning glance from Iain. Maybe it was too much for Helen having Mum with her at this time, she thought as they walked to the ward. If so something would have to be done to ease the situation. But what?

  Fortunately the damage to her mother’s ankle wasn’t as bad as expected though it would set her back a few weeks. Things could be a lot worse.

  They ate a quick meal in a service station near the start of the M5 at Exeter.

  ‘Zillah phoned last night wanting to know how Mum was,’ Kathryn said as they set off again. ‘You’ve heard me speak of Zillah, best friend … the artist down in Lyme?’

  ‘The cause of all your mum’s troubles?’

  ‘It wasn’t Zillah’s fault,’ Kathryn said, feeling herself flush.

  ‘I know, I know. Calm down.’ There was amusement in Iain’s voice now.

  ‘Sorry.’ She had been too quick to rise and felt the tension drain out of her as she laughed with him.

  ‘How’s she coping since the accident?’

  ‘The insurance money isn’t enough to replace her old banger, but she’s got a big commission on and experts to be paid up front so she’s going to be doing something positive about that.’

  ‘Great. She sounds quite a girl,’ said Iain.

  They were nearing Lyme now, beginning to descend the steep hill to the harbour with the vision of the sea and the coastline ahead of them stretching into the distance.

  ‘There’s billowing smoke down there,’ Iain said, craning forward to look. ‘Right by the harbour by the look of it.’

  ‘Zillah’s studio! That’s where it is.’

  Iain released his seat belt and half stood to get a better look. ‘Can’t quite see,’ he said, subsiding again and clicking the belt in position. ‘There’s more smoke now. Masses of it.’

  The road ahead was blocked but the entrance to the car park on the right was clear. She drove in and parked. ‘I’ll have to check on Zillah,’ she said urgently. You don’t have to come, Iain. You could walk to your place from here.’

  He sprang out, shrugging on his jacket as he elbowed the door shut. ‘Of course I’m coming.’

  They hurried towards the side exit that led down to the Cobb. A fire engine, its siren blazing, was negotiating the cobbles in order to reach the building on the far side of the harbour that housed Zillah’s studio. Another burst of smoke rose in the air.

  ‘Smoke but no flames yet,’ Iain pointed out. ‘Come on, let’s get round there.’

  A lick of flame rose in the air.

  ‘Let me pass, let me through,’ Someone shouted from behind. Kathryn spun round. ‘Zillah!’ she cried in relief.

  Her friend, with staring eyes and hair awry, pushed her away unseeingly towards them.

  ‘Stand back, please. It’s not safe to pass,’ someone called out.

  ‘It’s my place on fire,’ she screamed. ‘You’ve got to let me through.’

  Instantly Iain grabbed Zillah’s arm to prevent her going farther. ‘Do as they say. It could be dangerous.’

  She tried to shrug him off. ‘Let me go!’

  ‘Zillah,’ cried Kathryn again.

  ‘Kathryn?’ Zillah sobbed.

  ‘It’s me,’ said Kathryn, holding on to her too. ‘Iain’s with me. Stay here with us, Zillah, until it’s safe. Let them deal with it. Please, Zillah.’

  ‘I went out,’ Zillah moaned. ‘I didn’t know. What are they doing?’ She rubbed her arm across her eyes. She struggled free and stood upright. Her purple and orange jacket swung open to reveal a paint-smeared smock beneath.

  Somehow, seeing that, a lump rose in Kathryn’s throat. Zillah, for all her apparent strength, was deeply vulnerable.

  ‘The flames have gone now,’ someone shouted.

  Kathryn gazed across that harbour at the building. The black pall that had hung over it earlier had subsided a little too.

  Beside her, Zillah gasped. ‘What happened? Oh, what happened? I wasn’t out long. When will they let me back?’

  Much later, seated in the café, from where they could see flickering lights across the harbour, Kathryn leaned back in her seat feeling exhaustion seep through her until her limbs seemed weightless. The likely outcome of the fire seemed horrendous.

  Iain yawned. ‘We’ve had a long day,’ he said. ‘My landlady here has rooms vacant. Why not book in there for tonight, Zillah?’

  Zillah nodded. ‘I’ve been selfish, haven’t I, keeping you here?’

  ‘I’ll come back with you to your studio tomorrow, Zillah,’ Iain offered.

  Kathryn smiled at him. No-one would think he and Zillah had only just met. But Iain was like that, friendly and willing to help anyone in a worse situation than himself. When Zillah had refused to leave the scene he had waited with her gladly.

  At last Zillah began to realise that she wouldn’t be able to do anything more until the morning. With a last look across the dark water, she allowed herself to be led to the car and then to the house where Iain was staying.

  * * *

  Iain phoned next morning as Kathryn was clearing away the breakfast things. ‘Zillah’s been allowed back in to view the damage,’ he said. ‘What a mess. The smell’s horrific.’

  ‘Are all her paintings damaged?’ Kathryn asked, concerned. ‘Is it really bad?’

  ‘They’re in a poor state. Most destroyed completely. A few things not touched. The smoke’s stained some of the blank canvasses but others are all right. Some of her paints are OK too, I think.’

  Kathryn sighed, imagining the scene. Not good then, as she had expected. ‘What are you doing now?’

  ‘Getting stuff out that can be salvaged. The landlord’s here now and some of the other tenants. The place’ll be boarded up for the time being.’

  A plan had been forming in Kathryn’s mind as they were speaking but she couldn’t voice it until she had spoken to Sir Edwin. Plenty of space in the derelict cottages across the yard to store any amount of painting equipment.

  She found Sir Edwin in the long sitting-room leaning on his stick as he gazed round the empty space. He gave a start as she came in. ‘You need me, my dear?’

  ‘I’ve a favour to ask, Sir Edwin,’ she said.

  Hesitantly she told him of her idea of helping Zillah out of a tight spot. He agreed immediately as she knew he would. She hesitated for a moment as she turned to leave. Should she mention Andrew’s dislike of the cottages being used? But no. Andrew had objected to them being let out for living in. This was merely for the storage of property on a temporary basis. Surely he couldn’t object to that?

  * * *

  Kathryn propped open the cottage door and set to work. Sweeping was
no problem or gathering up the dust but without electricity there was no way of putting a heater in here as Lady Hewson wished.

  She looked up, startled, as a shadow fell across the open doorway. Michael, his arms full of grey army blankets, stepped inside.

  ‘Don’t look so bemused,’ he said with a smile. ‘We keep these stored in the old stable at the back of my place in case of emergency. According to Sir Edward that time has come.’

  ‘And you brought them over here specially?’

  ‘My vehicle’s outside.’

  Kathryn had been so absorbed in her work that she hadn’t heard it.

  ‘I’ll dump them over here where you’ve swept, shall I?’ Michael said. ‘Lady Hewson thought they’d be suitable to spread out on the floor so your friend’s belongings won’t get dusty.’

  ‘They’ll make a fine carpet,’ she said.

  He grinned. ‘Making plans to furnish the place?’

  ‘How did you guess?’ Being here with Michael felt companionable because he understood and approved her ideas.

  Together they covered half the floor area with the blankets. ‘Hiding the bare boards makes all the difference to the place,’ he said.

  ‘Almost as if it was going to be lived in,’ she agreed.

  ‘Andrew will think the same if he sees it like this,’ said Michael.

  She smiled, liking the feeling they were in this together. ‘Zillah’s stuff will be stored here temporarily. That’s all.’

  ‘How soon will she move it here?’

  ‘She can’t get a van and driver until this evening. But I thought I’d need to prepare the place as soon as I could so it’s all ready for her.’

  ‘She’s got a friend in you, Kathryn,’ Michael said.

  She felt herself flush at the expression in his eyes. ‘Sir Edwin and Lady Hewson are so kind.’

  He shrugged, smiling. ‘It’s good to see this place being made use of. Let me know if you need any help in unloading. The quicker it’s done the better.’

  She nodded. ‘Thanks.’

  ‘Finished over here for the moment?’

  ‘All done,’ she said in satisfaction.

  Outside in the yard with the early sunlight on her face, Kathryn took a deep breath of pure pleasure. She was glad that through her Zillah had somewhere to store her property while she got her studio sorted out. It would be safe enough here.