Page 147 of A Death in Cornwall

“Unless I can squeeze it into my carry-on luggage, it will have to be finished before we leave for Venice.”

“The sooner the better.”

“Where’s the fire, Nicky?”

“Isherwood Fine Arts.”

“Come again?”

“It seems your dear friend Sarah Bancroft has a buyer. Very hush-hush. Anonymous shell company. That sort of thing.”

“How much did she get for it?”

“Eight figures.”

“Plus dealer’s commission, I suppose.”

“But of course.”

“So you and my dear friend Sarah Bancroft will each earn in excess of a million pounds on the sale,” said Gabriel. “And I will make a lousy fifty thousand.”

“You’re not trying to renege on our arrangement, are you?”

“A deal’s a deal, Nicky.”

Lovegrove smiled. “How refreshing.”

***

The geography of the west Cornish coast was such that twice each afternoon Gabriel walked through a crime scene. The car park at Land’s End where Charlotte Blake had left her Vauxhall Astra. The overgrown hedgerow where her body had been found. The stately stone manor where her lover, Leonard Bradley, lived with his wife and three children. It was inevitable, then, that Gabriel and Bradley should meet. It happened late one afternoon near the Tater-du Lighthouse. Gabriel was headed back to the cottage after leaving the ketch in Mousehole Harbor. Bradley was mulling over a particularly profitable day of trading.

“Allon,” he called out. “I was hoping I might bump into you.”

The remark caught Gabriel by surprise. “How did you know I was in the neighborhood?” he asked.

“I heard the rumor at the chippy in Senen Cove.”

“I would be grateful if you didn’t repeat it.”

“It’s rather too late for that, I’m afraid. It seems you’re the talk of Cornwall.” They set off together along the coast path. Bradley walked with his hands clasped behind his back. His pace and manner were deliberative. Finally, he said, “You misled me the afternoon you and that detective came to my home.”

“Did I?”

“You said it was your first visit to Cornwall. But I have it on the highest authority that you and your wife lived for a time in Gunwalloe, of all places. But you also deceived me about the nature of your investigation. You already knew the truth about OOC Group, Limited, when you came to see me.”

“I knew most of the truth,” admitted Gabriel. “But not all of it. You gave me the final piece of the puzzle.”

“Lucinda?”

Gabriel nodded.

“Is she responsible for Charlotte’s death?”

“She played no role in her murder. But, yes, Lucinda is to blame for what happened.”

“Which means I am as well.”

Gabriel was silent.

---