Page 137 of The Little Teashop of Lost and Found
‘Then I’ll drive you there, but stay in the car,’ he suggested.
‘There’s only the one place to park nearby and she might spot you – and then it would scupper what’s probably my only opportunity to find out her side of the story.’
‘We could go early and I’d duck down when she arrives, so she won’t know I’m there,’ he persisted stubbornly.
‘No, I want to go alone, and anyway, I don’t know what you’re worried about. She’s hardly going to push me over the edge in case anyone finds out her guilty secret, is she? I mean, we’re not in the Victorian era now; she isn’t going to be ostracized by everyone for being a scarlet woman.’
‘People might not be that understanding about the way she abandoned you, though. And I suspect her privacy and professional status are important to her.’
‘You’ve been reading too many old murder mysteries: don’t think I haven’t noticed that the bookshelves in your flat are filled with them.’
‘So is my Kindle,’ he admitted. ‘My guilty secret is out.’
‘At least that one is fairly harmless. Have you got any worse ones you want to confess?’
‘No, that’s as bad as it gets – and you’re trying to change the subject again. I still don’t think you should meet her entirely alone, because she won’t be pleasant to deal with. I don’t suppose she wants her stepfather to hear of it even now, either – Bel’s been talking to the surgery receptionist again and she says he’s very frail.’
‘I hadn’t thought of that aspect. She must have hidden the pregnancy from her parents, so it would be a shock to him. Not that I intend spreading the information about, and I’m sure Emily Rhymer won’t,’ I added. ‘That just leaves the family and we know they won’t talk, either.’
‘But Liz Collins doesn’t know that.’
‘I’ll make it clear to her that her secret’s safe.’
He still didn’t like my going alone, but he finally capitulated, though with conditions.
‘I’m going home for the night, so you can ring me as soon as you’ve had the meeting tomorrow morning and I’ll practically be on the spot,’ he said. ‘I can be there in minutes, if you need me.’
‘That’s the first I’ve heard of you going out to Oldstone tonight, and it’s going to be a bit late when you get there, isn’t it?’ I said suspiciously.
‘It’s never too late to play trains with Teddy,’ he said innocently. ‘It’s my turn to be the Fat Controller.’
I tossed and turned all night and then got up in the dark, shivering with cold and nerves, and set off over the moors for the rendezvous.
I only hoped Nile hadn’t gone home to Oldstone last night because he intended setting out even earlier and lurking around the meeting place, but I relaxed when I arrived and there was no sign of him.
Dawn had only just started to seep upwards on the horizon when I parked on the short, sheep-nibbled turf near the weathered picnic tables, but Dr Collins’ familiar hatchback was already there. It was empty and there was no sign of her, so she must have walked up the hill in the dark.
I zipped up my coat and set off after her and I don’t think I’ve ever felt more alone.
I found her by the upright stone, standing a little back from the edge and looking out at the rapidly greying moors. She turned when a pebble rattled under my feet.
‘You’ve come,’ she stated in a flat voice and there was no softening of her usual cold and severe expression. ‘So, what’s all this circumstantial evidence?’ she demanded, straight to the point. ‘And who have you told your story to?’
‘I haven’t told it to anyone,’ I said. ‘Sheila Giddings knew you’d gone out with Paul and we worked out the dates – it all seemed to fit. Besides, you were seen as you drove home after leaving me here.’
I shivered again – not from the icy blast of the November breeze, but from an internal chill sparked by that remote, passionless voice.
‘I knew that Rhymer woman was suspicious, but I didn’t think she’d broadcast it about.’
‘She didn’t – she won’t,’ I assured her. ‘But I’d already talked to her and knew she was holding something back – so when I asked her directly if she suspected you, she said she did. And it’s true, isn’t it? I only want to know,’ I pleaded.
‘My affair with Paul Giddings – if you could call it that – was nothing but a brief folly. I learned my lesson,’ she said harshly. ‘So, the Giddings woman knows about it and Emily Rhymer; who else?’
‘Look, apart from Emily Rhymer, who won’t tell anyone, we’re keeping it all in the family. I’ve no interest in exposing you – that’s not what this is about. I’d just like to understand how and why you came to leave me here and then that’s it.’
‘I was sure Emily Rhymer had recognized my car, but I put some doubts in her mind later,’ she said, then turned to look over the moors again. ‘It was a colder night than this when I brought you out here. It was early March and there was a stiff frost on the grass.’
‘I don’t know how you managed it. Weren’t you only about seventeen or eighteen?’
