Page 26 of The Cornish Cream Tea Bookshop
Marion raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m not one for prancing. My husband, Adam, probably wouldn’t notice if I spent a small fortune on a pair of knickers.’
‘Don’t get them for him, then. Get them for you.’
‘When did we go from boxes turning up at Liam’s to fancy underwear?’
Ollie poured boiling water into the mugs. ‘You should look them up online. But I promise you, this boxisn’tfull of lacy bras and thongs.’
‘Whatisinside, then?’
Ollie decided that if she wanted to order anything remotely personal in future, she would have to get it delivered elsewhere. ‘Let’s have a look,’ she said.
It felt a bit like Groundhog Day, getting a knife to slice open a box while Marion watched on. She undid it, put a hand in and rifled around inside. She pulled out the first item and handed it to Marion.
‘A little plastic tube. What does it do?’
‘This.’ Ollie took it from her and cracked it in half, and the mute plastic suddenly glowed red, casting an eerie light on the older woman’s face.
‘What’s it for?’
‘A ghost walk I’m leading through the town on Monday night. It’s a Halloween event, for A New Chapter. Everyone who comes will get one of these.’
‘Why?’
‘Because they’re fun, and because it’s going to be dark, and it’s a good way of keeping control of my ghost hunters. You should come!’
‘I don’t think so.’ Marion sipped her tea. ‘Ghosts and hauntings and whatnot aren’t my thing.’
‘Ooh, that reminds me.’ Ollie tookThe Legend of Kerensa’s Handprintoff the bookshelf,and brought it back to the kitchen. ‘Have you heard of this author?’
Marion squinted as she read the title, then turned the book over and read the back. While she did, Ollie took a photo of the glow sticks and sent a message to Max with the caption:Look what just arrived! xo
‘Can’t say I’ve heard of this Bryan Mailer person,’ Marion said. ‘This looks like a provincial little novel.’
Ollie felt a stab of disappointment. ‘According to the internet, he was really popular in the Seventies and Eighties. But neither you or Max have heard of him, even though his books are set in this part of Cornwall.’
‘I prefer a saga, myself.’ Marion put the book down, disinterested.
‘I found Kerensa’s handprint when I was out walking,’ Ollie went on. ‘And this is an entire novel based on that exact legend. It’s twenty minutes’ walk from here!’
Marion shook her head. ‘As I said, I don’t go in for ghosts and hauntings. What Iaminterested in, after you mentioned it, is this Victoria’s Promises site, or whatever it is. I haven’t treated myself for a long time, and I’m curious about it.’
‘You’re serious?’ Ollie laughed, and went to get her laptop. Showing her landlord’s housekeeper around the Victoria’s Secret website was not something she’d had on her bingo card when she’d been planning her move to Cornwall.
By the time Marion had left Ollie to it, her pockets lighter but with a gleam of satisfaction in her eye at treating herself –notAdam – to some luxurious new underwear, Ollie had almost forgotten the other woman’s dismissal of the Cornish mystery. But the novel was still sitting there, on the island, and as she went to put it back with its friends on the bookshelf, she wondered how anyone local could fail to be interested in it.
Bryan Mailer had got his inspiration from Port Karadow and the surrounding area. There was a whole novel based around a rock formation twenty minutes from the farm. It was exciting, surely, even if you weren’t an avid reader. What she hadn’t been able to discover from her internet search was where Bryan Mailer was now. He’d written the books a while ago, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a trail of breadcrumbs Ollie could follow.
As she returned to her paper chains, she thought that Liam, at the very least, would know about him. He had the little book of legends, after all. As she settled herself back on the carpet, Henry lifted his head and gave her a sleepy, curious look.
‘You missed an interesting online shopping session,’ Ollie told him. Henry rested his nose on his paws, nonplussed.
An hour or two later, after the sky had darkened and Ollie was making herself beans on toast, her phone pinged.
You got glow sticks?! Are we going to a Nineties rave?
Laughing, she typed a reply:
They’re for the ghost walk. You’re still coming, right? xo
