Page 82 of The Guest House at Shingle Cove

Clarissa’s eyes went wide. ‘Does your new client need a lawyer?’

As far as Clarissa was concerned, his silence was answer enough.

Chapter 37

‘Why does she need a lawyer?’

‘A lawyer.’ Emily lay down on the bed. ‘Of all things, I never imagined that.’ She smiled. ‘My mum is going to be so pleased when she finds out I’m dating a lawyer.’

Clarissa groaned loudly. ‘For one thing, you are not dating him.’

‘But I might be, very soon.’

Clarissa sat down on the stool by the dressing table. She looked at Emily. ‘Well, if he’s some hotshot lawyer, what is he doing in a backwater Suffolk village, spending his days in ripped jeans, living in a guest house and helping your dad cut firewood and mend fences?’

‘I think something happened.’

‘What happened is he came here to help out his uncle, who lives in the next town, after he suffered a bereavement. That’s what I found out from my sister Abigail. Except they didn’t exactly hit it off, with Joss living under his roof, so he came to live here instead.’

‘Yeah – you tell yourself that. But what if something happened, in London, where he used to work, and he had to leave? And it just happened to coincide with his uncle’s bereavement?’

‘Like what?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Oh, Clarissa. I don’t know whether it’s because you’re a journalist, but you always look at the worst-case scenario.’

‘Never mind that, back to my question – why do you think Alice needs a lawyer?’

Emily shrugged. ‘How do I know?’ She sat up in bed. ‘Perhaps Alice is divorcing her husband and needs a lawyer to sort out the finances and make sure she gets a good deal.’

Clarissa looked at her thoughtfully. ‘That is a possibility. I just think there’s more to it than that.’

‘Why?’

‘Call it intuition.’

Emily sighed. ‘You’re just looking for a good news story.’

‘I think I may have found one, now I know Joss is a lawyer.’

‘What are you talking about?’

Although she had been very drunk the previous night, and had wondered if she’d dreamed her trip downstairs, she now knew it hadn’t been a dream. She looked at Emily. ‘Don’t you remember me waking you up when I returned to our room last night, saying I went to get a glass of water, and telling you I had overheard something?’

Emily shook her head from side to side. ‘Sorry, Clarissa, but I don’t remember what you said, just that you woke me up.’

‘Well, when I went downstairs, it was around midnight, I guess, and I thought I heard voices,’ Clarissa said. She remembered seeing the bottle of wine on the coffee table in front of them, and wondering why Joss preferred to spend the evening with Alice rather than Emily. Now that little mystery was solved, she didn’t mind telling Emily what happened.

‘I overheard them talking …’

‘About?’

‘It’s the strangest thing …’

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, don’t keep me in suspense.’

‘It sounds as though she’s been carrying a secret around for years, decades, and she needs help.’

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