The Knapthorne Conspiracy by Malcolm Ballard (best english novels for beginners txt) 📕

at least. Bella had written another two books, both of which had emulated the success of Lingering Doubts and firmly established her reputation. Maria had made a good recovery from her operation having received the all clear and it had been she who had put one of the last pieces of the puzzle into place after Bella had been with her for a few weeks. They had been talking in the very same spot, on the terrace, after a meal one evening when she made reference to Patrick’s illness. She had a tendency to flit from one subject to another and the matter had been brought up with no introduction but it had obviously been on her mind for some time. When she and Rupert had once been discussing his brother, he had told her that there was a mental abnormality, a form of personality disorder, that had afflicted the family for generations but only on the male side and only ever affecting a second son. Maria had then made the point that it was highly likely that whatever Patrick had been suffering from was, in turn, passed on to Kyle, as his second son. But she had no knowledge of Patrick’s murder or the death of Ruth Flint and was, therefore, totally unaware of how her own daughter had nearly become a copy-cat victim. It gave Bella no pleasure to know that she was keeping information from Maria, that she knew more about Patrick’s darker side. But telling her would only bring more unhappiness and grief and the picture of a sad old man wreathed in tobacco smoke in a gloomy room came instantly to mind together with the sound of his hacking cough and the smell of the house. There had been more than enough suffering over the years and she was not about to add to it. Besides she was a trustee, party to an agreement she had made at Willow Cottage seemingly in another life.

In a remarkable twist of fate Bella had entered into a relationship with the son of the man who had relieved her of her virginity all those years ago. Paulo, himself in his thirties, was a divorcee with a young daughter and neither he nor Bella were seeking anything deep and meaningful. Not yet anyway. Through the haze she was able to make out the top of a large vehicle, on the horizon. Possibly the bus or a lorry. Some seconds passed before she could distinguish which but then she recognised the familiar shape and her heart began to beat a little faster. This would not be the first time Mickey had come to see her as they had become firm friends after his timely rescue and paying for his annual trip was the least she could do. The Roffino hospitality was legendary and Mickey was more than happy to be in Bella’s company knowing that they would always be friends and nothing more. As an author Bella had become something of a minor celebrity and he couldn’t believe that she’d chosen to remain in contact with him, let alone treat him so well. But Bella had needed something positive to come out of her stay at Willow Cottage something that, after all she’d been though there, would be a pleasant memory she could focus on above all else. Mickey had been the obvious choice and now that an equilibrium had returned to her life she had taken the opportunity to thank him because, without his intervention, her life would surely have ended on that dark day in a quiet Dorset village all those summers ago.

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THE KNAPTHORNE CONSPIRACY

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