A Trick of the Light by Ali Carter (surface ebook reader txt) 📕

‘I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for it all,’ said Rupert. ‘But I’m not prepared to sit it out so if you’d let me excuse myself I’m off to my scratcher. Better get some beauty sleep before seeing my wife.’

‘Night, Rupert,’ said Zoe. ‘Angel?’ I think she wanted Fergus to rescue the situation.

He leapt in, ‘Now dinner’s over, please head to the sitting room, or the snug. I’d like to have a word with Susie and Zoe alone.’

People began to leave and I turned to Shane. ‘It really is sweet of you to have played amateur detective for me.’

‘Nothin’ amateur about it, Miss. I have her on camera.’

‘Yes, yes, I know but honestly I’ve cleared it all up.’

‘What did she take?’

‘It was personal so I’d rather not say.’ This was a back-to-front truth. I really don’t want to lie again.

‘Susie,’ said Fergus, ‘come and sit by my side. Shane, please leave now.’ Fergus patted the other seat next to him. ‘Darling, are you okay here?’

‘Yes.’ Zoe came down the dining room with her head held high and I was pleased to see she didn’t look in the least bit ruffled. Here’s hoping it’s something else Fergus wants to talk to us about.

‘Look at me,’ said Zoe, ‘pregnant, hormones running through my body. It’s put my character quite out of kilter. I reckon Jane Atkinson’s at the other end of the spectrum, going through the menopause, battling with hormones too.’

Fergus stared at me as if for some ridiculous reason he thought I was going to open my mouth and confirm that his wife had hit the nail on the head.

‘Susie?’ he said.

‘Yes?’

‘Is there more to Jane’s behaviour than you’ve told us?’

‘Don’t worry,’ reassured Zoe. ‘There was good reason why you didn’t come to me before with things you knew, but…’

‘What’s this?’ interrupted Fergus.

‘It’s nothing, angel, just a little blip. Jane had wanted to leave early.’

Zoe obviously does keep things from her husband.

‘Right, I see. Susie, you must tell us if there’s something else going on.’

Grrr, I felt so cross. Jane had well and truly dropped me in it. No matter how I go about this, I’ll be blamed for holding something back. I wanted to burst into tears right here, right now.

‘Susie?’ said Fergus. ‘What is it?’ His patience was running out.

‘I think it’s best if you talk to Jane about it.’

‘So, there is something going on?’

‘Well, hmm, well…’ I really did not want to tell another lie, so taking a deep breath I settled for, ‘I’m in a very difficult position and I don’t really want to say.’

‘Please, continue.’

‘I know too much about something someone else has done. What that person has done is, I feel, wrong, but I also think it would be wrong of me to tell you behind their back.’

‘It is Jane we’re talking about here, isn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ said Zoe, longing for a conclusion. ‘Has she hurt you, Susie?’

‘No, not at all. I’m in a compromising position but it’s entirely my fault.’

Fergus raised his voice. ‘What have you done?’

‘Nothing.’

‘It doesn’t sound that way.’

Zoe grasped Fergus’s hand and rested it on the table under hers.

Bravely I looked them straight in the eye. ‘I promise you can trust me, I’ve tried my very best to make this week a success and I’m so thrilled you asked me here to tutor. These little episodes with Jane are entirely down to something she’s up to behind your back.’

‘You must tell us,’ said Fergus.

‘Wait a second, angel,’ said Zoe. ‘Are you absolutely certain you’re right, Susie?’ She stared at me. ‘I don’t want you to say something you’ll later regret.’ Zoe’s body stiffened.

‘If you can confirm one thing, I can be certain,’ I said, longing to rid myself of the whole Jane/necklace episode.

‘Of course.’ Zoe nodded.

I looked at Fergus. ‘According to Jane her parents were friends of yours and they used to come and stay here with her when she was very young.’

‘Nonsense. I’d remember.’

‘You probably weren’t born,’ said Zoe nudging her husband in the ribs. If there’s something a trained accountant’s good at, it’s numbers.

Their eyes were fixed on me. ‘If you have a visitors’ book from your parents’ early days we can look back and see if Jane’s family came to stay.’

‘But we don’t know her maiden name,’ said Fergus, up to speed with tracing connections. His mother must have trained him well.

‘But we do know she was young, so if we look up, say, forty to fifty years ago, and find the name “Jane” appearing with a mother and father, I’ll bet that’s her.’

Fergus rushed out of the room and was back in a matter of seconds with two leather-bound books. I wonder where he keeps them stashed?

‘Well done, angel,’ said Zoe as he laid them on the table and opened the first one. Page after page he whizzed through the signatures; he must recognise most of the writing.

‘Nothing in that one.’ Fergus opened up the book below.

‘There,’ I exclaimed. My finger hovered over a name.

‘J A N E,’ read out Zoe. ‘Adorable squiggly writing.’

‘I missed her by a decade,’ said Fergus. His eyes were darting back and forth. ‘Good god, her parents were Kelton.’

‘Kelton?’ I said.

‘Kelton,’ repeated Fergus as if he was trying to believe it. ‘Kelton.’

‘Who are they, angel? I vaguely remember a connection with Rupert?’

Fergus was speechless so I explained. ‘Rupert managed the sale of the Keltons’ land, his colleague the contents of the house. Your father-in-law bought some things.’

‘What’s the problem, angel?’

Fergus held his head in his hands. ‘Jane’s parents were great friends of my parents, in fact my father was her godfather.’

‘What an unbelievable coincidence she’s here,’ said Zoe. ‘Are you absolutely certain?’

‘I’m sure,’ said Fergus. ‘His name was Hector, his wife Arabella.’

‘How funny,’ said Zoe looking back at the book.

‘No, no, it’s not good. They had a terrible falling out and never saw each other again. It was ages ago. I have absolutely no idea why she’d want to come here.’

‘She must be up to something.’ Zoe’s voice held