‘Dan’ Kester greets Daniel at the door with a grunt ‘Come in ‘he says in a flat monotone.

‘Er...no...think I’d rather stay out here if it’s all the same to you’ Daniel bares his teeth in a parody of a smile and looks awkwardly away, staring down the drive as though expecting to see that someone has followed him.

Kester follows his gaze and steps out onto the courtyard ‘Problem ?’

‘Could say that’ Daniel replies looking back at Kester and pulling a dog-eared business card from his pocket.  ‘That...’ he says with a grimace ‘is where Helen is. Sorry, mate, but...’ he lifts his shoulders as he starts to apologise.

‘You KNEW?’ Kester’s face sets rigid with rage, angry colour flooding his cheeks as he stares down at the card ‘You bloody well knew and you never said anything?’ he looks up ‘You BASTARD!’

Caught off guard, Daniel’s nose explodes under Kester’s fist and he staggers backwards with his hand to his face.

Kester grabs his car keys from the hall table and slams the front door closed, glaring but without speaking again as he yanks open the door to his 4x4 and climbs in.

‘KES!’ His eyes streaming and his nose gushing blood Daniel tries to stop him leaving, running alongside the car and slapping against the side window with the flat of his hand ‘WAIT! LET ME EXPLAIN.....WAIT!’ he jumps clear as Kester guns the engine and roars out of the courtyard, smashing the wing mirror from Daniel’s car as he surges through the narrow gap.

‘MISTER DANIEL!’ Jeannie hurries from the main house still clutching the tea towel she was using ‘Here, laddie!’ she pushes it up to his face and his fingers curl round it gratefully. She looks back to where Harriet stands in the kitchen doorway ‘I think it needs an ambulance, hen, it nae looks sae good’

‘I’ll be fine’ Daniel mumbles incoherently from beneath the cloth, his head held forward to stop from choking on his own blood.

‘Aye, sae ye will too’ Jeannie says with a sarcastic roll of the eyes and takes him firmly by the arm to steer him indoors.

Tawny House, Manor Road

The Annexe

Chapter Thirty-three

Milliwick Newsagents

‘They got hold on it now’ Liz grumbles, seeing the headlines in the local newspaper as she dumps the bundle on the counter ‘Hope t’God the nationals don’t get in on the act an’all. Had enough of blasted reporters, they always seem to come in ‘ere first’ she cuts the string from the bundle and lifts the topmost newspaper to read. ‘I dunno, do you?’

‘Poor soul’ Edna murmurs, turning the second paper around to be able to see it properly ‘I said t’my Charlie, they ain’t been down there that long cos I can remember well bein’ used. That were afore them cottages got knocked down...course it would be wouldn’t it...Then ole Bishop’d draw from there fer the cow trough. That were a while ago though’ she looks thoughtful ‘Can’t put me mind t’just when it were, but I weren’t much more’n a gal’

‘Coppers ‘ave been tryin t’find out just what happened when. Looking at old maps, they were, according to that chap what lives there now, not as that’d make much diff’rence if yer knew it were there in the first place’

‘No’ Edna agrees absently ‘Ere! Now them’s sayin it were sixty odd year ago’ she points out the passage, underlining it with a finger and mumbling the words as she reads on ‘Inspector Saltman of Woodbury C.I.D. ...dah de dah di da.....may not be a true indication but does give us a point to start from’

‘What does?’ Liz asks, glancing from her copy to Edna’s and back again as she tries to find the same paragraph.

‘‘....artefacts  found during our investigations.....which includes coins’ There yer go, then’ Edna looks up as she carefully folds the newspaper in half again  and lays in back on the pile ‘Be the dates on ‘em, I s’pose’

‘Don’t know as tha’s any help’ Liz wrinkles her nose ‘Folk are always chucking coins down wells’

‘Not iffin they didn’t know it were there an’ sure as hell wouldn’t if it were bein used’

‘It wouldn’t a been bein’ used. Them cottages was gone when I were a kiddy’

‘Mmmm. I can remember ‘em....but then you’s  that bit younger’n me. Oh well’ she says with a sigh ‘Ain’t fer us t’ puzzle it out. Leave it t’the folk what can. Better get back an’ do me bakin. What you doin fer the bazaar, Saturday?’

‘I’m down fer the tombola but I got a few bits done fer the ‘andicraft stall, not as I’m very ‘andy but they c’n sell em cheap’

‘Get on wi’yer! You does some lovely stuff’

‘Can’t eat me disasters though, can I?’ Liz points out gloomily. ‘Not as though you ‘ave any’

Edna chuckles ‘I knows diff’rent. Got a fruit cake wi’a dip in top yer could put yer fist in! Charlie’s appy a course, bloomin pig, but I got t’make ‘nother one. Ere...you come round after shop shuts s’afternoon and we’ll ave a bit wi’a cup a tea’

‘Sounds good t’me’ Liz smiles, easing the kinks from her back as she stands straight ‘Bout three o’clock do yer? Got a bit t’do afore’and’

‘Three o’clock, gal’ Edna nods ‘I’ll ‘ave kettle on’

Rose Cottage, Albans Lane

Jessie gives George an uncertain look and checks her appearance in the mirror above the sink, patting her hair into place ‘But where are you taking me?’

‘That’s fer me t’know and you t’wait an’ see’ George smiles a secretive smile. ‘Go n’ get yer coat on...an’ yer nee’n’t worry ‘bout yer ‘air, you’ll need ‘at on t’day. Blowin’ a bloomin gale out there’

‘I like to know where I’m going and how long I’m likely to be out for’ she says stubbornly, laying her apron over the back of a chair.

‘We wunt be long….depends’ he adds mysteriously.

‘On what?’

‘Jus’ depends’

‘Well, do I turn the oven off or not?’ Jessie fists her hands on her hips.

‘What yer got in there?’ George squints in the hope of recognising something through the glass door.

‘Last night’s washing up! What do you think I’ve got in there?’

‘Well, I dunno, do I? Could ave yer boots in there’ George says, equally mulishly. ‘I allus used t’dry mine off in th’oven’

‘To think I used to eat at your house!’ Jessie grimaces.

‘Gertcha! Tha were  alright! I on’y ‘ad em on low, everything else gets cooked ‘ot, so it killed any summat what’d be on there. Are yer gerrin yer coat?’

‘Yes! Now, do I turn this off or not?’ she stands dithering with her hand on the switch.

‘Cor lummy oh! What a palaver’ George grumbles anew.

‘It’s a casserole’

‘Won’t hurt nothing then, will it?’

‘It will if we’re gone hours! It’ll be all dried up and then you’ll moan like blazes, won’t you?’

George stalks across the kitchen and snaps the cooker off at the main switch. ‘Come on! Stop yer mitherin’

‘I shan’t come at all if you’re going to be in one of your moods!’ Jessie snaps crossly.

‘In one a mine? Cor blimey, yer want to ‘ear yerself! Got a face on yer like gawd know’s what. Come on…I got a s’prise’

‘You’ll have a thick ear you talk to me like that’

‘Come on, Jess’ George resorts to a persuasive wheedle ‘I been looking for’ard t’this all week’

‘To what?’

He wags a finger at her and smiles cunningly ‘You ain’t getting it out a me that easy, so there! Hurry up else we wunt get there’

‘Oh, alright!’ Jessie mutters ‘I don’t suppose I’ll get any peace until I do’