Silver Guilt (19 page)

‘Of course he has,' I said, trying to smile convincingly. Since the only light was from our security system, perhaps I'd get away with it. ‘And I certainly think you should go with him. But I want to chew things over with Morris, and we can't expect him to swan over half Kent just because I've changed my mind.'

‘In that case I'll stay too. I'm sure he'd like to hear all about my little local difficulty this afternoon.'

‘He has. From the Kent police,' Aidan put in sourly. He cut the engine and got out, jiggling his keys very ot . . . ost . . . Hell, in a very obvious way. So I knew he wanted to be back on the road. And who could blame him? Poor Griff really ought to be lying down and having a mega-cosset. Only one eye was closed, but the other was colouring up, and his nose seemed inclined to bleed again.

‘I've packed enough things for several nights,' I said, handing Aidan a bulging overnight case and a Sainsbury's long-lasting carrier bag, which he took with a look of distaste, as well he might. In any case, Griff always kept some clothes in Tenterden. ‘Mrs Hatch says she'll help me look after the shop. And as soon as Piers gets back from his antiques fair in Leeds, he can help.'

‘Antiques fair? Leeds? This week?' Griff repeated. Then he stopped dead. It was almost as if he was being pulled towards the Merc by Aidan's willpower. I added mine to give him a bit of a shove.

There. Between us we managed it.

But when I'd locked the front door behind me and reset all the systems, I found Tim's fur getting wet again.

‘When you sit in a room like this,' Morris said, looking around him at Griff's centuries-old paintings and furniture, ‘you don't think that anything nasty can happen in the world.'

‘Except all the people that originally owned all this stuff are dead,' I pointed out. ‘More rice? And the last of the stir-fry?'

‘Please. I thought you said Griff was the cook in your household.'

‘He's teaching me. And it's useful because I can make sure Lord Elham gets a few vitamins and minerals from time to time.'

Morris put his elbows on the table, and leant his chin on his clasped hands. ‘Has it ever occurred to you, Lina, that a young woman like you, who anyone else would say needs a bit of care herself, is looking after not one but two old men? Yours is – let's just say a very strange set-up.'

I nodded. ‘The villagers didn't like me moving in with Griff at all: I think they were ready to dob him in as a child molester. And one or two thought I should be sent to a young offenders' institution, though by then I hadn't done anything wrong for ages. But we stuck it out. Mrs Hatch was a big help.'

‘Mrs Hatch?'

‘She helps out in the shop from time to time. As a favour. She's far too genteel to say she works.'

He nodded, grinning.

‘She never gossips, of course, but she let it be known that I helped her nicely and had such good manners, and of course Mr Tripp was an ex-actor with such
distinguished
friends.' It wasn't often I tried mimicking people but Morris roared with laughter.

‘Another old person, though, Lina – do you have any people your own age to turn to? Anyone to have a nice girlie time with?'

It seemed a strange question, but I did my best to answer. ‘I had to leave behind my old mates. Small-time crime – sometimes not so small: drugs; drink; prostitution. That was what my mates were doing or ended up doing. There aren't too many people my age in the village, and those that are here seem to think there's no life outside the pub. There's a very nice vicar, over Bossingham way. At one point I thought . . . But he's got a bit of a prior commitment, hasn't he? God,' I explained. ‘And of course there's Piers. We do all sorts of lovely crazy things together.' Or we did, for about a month. And then he gave me this dodgy ring and seemed to make himself scarce. But I wasn't going to worry about that now. Not with the attack on Griff to worry about.

And, I suppose, the possibility of an attack on me. Which was why I'd made Morris stow his car in the garage, out of harm's way.

‘Would you mind if I phoned to see how Griff is?' I asked.

‘Of course not. But he might. He's probably in bed with a couple of aspirins by now and sound asleep.'

I nodded sadly. ‘And Aidan's had me up to here for today. I still can't understand why Darrenarris should rough up Griff. He could see it wasn't me.'

‘First we don't know it was Darrenarris: we've got to wait to see if there's any useful bits of DNA in the van. Second, if he'd gone to the trouble of forcing the van into the lay-by, only to find it wasn't you at the wheel, I think he'd feel like roughing up someone. But he could have done a lot more damage, if he'd felt like it. And probably would have done, to be fair, if that lorry driver hadn't stopped and he had to drive off sharpish.'

‘I can't understand why the lorry driver didn't get his number. Isn't that the obvious thing to do?'

‘He says he was more concerned making sure the old man wasn't too badly hurt and then calling an ambulance. And from what the local lads say, he may not be able to read all that well.'

‘Imagine not being able to read!' I said. ‘Good job I was at school long enough to suss that out. Though I rather think I learned before I went. I remember being ever so bored in infants' school. And told off for looking at the end of the book to see how the story ended. Hang on, we don't know how
this
story began – how on earth, if it was Darrenarris, did he know Griff or I would be on that road at that time? Or actually, not me but Griff?' My brain was beginning to feel tired, as if I was like that character who had to believe a whole lot of impossible things. Alice again?

‘He might not have. It might have been an opportunistic attack. If it was, it's all the more likely his DNA will be on the van somewhere, because he won't have been wearing gloves and so on.'

I was in the middle of gathering plates when a thought crept to the front of my brain. ‘Griff had two black eyes – right? But no cuts? He should have been wearing his driving glasses, Morris. Wouldn't he have had cuts if someone had punched him? Or did he take them off so the guy could punch him?' Still holding the plates, I sat down very hard.

‘There was an assailant, Lina. There's no doubt about that. But are you suggesting it might have been more a case of road rage?'

Without his specs, with a glass or two of Aidan's wine, Griff might have been weaving around all over the place. But I'd already said a lot too much. ‘I'm not suggesting anything. I just have a horrible feeling I've dragged you out all this way because I thought there might be a connection with Darrenarris and – Hell, Morris, I'm sorry.'

‘But Lord Elham was worried enough about Darrenarris to phone you and warn you to take care. So even if Griff's assault isn't connected, you did right to call me. And I'm glad to be here.'

If I made a big deal of it all, I might do more harm than good. So I finished clearing the table and peered into the fridge for inspiration. ‘Do you like cheesecake? Because there's some of yesterday's here.'

‘Love it.'

He watched me divide it into two and put the slices on two plates. Then I remembered Griff had always told me to ensure there was enough left to offer the guest a little extra.
Sorry Griff. And sorry for wondering if someone got so cross with your driving on that horrid windy road from Tenterden that they pushed you off the road. But where were your glasses?
I'd seen him put them on before he left here – had Aidan taken as much care?

He took his plate. But why was he getting up, opening drawers? I'd only forgotten to give us spoons – or should it be forks? He seemed happy enough with the spoons he found, passed me one, and sat down, not saying anything else until we'd finished. Then he took my plate.

‘You look done in, Lina. Why don't you go off to bed? I'll load the dishwasher.'

‘Because I've not stripped and made up Griff's bed for you yet.' I managed a grin. ‘I think you might find sleeping in Griff's room quite interesting.'

‘I'm sure I would. But in the boot I've got a bed roll. All I need is a piece of floor.' He kissed me gently on the cheek.

While he got it, I washed up the china – like much of Griff's china, far too delicate for a dishwasher. As I did so, for the tiniest moment, I wondered if Morris might be better company in bed than Tim, but I said nothing – not to either of them. Tim was a very dear friend and I'd have hated to upset him. As for Morris, what was he?

And – more to the point – what was Piers?

T
he next morning, more than anything else, I wanted to know how Griff was. But Aidan wouldn't have welcomed a call before eight thirty, and tended to regard even nine as uncivilized. Morris and I had had breakfast and he had returned his bed roll to his car well before eight. He showed no signs of leaving, however.

It seemed he needed to make some phone calls before he hit the road, so I left him busy in the living room, while I checked our email for any Internet orders. Nothing, which was unusual these days. Griff hadn't wanted to go electronic, but since everyone else had done, he'd had to give in. Thank goodness he had, because the shop, like a lot of our friends', wasn't exactly flourishing these days. As for today's stint behind the counter, I'd promised Griff I wouldn't leave Mrs Hatch on her own, so I gathered some work to do over there. Within ten minutes I was at an entirely loose end. But Morris was still on the phone, getting quite excited by the sound of it. In fact, so excited it was hard not to hear that he was talking about Bossingham Hall. I didn't exactly want to eavesdrop, but the place did involve me, so I kept my ears open as I came downstairs. I certainly didn't tiptoe, but I didn't make any particular noise, either.

In the event, all I really heard was a barked announcement that he'd be there as soon as maybe. He turned, first finger raised, as I joined him in the living room. I wasn't used to being told to keep quiet in my own home, and could have got stroppy. But this was a man who'd appeared from nowhere and spent a night on a hard floor just to protect me – from some unknown risk. So I bit my lip and drifted off to the kitchen, to make sure everything was tidy in case Griff got it into his silly head to demand to come home.

It was. It seemed Morris's perfections even included drying everything I'd left on the draining board and stowing it in the right cupboards. It was still too early to phone Griff, though. I gave the sink a bit of a polish.

‘What time does Lord Elham get up?'

I nearly dropped the dishcloth. ‘No idea. Why?'

‘Because it seems there's been an attempted robbery at Bossingham Hall. And I thought you might want to come over for the ride. Not to mention checking if the old guy's all right.'

‘In other words, if you think he's a suspect, you want me to try and get some sense out of him. Hell, Morris, I know I ought to be there to hold his hand. But I promised Griff I wouldn't leave Mrs Hatch alone, in case Darrenarris had a go at the shop, too.'

He pulled a face. ‘It might not have been Darrenarris duffing up Griff, Lina. One of those calls was to my contact in the Kent Police. They've got some CCTV footage – there's this guy in a big rush who didn't think Griff was driving fast enough. They can see him tailgating him and trying to overtake even on blind bends.'

‘Plenty of them on the Tenterden road,' I said. Please God, don't let the cameras show Griff without his glasses. ‘Did they get a number?' I thought my voice sounded a bit strangled, but Morris didn't seem to notice.

‘They did. And our Kent colleagues will be talking to him this morning.'

I had to say something, didn't I? He was waiting. ‘Can I tell Griff, when I phone him?' I managed.

‘Best just say we're following a lead,' he said. ‘Now, are you coming or not?'

The road from Bredeham to Bossingham is mostly pretty good, though with a lot of speed restrictions which Morris didn't always pay attention to. There was enough mobile coverage for me to speak to Griff, but with Morris sitting beside me I couldn‘t ask about his specs or how much booze he'd sunk at yesterday's lunch, could I? I told him to stay put and be sensible for a couple of days, and cut the call before he could argue.

Then I made another call, this one to Mrs Hatch. ‘The police say there are a couple of suspicious people about,' I said, more or less truthfully. ‘Keep the shop door locked, Mrs Hatch. Don't let anyone in you don't like the look of. And if you do let anyone in, stay by the panic button and if in doubt, use it.'

‘My dear child, I've been assisting in that shop for ten years. I can look after myself.'

At that point I lost the signal, and couldn't argue. In any case, Morris wanted to know my dodge route to avoid Canterbury's rush-hour traffic jam on the ring road, so I gave that my attention instead.

At my suggestion, Morris didn't drive up to the Hall and park in the main car park. He took the lane leading to the track going to my father's wing. When we'd spoken to my father, I said, we could always get access through the official door into the main house.

‘Bloody hell! Hasn't anyone ever thought of filling in a few of these potholes?' he grumbled, eventually having enough sense to drop down to first gear and creep round as many as he could.

‘I have, many a time, especially when I've been ferrying a load of my father's china to sell. But it seems there's some legal dispute about who should do it, the trust or Lord Elham. They're having what Griff calls a Dickensian bicker. He reckons it will last till well after Lord Elham's death.'

‘Or ours, which may well be sooner,' he said through gritted teeth as he tried to go through one I always miss.