The Cornish Guest House (8 page)

Loveday whistled. ‘Wow! All those different countries!’ She peered at a tiny treble clef on the bracelet, holding it between finger and thumb. ‘What’s this one for?’

‘I used to be in a folk rock band,’ Tabitha replied. ‘I had a partner who played the harmonica, and there was a guitarist and a sax player. I did the vocals – and wrote some of the music.’

Loveday’s eyes widened with interest. ‘A real band! What were you called?’

Tabitha shook her head, as if regretting that she’d mentioned it. ‘It was a long time ago.’ She quickly fastened the bracelet back on her wrist and reached for her glass, which was on the mantelpiece behind her. ‘I don’t do it any more.’

Now that the ice had been broken, Pat, who’d been very quiet up to now, plucked up courage and took a step a forward.

‘I wondered if you’d care to help me with the church flowers? We’re a bit low on numbers, you see. We generally meet once a week but if there’s a wedding or christening, obviously there’s more to do.’

Tabitha inhaled sharply and her face froze. ‘Absolutely not.’ And without more ado she pushed past the old woman, practically elbowing her aside in her eagerness to get away.

Pat’s mouth dropped open and for a moment she was lost for words. They all were. It had been so abrupt. No explanation, apology or excuse. Nothing.

‘Whatever did I…?’ Pat said at last, but she didn’t finish the sentence. The courage that she’d mustered previously had dissolved and now she just looked old, upset and confused.

Liz, seeing her sway, quickly grabbed her by the arm and guided her to a seat by the window, afraid that she might fall. She felt wounded and angry on Pat’s behalf, because she knew that the flowers were a big thing for her. The three or four hours that she spent choosing blooms and making beautiful arrangements was practically the only time that she left the house during the week, and it was quite an effort for her even to get to church. It was all too easy to laugh at things like that, but Liz knew better.

‘I never meant to offend her,’ Pat muttered, plonking down in the chair and shaking her head. She’d gone quite pale and Liz passed her the glass of sherry, which was only half-drunk; she sipped it gratefully, as if it were medicine.

There was scarcely room to move now for people, but Liz managed to crouch at her feet and pat her on the knee.

‘Are you all right? What a strange thing!’

She was trying to process what had happened. One minute Tabitha had seemed friendly and quite relaxed, and the next she’d been storming off as if she’d been insulted; it made no sense. Pat’s colour, thankfully, was now starting to return, but she’d clearly had a shock. She wasn’t used to being snubbed; she was usually surrounded by friends and family, people who knew and loved her.

‘I’ll tell you one thing,’ she said, her voice now sounding a little stronger, ‘that’s the last time I ask that woman to do anything. As far as I’m concerned, she’s a stuck up so-and-so who left her manners in Manchester, or wherever it is she comes from.’

Liz couldn’t help agreeing.

The couple from Ashley House came over to say hello and while they looked after Pat, Liz excused herself and went in search of the loo. She wanted a few moments on her own to collect her thoughts. It had crossed her mind that to cheer Pat up she should offer to help with the flowers herself, but that was the last thing she needed.

She was already a member of the Parish Paths Group, which aimed to keep rights of way open to the public by clearing vegetation, rebuilding stiles and kissing gates and repairing footpath surfaces. What with that, running her own business and helping at the restaurant, too, she had quite enough on her plate.

The trouble was, in a place like Tremarnock there were numerous worthy causes to throw yourself into, from providing hot lunches for elderly residents to driving teenage mums-to-be to and from antenatal appointments. Living as they did so far from the hallowed portals of Westminster, sometimes it seemed as if the rest of the country forgot they existed and they just had to get on and do it all themselves.

There were several closed doors to the right and left of the corridor, and she opened them in turn, hoping to find the bathroom. The final door was locked, probably occupied, so she waited a few moments, resting her back against the wall. She felt tired, suddenly, and uncomfortable. She’d been looking forward to the party and to seeing all her friends, but now all she wanted was to slip away to Bag End.

It was quite clear to her that, however hospitable Luke might be, Tabitha was a tricky customer who didn’t really want them there, but Robert had promised Luke that he’d look in after the restaurant closed so, come what may, she would have to hang around.

The door to the kitchen at the far end of the hallway was ajar, delicious smells were wafting out and there was a great deal of activity going on inside. A girl in black, like the other helpers, was standing by the island in the middle, taking things off baking trays and putting them on platters, until a stout, older woman in a white apron pushed her aside impatiently and rearranged what she’d done.

The door burst open and the young waiter that Liz had seen earlier emerged with another tray of drinks. He had sweat on his brow and an air of confusion, and she shot him a sympathetic smile. She knew what it felt like. Sometimes, on a busy evening at A Winkle In Time, it seemed that her feet hardly touched the floor.

Now she could see inside the kitchen more clearly and noticed Tabitha, standing with her back to the stainless-steel fridge-freezer, keeping out of the way. She was fiddling with the bracelet on her arm and appeared not to know what to do with herself. Feeling like an intruder, Liz would have averted her gaze, but the stout older woman barked at one of the girls, making Tabitha start, and she glanced up, catching sight of Liz for the first time.

Their eyes locked momentarily until they both looked away quickly, but not before Liz had noticed something peculiar in the other woman’s expression, a flicker that made goose-bumps run up and down her spine. She wasn’t imagining it, she was certain: Tabitha was frightened of something. No, more than frightened, she was petrified.

Liz hesitated, not quite sure what to do, then the loo door opened and Audrey stepped out, wearing a quirky long, loose, emerald-green dress that had been on one of the mannequins in the window of her shop last summer.

‘Liz!’ she cried, her cheeks flushed, her lips painted crimson. She had dark hair tipped with platinum streaks, cut pixie-short and artfully mussed. ‘I didn’t realise you were here!’

She was bubbling with party spirit, having clearly managed to set aside any pique that she might have felt on learning that her catering services had been spurned in favour of someone from Tavistock.

‘Fabulous do!’ she went on, then whispered in Liz’s ear. ‘I say, Luke’s charming, isn’t he? Terribly handsome!’

‘He is.’ But Liz couldn’t help remembering that look on Tabitha’s face. Did he know that his wife was terrified of something and, if so, what?

After going to the loo, she strolled back towards the party and joined the guests who’d moved across the corridor to the other reception room, which was less crowded and cooler. Rick Kane had a protective arm round his white-blonde lady friend and they were deep in conversation with some locals, including the leader of the Parish Council, who was an awful bore. Liz couldn’t face getting stuck with him, so she turned her attention to another, rowdier group on her right.

This was made up of teens and twenty-somethings, including Jenny and John Lambert’s boys, Ryan the fishmonger, Nathan the postman and his girlfriend, Annie, the fitness trainer. Nathan had been a skinny lad until he’d started downing protein shakes, bought himself a home gym and developed an impressive set of biceps and a barrel chest. The only problem was he seemed to have forgotten about his lower half, which was oddly out of proportion with the rest.

Annie, who ran the Mature Movers class at the church hall, as well as Zumba sessions and yoga for pregnant women, didn’t seem to mind, though. She had a pretty, lively face, was short and muscly and spent her life in Lycra. They were an ideal match.

Liz was surprised that Loveday wasn’t with them. She and Nathan had been an item for a while, until she’d dumped him unceremoniously for someone who’d been dumped in turn for Ryan, but it was all water under the bridge now.

‘What are you laughing about?’ She smiled, moving over to join them. She caught a faint whiff of fish wafting from Ryan’s direction. ‘Not me, I hope?’

One of the waiters approached with a tray of canapés and she popped a triangle of toast, spread with pâté, into her mouth.

‘Ryan had a date with the au pair,’ Nathan said gleefully, ‘but when he asked her out again, she said she was going to go back to Spain so there was no point. Seems he frightened her so much she’s decided to leave the country!’

Liz glanced at poor Ryan, whose thick black eyebrows were zigzagging across his forehead in a deep frown.

‘She’s been planning to leave anyway,’ he spluttered. ‘She said she doesn’t like the countryside. She’s told the Mallons she’ll only stay to settle their little boy in. It’s nothing to do with me.’

But Nathan was having none of it.

‘What did you do to her?’ He smirked. ‘Did you wave your cockles and winkles at her?’

The others guffawed. Ryan grew redder in the face and Liz came to his rescue by asking Annie about her mother and grandmother, to whom she was very close.

‘My gran, Hazel, she’s not been too well.’ Annie frowned, then something distracted her on the far side of the room and she didn’t finish. Liz spun round and saw Loveday enter with Luke and stop just inside the door. She was gazing up at her host, who was much taller than her and standing very close. He laughed loudly and she twiddled one of her hooped earrings and laughed back.

‘They’re getting on well.’ Nathan sniggered.

Annie poked him in the ribs. ‘Shh, they might hear.’

‘Where’s Jesse?’ he asked suddenly, having forgotten all about Ryan and the au pair now that something more interesting had cropped up.

Liz reminded him that Jesse and the others were working but that they’d be along later if the party was still going.

‘I reckon it will be,’ Ryan commented, grabbing another bottle of lager from a passing waiter and taking a swig, while Liz helped herself to a second canapé. ‘Doesn’t look like they’re in any hurry to get rid of us.’

Thinking that she’d been away from Pat for a while and ought to check on her, Liz wandered back to the other room and cast an eye around. The old woman was still on the chair where Liz had left her and seemed to have attracted quite a gathering, including Audrey, who was kneeling beside her. Tony and Felipe were standing by the fireplace, still talking to Rick and his new girlfriend, and Tony beckoned to Liz to come over. Tabitha, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen.

‘Darling, you look gorgeous!’ Tony said, admiring the strapless black cocktail dress that Liz had bought for her honeymoon. She and Robert had had a glorious long weekend in Paris after the wedding.

Felipe, it seemed, had been telling them about his art club and the strange chap who’d dropped by to talk to them. An artist himself, he lived in a cottage on the Polgarry Castle estate with his young son. Liz knew that his paintings sold rather well in London and elsewhere, but he rarely ventured into Tremarnock and had little to do with local affairs. The castle, high up above the village, had been empty since its eccentric owner had died. It must have been pretty lonely up there.

‘I do not know how he survives,’ Felipe said, shuddering. ‘So cold, so gloomy. I think he must be, how do you say, loco?’ He put a finger to his temple and twisted it round, as you would a screw.

‘Mad,’ Tony said pleasantly, ‘bonkers. But we don’t know that, darling. Maybe he and his son like the solitude.’

Felipe shook his head. ‘Poor little boy. I definitely would be bonking if I lived there.’

Liz stifled a giggle.

‘Bonk
ers
.’ Tony sounded very patient.

‘That eez what I said.’

Rick’s white-blonde girlfriend, who was called Sylvia, piped up that she, too, had an interest in art and Liz noticed that Rick now had his hand on her bottom.

‘My ex used to paint in his spare time. I used to model for him.’

‘With or without clothes?’ Tony roared with laughter at his own joke.

‘Without,’ she replied, unembarrassed.

Tony clapped his hands. ‘Excellent! You should do some life modelling for Tremarnock Art Club, shouldn’t she, Felipe?’

The younger man looked perplexed.

‘Life drawing,’ Tony explained. ‘Painting naked ladies. You’d enjoy that, wouldn’t you, darling?’

Felipe looked aghast. ‘Oh, no, we do only landscapes and flowers. And fruit in bowls. No one naked.’ He shook his head vigorously. ‘No, no.’

Their drinks were topped up once more; the waiters really were most assiduous. Tony, who was enjoying himself immensely and was even more of a gossip than Pat, whispered theatrically, ‘Luke’s a very good-looking man.’ He winked at Liz. ‘I’ve noticed all the ladies flirting with him. Tabitha had better watch out.’

‘She’s a very rude woman.’

Liz turned to find Esme right behind her, raising her sharp chin haughtily and staring down her pointed nose. Tony stopped in his tracks.

‘She was unkind to Pat and she hasn’t been out of the kitchen for hours. Haven’t you noticed? She’s hardly spoken to anyone. She’s left it all to her poor husband.’

Liz shuffled miserably. However peculiar Tabitha was, she didn’t want to openly criticise someone whose house she was in and whose wine and food she’d been enjoying, and besides, she’d seen that look on her hostess’s face. She was about to suggest that she walk Pat home, resolving to call Robert and tell him that she’d had enough and wouldn’t be returning, when she heard a volley of knocks and Luke’s loud voice in the hall.

Glancing at her watch, she realised that it was almost midnight already. Where had the time gone? Pat must be shattered, she thought, feeling guilty. She’d meant to drop her home after a couple of hours. There again, she must have been having a good time or she’d surely have asked to leave.