Framed in Cornwall - Janie Bolitho Page 0,12

crockery and cutlery on the draining-board and had probably guessed the reason why the dishes had not been seen to until just now.

‘No need to answer, your face says it all.’ Laura grinned again and creases formed in the tight skin of her face, but instead of ageing her they had the opposite effect. She reminded Rose of an oversized imp.

Rose did not begrudge her the time. Her friend had seen her through the months of David’s illness and the awful year which had followed his death. Not once had she told her to pull herself together and she had listened patiently throughout the stage where repetition becomes monotonous and most people get bored. For half an hour they chatted amiably then Laura said she must go.

Bradley Hinkston and Roy Phelps, his associate, had paid a visit to Hayle where they had taken bed and breakfast accommodation at a pub. Two days after their conversation with Martin Pengelly they were on their way back to Bristol where the business was based. Roy was driving the van although Bradley was none too comfortable in the passenger seat, preferring the comfort of his Jaguar.

‘It was worth it, then?’ Roy took his eyes off the motorway winding ahead of them for a split second. The van had no radio and Roy was not a man at home with silence.

‘Oh, yes. It was defintely worth it. The old dear’s got a treasure trove there.’ From the corner of his eye he saw Roy’s thin-lipped smile.

‘What’s she like? A proper Janner if her son’s anything to go by.’

Bradley’s arms were crossed. He raised a hand and smoothed his cheek with a forefinger. ‘No. Oh, she’s got the accent, all right, but I don’t think much escapes Mrs Pengelly’s notice.’

They had reached the M5 and both were anxious to be back in the city. Since his divorce Roy had lived alone, over the shop, an arrangement convenient to them both and to Bradley’s insurers who were pleased to have the rooms over the business occupied. The premises were not the sort that generally passed for an antique shop. There were no oddments of china, no broken chairs and no boxes of junk scattered on the floor. The items he sold were genuine and well cared for. Mostly they consisted of large pieces of furniture along with the occasional bit of porcelain or silver. Everything was displayed under bright lights and there were grilles which pulled down over the windows at night. Roy was never sure if any of Bradley’s deals were crooked because he was not privy to them all, like the Pengelly woman, for instance. Still, it was best not to ask. One or two sales a week were enough to keep them both but they usually made far more than that. ‘What if she talks?’

‘Oh, she won’t talk, sunshine, I can guarantee that.’

They reached the outskirts of Bristol and were heading for the centre just as the rain that was sweeping from the west hit them. They drove past Temple Meads Station and continued on to the shop where they unloaded what they had managed to purchase in Cornwall.

‘Fancy a drink before I drop you off?’

Bradley nodded as he padlocked the door grille. ‘A gin and tonic would go down a treat. I can’t be long because I promised the wife I wouldn’t be late tonight.’ His voice was cultured, his manner urbane. ‘All in all a good trip, wouldn’t you say?’

Together they walked quickly through the city streets. The shops were closed but the traffic was still heavy. The rain hit the pavements with a steady hiss and the drops bounced up again. They began to walk faster.

After a single gin Bradley glanced at his watch and said it was time he was going. Roy drove him to his house in the suburbs which, he estimated, was worth more than he would ever be able to afford. He bore no grudges because he liked the man with his silvery hair and the twill trousers he favoured who was so very different from himself but who treated him like a father. But he felt unsettled that day. Within him was a sinking feeling that Bradley might have gone over the top back there in Cornwall. He wished he would confide more in him. No, he amended, there had been no need for confidences. Roy knew exactly what Bradley had planned to do.

Bradley’s wife welcomed him with an absent-minded kiss on the cheek before carrying