Death of a Stranger Read Free Page B

shut and voices began laughing and talking that, still silent, they turned away and started back up the hill.
    The cat was sitting patient and upright against the front door, and the dog was hurling himself, breathing noisily, against the far side of it. They changed places as Tim pushed the door open, and by the time he and Anna were inside Duffy had danced three lengths of the short path to the gate and back, and the cat was prowling round the fridge.
    â€œWe’ve got to go away, haven’t we?’’ Tim said, as Anna opened it and took out some catfood. “ With our home life already under way there’s nothing else to mark the arrival of Anna Le Page.’’
    â€œI’d be happy enough just to come back here after the celebrations even so. But I’m glad we’re going.’’
    â€œAnd not regretful that it isn’t anywhere exotic?’’
    â€œI asked you for Scotland. Are you sorry?’’
    â€œOf course not. I’ve never been, and for me it’s abroad. How difficult it must have been once,’’ Tim thought aloud, as they snuggled down in bed a half-hour later, trying to confine the cat to a bottom corner, “to have the fun of new places on a honeymoon all mixed up with having to adjust to going to bed together and, well …’’
    â€œI know. And not to be able to say ‘Not tonight’ for fear of irreparably damaging your new partner’s feelings. Not tonight, my dearest darling, I’m asleep already.’’
    â€œMe too.’’ But although he dropped off almost at once, Tim’s sleep was beset by dreams in which he prowled the thin byways of St Peter Port, looking for his mother but seeing only the distant figures of Simon Shaw and Constance Lorimer and never being able to catch them up.

Chapter Two
    T o give themselves a few unfevered hours in Lorna’s company, Anna and Tim had devised the run-up to their wedding to allow for the completion of their preparations a day short of it, and their colleagues had insisted they finish work at lunchtime on Friday. Neither of them of course had the sort of job where this could be guaranteed, but Anna had kept her diary free of afternoon visits and Tim’s one all-day concern was uninvolving enough for him to be quite easily persuaded to leave it in the hands of his sergeant.
    So when he arrived home just before two o’clock he found his mother and his bride-to-be under the one big tree in his narrow walled garden, drinking coffee.
    â€œNow, Mother,’’ he said, when he had changed into a short-sleeved shirt and joined them for the second time, mug in hand, “ what’s this about your young friend Simon’s job being so hush-hush we can’t be told a thing about it?’’ She knew him as well as he knew her, and he wasn’t sure he had been able to fool her that his question was light hearted.
    Her eyes met his without blinking. “It is hush-hush, darling. But I’ve told him how utterly discreet you are and he’s given me permission to tell you about it if I feel that maybe you’re thinking that it doesn’t exist. And that’s what you are thinking, isn’t it?’’
    Discomfited but at the same time reassured, Tim looked down at his knees.
    â€œThere you are, you see. But what Simon’s more worried about telling you is what he is, with you being a policeman.’’
    Tim drew a sharp breath, and Anna got to her feet. “ Look, I’ll leave you both—’’
    â€œPlease don’t go, Anna,’’ Lorna said. “ Simon isn’t ashamed of his profession, he just felt – well, I think he’s afraid despite all my reassurances that Tim might look down on him.’’
    â€œWould that matter?’’ Tim asked, immediately wishing he hadn’t.
    â€œI’ll ignore that remark, darling,’’ Lorna responded with dignity.