Maestro Read Free

such an unfriendly lot. Nothing doing. John defied her by squinting even harder. He looked very close to pitching her out of his shop. 
    "Look!" she almost wailed, "I'll be coming in here off and on for the next few weeks. Do you get fresh supplies every day?"  
    The Ruddy Face kept staring. Not breathing, not moving. A pair of hands seemed set to grab her by the neck and squeeze hard.  Finally the Face spoke. 
    "A few weeks then. That's a long time to be staying at Downswold." 
    "Is there something I should know? Is the place infested with ghosts?" 
    The Face did not flinch at the obvious sarcasm. 
    "Maybe." 
    The stubborn intransigence sounded even louder in the single word he had just uttered. Sara's face clouded over darkly but she stood her ground. 
    John Sheeley spoke at last. 
    "There were goings-on in that place. Twenty years ago. Villagers don't much like the man who owns it." 
    "What sort of goings-on?"  
    "A young girl went there and was never seen again." 
    "You mean she went to the cottage and no one ever saw her again?" 
    "No...I...that Mag who was here, she knows more than me. Look, I've got work to do. What'll you have then?" 
    The squint was back. It was pointless pursuing the story. The village was probably rife with gossip and innuendo about everything and everyone. But how much of it could be true? 
    "Four of those sausages and another lettuce. The one I bought here yesterday was very nice." 
    The complement went unnoticed. The sausages were quickly wrapped. The lettuce bagged. 
    "Two pound ten." 
    Sara handed over the exact amount. 
    "Where's the nearest town, Mr. Sheeley?" 
    "Goldarn. Continue past here for six miles."  
    "Thank you. Goodbye." 
    A drive into Goldarn might be just the thing to clear her head. If the three people she had met so far in Glymeer were representative of the rest of the population, she would do well to avoid the place altogether. 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Three. 
    The map in Sara's car confirmed John Sheeley's directions. Goldarn was six miles away. The route was straightforward enough, cutting through the valley Meer. She could be there in fifteen minutes. 
    Despite her late breakfast, Sara was hungry again. She ran into the bakery across the road from the unfriendly grocer and bought herself a ploughman's lunch: cheese and chutney wrapped in white bread. The staff in the bakery squinted and stared. Sara took the sandwich back to the car to eat, away from prying eyes. 
    Once over Cumbers Bridge, she put her foot down hard on the accelerator. She passed Downswold and five minutes later, came to the Meer valley. On either side of her, the hills stretched out forever. Millions of years ago, a giant river had run through the valley. Today, the flattened hills were covered in wheat and bright yellow rapeseed. 
    The road began to wind perilously and Sara slowed the car down. Just in time. A hundred yards on, she was confronted by a flock of sheep, packed tightly across the road. Fifteen maybe twenty sheep in all but there was no room for them and the car. 
    Sara turned the engine off. She heard a whistle followed by "Go on then, go on then." The sheep jostled over to her side of the car, pushed along by a black and white collie, too absorbed to notice her. An elderly man, a farmer, came up last holding a long stick. He tilted his cap at Sara but did not return her smile. 
    Seven minutes later, Sara was in Goldarn. Ten times bigger than Glymeer but the same cobbled streets and ancient stone buildings. The shape of the town was different though. The streets appeared to run from East to West converging into a sort of Italian or French type "place" or square where one would normally expect to see fountains and statues. Instead of historical ornaments, ten or twelve stone islands filled with flowers had been positioned strategically around the square with enough room between them for cars to park. Around each island,