‘Too late for what?’ His head had begun to ache.
‘For Sophie.’
‘Whatever are you saying, Kate? What do you mean?’ How much more of this could he take?
With a sigh, she turned from him and walked towards the house.
He stood and looked at her for a moment and then came to himself.
He ran to her and grabbed her arm. ‘Kate! Don’t walk away from me! What the hell do you mean by “too late for Sophie?”’
She gazed down at his hand, and then up into his confused face.
‘You know.’ She pulled away and went inside, closing the door behind her.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
‘Matt, I think we need a new plan of action regarding Little Anchor.’ Liz handed him a mug of tea and a sandwich. ‘We’ve ground to a halt.’
She flopped into a patio chair and looked at him anxiously. Haggard didn’t suit him. ‘Things aren’t going particularly well, are they?’
He shook his head and took a bite out of his sandwich.
‘Matt, darling, you are doing your best for Will and he appreciates it. You can’t do any more. This is not a quick-fix situation, and from what Will told you yesterday about his niece turning up on the doorstep, it’s about to get a whole lot worse.’
‘He’s out of his depth. There are times when I want to get hold of Kate and shake the hell out of her for what she’s doing to him, let alone to herself.’ He gritted his teeth. ‘It’s not exactly a compassionate and caring attitude, but that’s how I feel.’
‘Mmm, probably not something Laura would advise.’ She smiled at him. ‘But I do understand the sentiment.’ She sipped her tea. ‘But that aside, what are we going to do about Emilia? I spoke to her yesterday and told her the state of play at Little Anchor. She said she appreciates us watching over it, but she doesn’t want us wasting our time when we could be doing something else. She’s not coming home just yet. She and her friend are enjoying some time together, going out and basically doing things that you don’t do when you are alone.’
‘I don’t blame her,’ said Matt. ‘But it’s galling that we are no further forward now than when I got floored!’
‘And neither are the police,’ added Liz, ‘although CID have tracked down where the petrol container came from.’ She frowned. ‘Pity that it had to be the biggest motor spares superstore in the area.’
‘Typical.’ Matt picked up his mug and stared into his tea. ‘It’s odd that no one has made another assault on Little Anchor, isn’t it? Nor has anyone contacted her about a possible purchase, which was what I thought might happen. It’s just gone deadly quiet.’
‘I can’t help thinking it’s personal to Emilia. Now she’s not there, they’ve left it alone.’ She shrugged ‘But who knows? If the idea really was to drive her out, that means there is something special about the cottage itself, or the location, but we’ve been over that a dozen times, so what is it?’
‘Do you think we should stop checking it out?’ he asked.
‘Certainly we shouldn’t check on it so regularly. I see little point. But we can go maybe once a day and pick up her post for her. Frankly, I’m doing much better on my observations of Linden Road Village Store. I’m finding patterns in the times Kelvin Smith’s “clients” visit. Something is most certainly going on there, but I don’t want to intervene too soon. I still don’t know exactly what kind of illegal goods he’s handling.’ She smiled. ‘But I will.’
‘Sounds good, sweetheart. If only I could find a way to be of help to Will I’d feel much happier about everything.’
Before she could answer, they heard the house phone ringing. Matt jumped up and hurried back indoors, returning a few moments later to say that Will was at the end of his tether. ‘He wants me to contact Sam Page, Liz. He wants to talk to him personally. I think he wants Sam to see Kate.’
‘Oh dear.’ Liz exhaled. ‘That’s the first time he’s said anything like that. Things must be pretty dire.’
‘I think that’s an understatement. I’ll ring Sam, then drive down there, if that’s okay with you?’
She nodded. ‘Shall I come too?’
‘Maybe not this time, darling. I’ll sound out the situation first.’
Liz didn’t say so, but she was quite relieved not to have to face the mercurial Kate. ‘Take care, and remember, we can’t mend everything that’s been broken.’
‘But we have to try, don’t we?’
Liz smiled. In her opinion, this particular item was damaged beyond repair.
* * *
In the two days since his unannounced visitors had turned up, Will had been in hell. He had spent a good part of that time doubting his own sanity.
Kate had stayed in her studio. She refused to reply to his constant requests to talk, or even to eat. The first day, he left her food on a tray outside her door, as he had done in the past, but she would only accept the occasional drink. The second day he left nothing, hoping that hunger would drive her out. She remained where she was. If she drank anything, it must have been water from the bathroom tap, as she certainly never went downstairs. At night, she waited until he got into bed, and then drifted like a wraith into the darkened room, slipped beneath the covers and turned her back to him.
On this particular day, he was desperate enough to ring Matt from the house, no longer caring if she heard him or not. Matt had said he would be there within the hour.
Will made a sandwich and a pot of coffee and carried it upstairs. He set the tray down outside the studio door and called out softly that he’d brought her something to eat. As he turned to walk away, he heard a perfunctory, ‘Thank you.’
Hoping that her dreadful mood might be passing, he tentatively asked how she was. Her answer was a curt, ‘Alright.’ Thus encouraged, he kept chatting to the locked door. He sat with his back against it and talked, describing the weather, the odd jobs he was doing, finishing by telling her that Matt would be calling in shortly and asking if she’d like to see him.
To his surprise, he heard her footsteps approach the door. She flung it open.
Kate stood over him, her face a picture of amazement and a sort of sneering wonderment. ‘You really don’t get it, do you? I don’t want people here! No one! And I don’t want you sitting outside my door whining on about nothing when I’m trying to work!’
He scrambled to his feet and turned to face her. ‘I’m sorry if caring about you and worrying because you’re not eating constitutes whining. And as for Matt, he’s our friend! He’s bending over backwards to help you right now. Why would you not want to see him?’
‘Oh yes, good old Matt. He’s here for me, alright. I’m not blind, you know. I can see through this deception, Will. Just like I saw through your feeble attempt to inveigle your niece into our lives. Well, it’s not going to happen!’
Will turned and walked down the stairs. He had had enough, and if he didn’t get away from her, he would most likely say something that couldn’t be unsaid. It was no good telling himself that it was her illness. His patience was at an end. He went outside and sat on the seat to wait for Matt.