On Deadly Tides Page 9

  “Oh, that’s a lovely idea!” exclaimed Mrs. Lloyd. “I’m sure Thomas and Bronwyn Evans would love to meet Colin. He’s our local rector, see,” she explained, addressing Colin directly, “and very interested in wildlife, he is. Used to be out birdwatching in all kinds of weather. Of course, she’s only interested in their little cairn terrier, but no matter. And Victoria would come, of course, and one or two we haven’t thought of yet.”

  “Oh, but we wouldn’t want to put you to any trouble,” protested Penny.

  “It wouldn’t be any trouble,” said Florence. “A few bottles of wine and some cheese straws. In fact, it would be less trouble than a dinner. But why don’t we say Monday evening, if you’re free? That’ll give us more time to get organized, and we can give our guests a bit of extra notice.”

  When Penny and Colin agreed to the date, Mrs. Lloyd said, “Well, that’s settled then. We’ll get the invitations out and look forward to seeing you Monday evening.”

  The two women set off for home to put their party plans in motion, and Colin and Penny turned to each other.

  “I’ll have to buy a new shirt for that,” said Colin, “although I really don’t want to because I keep the clothes I travel with to a minimum. I could always donate it to a charity shop when I leave, I suppose, or maybe the hotel has a laundry service.”

  “I doubt it runs to that.”

  “Well, I’m sure there’s a laundromat.”

  “Laundrette we call it here.” Penny thought for a moment. “But look. Here’s the easy answer. Why don’t you come to mine for dinner tonight, bring your laundry, and we’ll do it there. That’ll save time and bother, and you’ll have clean clothes for the rest of your stay.”

  “That would be great. Even though most of my work clothes are the kind that don’t need washing very often, I’d like to be wearing a clean, decent shirt when I meet your friends.”

  “Well, enjoy your nap and I’ll meet you in the hotel reception just after five. But if you feel like doing something between now and then, there are some swans down by the bridge that would probably enjoy having their picture taken.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “I don’t know about you, but I don’t like eating stodgy stuff in summer,” said Penny as they walked along the riverbank on the way to her cottage. “So I just got us some cheese, cooked ham, lovely fresh bread rolls from the bakery, and a couple of salads.”

  “Perfect,” said Colin. “I got beer and wine.”

  It had been an unusually warm day, and a light breeze made walking pleasant. Colin adjusted his stride to match Penny’s, and they fell into an easy rhythm, chatting comfortably, until they reached fields hemmed in by drystone walls with stones on the top, laid on their edges to give the wall a finished appearance.

  “That’s where the agricultural show is held each autumn,” Penny remarked. “Not much further to go now.”

  A few minutes later they arrived at Penny’s door, which had recently been painted a hazy grey-green. She unlocked it and stepped aside to allow Colin to enter. He glanced at the cozy sitting room with its calm, quiet colours, and then turned to Penny.

  “It’s beautiful. It’s exactly what I imagined your place would be like.”

  “Go through. Let’s get all your stuff in the kitchen.” They unpacked the food, placing most of it in the refrigerator, and then loaded Colin’s laundry into the washing machine.

  “Right,” said Penny, taking a wine glass and a tall tumbler from the cupboard. “Why don’t we take our drinks outside, and we’ll think about eating in a few minutes.”

  She unlocked the back door, and Harrison, her grey cat, led the way to a secluded area with a table and two chairs. Climbing roses in a soft shade of pink contrasted with the grey stone wall that supported them.

  “I’m envious of your beautiful home,” said Colin when they were seated.

  “Tell me about your home in Toronto.”

  “We lived in a condo on the forty-eighth floor of a downtown tower. It was what you’d expect. Open concept, with lots of glass, a couple of terraces with tables and chairs like these ones. We had panoramic views of the city, and to the south you could see all the way to Lake Ontario. At night, with millions of lights in the high rises and sky scrapers all around us lit up, it was breathtaking.”

  “So what happened to the apartment? Did you sell it when you broke up?”

  He shook his head. “She still lives there. It’s close to her work, and she just didn’t have time to deal with trying to sell it. Now I keep a little place in the west end of Toronto, near the airport. I still have friends in the city, and I like going home when I can. In fact, my next assignment is in Canada, with a team of British and Canadian scientists studying the changing habitat of our polar bears on the Hudson Bay coast. But I’m spending more time in Europe and Africa, so I’m starting to think a base here would be a good idea, too.”

  He drained the last of his beer, stood up, and gestured at her wine glass.

  “Going to get another. Would you like more wine?”

  “I’ll come with you. The wash cycle should be finished, and we can start thinking about supper. I’m sure you’re hungry.” After dealing with the laundry and helping themselves to the food Penny had bought, they carried fresh drinks and laden plates back to the table and settled in for dinner.

  “You’ve done a brilliant job of making a life for yourself here in Wales,” said Colin. “I envy you. Your friends, your cottage …”

  “Oh, but I didn’t earn this cottage,” said Penny, with an appreciative glance at it. “I was fortunate, very fortunate, to inherit it from the first friend I made here in Llanelen. Emma Teasdale, she was called. I miss her. There’s a lovely painting of her in the sitting room.”

  Colin reached for a bread roll. “Speaking of painting, how are your preparations going for the art show?”

  “I’ve taken the paintings Cilla accepted for the exhibit to be framed. To be honest, I was surprised so many made it in. She only rejected two.”

  “Here’s a tip from one who knows. Don’t use the word ‘reject.’ Not a word creative types like us need to hear.”

  “You’re right. She excluded two paintings. Better?”

  “Better. Did she give you a reason?”

  “She said she didn’t like the content. Said she didn’t want to look at it.”

  “Really! Everything here seems so beautiful. What was it?”

  Penny leaned forward. “Now this is really interesting. They were the paintings I did of the Georgian terrace in Beaumaris. The ones I was working on that Sunday morning when Bill Ward crept up on me and I used you as an excuse to get out of going to lunch with him by saying you and I were going for fish and chips. Remember?”

  Colin tipped his head slightly to one side. “I do remember, and very good fish and chips they were, too. But it’s odd she didn’t like those paintings. I thought you did a terrific job, and I liked them very much.”

  “The terrace stirs bad memories for her.”

  “How’s that?”

  “I didn’t have the chance to go into all this with you the other evening when we were chatting, because the Wi-Fi was disconnecting, but the apartment that’s for sale belongs to none other than Bill Ward. That’s why he knew so much about the building’s history when I was sat in front of it, painting, and he came along.”

  “That is interesting.”

  “It gets better. Listen to this. He left his wife—that’s Cilla McKee, the gallery manager, remember?—for Sarah Spencer, now assistant manager at the Beaumaris Arms Hotel. Or manageress, as they say over here.”

  They took a moment to reflect on that, and then Colin brought out his phone. “Let me check something.” He tapped a few times, then replaced it in his shirt pocket.

  “How would you feel about an outing to Anglesey tomorrow? I just checked the weather, and it’s meant to be perfect.”

  “I’d love that.”

  “And while we’re there, what if we wer
e to look over that apartment that’s for sale?” Penny’s eyes widened and a slow grin spread across her face.

  “There’s a bus we could take,” she suggested.

  “No, I’ll rent a car and we’ll drive. That way we’ll have more freedom to go where we like. And how would you feel about spending a night or two at the Beaumaris Arms Hotel?”

  “That sounds lovely.”

  “Good. I’ll make the arrangements.”

  Penny, wearing only a light pullover, shivered as they finished their meal. The sunshine of earlier in the day was losing its warmth as the sun sank lower in the sky. A dusty shaft of mellow gold shone through the clouds, lighting up their faces, indicating that evening was drawing in.

  Penny suggested they have coffee in the sitting room.

  When she had laid out a coffee tray, Colin picked it up, carried it through to the sitting room, and set it on the low table in front of the sofa. As he leaned back into the sofa, he extended his arm, and she sank into the warm curve of his body. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer as she rested her head lightly on his shoulder.

  “I know we haven’t known each other very long,” he said, “but I missed you. The whole time I was away, I couldn’t stop thinking about you.” She turned her face to him, and he leaned forward and kissed her. When they released each other, their coffee was almost cold.

  Finally, Colin stood up. “It’s getting late. I’d best get back to the hotel. I’ll aim to pick you up in the morning about nine, but if there are problems with the car arrangements, I’ll call you.”

  “Oh,” said Penny, “your laundry. But since you’re coming back in the morning anyway, there’s no point in bothering with that now unless you need something. Sure you can find your way back to town?”

  He held up his phone. “I can find my way through jungle, forest, savannah, any terrain you care to name. A friendly Welsh town is a piece of cake.”

  One last, lingering embrace later, Penny reluctantly closed the door behind him, and after putting away the leftover food and tidying up the kitchen, she opened the door of the washer/dryer and removed his clean, dry clothes.

  She set them on the table and sorted them. She picked up a shirt, looked at the label, and then did something she hadn’t done in a very long time—she plugged in her iron. While she waited for it to heat up, she bunched the shirt in both hands and held it to her nose. She breathed in the fresh laundry scent but was searching for something deeper. Him. And then, she placed the shirt on the ironing board, smoothed it out, and ironed it. But instead of folding it and placing it with the rest of the clean clothes in the carryall, she carried it upstairs and hung it in her wardrobe, where it lined up perfectly with her own clothes.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “What’s the strangest or most interesting vehicle you’ve driven?” Penny asked the next day as they sped along the A55 on their way to the Isle of Anglesey. “And where was it?”

  Colin focused on the road ahead while he considered his reply. And then he said, “Africa. And someone told me it was a World War Two Jeep that the Americans had left behind. And based on the grinding of the gears, it very well could have been. The thing was so loud, the seats were so hard, and I’m sure it had no shock absorbers. Those African tracks are so rough, I was afraid the whole thing would collapse at every pothole. It was the noisiest, smelliest, roughest, most uncomfortable ride I’ve ever had. But the great thing was, there was something really special on the back seat that made the trip so memorable.”

  “Oh? What was it?”

  “A lion cub.”

  “Really? How did that happen?

  “Long story, but the cub was being transported to a sanctuary for orphans, and I volunteered to drive it.”

  “So you had your own Born Free moment?”

  He grinned. “I did.”

  They approached the magnificent Telford suspension bridge that connects the North Wales mainland with the Isle of Anglesey, and joined the slow-moving queue of traffic. Finally, they crossed the bridge, drove through the Victorian town of Menai Bridge, and headed toward Beaumaris. The winding country road offered stunning views of Snowdonia on their right, and the sun filtering through the hedgerows that flanked the road cast patterns of shifting light and shadows.

  “What time is our viewing of the apartment?” Penny asked.

  “Two. Plenty of time for lunch. What are you in the mood for? Fish and chips again?”

  “No, not today, thanks. Actually, I rarely eat fish and chips. I don’t know why I suggested them that day when I was trying to get out of having lunch with that awful Bill Ward. For some reason, it just popped into my head.”

  “So what would you like to do then?”

  “It’s such a beautiful day, I’d like to just pick up a sandwich and eat outdoors and maybe walk around for a bit until it’s time to see the apartment.”

  “Sounds good. We might just as well park at the hotel. We can walk everywhere from there.”

  * * *

  “I can’t wait to see it,” Penny whispered as they walked up the short, flagged path that led to the stone steps at the entrance of the end house on the terrace. “I love the symmetry of Georgian houses. Show me a fan light over a front door, and I’m beside myself with excitement.”

  Colin pointed to the glossy black door with its knocker in the shape of a lion’s head and then raised his hand to the fan light above it.

  As Penny laughed, a man with a freshly scrubbed face and a youthful cowlick, wearing a pair of summer trousers, a casual shirt, and an eager-to-please expression, opened the front door, which was flanked by two bay trees in concrete pots. He held out his hand and introduced himself as Dylan Rees, and after the usual exchange of pleasantries about how far they had driven and, “Isn’t the weather fine, but we might get some rain later,” he offered each a brochure.

  “It’s my honour and great pleasure to show you over this desirable property this afternoon,” he said. “And once you’ve seen it, you’ll understand why it completely deserves its Grade One heritage designation. Although,” he added as he stepped to one side to allow them to enter, “judging from your accents, you’re Americans, so you might not know what that means.”

  Penny and Colin exchanged an amused glance. “I’ve lived in Wales for quite some time, so I’m familiar with listed buildings,” said Penny. “It means a building or structure of historical or architectural significance,” she added for Colin’s benefit.

  “And we’re Canadians,” he told the estate agent. “But lots of people mix us up. The difference between a Canadian accent and some American accents can be subtle.”

  “Right. Well then, here we are.” They found themselves in a beautiful, airy entrance hall, where the temperature was several degrees cooler than outside. After pointing out the details of the intricate plaster molded ceiling, he led them into what he described as a “superbly proportioned drawing room.”

  The room was flooded with light from tall windows. After allowing Penny and Colin a few minutes to take in the lofty ceiling and then admire the view from the arched window to the village green, and across the Menai Strait to the majestic mountains of Snowdonia, he indicated their next stop would be the dining room.

  “It’s a good thing you’re interested in viewing this property now,” he said. “It’s been tied up for a while.”

  “Oh? Was it taken off the market?” Colin asked.

  “Not exactly.” He adjusted a pair of candlesticks flanking a photograph in a silver frame on a side table. “No, it’s just there’s been an ongoing dispute about possession between the woman who’s been living here and the actual owner of the unit. It’s owned by her former partner, and they had been living here together, but when they broke up, she refused to move out.” And then, unable to resist adding in a bit of sales promotion, he added, “Well, you’ve only to look around this beautiful period property to understand why she would be so attached to it. But because she was the equivalent of a sitting
tenant, the sale became, well, let’s just say complicated. But apparently they’ve now reached an agreement, and although she hasn’t moved out yet, the sale can go ahead with no further problems anticipated.”

  “Problem solved,” said Colin.

  “Well, yes. But the thing is, their personal effects haven’t been removed, so the apartment doesn’t show as well as it might. Her furniture might not be to your taste, so please try to look beyond that, to the beautiful elegance of the apartment itself. Originally this end unit was one grand house, and now it’s three apartments, but to my mind, this unit is the best of the lot because it’s spread out over two floors.”

  As they prepared to leave the room, the photograph on the side table caught Penny’s attention. It showed a couple standing in front of a heavy door, and while she was sure the woman was a younger Sarah Spencer, the man was definitely not Bill Ward. She was about to pick it up for a closer look when the real estate agent cleared his throat. “We’ll just have a look in the butler’s pantry and kitchen before we head upstairs,” he said. “And the kitchen will seem a little dated, but the vendor has advised that he intends to have it renovated to a high standard, along with the butler’s pantry, before contracts are exchanged.”

  The kitchen was dated, but Penny took one look at the cream-coloured Aga cooker and remarked, “I do hope the Aga stays.”

  “Oh, I’m sure it will,” the estate agent assured her. “Who wouldn’t want one of those? Now, as we head upstairs, I want you to take particular note of the turned staircase and the mahogany handrail. It’s one of the most beautiful features of this property.” He stepped aside. “After you.”

  As they ascended the stairs, Penny paused to run her fingertips over the smooth handrail, allowing the estate agent to pass her. As she did so, she caught Colin’s attention by touching his hand, and with her back angled to the estate agent, she mouthed, “That photo.” He gave her a quick nod of understanding, and when they reached the top of the stairs, Colin exclaimed, “Oh, I must have left my brochure downstairs. I’ll be right back. You go on ahead and I’ll catch up with you.” He bounded lightly down the stairs, and Penny and the estate agent entered the first room. “Now this is currently being used as an upstairs sitting room, but it would make a beautiful office, or of course it could be used as an additional bedroom. It’s situated right above the main sitting room, and it features the same tall, arched windows.”