Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
They stood in front of the safe, the manuscript in Fern’s hand. ‘Let’s put it in there.’
‘What about the music box?’ asked Daniel.
‘Just leave it on the desk for now. The manuscript is the valuable bit, and it’s locked away.’ Fern turned the key in the safe and double-checked it was locked.
‘Are we really going to do this?’
She nodded. ‘We’re going to attempt to see Alistair, and who knows … we might even get to meet Nathaniel.’
‘So that we’re clear, the plan is to lie to Dorothy to get his number?’
‘We’re going to … reframe the truth,’ Fern corrected. ‘But we’re not telling her about the manuscript. Not yet.’
‘Because…?’
‘Because Alistair is her brother,’ she said. ‘And if we’re right, there could be a chance he was the one who stole the song that made Nathaniel’s career.’
They exchanged a glance.
‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’ asked Fern.
‘I’m thinking that he’s probably the anonymous buyer trying to get the shop as they think the original manuscript is hidden here somewhere.
But if Alistair and Nathaniel are behind the offer to buy the shop, then why plant the wedding dress?
Why lead us down the Matilda-and-Nathaniel rabbit hole in the first place?
Because surely they wouldn’t want us to find the original manuscript. ’
‘That’s the part that doesn’t make sense,’ Fern added. ‘If he wanted us to sell quietly, why draw attention to the past?’
‘Which would suggest someone else planted the dress,’ Daniel said. ‘Someone who wanted us to find the connection.’
‘But who?’ Fern asked. ‘Who would have known about Matilda’s past and wanted us to know, too?’ she continued.
Daniel shrugged. ‘You’re the sleuth.’
‘Yeah, but even I know this is starting to feel like a game of Cluedo.’
‘Next we’ll be accusing Colonel Mustard.’
‘With the candlestick.’
‘In the conservatory.’
They both laughed as they locked up the shop and walked up Lighthouse Lane towards Dorothy’s cottage.
Dorothy answered her door with a large tabby cat slung over one arm and a teacup in the other hand. ‘Hello! Back again so soon? What can I do for you two?’
‘We found an item of interest in the shop – a Loring vinyl – and we’ve had it valued.’
Dorothy’s eyes glinted with interest, and she ushered them in. The cat, whose name they learned was Gregory, trotted ahead of them and leapt up on to the windowsill.
As they sat down, Fern said, ‘It’s an original and we were wondering about the back story – how it ended up in the shop. We obviously think that Nathaniel must have given it to Matilda, but were they even together when his first record came out?’
‘His first record was released after they broke up, if I can remember correctly,’ said Dorothy.
Fern looked towards Daniel and deliberately didn’t mention the inscription. ‘Nathaniel isn’t well, so we were thinking, maybe it could be displayed in a music museum? A piece of history to honour his legacy.’
Daniel picked up the thread smoothly. ‘We heard there’s talk of a music exhibition at the Loring School of Music? Or maybe the British Library might be interested?’
Dorothy smiled. ‘That’s … thoughtful of you.’
‘We were hoping you might give us Alistair’s number, so we could talk to him about it.’
‘Of course.’ She stood and went to a drawer, rummaging until she pulled out a sticky note and a pen and wrote the number down. ‘Here you go.’
Fern took the note. ‘Thank you.’
‘Do let me know how you get on.’
As they stepped back out into the street, Daniel whistled under his breath. ‘That was easy enough. But do we really think Alistair or Nathaniel is the anonymous buyer of the shop?’
Fern shook her head. ‘More and more, I think it’s likely to be Alistair trying to protect Nathaniel’s reputation.
He’s the one who came into the shop asking for the music box, after all.
If it gets out that Nathaniel stole a song from Matilda, and it’s proven, Alistair could possibly lose the promised fortune when Nathaniel dies. ’
Daniel nodded. ‘As Matilda’s only surviving relative, it would potentially come to you.’
‘Let’s not run ahead of ourselves.’
‘It’s him, I know it is. He’s trying to buy the shop and bury the past so it won’t surface anytime soon.’
‘But someone else knew,’ Fern said. ‘Someone who wanted us to stop him. They left the wedding dress and pointed us in the right direction. Any guesses as to who that could have been?’
‘Not yet,’ he replied as they reached the shop. ‘He’ll deny it, you know.’
Fern looked at him.
‘Alistair,’ Daniel said. ‘He’ll say he had no idea. That it was all a coincidence. That Matilda never wrote that song.’
‘But we have proof.’
‘We have a manuscript in her writing, yes, but they could have written it together.’
‘We have the record with the inscription.’
‘I doubt it would hold up, especially against a man with money, lawyers and a good reputation.’
Fern didn’t answer.
As they crossed the road, Daniel touched her shoulder. ‘Maybe it’s not about proving anything. Maybe it’s just about knowing the truth.’
‘I’ll call Alistair this afternoon,’ she said. ‘We’ll set up a meeting.’
Daniel squeezed her hand. ‘We’ll do it together.’
She smiled. ‘I like the sound of that. Do you fancy a walk? I feel like stretching my legs.’
‘I do.’
They made their way towards Blue Water Bay. ‘We’ve had a right couple of days of it, haven’t we?’ said Daniel.
‘Understatement of the century,’ Fern replied.
Daniel pointed ahead. ‘If we walk past the lighthouse and round by the harbour, there’s another cove just past the puffin cliffs.’
She tilted her head. ‘There’s another bay?’
‘Castaway Cove,’ he said. ‘And if you keep walking the whole way round the island, you end up at Cockle Bay Cove.’
‘You’re just making these up now.’
‘I swear I’m not. This island’s basically the Netflix of secret beaches. Endless options, but a terrible signal.’
She laughed. ‘It’s the island that just keeps giving.’
The path curved gently upwards, and as they reached the top of the last dune, the view opened up like a scene change in a movie.
Below them, a wide sweep of beach gleamed in the lunchtime sun.
The sea sparkled, waves tumbling on to the sand.
A few dogs were tearing around in the shallows, and nearby, a couple walked slowly.
Daniel reached for her hand. She glanced at him and felt a flutter in her stomach as she let him take it.
They walked on, hand in hand, down the old wooden steps to the sand, continuing until there was no one else in sight.
‘The tourists never seem to find this little slice of the island; they tend to stick to Bluewater Bay. Funnily enough, I used to come here with my mum and dad on holiday. They loved this place,’ Daniel mused.
‘We’d bring flasks of soup in the winter, Dad would pack cheese and pickle sandwiches in the summer, and Mum always had a novel she’d never get around to reading. ’
Fern glanced at him. His expression was fond but distant, like he could still see them on the sand somewhere ahead.
‘You must miss them.’
‘I do. It’s a strange feeling thinking you have no one else in the world.’
‘I get that feeling too. That sudden, hollow space where family used to be.’
There was a pause. The waves rustled against the shore like they were listening in.
‘But I have good memories,’ she added softly. ‘Seaside ones, too. Mum always insisted on packing an entire picnic, even though we’d end up buying chips. Dad used to carry one of those awful windbreaks and swear it was the last time. It’s funny the things that stay with you.’
Daniel smiled. ‘Yeah. Those bits matter. When I met Matilda at the auction and she said she lived on Puffin Island, I took that as a sign. It may sound daft, but I actually feel close to my parents by being here. This place is just full of good memories. Matilda was really good for me. In the grand scheme of things, it was an unlikely friendship, but it worked. She was so full of knowledge and very humorous. She used to tell me that the shop would hold my destiny. I was never quite sure what she meant by that, but then I met you.’ He nudged her arm playfully.
‘You barged into my life with your big city bags and your questions, and your oat milk requests,’ he said with a grin.
‘I’ve never requested oat milk.’
‘Give it time. The point is, I remembered how to laugh again. You made the shop feel alive. You made me feel alive.’
She couldn’t look away from him.
‘God knows we’ve had our moments, but you’ve brought colour back into my world. I’m not deluded, I know we’ve not known each other long, but it just feels right, you being here.’
They sat down on a rock and when he looked at her Fern didn’t need to think twice about it; she leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to his mouth. ‘It feels right being here to me too. Do you honestly get the feeling we’ve been set up?’
He grinned. ‘I bet Matilda is up there now, looking down on us, thinking her plan worked.’
‘She brought us both to the shop, and then to each other.’
‘Maybe she just knew we would be a good match. Come on,’ he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her up and running towards the sea.
‘Don’t pull us in – we have shoes on!’
Daniel kicked his off and Fern followed suit, and within seconds they were chasing each other through the shallows, soaked to their calves and breathless with laughter. Fern hadn’t had so much fun in ages. Eventually, they collapsed onto the warm sand and Daniel pulled her close.
‘I know this probably feels like a holiday to you,’ he said, catching his breath, ‘a beautiful blip before you go back to London.’
Fern opened her mouth to respond, but he held up a hand.
‘I get it. I do. You’ve got this whole life there. A career, friends … well, maybe not Ella anymore,’ he added with a grimace, ‘but still.’
She nodded slowly.
‘I’m not asking you to give all that up,’ Daniel said.
‘But I’m asking you not to sell the shop.
Not yet, because I want to see if I can raise the money.
Be a proper adult. Take responsibility. Go to the bank, see what kind of loan I can get.
The revenue’s rising. I’ve started tracking it properly.
People are coming in more. They love the social media posts. ’
Fern’s heart twisted at his enthusiasm.
‘I just feel that place is a part of me.’
‘Maybe a part of us.’ Fern stared up at the sky, trying to catch her breath in a different way now. The clouds drifted lazily overhead, and seagulls called to each other across the cliffs. ‘Do you know what I feel like right now?’
Daniel grinned. ‘We don’t want to get arrested; it is a public beach, after all.’
She swiped him playfully. ‘Not that! I feel like an ice cream!’
* * *
They made their way up to the Cosy Kettle, where Becca greeted them and served two towering cones: mint choc chip for Fern, and vanilla with raspberry ripple for Daniel.
They sat on the sea wall, feet swinging like kids, as she pulled out her phone and the sticky note that Dorothy had written Alistair’s number down on.
‘Shall I ring and see if he can see us?’
Daniel nodded. ‘Go for it.’
Fern handed him her ice cream. ‘Here goes.’ She dialled the number and to her surprise, he answered almost immediately.
‘Alistair, hi, it’s Fern Talbot, owner of No.
17 Curiosity Lane on Puffin Island.’ Fern put the call on speaker so Daniel could hear it.
Thankfully there was no one else around.
‘I got your number off Dorothy because I’ve discovered something in the shop that I think might be of interest to you.
Daniel and I are going to be in London later this week, and I wondered if you might have time to meet?
’ That was a little white lie, but Fern didn’t want it to appear they were only coming to London to see him.
There was a pause. ‘Oh? What do you think may be of interest?’
She glanced at Daniel, then replied, ‘We found an old vinyl and believe it might be one of Nathaniel Loring’s earliest recordings. Maybe his first. We thought you would know.’
Alistair was quiet for so long Fern thought the call might’ve dropped.
Then finally, he said, ‘That’s quite a find.’
‘It’s probably nothing,’ Fern said quickly. ‘But we thought, since you’re Loring’s agent, you might be able to help us verify it.’
She left out the part about the record being valued at seventy-five thousand pounds, and the fact that they’d discovered the music box and the manuscript inside it.
She figured those were details best kept in her pocket for now.
She just needed a foot in the door to try to get a face-to-face conversation with him.
Alistair cleared his throat. ‘Yes. Yes, of course. When were you thinking?’
‘Thursday, late morning?’
‘I have a meeting until noon, but I can make myself free at one-thirty. Bring the record. I’d be very curious to see it.’
‘I thought you might.’
Fern ended the call before he could say anything else. ‘We’re in.’
‘This is going to be interesting.’
‘Isn’t it just.’
‘We do have to think about this carefully. We can’t just accuse someone of stealing a song when it might not actually be the case.’
‘I agree with you, but we can gauge his reaction if we get a chance to bring it up. It’s no coincidence he asked about the music box when he visited the shop. He knew where that manuscript was hidden.’
After they finished their ice cream, they walked back through the village hand in hand.
When they reached the shop, Daniel dropped her hand and pointed towards the door. It was ajar.
‘I thought we’d locked it.’
‘We did.’
Slowly, Daniel kicked it open. They both froze.
‘We’ve been burgled,’ Fern exclaimed.
The shop was a disaster. Drawers open. Books thrown to the floor. The glass cabinet by the till had been smashed, shards glinting like ice.
Fern walked towards the desk. ‘This is unbelievable, it’s the middle of the day. Who would do this? Someone must have seen something.’
‘Someone was looking for that music box.’
‘Don’t be daft,’ she said, but when she looked to the desk where she had left it, she couldn’t see it. She checked the floor and all around. ‘It’s gone.’
‘They knew exactly what they were looking for. We need to check the safe.’
Fern’s heart pounded. ‘Surely they couldn’t get into the safe.’
Daniel sprinted to it, Fern close behind, but the safe door was thankfully still locked, untouched.
‘Thank God they didn’t find the manuscript or take the vinyl,’ Daniel exclaimed.
‘Just look at this place.’ Fern sat down on the chair. ‘Do you think it was Alistair and Nathaniel?’ she asked.
Daniel looked at her. ‘I can’t see people of that stature organising petty crime.’
‘It depends how high the stakes are. Someone’s playing a very dangerous game.’
‘We’d better call the police before we tidy up.’