Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
‘That’s why you didn’t have my back.’ Horace’s words cut through the air. ‘You had your own secrets to hide. The only reason you’ve turned up here is because you didn’t want the press discovering this watch and the whole scandal getting out.’
‘You can talk,’ Arthur shot back, visibly shaking.
No one moved. The room was still tense after the revelations of the recording. Pippa suddenly pulled out her phone and pressed her dad’s number. As the phone rang, she pressed speaker and held the phone out in front of her.
Her father answered on the second ring. ‘Pip? Lovely to hear from you. Everything okay?’
‘Dad, sorry, it’s just a quick call,’ she said. ‘I’m looking at the watch you gave me on my wedding day. Are you with grandad?’
‘Yes, he’s having a cup of tea and is on top form.
We are currently talking about his honeymoon.
He’s remembering it did nothing but rain on his honeymoon.
It was St Swithin’s Day and it was living up to its reputation.
They went to the Scottish Highlands but he’s just telling me they visited Puffin Island on the way back. ’
Horace’s head snapped up.
Arthur didn’t look up from the floor.
Pippa took a breath. ‘Dad, can you ask Grandad if he can remember where he got the watch?’
There was a short pause and muffled conversation, then George Bell cleared his throat. ‘I’m going to put your grandfather on speaker, he wants to tell you all about it.’
There was another pause and the next voice everyone heard was Samuel Bell’s.
‘I remember the day very clearly. We visited Puffin Island and it did nothing but rain,’ he continued.
‘Me and Florence, were in a place called The Café on the Coast. They announced the causeway would probably be closed for days, something about the tides being too high and the causeway flooding.’
‘History repeated itself this week,’ shared Pippa, witnessing the tension on Arthur’s face as she dared glance towards him.
‘We decided to head home,’ Samuel went on.
‘And grabbed our coats from where they were hanging on hooks by the door in the café and walked out. That’s when I found it in my pocket.
’ Samuel went quiet. ‘I know I should’ve handed it in.
Or tried to find its owner. But we didn’t have much money and I …
I ran away with myself and told Florence I’d bought it for her, a honeymoon gift.
She loved it, despite the fact it didn’t work.
I know it was wrong and I’ve always felt guilty about it. ’
Theo ran a hand across his jaw.
Pete muttered, ‘Bloody hell,’ under his breath.
On the phone, George added gently, ‘Pip … why are you asking?’
‘Because I think I’ve just found the owner. I’ll ring you back.’
The silence after Pippa ended the call was suffocating. She turned slowly and looked at Theo. She’d expected shock, maybe even anger, but the expression on his face was far worse. Disbelief mixed with disappointment.
Arthur didn’t look up. He stared at the carpet, shoulders hunched, the weight of the last few minutes sitting heavily on him. Horace sat stiffly in his chair, eyes red, fighting to keep himself together.
Theo swallowed hard and finally spoke. ‘Grandfather … did you put the watch in that pocket? And why? Because from that recording, it sounds like you were planning to run off with Agatha.’
Arthur’s breath caught. He faltered. Opened his mouth. Closed it again. He wiped a shaking hand across his face.
Pippa had never seen a grown man crumble so quickly.
Theo’s voice was firm. ‘Just tell the truth.’
Arthur looked up at him properly for the first time. His eyes were wet, his cheeks blotchy. He looked nothing like the confident man who’d walked into the cottage earlier.
‘I’m so sorry,’ he whispered. ‘I … I took the watch from Agatha. I was trying to keep it safe. She’d already told the police it was stolen and…’ He choked on the words. ‘I panicked.’
‘Safe?’ Horace repeated. ‘Safe enough to frame Andrew?’
Arthur wiped his face again, breathing hard, ‘I was in the café when a policeman walked in. He recognised me. He said there’d been a theft at the workshop and, as an employee, he needed to interview me.’
Theo leaned forward, eyes burning.
‘And you had the watch with you?’
Arthur nodded miserably. ‘Yes.’
‘So you slipped it into someone’s coat,’ Theo said quietly, ‘so they wouldn’t find it on you.’
Arthur’s voice trembled. ‘If he’d searched me, I’d have been arrested on the spot. I didn’t know whose coat it was; I just knew I had to get it off me.’
Horace’s voice broke when he spoke. ‘Andrew was innocent. He didn’t deserve that.’
Arthur looked down again. His shoulders shook.
Theo stood abruptly. ‘An innocent man suffered because of both of you,’ he said.
‘Your actions destroyed a family. They had to move away. Change their name. Start again. All because you couldn’t face the consequences.
Grandfather, I don’t even know who you are anymore, and Horace …
you stole his designs. You contributed to all of this. ’
Pippa was thinking about the carving in the workbench in The Clock House. She looked at Horace. ‘Andrew thought it was you; that’s why he carved that message. And you wanted it removed in case it was ever discovered.’
Horace nodded. ‘He came back to the island after he was arrested, but Walter and Agatha refused to listen to him. He must have carved it out of frustration, blaming me.’
Theo pulled out his phone. Pippa noticed his hands shook slightly as he dialled. No one spoke while he waited for the call to connect.
‘Yes,’ Theo said, voice clipped, ‘I need to report a theft. From 1965. And a wrongful accusation.’
Pippa watched him, still trying to take in everything she’d just heard.
It couldn’t have been easy to call the police on his own grandfather, or on the man he’d once aspired to be.
Most people would have avoided it or pretended it wasn’t their problem.
But Theo didn’t. He just … handled it, and she felt a warmth spread through her body.
She couldn’t help admiring him for doing the right thing.
Everyone listened to the conversation. Theo didn’t miss anything – the watch, the letter, the carving on the table. When he hung up, the room was quiet again.
Theo looked at Arthur. ‘There’s one thing I don’t understand,’ Theo said. ‘If you and Agatha were planning to run off together … why didn’t you?’
Arthur’s voice was barely a whisper. ‘Because she thought I’d double-crossed her. She thought I’d kept the watch. She didn’t believe that I’d lost it in my haste not to get caught with it.’
Horace let out a slow breath, leaning back heavily in his chair, his eyes closed.
Pete rubbed his forehead, overwhelmed.
Pippa looked at Theo, who was still staring at his grandfather in disbelief.
As the old saying went: time had a way of catching up with everyone eventually.