Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
The rain hammered against the windows so loudly it sounded like someone was shaking a bucketful of pebbles at the glass. Classic St Swithin’s Day weather, Pippa thought. Puffin Island clearly liked to take traditions seriously.
She flipped the bacon in the pan while Theo stood beside her buttering toast, the two of them dancing around each other in the small kitchen of Clockmaker’s Cottage like they’d been doing it for decades.
The cottage felt different now: lighter, warmer, lived-in.
The beams were polished, the floorboards revarnished, and the once damp corners now housed cheerful plants or baskets of blankets.
All fifty of the clocks had been removed by Horace Vale, who was now disgraced in the horology world.
The frame on the wall caught her eye, the newspaper article mounted behind the glass staring back at her. She couldn’t help but glance at it.
SHOCK REVELATIONS IN DECADES-OLD VALE brOTHERS SCANDAL
Wrongfully accused right-hand man finally cleared after more than sixty years
Puffin Island was shaken this week after new evidence emerged overturning one of the most infamous chapters in local history: the collapse of the Vale Brothers’ clockmaking company and the 1965 accusation against apprentice Andrew Wetherby.
Wetherby, who died in 1998, had long been believed to have stolen what has now been revealed as a confidential government commission – a highly valuable prototype watch designed for MI5 as part of an intelligence project during the height of the Cold War.
At the time, the scandal made national news and effectively ended the prestigious partnership between brothers Walter and Horace Vale, whose handcrafted timepieces were regarded as the finest in the country.
a watch that never should have vanished
For decades, the stolen commission was presumed lost forever. But a recent discovery on Puffin Island, combined with a newly uncovered audio recording, has dramatically rewritten the story.
The recording, preserved by an internal magnetic mechanism, captures an intimate conversation between Arthur Blake, a senior designer in the Vale workshop, and Agatha Vale, wife of co-founder Walter Vale.
The pair were involved in an affair and discussed taking the commission for themselves, hiding it during heavy storms on Puffin Island, and allowing suspicion to fall on Wetherby.
In the recording, Blake outlines a plan to use the proceeds and disappear with Agatha, while Agatha expresses fear that Wetherby’s growing skill and confidence could threaten the brothers’ reputation.
Police sources have confirmed that the recording is authentic.
a second man implicated
While the tape reveals that Blake removed the watch from the workshop, the investigation also found that Horace Vale took credit for several of Wetherby’s designs, contributing to the strained environment that made the false accusation plausible.
However, police say there is no evidence that Horace was aware of the affair or the plot surrounding the commission.
Police confirmed that both Horace Vale and Arthur Blake were interviewed earlier this week.
Blake admitted that during the 1965 police search, he panicked and slipped the watch into the pocket of a stranger’s coat in a café on Puffin Island to avoid being caught with it, effectively losing control of the scheme entirely.
The watch then unknowingly left the island and remained untraced for decades.
historic wrong finally set right
A spokesperson for local police stated:
‘New material evidence has conclusively disproved the long-standing allegation against Andrew Wetherby. We recognise the profound impact this wrongful accusation had on him and on generations of his family.’
Relatives of Andrew Wetherby have expressed relief that his name will finally be cleared.
a scandal rewritten
For decades, the fall of the Vale Brothers has been the subject of speculation among horologists and historians. This new evidence not only rewrites the story of the firm’s collapse, but also restores the reputation of a young designer whose career and family were devastated by a lie.
The MI5 commission, once believed lost forever, has now been secured by investigators and will undergo forensic examination.
Puffin Island residents, many still familiar with the legacy of the Vale Brothers, have reacted with a mixture of shock, sadness, and relief.
While the truth has been slow to emerge, the reopening of the case brings long overdue justice for a man whose reputation was destroyed by secrets that have remained hidden for nearly six decades.
The full truth has finally come to light.
Theo noticed her looking at it and shook his head with a half-smile. ‘I still can’t believe that was a whole year ago.’ He put the butter knife down, slid his arms around her waist, and kissed her neck.
Pippa looked over her shoulder and nudged him with her hip. ‘I know. One year ago today I was standing in a wedding dress in a church doorway, deciding whether to walk down the aisle or run like the wind.’
‘Luckily for me, you ran,’ Theo said, tapping her nose.
She laughed. ‘Entered a competition, jumped on a train. Won a cottage stay. Wandered in drenched to my skin and found you half-naked coming out of the shower.’ She grinned. ‘It’s definitely one to tell the kids.’
Theo paused, and his expression softened in that way she’d come to adore. ‘It really is.’
They both rested their hands on her stomach. The bump was still small, but just enough to make her trousers tight. Four tiny, miraculous months.
‘Can you believe it?’ She grinned. ‘One year ago, I was about to marry the wrong man. Now I’m standing in our kitchen, pregnant, cooking breakfast with you in a cottage that was once the centre of one of the biggest scandals in clockmaking history.’
‘And is now ours.’
He kissed her cheek, then reached for the frying pan. The rain intensified outside, slanting against the old window like someone had turned up the volume.
‘You should have been travelling the world by now,’ she teased, passing him a plate.
‘The less said about that, the better.’
After the scandal broke and the recording was released, Theo’s contract was withdrawn before he had the chance to sign it.
He was dropped immediately. Public image, they said.
Not ideal working with someone connected to deception in the industry, even indirectly.
It had stung at the time, but Theo later admitted to Pippa that he secretly felt relieved. He wanted to stay with her.
‘Your life changed too,’ he said, nodding towards the framed article again. ‘Your offer on The Clock House got accepted just as the police turned up at the cottage to talk to Arthur and Horace.’
Pippa could still remember that call, the warmth that flooded her chest, the realisation that she had a future here. ‘And I haven’t left Puffin Island since,’ she said softly. ‘Not even for a night.’
‘No chance of that now,’ Theo said, giving her stomach a gentle tap. ‘You’re officially rooted.’
She rolled her eyes, laughing. ‘You make me sound like a tree.’
‘A beautiful tree,’ he said, leaning in for another kiss.
They finished plating up breakfast and carried their dishes into the living room, where the newly renovated space felt warm and cosy despite the storm outside.
The sofa was piled with patchwork cushions, colourful bunting hung across the ceiling, and pastel-pink striped curtains finished the room off perfectly.
Theo sat down on the sofa and Pippa sat next to him, their plates balanced on trays on their laps.
‘Do you want a girl or a boy?’ Pippa asked, stealing one of Theo’s hash browns.
He considered it. ‘I genuinely don’t mind. But if we have a girl, I think she’ll run rings around me.’
‘She will,’ Pippa agreed. ‘You’ll love it.’
Theo rested a hand on her stomach. ‘What about you?’
‘I don’t mind, as long as they’re interested in clocks and one day take over our empire.’
Theo grinned. ‘Wouldn’t that be the dream.’
‘Oh, it absolutely would,’ she said with a smile.
‘I often think how strange it was how everything happened. If you hadn’t run away, if you hadn’t entered that competition, if you hadn’t walked into the cottage at the exact moment you did—’
‘You must have nearly had a heart attack when you saw me standing there in a wedding dress.’
Theo grinned. ‘I did, and now look at us – a beautiful cottage, a business, and our first baby on the way.’
‘First?’ she questioned.
‘Oh yes, I want a football team.’
They ate in comfortable silence for a moment, listening to the steady drum of rain against the windowpanes.
The truth about Agatha and Arthur had shaken the island and the rest of the clockmaking world, but it had brought closure as well.
Horace had declared that Andrew was the genius behind most of the designs, and donated money to charities chosen by the Wetherby family.
He’d also met with Sebastian who had been kinder than expected.
Arthur had also faced the consequences. Theo had made it clear that the way Arthur had conducted himself – letting an innocent man suffer – was something he could never overlook.
He no longer put his grandfather on a pedestal; if anything, the affair had shown him how easily money and ambition could twist people.
Arthur insisted he’d been in love with Agatha, said the whole thing had broken his heart, but that didn’t excuse what he’d done, and even though Theo still saw him and kept up some form of relationship, it would never be the same again.
Theo had been embraced by the island far more than he was by the clockmaking world after the scandal came to light.
‘I’m glad we stayed,’ he said simply. ‘People here didn’t judge me for what my grandfather did. They treated me like myself. That meant everything.’
‘This community is like no other.’