Chapter 30
I never thought I’d love again. Lose myself in a cloud of pleasure, feeling sated and whole. Tangled in the sheets, I lie in Will’s arms as he presses his body against mine. His heartbeat, his breathing, his warmth – and the skilful touch of a surgeon’s hands – have left me breathless.
‘Do you ever think about all the things these walls have seen?’ he says. ‘Births, deaths, arguments, lovemaking. And we’re part of the story now.’
‘Yes,’ I say, snuggling closer. ‘But will our story have a happy ending?’
‘I’m not big on endings,’ he says. ‘I’d like to focus on a new beginning – for both of us.’
I smile and roll over, kissing him again.
We add even more of our dreams and desires to the inn’s history, and afterwards, we sleep for a while.
I dream of the people who have come before.
Pirates, lovers, murderers, ordinary men and women.
And when I finally open my eyes, the dream flits away, but I remember something else.
Will stirs as I get out of bed. ‘Where are you going?’ he says. ‘And will you come back?’
‘I’m staying right here,’ I assure him. ‘But I found something this morning, just before Elspeth came.’ I pick up the hoodie I was wearing earlier, and take from the pocket the rolled-up piece of paper.
‘What’s that?’ Will says.
‘I’m not sure. But it was inside the ship in a bottle. The miniature Halcyon.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes,’ I say. ‘It was part of the Bess tableau in the cave. Victoria or Elspeth – or someone even earlier – incorporated it into the pirate exhibition. And thanks to Ollie’s bullet that shattered the glass, I found it inside.’
‘So what is it?’
‘Let’s see.’
Gingerly, I unroll the paper. It’s foxed and brittle and obviously very old. The sepia ink is faded and the handwriting small, but as I decipher the text, my excitement grows.
‘It’s a letter to Maggie,’ I say. ‘And I think,’ I turn the letter over and read the signature, ‘that it’s from Bess.’
‘Really?’ Will props up on an elbow. ‘When was it written?’
‘It’s dated… 1822.’ I look up at him, frowning. ‘But that doesn’t make sense. Because Bess was killed in January 1821.’
I hand him the paper and point to the date.
Looking at it closely, he nods. ‘Well, either her ghost has good penmanship, or else…’
‘She wasn’t dead,’ I finish for him.
I walk to the window and stare out at the panorama of sea and sky, trying to process what I’ve learned.
Bess didn’t die. Like a pebble dropped in deep water, the knowledge ripples inside my head.
‘It… explains everything,’ I say. ‘Old John Dog didn’t kill Bess.
He was part of the deception. He convinced her husband that she was dead, then went downstairs and bought a round of drinks at the bar, and that’s when the Halcyon was spotted.
But she was empty of cargo and crew because James had commandeered a second ship for their escape. ’
‘And Maggie helped Bess down through the tunnels to the cave,’ Will supplies. ‘And Old John Dog rowed her out to meet her lover. They escaped together to a new life.’
‘Yes,’ I say. ‘The letter proves it. Bess sent her a model ship in a bottle with the letter hidden inside. To let Maggie know they’d reached safety and a new life.’
‘And it explains the painting.’ Will’s face glows with enthusiasm. ‘That unsettling little detail that you pointed out – the boat moving towards the ship, not away from it.’
‘Yes,’ I say. ‘Bess wasn’t coming to the shore to meet her future husband. She was arriving at the ship to escape with her lover.’
‘And the billowing cloak that looks like a bundle in her arms…’
‘Is a baby,’ we say at the same time.