Faraday 01 The Gigabyte Detective Page 8

  “This was probably the quarry where they had dug out the walling stone,” he said. “The dressed masonry for the quoins and windows was probably brought from some distance away but they would have used local stone for the infill.”

  As they walked back to the castle entrance a man suddenly appeared from the little building near the gatehouse which they discovered acted as both the cafe and shop for memorabilia. He was wearing a lapel badge.

  “I’m the local guardian,” he informed them. “I have a concession on the site from English Heritage.”

  He charged them two pounds fifty each and apologised for the fact that he was still waiting for the reprinted edition of the guide book. “However, since it’s quiet today, I’ll give you the guided tour myself - that is until someone else turns up.”

  “That’s all right,” said Richard. “I’ve been to the place before so I know quite a bit about it.”

  Susannah took his arm. “I know nothing about the place, Richard. I’d like a guided tour.”

  He gave way with slightly bad grace and was rather quiet as the man took them round, explaining each part of the building to them and giving a good picture of what life was like at the time when the castle was the centre of life in South Devon. She found it all very interesting.

  When they got back to the cafe they discovered that the man’s wife had started to prepare for lunch. Another couple of cars turned up and the guardian found himself becoming busy.

  Susannah and Richard sat down to enjoy a snack lunch on the veranda, looking at the golden castle drowsing in the midday sun.

  “Do you like the place?” he asked.

  “Yes I do. I can’t understand why I’ve been so stupid and never driven the few miles to come here. I must drag some of my friends out here for a visit. After our guided tour I’ll be able to tell them all about it.”

  He looked at her. “Did you like listening to the bloke?”

  “Didn’t you?” she asked. “I thought all that information about life here in the past was very interesting.”

  “The bloke certainly had a good imagination. Personally, I’d have preferred us to be on our own to absorb the atmosphere of the place.”

  She looked at him. He almost sounded grumpy. And up to now he’d been such a charming companion. She decided that perhaps she had better make him feel that he was the centre of things.

  “Thank you so much for bringing me.” She reached out and touched his hand briefly. “Where are we going to go next?”

  He brightened. “I was thinking of driving on down the coast beyond Dartmouth. The views are very special. Are you game for that?”

  “That sounds lovely.”

  She thought his enthusiasm made him seem so young. It was a long time since she had been in the company of someone who was so full of life. Just being with him made her feel as though she’d recovered some of her lost youth.

  They walked back to the car in the shady quarry. Another car turned up as they reached the secret hollow.

  “The place will soon be as busy as Piccadilly Circus,” he joked. But his voice had very little humour in it.

  * * * * * * * *

  It was late morning when the police officers returned to the station. Charlotte’s desk was ready for her with a couple of comfortable chairs waiting. She took the trouble to go into the general office to thank Constable Prendergast.

  She asked Paulson, “Can I have Constable Howell for half an hour to help me with putting information on to the hard drive?”

  He raised no objection. It took them ten minutes to set up the computer and Charlotte explained to the DC what the purpose was of each item of peripheral equipment. She was anxious to get the girl interested in what she was doing. Then Howell spent the next quarter hour scanning the photocopies provided by Mr Brace on to the computer while she checked the transmission of her meeting with the journalist.

  After twenty-five minutes she released Constable Howell to her other duties and settled down to transfer the main data from the department’s computers onto her stack of hard drives. She had several hours intense work ahead of her.

  * * * * * * * *

  Susannah wound down her windows again as they set off through the cool woods on their trip down the coast. Richard had recovered his good humour and the trip was very enjoyable. Their route skirted Totnes and followed back roads to Dartmouth. From there they took the coast road. It was a long time since Susannah had come this way and she had forgotten what a lovely road it was, twisting and turning round headlands with wide views across the channel, dropping down into shady coves with sandy beaches and climbing to pass through cliff-top villages where the houses seemed to have turned their backs on the road to gaze at the panorama to the south-east. They drove along the top of Slapton beach between the sea and reed-fringed lake. Then, when the main road turned inland, they dived into the web of narrow lanes leading to the end of the land. They finished up parking behind a small cliff-top hotel which looked across the bay to Start Point.

  Richard helped her out of the car. “Now we’re going to visit a deserted, half-ruined village at the foot of the cliffs which was largely washed away in a dreadful storm about eighty years ago.”

  “I know nothing about this place.” In fact Susannah had been surprised several times today by how little she knew about the area she lived in.

  Richard grinned. “To be fair, not very many people know about this disaster and a lot of those who do know about it have never visited what’s left of the village.”

  They had reached a gateway where a sign warned them that the place was hazardous and that nobody should go near the cliff edge. Richard held her hand as they descended a flight of steps which led them on to the remains of the old village main street.

  Susannah peered into one of the roofless cottages. “I’m not sure I like this place,” she said. “I think it’s rather creepy.”

  “Hang on to me,” said Richard. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  She took his hand gratefully.

  “Come over here,” he said and led her to where the roadway had collapsed and what seemed to her to be a totally inadequate fence had been erected along the edge. “Look down there.”

  She looked down and suddenly clung to Richard. “Don’t let me go,” she cried.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “I hate looking down there.”

  Although it was a calm day there were still waves breaking against the foot of the gravelly cliff twenty feet below. The road seemed to overhang a vertical drop. She couldn’t help imagining what it would have been like to be living in one of the cottages when the sea had undermined them and sucked them down beneath the waves.

  “There’s nothing to worry about.” Richard leaned over the edge and looked down. Susannah suddenly had a horrible feeling that he was about to jump off and drag her with him.

  “Don’t do that!”

  He grinned wickedly. “Now you’re completely in my power. I can do whatever I want with you. So watch out.”

  Susannah’s blood ran cold. Did he mean it? What should she say?

  “Are you two all right?”

  She swung round. A young couple had emerged from a cottage further down the street. It was the man who had called to them. “I say. You shouldn’t go too close to the edge. It can suddenly break away.”

  “Yes. Please come away, Richard.” She dragged him back from the edge.

  “Isn’t this a strange place?” said the young man.

  “I think it’s scary,” his girl-friend agreed. “I’m not going to stay here any longer, Daniel. I feel as though the whole place could collapse into the sea any minute.”

  “I agree with you,” said Susannah. She slipped her hand out of Richard’s grasp and accompanied the girl to the foot of the steps. Looking behind her, she saw the men were trailing after them. The young Daniel was talking volubly but Richard didn’t seem to be listening to him.

  At the top of the steps they said goodbye to t
he young couple and returned to the car. Richard was quiet as he drove on through the lanes, Susannah sensed that he was somehow displeased with her, but she said nothing. She just sat back and waited to see where they were going.

  After about half an hour she glimpsed water through the trees and the next minute they turned into a car park..

  “This place is called East Portlemouth,” he said. “It’s just across the estuary from Salcombe. It’s one of my favourite beaches. I thought you might like to stretch out on the beach.”

  “What a lovely idea.”

  The tide was out and for the next hour they explored the rock pools and got sand in their shoes. Susannah tried to remember when she had last done things like this. It must have been when she was a child. She remembered the excitement of visits to the seaside for a midlands city girl. She was amused to find that she felt almost the same now.

  After a while Richard went back to the car and collected a travelling rug which he spread on the sand. They stretched out on it and let the evening sun warm their bodies.

  Susannah wondered whether he was going to make some kind of physical contact. She wasn’t sure what her reaction would be. She thought she would be able to control any advances that he made, because there were other people on the beach and she was certain he wouldn’t try to force himself on her. So she was almost disappointed when he lay a couple of feet away from her and made no attempt to touch her. He was on his back and gazing up at the trees which overhung the beach from the low sandy cliffs.

  “I like the pattern of the leaves against the sky,” he said. “Even on a day with as little wind as this, they are never quite still. I find their movement so peaceful.”

  She agreed, but lay there without speaking and watched the gently swaying trees. After a while she unexpectedly dropped off to sleep.

  * * * * * * * *

  It was well into the evening by the time Charlotte had finished preparing all the data on the computer. Getting everything correctly set out and linked together was the slowest part of job and one on which you couldn’t cut corners. She suspected that was where Herrison’s team hadn’t been prepared to put in the intense work, despite her written instructions which stressed how important it was.

  She spent about an hour with Stafford Paulson querying the couple of hundred anomalies which the programme had thrown up and most of those had been resolved. She now had a dozen or so main lines of enquiry presented to her. She knew that she would reject several of those as impractical when she read through them in detail. She printed them out to take back to her aunt’s as homework.

  The interesting thing was that the extreme logic of the computer programme had nevertheless highlighted a number of the points raised by the journalist, Julian Brace, as needing further investigation. Charlotte knew how important it was to keep an open mind at this early stage, but she admitted to herself that she felt a stirring of anticipation when she cast her eye over them.

  Taking a deep breath, she got to her feet, disconnected the laptop from its docking station, picked up the print-outs and made for the door. Tomorrow was going to be interesting.

  * * * * * * * *

  Susannah awoke with a shiver and looked round. The tide had come in quite a distance and a little chill evening breeze had sprung up. She was alone on the rug. Richard had disappeared.

  She sat up in a panic. The beach was completely empty. The few people who had been here when she lay down had gone. The sun was just plunging into the trees across the estuary. Her body felt cold. There were goose pimples on her arms. She had left her cardigan in the car. Where was that? She got to her feet, feeling abandoned. Where was Richard?

  “Ah, you’re awake.”

  There he was, just coming down the path from the car park and carrying her cardigan.

  “I was just going to wake you up and suggest we started to wend our way home. It’s getting quite late.” He draped the cardigan round her shoulders.

  “My goodness.” She shivered again. “What on earth is the time?”

  He looked at his watch. “Nearly seven o’clock. You’ve been asleep for the best part of two hours.” He smiled at her expression. “Don’t look so worried. You haven’t got to be in before dark or anything like that, have you?”

  “No, of course not.” She took a breath. “But I didn’t intend to fall asleep.” After all, she thought to herself, he might have done anything now they were here all on their own.

  “You’re looking a rather chilly.” He reached out and his hand was warm on her flesh. She felt her hair stand on end and there was an ache in her stomach. She gave a sudden violent shiver.

  “Come on. We’d better get moving.” He bent down, picked up the rug and shook the sand from it. “Here, wrap this round you until we get back to the car.” For a second he held her against his firm, warm chest as he draped the rug over her shoulders and she ached for him to put his arms round her. But he bent down and she rested her hand on his back while he helped her into her unsuitable shoes.

  He gave her a hand and helped her as they scrambled up the beach to the car park. She couldn’t remember when she had last been cosseted like this. She and Stephen were never in a situation where he felt the need to help her physically. She decided it was a nice sensation.

  “You’ll soon warm up in the car,” said Richard. “I’ll put the heating on and we’ll quickly build up a fug.”

  She nodded. “I don’t know why I didn’t have the sense to put my cardigan on before we lay down.”

  “I don’t think either of us expected to fall asleep.” He laughed. “It’s obviously tiring stuff - this touring.”

  “But very enjoyable. Thank you very much, Richard. I have enjoyed today.”

  He lifted his head. “I hope it’s not over yet. I know a nice little pub where the landlord has one of those artificial log fires heated by gas. Will you let me take you there for a meal and a warm-up?”

  “All right - why not?”

  Nothing more needed to be said between them. Only Susannah knew that she didn’t want this day to come to an end.

  * * * * * * * *

  They sat close together at a table in an alcove by the fire. Susannah couldn’t remember afterwards what they ate. But she did remember the way they talked all the time about nothing important, heads leaning towards each other. She thought on one occasion that they must have appeared like lovers to any casual observer, and she realised she didn’t mind what anyone thought.

  After the meal they drove back in the gathering darkness. At Dartmouth they went down to the castle beside the mouth of the river. They got out of the car and walked to the wall looking over the sea. The tide was nearly full and the last of the boats were chugging back into the harbour. Susannah was thoroughly warm again now. She had her cardigan about her shoulders and it was a balmy evening. There was no sign of a breeze in this sheltered corner. She was aware of Richard, still in his shirt-sleeves, standing close beside her.

  “What a superb evening,” he murmured.

  She looked at him. “It’s been a lovely day. Do you know, I don’t think I’ve ever had a day like this before in my life.”

  “Don’t you and Stephen ever do anything together?”

  “Not like this.” She said slowly, “I don’t think he’d be comfortable driving round narrow lanes or lying on a rug on the beach. I can see him perhaps having a meal in a pub. But he’s never actually taken me to one.” She paused. “I suppose we don’t have that sort of marriage.”

  “Is it an unhappy marriage?” he asked suddenly.

  “Oh, no.” She shook her head strongly. “I think that really we’re quite happy in our way. I am sure Stephen thinks we are. It’s just that we’re hardly ever together. Looked at from my point of view, I am given everything I want, except the company of my husband. And, as I said yesterday, I am not sure that I could cope with that now anyway.” There was a faint smile about her beautiful features as she said, “Oh, no. I know what unhappiness is from my first marriage
.”

  “That was different?”

  “Oh, yes.” Her mind went back over the years. “It was all right to start with, of course. We were both struggling young actors. We had nothing but each other and, after a few years, our two children. We lived in a council flat. But we were happy in those days.” Susannah looked out to sea again, watching the lights of the boats. “Then I became a success. I can see now that it was my success that destroyed it all.”

  “Your success?”

  She nodded. “Barnaby couldn’t cope with that. In the early days we were in repertory together. Then I started to pick up studio work. After a while things improved and I started to get well-paid, top roles. I was soon bringing in enough to keep us all in comfort and to let us move to a decent house. But Barnaby felt that he should be the one who was the bread-winner. He couldn’t accept that I was forced to go out to work, while he stayed at home and did the house-work. I had to get a woman in to do that.”

  “Sounds all right to me,” grinned Richard. “I could cope with being a kept man.”

  “That was only the start of it. Soon he began drinking. I mean, Barnaby had always liked a drink. But gradually he got to the point where he couldn’t be awake without a glass in his hand.” Her laugh was mirthless. “I began to realise that I was financing his drinking. At the same time I was watching him fall apart. But I had to keep working to give the children a decent standard of living.”

  She paused for a minute, then continued, “The trouble was that he used to become violent when he was drunk - only with me - never with the children. And it was never serious, gratuitous violence. But one day he gave me a bruise on my cheek-bone - here.” Susannah indicated with her finger. “It blacked my eye for a couple of days. The studio made a big fuss about it because it disrupted shooting. They insisted that something was done about him. Barnaby had to agree to go to a clinic and be dried out.” She shook her head. “But within three months he was as bad as he had been before. He began to sink fast after that. It’s dreadful to watch someone you once loved gradually falling apart like that. The children were beginning to get older, and they started to realise there was something wrong with him.” She paused.