Just Desserts (4 page)

‘Drat,' said Leo. ‘I've left my map in the glove compartment. Could you do me a favour and fetch it, Penny? Not being a local like you, it's easier if Mr Fell points out the places he's telling me about.'

She looked at him, startled. How had he known what she was thinking? But he hadn't, of course. He'd noticed Rachel hurry past the window too and was simply using Penny as an extra pair of eyes and ears, trusting her to use them without him spelling it for her.

She slipped out into the yard – and heard Rachel's voice coming from the dairy. She was evidently talking into a mobile phone.

 ‘Listen, Tom, you'll have to come over …'

Tom?
Penny's blood turned to ice. It was one thing to suspect her son-in-law of dalliance, quite another to hear confirmation with her own ears. Rachel's voice sounded again, edging towards frustration.

‘How can I? I can't get out until it's time to do the school run.'

She was obviously busy in the dairy, her voice came and went, interspersed with the opening and shutting of fridge doors, bursts of mixers, and running of taps.

‘Yes, well it's been a shock to me too! Neither of us expected this, did we? I can't believe it's happened so fast. It's got to the stage where I just can't – Oh Tom, it would be so much easier if we could tell everyone.' There was a long pause and then her voice again, sounding defeated. ‘OK, we'll leave it until after Friday. I'll manage until then. Somehow. One thing's for sure – we can't stop now. We're in too deep.'

Penny's feet seemed to be rooted to the concrete strip by the outer door. She realised Rachel's voice had stopped. She pelted for the car, grabbing the map and getting back indoors before the young woman was any the wiser.

She hardly heard any of Leo's conversation with Grandad Fell. She couldn't believe it was true. Rachel Fell was involved with Penny's son-in-law. She felt numb. How on earth was she to deal with this? As soon as they got clear of the farm, she stopped the car by the side of the road and poured it all out to Leo.

He was silent for a moment. ‘Do you know,' he said, ‘I just don't buy it.' He looked at her, his eyes honestly puzzled. ‘In my line of work I've seen a lot of marital breakdowns, I've known a number of cheating men – and Tom doesn't seem one of them. Tell me again what you heard Rachel say?'

Penny repeated it. ‘She used his name twice, Leo. And she agreed to hang on until after Friday. That's Lucinda's birthday. They've got to be having an affair.'

He shook his head. ‘He's a better actor than I took him for.'

‘It makes it even more important for us to go to the Dun Cow. It won't take long, just in and out. I was going to get little tubs of their ice cream to put in my freezer for Lucinda's birthday anyway. Now they might give her a bit of comfort as her marriage falls apart.'

The Dun Cow's car park was packed. Penny stared in amazement. ‘I've never seen it like this before. Never ever. What's happening?'

Even more astonishingly, when they got inside, the restaurant was full! Had the whole of Salthaven had a taste bypass?

‘That's fine,' said Penny when the barman told them with morose pleasure that it would be a half-hour wait for a table. ‘We don't want to eat here. Once was enough. I'd just like to buy some ice cream tubs to take away, please.'

‘Can't,' said the barman. ‘Not unless you're customers.'

 ‘Then I'd like an orange juice and five tubs of ice cream,' said Penny with gritted teeth.

‘We've run out.'

Leo put a calming hand on her shoulder. ‘Do
they
know that?' he asked, jerking his head at the restaurant full of people.

‘Not yet,' said the barman. ‘Oh, you going? We're expecting a delivery.'

‘Somebody else must sell it,' fumed Penny as they squeezed past parked cars to get to hers. ‘Weren't you going to investigate?'

‘Yes, but I've been working on the plane crash … Oh, I see!' Leo suddenly burst out laughing.

Penny was incensed. ‘What's so funny? My daughter's marriage is about to go into meltdown and you're creasing up! I realise your people skills are shaky, Leo, but that's really not the most diplomatic of moves when you are depending on me for a lift home.'

Leo wiped his eyes. ‘But it
is
funny. I've realised what's happened. Penny, I've worked in the provinces and on Fleet Street. I've reported everything from weddings to banking scandals. But I can honestly say that this is the first time I've seen with my own eyes the power of my words.'

Penny stared at him. ‘What are you talking about?' Then she noticed the newspaper on the back seat of the car next to hers. Of course! The
Salthaven Messenger
was out today. ‘Your restaurant review of the Dun Cow is in? What on earth did you say?'

Leo was still chuckling. ‘That the service was dreadful and the food was dire. And because my companion didn't want them to wreak havoc on sticky toffee pudding, she'd opted for ice cream which confounded our expectations by being out-of-this-world stupendous.'

Penny huffed. ‘Well, I wish you'd told me. I'd have bought Lucinda's tubs yesterday.'

‘See if you can find that ice-cream questionnaire,' said Leo as Penny dropped him off at the
Messenger.
‘I think I remember you putting it in your handbag.' He hurried up the stairs in defiance of his limp, partly because he'd been sitting all morning and needed to use some energy, and partly because he didn't have time for physio and was of the opinion – in direct contradiction of everyone's advice – that if he used his leg as normal, it would eventually
be
normal all by itself.

In the office he leafed through his post while listening to the recording he'd made of Grandad Fell at the farm.

An envelope was flicked across the room to land on his desk. ‘This week's assignment. Never say I don't do anything for you.'

Leo looked up. Harry, his editor, was leaning against the doorframe.

Leo opened the envelope and grinned. ‘Excellent! A dinner voucher for the Castle Inn so my ‘discerning companion' can try their version of a sticky toffee pudding. Nice one. That was quick off the mark of them. Usual thing? Present it at the end of the meal so they don't know it's me?'

‘I reckon.' Harry was listening to the recording. ‘What's this?'

‘The test-pilot story for the ‘Sons of Salthaven' series. I'm trying to track down the crash site. This old boy knew the original eye-witness.'

Harry made an indeterminate grunt. ‘And you're also still digging about Lowdale Screw Fittings, I see.'

Leo met his editor's eyes, feeling resolution tense in his gut and snap into place all the way up his spine. He'd worked with the Harrys of this world before: older, world-weary, children and grandchildren to support, not looking to rock the boat. ‘Hey,' he said lightly, ‘I just want to do a spotlight on local industry to show it's not all farming and fishing.'

Harry's expression said he wasn't fooled. ‘If you can find me a farm that's making a profit without relying on the bed and breakfast trade you're doing well, son.'

Leo gestured towards the recorder. ‘This one manages. Seriously, Harry, no one's told me I
shouldn't
pursue the other matter. Don't the public have a right to know?'

Harry gave another sardonic grunt. ‘You're the hot-shot reporter. Far be it from me to dissuade a man on the scent of a story.' He straightened up, ready to leave.

Leo eyed him. ‘You're not going to drop me any hints at all, are you?'

‘That would suggest I knew something, wouldn't it? Think about it, lad.'

Penny frowned at the dozen or so handbags in the bottom of her wardrobe. Which one had she taken to the pub last week? After a couple of searches producing a library book she thought she'd returned and a very welcome ten-pound-note, Penny found the missing questionnaire. She smoothed it out, disturbed again by the sense of familiarity. She shook her head, unable to pin it down, and instead scrutinised the form for a company name that she could search for on the internet.

There wasn't one. Not a name, address, email address, or even a phone number. Not even the name of the product. Just a polite request to fill in the boxes and return the answers to the place where she'd bought the ice cream. She'd have to go back to the wretched Dun Cow after all.

‘Mother – your recipe for Dundee cake, can I borrow it?'

How do you borrow a recipe, wondered Penny? ‘Of course you can. I'll copy it out for you. But if you wait until after next week, you can bid for what's left of the one I've made for the Salthaven Show. You might as well – it all goes towards books for the library this year, doesn't it?'

Lucinda's lips tightened with chagrin. ‘I was going to make Dundee cake for the show myself, but there's no point if you're doing it.'

Goodness, thought Penny, that was almost a compliment. ‘Really, Lucinda. If everyone thought like that no one would enter at all and the show would fold. It's getting thin enough as it is.'

‘Oh, I probably wouldn't have time anyway. What can I make that's quick?'

‘Scones? You make nice scones. Much lighter than mine.' And now Penny would have to make some too, just so Lucinda could beat her. As if she didn't have enough to do.

‘They're not very flamboyant, though, are they?' Lucinda paced her clean, tidy kitchen with cloth and spray, on the lookout for a stray crumb to swoop on and whisk into the bin. She flicked through the show schedule pinned to the corkboard on the wall. ‘I know! Tom bought some cheese from Fellrigg Dairies. I could make cheese scones first thing that morning and enter them in the ‘Local Ingredients' class while they're still fresh.'

Penny felt her heart lurch. ‘Good idea. Where did you say he got this cheese from?'

There was a hiss as a suspect germ was sprayed out of existence. ‘Fellrigg Dairies. You remember Rachel Davies from school who married Billy Fell? They were making nothing on their milk, so she's branching out into other dairy produce. Tom's company was involved in the testing for their certificate. It's very good. I'll give you a taste.' Lucinda's voice turned censorious. ‘You ought to buy local and shop there too, Mother. Better than encouraging all those food miles that the supermarket racks up. Besides, it's quite cheap doing it direct on the internet.'

Well, that explained how Tom had met Rachel, thought Penny grimly, as she drove home and turned on her computer to look up Fellrigg Dairies. But really, the cheek of him bringing
her
cheese home to
his
wife!

Penny rang Lucinda early on Friday morning to wish her a happy birthday. To her alarm, Lucinda sounded odd . ‘Are you all right, darling?' she asked uneasily.

‘Yes, I …' Her daughter's voice trailed off. ‘Could you take Bobby to nursery for me, do you think?'

Penny scrambled out of bed, nearly spilling her tea. What on earth could be wrong? ‘Of course I can. I'll be there at twenty to nine. Or do you want me earlier?'

‘No,' said Lucinda in that strange, detached voice. ‘Twenty to nine is fine.'

In full alarm mode, Penny hung up the phone and sprang into action. She leapt in and out of the shower, bolted down her toast and tea, thrust wine and chocolate into one bag and hung the freezer bag off the door handle so she wouldn't forget to pack the ice cream. With a ribbon of worry on replay in her head, she rejected her jeans and fleece for a pair of smart trousers and a nice coat that wouldn't disgrace Lucinda with the nursery mafia. Then she picked up the phone and stopped, her hand suspended half way through the number.

What was she
doing
? A crisis in her daughter's marriage and she was ringing Leo for reassurance instead of phoning her ex-husband. Was she really about to share her troubles with a puzzle-solving colleague, rather than Lucinda's father?

Oh, get
on
with it, she snapped to herself. Time enough later to think the implications through.

At twenty to nine precisely, Penny rang her daughter's bell. Lucinda opened the door, still in her nightdress and dressing gown and with a dreamy look on her face. Penny's eyes widened. ‘Darling, you're not well! Why didn't you say? What's the matter with you?'

‘Mother, I'm fine. Bobby's all ready. He's got his packed lunch, so if you could pick him up at two …'

‘Yes, of course,' said Penny, following her through to the kitchen. ‘Oh, dear, on your birthday too. Shall I come back and –' She stopped in shock. ‘Tom! What are you doing home? Are you ill too?' Good heavens, the world was falling apart! Tom not at work on a Friday. Neither of them dressed. The kitchen table covered in … covered in …

Oh no. Oh my. Oh lord.

Penny sat down on an unoccupied chair, everything falling into place. Oh dear, what a complete and utter
fool
she'd been.

‘Tom's given me the most marvellous present,' said Lucinda, waving a hand at the table. ‘Look, ice cream! Especially for me. He developed it with Fellrigg Dairies – using the very best natural ingredients – and they're going to market it and we get ten percent of everything sold. Mother, you simply
have
to taste it.'

Penny stared at the five enormous tubs of ice cream on the table. ‘I think I already have,' she said faintly. It was all coming back to her now. No wonder she'd recognised the questionnaire. It was exactly the same font and layout as the pregnancy timetable Tom had designed for his wife when she was expecting Bobby. She looked accusingly at her son-in-law, but he had his chin propped on his hands with eyes only for Lucinda, gazing at her as if she was the most splendid creature in the world.

Penny fumbled for a tissue and blew her nose hard. ‘Tell you what, I'll take Bobby out after nursery and give him his tea today, shall I? It'll save you cooking. I'll bring him back about five. Here, have this wine and chocolate as an extra present and, um, enjoy your birthday.'