Chapter 41
As Abigail approached the drive to her cottage, she was surprised to see another car in her parking space in front of the garage.Did Albert have visitors?She was even more surprised when the car door opened as she pulled up behind it and out stepped Carys. Even more surprising, she offered Abigail a wave, as though she’d just stopped by for a friendly visit.
Abigail pursed her lips. After what had happened at Somerville Hall when they’d discovered she was the heir to Daphne’s cottage, this was the last thing she’d expected. She stared at the car, eyes growing wide at the thought that Oliver might have turned up too. There turned out to be no one sitting in the passenger seat, but that didn’t make Carys’s visit any less of a surprise. Abigail wondered why she was there.
Abigail got out of the car and eyed Carys coolly. Whatever Carys was here for, which she couldn’t even hazard a guess at, Abigail didn’t have time for it. She glanced at the lighthouse. What she did have time for, however, was confronting Albert again. As the other trustee, did he know what Joyce was talking about when she mentioned two babies and a mistake she’d made on the night of the Great Storm? Did it have something to do with Toby?
Abigail was determined to get to the bottom of it, despite Albert’s warning to let sleeping dogs lie.
Out of the corner of her eye, Abigail saw Carys step forward. ‘Look, I’m sorry to turn up unannounced, Abigail.’
Abigail sighed. She slammed Penelope’s door shut and turned on her heel towards the lighthouse.
‘What do you want, Carys?’
Carys followed her across the drive, her heels sinking in the gravel as she tried to keep up. ‘I heard you’d returned from London …’
Abigail didn’t even know Carys was aware she’d left Southwold. She would have thought Carys would be relieved she’d gone. She repeated the question, annoyed she was following her. ‘What do you want, Carys?’
‘I wanted to see you.’
Abigail rolled her eyes, guessing Lili had told her she was back. She arrived at the door to the lighthouse with Carys behind her.
Abigail turned to her and sighed. ‘Well, you’ve seen me …’ she said rudely.
Carys didn’t look taken aback or offended. ‘I guess I deserve that. We both do, Oliver and me. I’m here to apologise.’
Abigail didn’t really see what Carys had to apologise for. She wasn’t the one who’d been downright rude to her when they’d found Penelope parked in the car park at the back of Somerville Hall and discovered the secret Abigail had been keeping from them.
‘Look, we were just upset, hurt, that she’d given the cottage to a complete stranger.’
‘Well, that’s what I’m trying to understand.’
‘Why she wanted you to have the cottage? I said to Oliver that she couldn’t have given it to a nicer person. I think she was trying to get back at our father for not sharing his inheritance with her. It’s not like he could divide the Hall. He could have made some provision for her, but he didn’t. We think that’s why she created a trust of the cottage for a stranger; to get back at her brother. Lili told us you used to holiday let the cottage, so we imagined that’s where she found your name and—’
Abigail interrupted her. ‘That’s not it. And the cottage wasn’t held on trust for me. It was my late husband. And like you, I want to know why.’
Carys stared at her. ‘So, what are we doing here?’ she asked, eyeing the door to the lighthouse.
Abigail had half a mind to tell Carys it was none of her business, which it wasn’t. On the other hand … Abigail sighed. She’d told Joss and Lili all about it, so she might as well tell Carys what she knew too. In fact, Abigail had a better idea. She was thinking of the projector in the lounge and that home movie of Oliver’s birthday party that she imagined Carys had never seen.
The front door of the lighthouse flew open, interrupting Abigail’s thoughts.
Albert glared at her. ‘What doyouwant?’
I want possession of my property,Abigail felt like saying. But he must have known the lighthouse belonged to Daphne, and it now belonged to her. Abigail kept quiet for the moment. She could just imagine that if she asked for the keys to the lighthouse, rather than digging his heels in, he’d hand them over and say he was glad to be rid of the blasted place and his blasted new neighbour.
Abigail frowned at him. She would like nothing more than to get shot of him, but not right now, not before he answered her question. If Daphne named Albert and Joyce as trustees of the trust set up when Toby was five, then all three of them must have colluded to protect what Joyce had done. Which meant he knew. Abigail wanted to find out what had happened on the night in question.
Of course, it was all conjecture, but Abigail was sure that whatever had happened had something to do with Daphne giving the cottage to Toby. In fact, she suspected it had everything to do with it. And right now, the one person who could tell her the truth was standing right in front of her, eyeing her coldly, about to slam a door in her face.
‘I visited Joyce,’ Abigail blurted.
‘What of it?’ Albert replied.
Abigail noticed he was avoiding eye contact, as though he had something to hide.
‘So, you know Joyce.’ It wasn’t a question. The fact that he hadn’t asked who Joyce was confirmed that. She could tell by the look on his face that he was silently cursing himself for giving that away.