Reluctantly, Sacha got to his feet. ‘You’d better get back to your brother,’ said Bryony. ‘And your boyfriend.’

‘Gabe isn’t my boyfriend.’

Bryony snorted. ‘You used to say that at school. Even when everyone knew you were both nuts about each other. You think you know everything that’s going on in Porthmellow, running the festival – the one everyone relies on – but there’s some things right under your nose that you must be blind to.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Ask your brother.’

Chapter Thirty-Nine

A short time later Gabe led Sam into the sitting room of Clifftop House. Ryan was already there, standing with his back to the window. Twilight had fallen over the sea, but being the end of June, the light was deepest blue, with a paler glow over to the west. The initial shock of seeing Ryan, alongside the worry over the missing cash, had shaken Sam badly.

‘Drink, anyone?’ said Gabe. ‘I need one after that.’

‘No, thanks,’ said Sam.

Ryan shook his head. ‘Water’s fine for me. I need to drive home afterwards.’

‘Home? Where’s that, then?’ Sam asked.

‘Roche. I’m – me and my partner – are renting a cottage in the village.’

Sam let out a breath. ‘How long have you been back in Cornwall?’

‘A few weeks.’

‘My God,’ said Sam, needing time to take in Ryan’s reply.

A minute later, Gabe brought water and a glass of whisky from the kitchen. ‘Here you go.’

‘Thanks,’ Ryan said, taking a sip of the iced water Gabe had handed him, then sitting down on the sofa.

Gabe sat next to him. Sam felt they were ganging up on her, or more likely, that they needed each other’s support to face her. She looked at each of them, searching their expressions. Ryan looking down at his feet, Gabe holding her gaze, his expression sombre. Her stomach fluttered.

‘OK,’ she said. ‘Who’s going to start?’

Ryan took a sip of his water before he spoke. ‘It had better be me … I need to go back to before the robbery. Just after Mum died, when I first started working at the arcade, you probably know I was getting into debt. I was playing the arcade machines and poker, borrowing on my wages, and from “friends”.’ He bracketed the word and snorted. ‘One of them decided to call in my debts and said I could pay up by doing some jobs with them.’ Ryan looked down at his hands. ‘I’m not proud of it. I wish I could change it.’

‘Jobs?’ Sam steeled herself. She dreaded hearing the rest but she had to. Suddenly, she was very glad Zennor wasn’t there. ‘You mean, the arcade wasn’t a one-off?’

Ryan coughed then took a large gulp of water and looked to Gabe as if he needed helping out, which only ratcheted up Sam’s apprehension.