Gemma replied, “He does odd jobs and gardening for the pubs and general handyman work around the village, so he does all right. The pubs quite often pay him in meals.”

“There are worse things to be paid in,” said Annie.

“Quite,” said Maeve.

“The gulls seem to like him, does he feed them?”

“No,” said Gemma. “He protects them, makes sure their nests in the cliffs stay untouched and looks after them if they break a wing or something. That’s what I mean by ‘nature man.’ ”

The clouds that had been threatening to drop all morning suddenly did so. A curtain of cold water collapsed from the sky; the blue-black surface of the sea danced as though a swarm of piranhas frenzied beneath it.

“Oh my God!” screeched Annie.

Gemma was squealing and covering her head with an ineffectual cotton neck scarf. Maeve remained unmoved, as though refusing to let the rain see it was making her wet.

“Quick!” shouted Annie. “Come back to mine.” She pointed over to Saltwater Nook.

The women looked at one another as a shared recognition dawned. They followed without speaking, Podrick leaping about them, excited by the sudden change in the weather. The rain pummeled Annie’s skin pink as she fumbled with the keys at the front door. Her expensive anti-wrinkle cream had run into her eyes and stung like a bastard, so that she was half-blind and squinting when she finally found the right key and the three women and one wet dog stumbled into the lower hallway.

Maeve shut the door on the rain, and Annie flicked the light on. Pools of water collected at their feet as their saturated clothes expunged what they could no longer hold.

“I’ll get the kettle on,” said Annie, making for the stairs.

“I can’t bring Podrick up,” said Maeve. “He’s soaking.”

As if on cue, Podrick, who’d been investigating the bottoms of the skirting boards, suddenly shook himself and sent a spray of water up the walls and over the women. The cramped hallway was already becoming infused with the odor of wet dog. Annie had an idea.

“No problem,” said Annie. “We’ll go in here!”

Annie found the appropriate keys and set to work on the door to the disused tearoom.

Truth be told, she’d been waiting for an excuse to go in and have a look around, and now she’d found one.

Chapter 21

The room was dark, the windows covered on the outside by wooden shutters. Annie ran her hands along the wall for the light switch and flicked it. A strip light in the ceiling buzzed angrily like a disturbed bee and flickered to life.

“Well, I never!” said Maeve. “It’s just as I remember it.”