“That’s right, Mr. Jago,” Mr. Harris said. “Now if you’d just like to step through so we can complete the paperwork, and I’ll be with you ladies in a jiffy.”

“Nice seeing you, Rose,” Jago said. “How are you enjoying being lady of the manor, then?” He chuckled. “Do I have to touch my forelock when you approach these days?”

“None of your cheek, Jago,” Rose replied, blushing scarlet. “Just because you’ve come up in the world yourself.”

“I’m just a humble employee, not a landowner,” Jago said. “Got to run. Bye, ladies.”

“He’s as cheeky as ever,” Rose said as the inner door closed behind the men.

“What did you mean about coming up in the world?” Belinda said. “I told you I saw him on the grounds at Trengilly. He wasn’t very friendly either. Is he the groundsman there now?”

“No, he works for that foreign man Tony was talking about. What’s his name again? Panopolis? Something like that. Tony would know. I mentioned that he thinks this man is a bit dodgy, if you get my meaning. Not sure how he acquired his wealth or why he’s bought an estate in the wilds of Cornwall. Anyway, Jago is his estate manager here but I understand that he also looks after his properties all over the place. Big vineyard in France, so I hear. Cattle ranch in Argentina. Oil tankers.”

“Jago is his manager?” Belinda sounded horrified. “And I thought . . .”

“You thought he was a smuggler,” I said, giving her a grin.

“Well, what was he doing at my cottage if he wasn’t smuggling, then?” Belinda demanded.

At that moment the door opened and Jago came out. He nodded to us as he left the building. I wondered if he had overheard Belinda’s last words because he had an amused look on his face.

“He and Tony don’t exactly see eye to eye,” Rose muttered as soon as Jago had closed the door behind him. “They had quite a run-in the other day.”

“About what?” Belinda asked.

“Something to do with lobster rights, I believe. Anyway Tony told him in no uncertain terms he was getting above himself. It didn’t go down very well.”

She broke off as Mr. Harris came to join us. He promised to come out and take a look at the cottage as soon as he could find the time. “But I have to put in two more bathrooms at Trengilly first,” he said. “The sort of guests that the foreign bloke brings down all like their own bathrooms, so it seems. And not just bathtubs either. They all want showers as well, if you can believe it. Not to mention them foreign bidet contraptions. And don’t ask me what they are.”