Closing the garden gate behind him, he wondered what all that had been about. There must be some strong personal reason for an antipathy which seemed otherwise unreasonable. Was she perhaps focusing on Gradwyn the two years of frustration tied to a cantankerous, unloving old man and the prospect of losing her job? And now there was Marcus’s plan to go to Africa. She might support his decision but she could hardly welcome it. But, striding purposefully back to the Manor, he put Candace Westhall and her troubles out of mind and concentrated on his own. He would find a replacement for Marcus, and if Flavia decided it was time to leave, he would cope with that, too. She was getting restless. There had been signs which even he, busy as he was, had noticed. Perhaps it was time the affair ended. Now, with the Christmas break coming and the work slowing down, he should steel himself to end it.

Back at the Manor, he decided to speak to Mogworthy, who would probably be working in the garden, taking advantage of an uncertain period of winter sun. There were bulbs still to be planted, and it was time he showed an interest in Helena and Mog’s plans for the spring. He passed through the north door leading to the terrace and the knot garden. Mogworthy was nowhere in sight, but he saw two figures walking side by side towards the gap in the far beech hedge which led to the rose garden. The shorter was Sharon; her companion he recognised as Rhoda Gradwyn. So Sharon was showing her the garden, a task usually undertaken at a visitor’s request by Helena or Lettie. He stood watching them, an odd couple, as they passed out of sight, walking in intimacy, obviously talking, Sharon looking up at her companion. For some reason the sight disconcerted him. Marcus and Candace’s forebodings had irritated rather than worried him, but now, for the first time, he felt a twinge of anxiety, a sense that something uncontrollable and possibly dangerous had entered his domain. The thought was too irrational, even superstitious, to be seriously examined, and he thrust it aside. But it was odd that Candace, highly intelligent and usually so rational, had this obsession with Rhoda Gradwyn. Did she perhaps know something about the woman that he didn’t, something she was unwilling to reveal?

He decided not to look for Mogworthy, and, re-entering the Manor, he closed the door firmly behind him.

Chapter 12

12

Helena knew that Chandler-Powell had gone to Stone Cottage and was unsurprised when, twenty minutes after his return, Candace arrived in the office.

Without preamble she said, “There’s something I wanted to discuss with you. Two things, actually. Rhoda Gradwyn. I saw her arriving yesterday—at least I saw a BMW being driven past and I assumed it was hers. When is she leaving?”