“Oh yeah, I forgot. This is unreal!” Miriam showed emotion for the first time. Tamsyn felt slightly sorry for her.
“Is there anything I can do?” she asked.
“No, I’ll have breakfast and then contact the police department.”
“Okay. I’ll be around if you need me.”
Miriam smiled, or at least attempted to. She felt very grateful that the girl was friendly and helpful. Dimly, she appreciated that she could often be somewhat abrasive, and it rarely helped her dealing with people.
Tamsyn left her alone, feeling a little guilty for the first time. She didn’t want to hurt Miriam, but she knew that life had changed for good, for both of them. Miriam looked a little forlorn and lost, so the girl hoped she’d accept the situation without too much difficulty.
Allun wasn’t coming back!
It was a slightly subdued Tamsyn that Mary found washing up. The girl’s smile was slower in coming, and she had a faintly distracted look in her eyes.
“Are you okay?” Mary asked.
“She’s quite lost, isn’t she?”
“Who; the American?”
“Yup. She really doesn’t know what to do. Will she be all right?”
“I don’t see why not. I’ve seen many women like her. They treat their men like pieces of furniture, but when they have enough and bugger off, they cry a bit but then find someone else to bully. Usually, it’s one of their children. Has she got children?”
“I think so, but they’re grown up,” Tamsyn said, without hesitation.
“You two seem to have talked quite a bit. Did she suggest why her husband did it?”
Tamsyn shrugged. “No, I don’t think she has a clue. I think she’s trying to think back and work out what went wrong though.”
“Oh, you think she’s bright enough to believe that she forced him to do it, then?”
“It may be dawning on her,” the girl said with a small smile.
“Well, I’m not convinced. I found him to be a nice bloke, a bit of a doormat, I grant you, but he was friendly and polite. She, on the other hand is a real pain in the proverbial, with absolutely no grace. If she’s always been like she was yesterday, I have no doubt the poor sod is better off wherever he is!”
“What do you think has happened to him?”
Mary shrugged, “Well, the police found all his clothes, his money, even his specs, so I think he’s probably gone into the water for what won’t have been an easy death.”
Tamsyn seemed reflective, finishing the washing up and returning to Miriam’s room to collect the breakfast tray.
Miriam had dressed and was staring out the window at the small harbour below. She didn’t turn round as Tamsyn knocked and entered the room. Waiting until she’d picked up the tray and was turning to leave, Miriam suddenly spoke.
“It really is a very pretty place. Why did he do it?”
“I’m sorry?”
“I know I wasn’t perhaps as nice to him as I should, but why now, and why here?”
“Perhaps he felt this was his spiritual home.”
Miriam turned and looked at her. Tamsyn felt a real pang of pain as she saw the older woman had been crying. She almost reached out to comfort her.
“The son of a bitch couldn’t even do it where I had friends! Man, he was just so selfish, as I’m so goddamn alone here!”
“Being alone is tough. I was away at college for the first time last year, and I found it quite hard for a few weeks.”
“You're young and pretty; I'm sure you had no problem.”
Tamsyn smiled quietly, nodding sympathetically, as she walked out of Miriam’s life.
She was helping Mary do the beds when Miriam walked out of the guesthouse, making for the police station. Once the last room was clean and tidy, the older woman told the girl that she didn’t need her until later.
“I could do with a little help at about six, as everyone is in for dinner tonight.”
“Okay.”
“What are you going to do today?”
“I want to do some research on my torque. It has some Celtic writing on it, so I want to try to decipher it,” the girl said, showing Mary the slender golden item.
The older woman looked at the strange article. It was definitely white gold, appearing very old, yet still in wonderful condition.
“That’s a very unusual piece; have you had it long?”
“Ages. It’s been in the family for a very long time.”
“You might try Gwen Trounce; she works at the tourist centre, and she loves conundrums like that.”
“Thanks, I’ll do that.”
Tamsyn was already excited, as Trounce was Allun's great, great grandmother's maiden name.
Chapter Four
As Tamsyn headed for the tourist office, Miriam entered the police station.
John Lindsay was in the canteen when the patrol sergeant called him down to the front desk.
“The wife of that American miser has come in; can you see her, tell her what’s happening and get rid of her?”
“But sarge, we’ve no more news for her. We’ve circulated the photos and everything else to the other forces and coast guard. What more can I do?”
“Look, John, it isn’t what you do; it’s the way you do it. This woman is thousands of miles from home, in a strange country and probably experiencing many different emotions. We have to reassure her and help her believe we are doing everything we can. She’s got to make her mind up whether to stay here and wait for the body to turn up, or to return to the states and hope for good news. You can always advise her to contact the US Embassy, as they will have people who deal with this sort of thing all the time.”
“Do you reckon he will, turn up, I mean?”
The grizzled twenty-eight year veteran shrugged, “Put it this way, you don’t take off all your clothes, leave all your money and credit cards and just disappear. I reckon he’s dead.”
“What about John Stonehouse? He did the same and turned up alive and well in Australia.”
“This man didn’t have debts; he’s not under investigation back home, and he’s not having an affair.”
John frowned, “How do you know?”
Sergeant Graham waved a handful of paper at the young constable.
“I faxed the police in America; the reply came back an hour ago. They called on his place of work and even the neighbours. Mr Tanner is a model citizen, it seems, if a little dull. No convictions, always at home or work, no suspicion or opportunity to play away. In fact, all who know him think he has the patience of a saint. Most of them wonder why he hasn’t killed that dreadful wife of his years ago. Look, go speak to her, and I’ll contact the Embassy and deal with the press. We’ve even got a New Jersey news crew flying in, as they’re interested.”
Reluctantly, John went out to face the dreadful Mrs Tanner.
Tamsyn found the tourist office easily. She stood outside for a moment, trying to work up the courage to enter. She had been able to convince the few people she’d met so far, but an expert in the area and language would instantly know she wasn’t genuine.
Something inside her seemed to give her the courage, for she pushed the door open and walked in.
Gwen Trounce was an elegant woman of indeterminate years. She had married once, a long time ago, now. It hadn’t worked, as she found her husband, Michael Trounce, a lazy man who enjoyed the company of other women and intoxicating liquor too much. After six years and two daughters, she was looking for a way out when a boating accident assisted her.
Michael and two other men were fishing out past the point in a friend’s boat. The Coroner’s inquest heard that the weather was pleasant, the sea calm and no unusual conditions could be blamed for the accident.
No one knew what happened, but all three men died. The boat was found capsized, the bodies recovered after six days in the sea, and no witnesses were able to assist as to how they came to topple a relatively sturdy boat. All the men were experienced fishermen; they knew the waters and so, it remained a mystery. Karen Jones, the widow of one of the other men, claimed a Royal Naval submarine surfaced and tipped them up. She even took a deputation to the Ministry of defence to claim a cover-up, but it got nowhere.