Ellie picked up the knife and said, “I’ll get you another.”
“And a bottle of house white,” said Wilf.
“Mean bastard,” said his lady.
When Ella returned with the knife and the wine, the woman said, “You must be wondering what Wilf was on about, talking about his floor as if he owned it. You see, he’s a builder. He built this conservatory thirteen years back.”
“You must have seen my name on the trucks in big red letters. Hellings,” said Wilf with pride. He addressed this remark to the room in general, turning to see if anyone responded, and several nodded their heads to humour him. There was general interest in what was being said.
“He’s very well known,” said the woman, pitching her voice higher to involve more of the diners. “This building was my home, see, before it was a restaurant. I lived here with Gus, my lawful wedded pain in the arse. He always wanted a conservatory, and we weren’t short of money, Gus being a garage owner, so we got the planning permission and hired the best builder in West Cornwall, and that was Wilf.”
“That’s why I called it my floor just now,” said Wilf, looking around the room. “I built it, but it belongs to Pearl really.”
“And Gus,” said the woman now revealed as Pearl.
“Specially Gus,” said Wilf, and got a giggle from Pearl.
Ella went to Mikki Rivers’s table and took their order. The film star still seemed perfectly at ease, faintly amused by what she and everyone else had overheard in the last few minutes.
In the kitchen, Ella passed on the orders to Gavin and updated him on what had been said. “That woman with Hellings lived here, apparently,” she told Gavin. “This was her house.”
“If it is,” said Gavin, “she’s still the owner. We lease it through the agents, but it’s owned by some company with a woman as managing director. Must be her.”
“The husband left her, and I’m not surprised. He disappeared thirteen years ago, after Wilf Hellings built the sun room for them. She seems to have taken a fancy to her builder and moved in with him.”
Gavin said, “Their salmon is ready. Got your tray?” He transferred the food to the plates. “Be nice to them, Ellie. I know it’s difficult.”
She carried the tray to the table with extreme care and set the plates in front of them.
“Right,” said Wilf. “Let’s see if the cooking is up to standard. The trouble with salmon is the bones.”
“It’s filleted,” Ella assured him.
“Better be. There’s nothing worse than finding bones when you don’t expect them, eh, Pearl?”
“Shut up, you old fool,” Pearl scolded him, half-smiling, and blushing, too.
“Relax,” said Wilf. “I wouldn’t embarrass you. We’ve been coming all these years and I’ve never said a word out of turn, have I?”
“He’s not used to eating out,” Pearl told Ella. “We have this anniversary meal once a year, and that’s enough for him.”
“The anniversary of the day her husband Gus disappeared,” said Wilf, and once again he had the attention of just about everyone in the room, including Mikki Rivers. “He was a toe-rag, was Gus. Treated her like something the dog dragged in. I saw it at first hand when I got the job here, building the conservatory. How long was I working here, Pearl — six, seven, eight weeks? I say it myself, I’m a master builder. He knew he was hiring the top man around. It was purpose built, this conservatory, not one of those ready-made things that let in the damp. As I say, I saw him knock her around.”
Pearl said, “You don’t have to go into details, Wilf.”
“He was a rich bastard and he thought that gave him the right to do as he liked,” Wilf pressed on relentlessly, pouring himself more of the house wine. “She would have put up with it, wouldn’t you, Pearl, if I hadn’t come on the scene? She didn’t know he was seeing other women.”
While Wilf regaled the room with Gus’s deplorable behaviour, Ella did her best to take the orders and serve the meals. It was difficult to get anyone’s full attention. Even Gavin had the kitchen door open and was trying to listen. “Do you think they bumped off the husband?” he asked Ella when she came to collect some meals.
“They wouldn’t talk like this if they had.”
“It could be the wine talking. Maybe this anniversary of theirs is the anniversary of the murder.”
“What a gruesome idea.”
“They’re a gruesome pair.”
“That’s true.” She picked up her tray and took another order out.
In the sun room Wilf was saying in his carrying voice, “It all came to a head one Saturday morning thirteen years ago. I’d just finished digging the foundations, right here where I’m sitting. Back-breaking work. Pearl said she’d make me a coffee, and I don’t turn down good offers from the ladies. We got talking, as you do, and I happened to mention I’d seen Gus the night before in the Jamaica Inn with a gorgeous redhead. Now, I swear I wasn’t making trouble. I wouldn’t have said a word about it — except I thought this girlie had to be his daughter. She was so much younger than old Gus, you see.”
His story was interrupted by the doorbell, but like all good raconteurs, Wilf turned it to advantage.
“The front door opens, and in walks the man himself — Gus. He doesn’t ring the bell, it’s true, cause he’s got a key, hasn’t he? Just walks in. He’s obviously been on the job all night. Looks a wreck. No prizes for guessing where he spent the night. They say it’s really comfortable up there, and the cooked breakfasts are out of this world. Pearl asks the old stallion where he’s been, and he tells her to shut up asking questions and get him a black coffee — and I decide it’s time to get back to my foundations. I know when to make myself scarce. The trouble is, Pearl asks me to stay. She wants him in the dock, with me as witness for the prosecution. Isn’t that a fact, Pearl? Am I telling it right?”
“You shouldn’t be telling it at all,” said Pearl, getting a word in at last. “People come here for a nice meal. They don’t want to hear about my two-timing husband.”
“They want to know what happened.”
“It’s no business of theirs.”
“They’re interested.”
“Shut up and eat your dinner. And I don’t think you should have any more of that wine. You’re not used to it.”
So for an interval, Wilf was gagged.
Back in the kitchen, Ella asked Gavin, “Did you go to the door just now?”
“Yes. Just some customer who came in at lunchtime and thought he left his umbrella.”
“You let him look for it?”
“And missed part of the story. Where did Gus spend the night?”
“The Jamaica Inn, with a redhead half his age.”
“I’m even more convinced they murdered him.”
“What would they have done with the body?” asked Ella.
Occasionally two people who know each other intimately have the same thought at precisely the same time. In this instance, the shared thought was so horrific that neither spoke. Ella gasped and Gavin stared.
Finally Ella said, “The foundations.”
Gavin, pulling himself together, said, “You’d better take the dessert trolley round.”
Mikki Rivers opted for the raspberry mousse. She said the food had been delicious again.
Ella said, “I just hope you weren’t disturbed by the loudmouth in the sun room.”
Mikki said, “We adored it. What a strange couple. We’re dying to hear the end of the story.”
Feeling slightly more relaxed, Ella pushed the dessert trolley into the sun-room.
Wilf Hellings put up two hands defensively. “Don’t bring it over here. We’re supposed to be dieting.”
“It’s tempting, though,” said Pearl.
“If you fancy something, go ahead,” said Wilf. “You won’t get another crack at it till next time the anniversary comes around.”