Page 44 of Old Girls Behaving Badly

Peter said the word acquired as if it was a nasty taste in his mouth. Leonard levelled him a look, his face a more even shade now he seemed to have regained his composure.

A silence followed that was palpable and the scraping of cutlery on plates ceased. It was like watching a game of tennis, all looking from Leonard and then back to Peter. Now, though, all eyes were on the master of the house.

‘All I know,’ he said quietly, ‘is that when I went into the pub for lunch my brakes were fine and when I came out the pipe had been punctured.’

‘So nobody here could have been responsible then,’ Peter said. ‘Because everyone was inside the pub, weren’t they?’

‘I couldn’t possibly say if anyone popped outside, could I.’

‘Yes, but think about what you’re actually saying. One of your nearest and dearest has a grudge against you? You’re a nice bloke, Leonard, aren’t you? What possible reason could someone have among your party to be involved in an unpleasant situation like that?’

More silence and then Leonard obviously seemed to realise he’d been cornered.

‘You’re right, Peter,’ he said with a silly little laugh. ‘I’m being ridiculous. It’s the bash to my head. No one has it in for me – how could they possibly? Let’s have no more talk about it now. Caroline and Toby are only two nights away from their wedding. Let us only have talk of good things.’

He stood then and raised his glass of red wine, encouraging everyone to do the same. Slowly and reluctantly we did, although Dorothy hesitated longer than anyone else and I only had a glass of water to hand. After, when we’d settle back to eating, Leonard picked up a remote control from beside his plate.

‘Music,’ he announced. ‘In all the excitement, I forgot the music.’

Pressing a button, the room was suddenly filled with medieval music. The sound of lutes and harpsichords surrounded us and I was surprised that Leonard hadn’t ordered a group of troubadours to entertain us in person.

The rest of the meal was subdued, the conversation stilted and forced. By ten-thirty Peter was making noises about leaving and I had a sudden urge to talk to him. As the rest of the group started to depart the table to carry on drinking on the patio, I sidled over to him.

‘When you go, may I walk with you, please? I have some questions about the monument in your church and would love to hear more about the history.’

If Peter was surprised he didn’t show it.

‘I’d be delighted,’ he said.

Leonard had already left the room and wasn’t, I assumed, in earshot, but those who were would be able to report a plausible excuse for my whereabouts if needed. Although, I could just as easily have gone to bed.

‘I do need to see Dorothy up, if you wouldn’t mind waiting.’

‘You need do no such thing,’ Dorothy said, her voice indignant. ‘I have limbs enough for the stairs and to get myself to bed.’

‘I’m going up now, Dot,’ Lavinia said. ‘You’ve been so diligent this week, Gina, you certainly deserve a walk down to the church.’

All settled, Peter and I set off from a side servants’ door in a silent understanding that a big goodbye from the front would alert Leonard to our departure and neither of us were keen for that, it seemed.

The evening wasn’t much cooler than it had been during the day and I was reminded of Lavinia mentioning about a possible storm come Saturday. If it was going to break I hoped it would happen before then. It would be awful for Caroline and Toby to have a week of hot, dry weather only to realise a downpour on their actual wedding day.

‘What an evening,’ I started. ‘I wonder if Leonard had concussion after all his talk about sabotage.’

I decided to jump straight in and hoped that Peter wouldn’t be too disappointed that church history wouldn’t be featuring in our conversation.

‘I didn’t really think you wanted to talk about the church,’ he said with a chuckle.

‘I used to be an art historian many years ago, to be honest, and I would actually love to know more about your church, but I have a more pressing issue and wanted to entrust you with some of my thoughts.’

With time running out, I decided to trust and be honest with him. The week was nearly over and we were no closer to finding the painting. I hadn’t even been looking today. It wasn’t going to just fall in my lap and I needed to up my game.

‘Ah, how interesting. So, what brings a former art historian to become a companion to an elderly woman?’

‘A rather long story, a change in direction, you might say. May I get straight to the point?’

‘By all means.’

‘Do you think that Leonard is a criminal?’