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‘Consider it a favour to me.’ Gio’s voice was deep and heavily accented. ‘I am new to the area, Mrs Carne. I need inside information and I understand you’ve lived here all your life.’
‘Well, I have, but—’
‘Please—I would be so grateful.’ He spread his hands, his warm smile irresistible to any female, and Edith looked into his dark eyes and capitulated.
‘All right, but I’m fine. Completely fine.’
At least Gio used his charm on the old as well as the young, Alice thought as they followed Edith into the house. Wondering whether she was the only one who felt that something wasn’t right, she glanced at Gio but his attention was focused on the old lady.
‘This is a lovely room.’ His eyes scanned the ancient, rose-coloured sofa and the photographs placed three deep on the window-sill. ‘I can see that it is filled with happy memories.’
‘I was born in this house.’ Edith sat down, folded her hands in her lap and stared at the empty fireplace. ‘My parents died in this house and Frank and I carried on living here. I’ve lived here all my life. I can see the sea from my kitchen window.’
‘It’s a beautiful position.’ Gio leaned towards a photograph displayed on a table next to his right hand. ‘This is you? Was it taken in the garden of this house?’
Edith gave a nod and a soft smile. ‘With my parents. I was five years old.’ She stared wistfully at the photo, her hands clasped in her lap. ‘The garden was different then, of course. My Frank loved the garden. I used to joke that he loved his plants more than me.’
Gio lifted the photo and took a closer look. ‘It must be lovely to walk in the garden that he planted.’
Alice shifted impatiently in her chair. What was he talking about? And why wasn’t he asking Edith questions about her blood pressure and whether she’d felt dizzy lately? What was the relevance of the garden, for goodness’ sake?
Edith was staring at him, a strange expression in her eyes. ‘Very few people understand how personal a garden can be.’
‘A garden tells you so much about a person,’ Gio agreed, replacing the photo carefully on the table. ‘And being there, you share in their vision.’
Edith twisted her hands in her lap. ‘Just walking there makes me feel close to him.’
Alice frowned, wondering where the conversation was leading. True, Edith was much more relaxed than she’d been when they’d arrived and she had to admit that Gio had a way with people, but why were they talking about gardening? She wanted to establish some facts. She wanted to find out whether Edith had suffered another fall but Gio seemed to be going down an entirely different path.
She forced herself to sit quietly and breathed an inaudible sigh of relief when Gio eventually steered the talk round to the topic of Edith’s health. It was so skillfully done that it seemed like a natural direction for the conversation.
‘I can barely remember the fall now,’ Edith said dismissively, ‘it was so long ago.’
‘A month, Edith,’ Alice reminded her, and the old lady sniffed, all the tension suddenly returning to her slim frame.
‘I was just clumsy. Not looking where I was going. Tripped over the carpet. It won’t happen again—I’m being really careful.’
Alice glanced around the room. The carpet was fitted. There were no rugs. The carpet in the hall and on the stairs had been fitted, too. Her eyes clashed with Gio’s and she knew that he’d noticed the same thing.
‘Can I just check your pulse and blood pressure?’ He opened his bag and removed the necessary equipment. ‘Just routine.’
‘I suppose so…’
Gio pushed up the sleeve of her dressing-gown and paused. ‘That’s a nasty bruise on your arm,’ he commented as he wrapped the blood-pressure cuff around her arm. ‘Did you knock yourself?’
Edith didn’t look at him. ‘Just being a bit careless walking through the doorway.’
Without further comment Gio checked her pulse, blood pressure and pulse and then eased the stethoscope out of his ears. ‘When you went into hospital after your fall, did anyone say that your blood pressure was on the low side?’
Edith shook her head. ‘Not that I remember. They just sent me home and told me they’d set up another appointment in a few months. I’m fine. Really I am. But it was good of you to call in.’ She stood up, the movement quite agitated. ‘I’ll come to the surgery if I need any help. Good of you to introduce yourself.’
Not giving them a chance to linger, she hurried them out of the front door and closed it.
‘Well.’ Standing on the doorstep, staring at a closed door, Alice blinked in amazement. ‘What was all that about? She’s normally the most hospitable woman in the community. From her reaction today, you would have thought we were planning to take her away and lock her up.’
‘I think that’s exactly what she thought.’ Gio turned and walked down the path towards his car.
‘What do you mean?’ She caught up with him in a few strides. ‘You’re not making sense.’
