Part 6 (1/2)

'Oh.' Lily straightened up. 'How much do you charge?'

Gwen blinked. 'Sixty-five pounds. This one's more because it was commissioned.'

'Nice little earner.' Lily gave her an approving nod.

'Not really,' Gwen said. The apothecary shop had taken over sixteen hours to make and the miniature till was an antique that had cost ten pounds. Gwen had a sudden flash of fury at herself. No wonder she was broke. What was wrong with her? The new-yoga-obsessed Ruby would probably say that her chakras were unaligned or something.

She put tissue paper over the box, added a 'thank you for your purchase' card and began folding layers of bubble wrap.

Still Lily lingered.

'I'm going into town to post this,' Gwen tried.

'That's fine,' Lily said. 'I'll come with you. I can show you around.'

Gwen knew that she should explain that she used to live in the town and that she probably knew it as well as Lily did, but the words remained stuck in her throat.

She hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and locked up the house.

'Iris never locked her back door,' Lily observed.

'That was very silly of her,' Gwen said.

Lily laughed her unnatural tinkle. 'I keep forgetting you're a city type. You don't know what it's like in Pendleford; we all look out for one another here.'

Fed up, Gwen snapped, 'I suppose there's no crime at all, then? If I buy the paper, it'll be completely blank.'

Lily looked away, but she didn't say anything. They walked past the frost-touched hedgerows in silence, reaching the end of the track and joined what probably counted as a main road in Pendleford.

'You have a lovely garden,' Gwen said as they pa.s.sed it. A peace offering.

'Not as big as yours.' Lily's voice had real bitterness in it, but a moment later she said brightly, 'Have you looked at the town bridge yet?'

'I've driven over it,' Gwen said, adding silently: And, a lifetime ago, I snogged Cameron Laing underneath it.

Lily slid her a sideways look. 'But have you really looked at it?'

'Why?'

'You'll see,' Lily said with satisfaction.

Gwen breathed in, enjoying the crisp autumnal air, the sunlight that lit the trees into beacons of flame. Within minutes, the roads narrowed and they entered the town centre. 'Some of the buildings are medieval a like the t.i.the Barn,' Lily said, pointing down a side street. 'That's a big attraction.'

A queue of cars inched slowly down Silver Street, spoiling the olde worlde effect somewhat.

Lily saw Gwen looking and said, 'We weren't built for cars, that's for sure.' She spoke as if the town were alive.

'Mmm.' Having walked down the winding street, balancing on the cobbles and narrowly avoiding pitching into a silver sedan, Gwen stopped outside a small shop called The Crystal Cave. It was filled with crystal b.a.l.l.s, decks of tarot cards, and a tabby cat. It was the kind of place Gloria loved to browse in for hours and she breathed in, half-expecting the scent of incense to permeate the street.

'It's for the tourists,' Lily sniffed. 'Wilts.h.i.+re is known for its ancient stones, ley lines and mystical energy.'

Gwen didn't ask what a fake crystal ball had to do with a prehistoric stone circle.

'It's silly really,' Lily said.

Gwen hadn't been paying proper attention, but now she realised that Lily was watching her carefully. 'Silly,' she said, hoping that agreeing with Lily would make her stop staring at her in that unnerving way. She added, 'Harmless, though.'

'One woman's cupcake is another's s.h.i.+t sandwich,' Lily replied.

'Pardon?'

Lily gave her a calculating look. 'That's what your aunt always said. She said it was impossible to do no harm. One hungry family's roast dinner is the sad demise of a chicken.'

'Right.'

'She was full of them. Said everything was a war and that there could only be one winner.'

The cold air was making Gwen's nose run and she pulled out a tissue. She was getting the creeping sensation that she might not have liked her aunt very much. Question was: should that make her feel more or less guilty about inheriting from her?

'Look...' Lily pointed down the street. 'There's the roundhouse.'

At one end of the bridge was a round stone structure. Its shape was a cross between a minaret and a beehive and there was an ornately carved fish mounted on the roof.

'The bridge is thirteenth century, but the roundhouse was added in the eighteenth. It was used as a lock-up for drunkards and criminals.'

'There's a fish on the roof,' Gwen said. She was working on automatic pilot, her voice handling conversation while her brain concentrated on ignoring the river rus.h.i.+ng under the bridge.

Lily nodded. 'A gudgeon. Round here we still say ”over the water and under the fish” when we mean in jail.'

'That's colourful.'

'Oh yes. We've got colour coming out of our a.r.s.es round here,' Lily said and walked onwards, her heels clicking on the pavement.

Gwen stamped down on her rising panic. She'd spent so long squas.h.i.+ng all thoughts of Stephen Knight that she wasn't prepared for the a.s.sault of memories. He'd been a funny-looking boy. One of those awkward teens that look both younger and older than their age all at once. A baby face that somehow carried the gruff, sun-burned features of his farming parents at the same time. Until they fished him out of the river, of course. Then he'd looked exactly, tragically, his sixteen years.

They reached the main shopping street. A steeply sloping affair, lined with self-consciously pretty painted wooden fronts and chichi window displays. It was all much more upmarket than Gwen remembered.

'What do you need to do?' Lily was showing no signs of leaving and Gwen couldn't think of a polite way to extricate herself.

'Um. Post office?'

'At the bottom of the road, turn left. It's next to the Co-op.'

Lily paused, a sly look flashed across her face and then disappeared. 'You should go and see the green. It's a little further along the river.'

'Okay.'

'And the Red Lion does bar meals if you fancy a bite.'

'Thanks.' Gwen s.h.i.+fted her weight, preparing to walk away.