Part 34 (1/2)

'Hmph,' said Mog, scowling at a young woman with tied-back hair and collapsing trousers.

'Will you appear in the show?' Libby asked Adam.

'In the background doing the heavy work,' said Adam. 'The peasants, you know.'

'No more police?'

'I haven't seen any,' said Adam. 'I would have told you if I had.'

'Did they investigate the ice-house?'

'Ice house?' Adam wrinkled his brow. 'N-no. Where is it?'

'Don't know,' said Libby cheerfully. 'Perhaps I'll go and look for it if I won't get in the way.'

'Where do you think it is?'

'Somewhere down by the river,' said Libby. 'Do you know where they found that little boat?'

'Just round from the sailing club, I think,' said Adam. 'Do you think it's there? What is it exactly, anyway?'

Libby explained, then set off, circling the walled parterre garden and setting off towards the ha-ha. She pa.s.sed the bench where she had sat with Lewis, and branched off to the right without going down to the sailing club and the pontoon. The inlet reached like a hand from the river into the Creekmarsh estate, the thumb towards the sailing club and the other fingers just round a bend. Libby went towards these, but discovered a ma.s.s of brambles and vegetation that made it almost impossible to reach, especially for a slightly overweight, vertically challenged person in sandals.

Trees overhung the sloping ground and police tape fluttered in the breeze. No boat was thrust into the bank now, but Libby could see where it had been. Above it, roots from the overhanging trees formed an archway, almost an entrance ...

Libby's heart thumped. An entrance. She tried leaning forward to see if there was, indeed, a tunnel, but from her vantage point she couldn't. Besides, she thought, if there was a tunnel, the police would have found it, surely. From down there, where the boat had been, they would have been able to see. Nevertheless, she started up the slope to see if she couldn't work her way round and come out above the inlet.

It was a scramble, and after five minutes Libby was red in the face, with bits of vegetation in her hair, feeling very glad she was wearing jeans. Suddenly, to her surprise, she came up against what appeared to be wire netting. She sat back on her heels and looked at it. It ran uphill through the bushes and downhill to disappear over a slight mound.

'Must be the boundary of the estate,' thought Libby. 'And still no sign of a tunnel.'

Dispirited, she hauled herself to her feet and struck off to her left, which, if her sense of direction was intact, would take her back to the meadow below the ha-ha. Sure enough, through the trees, she could see the artificial trench with its retaining wall, which must start, she thought, looking round, about here. And then her feet went out from under her and she slid inelegantly forward into darkness.

When she'd recovered enough to know (a) she wasn't dead and (b) she could still see daylight behind her, she sat up.

'This is it,' she whispered to herself as she got tentatively to her feet. The ceiling of the opening was the same height as the ha-ha, so it looked as though it ran under the meadow and must have been created at the same time. She looked left and right, and ahead, but could see nothing. 'And this,' she continued to herself, 'is where the heroine of the film naturally goes forward into impenetrable darkness without anyone knowing where she is.' She grinned at herself and began to look round the floor near her feet, lit slightly by the daylight behind, which seemed mainly to consist of rotting leaves. And then, just behind her, almost out of sight, something that looked slightly different.

Gingerly, she got down on her knees and pulled at a corner, which revealed the object as a leather doc.u.ment case. With shaking fingers, Libby unzipped it, although the zip was both old and slightly rusty. Inside, she could see what looked like a birth certificate, and closed it again hastily. There was no reason why she shouldn't look, but she felt instinctively that it was none of her business and that the police should see it first.

She scrambled shakily out of the hole and stood looking at it. If it was an entrance to a tunnel, somebody else would have to investigate, but she had seen no evidence of bricks, only packed earth, so it looked as though it possibly wasn't the ice-house. She turned and made her way along the bottom of the ha-ha until she got to the place where she could climb up to the meadow. Then, deciding not to take her find to the house, she made for the lane and from there to the Land Rover at the bottom of the drive. Once inside, she called Ian Connell, thanking her lucky stars that she still had his mobile number in her phone memory.

It took some time for him to answer, and when he did he didn't sound too pleased to hear from her.

'No, Ian, listen,' she said urgently. 'I've just fallen into some kind of tunnel at Creekmarsh and found this case. I think it's got a birth certificate in it.'

'A what?'

'Well, you know we thought Cindy Dale must be looking for doc.u.ments? Couldn't this be it?'

There was a short silence. 'Does anyone else know you've found this?'

'No. I came straight to the Land Rover and called you. What shall I do? Shall I bring it in?'

'No,' said Ian, slowly. 'We'd better have a look at this place where you found it. Can you wait there for us?'

'Yes,' said Libby doubtfully. 'They've got television people here, so it won't be easy for you to get down there without people seeing. Shall I tell anyone?'

'You'd better tell Mrs North and Osbourne-Walker we're coming.'

'If I can detach him from the television people,' said Libby.

'We'll be there as quickly as we can,' said Ian and rang off. Libby climbed down from the Land Rover and plodded up the drive.

Katie was in the kitchen with Edie. Libby had worked out what to say and hoped there wouldn't be too many questions.

'Just to tell you,' she said, 'the police are coming back shortly to have a look at the area down by the river.'

Katie and Edie looked at her blankly.

'Are they?' said Katie. 'What for?'

'I don't really know,' said Libby. 'Had I better tell Lewis?'

'Well ' said Katie.

'See you in a bit, then,' said Libby, and vanished.

She made quickly for the parterre, where she beckoned to Adam and whispered her news to him before jogging back to the Land Rover just in time, as Ian's car drew up in the lane, followed by a police car.

'You have your uses, I suppose,' said Ian, shaking Libby's hand.

'Here you are,' she said. 'I only had a quick look. I haven't taken anything out.' She handed over the case. Ian looked inside and drew out some doc.u.ments. He nodded.

'Cindy's marriage certificate,' he said. 'And her original pa.s.sport. This is what she was looking for all right.'

'Is there anything else?'

'Yes, but I haven't time to look at them now.' He grinned at her. 'Don't worry, I'll let you know what they are, even if I shouldn't. Where's this hole?'

Libby led them down the lane to avoid the company in the parterre, and along the trench.

'This isn't the first time you've fallen into a hole, is it?' said Ian, with another grin.

'No, but I don't know how you know about the first time,' said Libby.

'Word gets around.' Ian bent his head and went into the opening carefully, motioning his minions to do the same. Libby watched from a safe distance. Eventually, Ian came out looking grubby and beckoned her over.