‘All right, I’ll leave it until the morning if that’ll make you happy,’ I agreed.
In the event, I didn’t have to telephone Jeremy; he turned up at the door while I was still helping Mum with the chores.
‘Just checking on that man of mine,’ he said breezily. ‘He’s not slacking, is he?’
‘I haven’t had any complaints from Sam,’ Mum assured him.
‘And the computer programme I set up is going OK?’
I hardly liked to admit I hadn’t yet used it, so I just smiled and nodded.
‘Actually, there was something Sally wanted to ask you, Jeremy.’ Mum set the kettle to boil. ‘I’ll make a cup of tea, and she can tell you all about it.’
This was a bit awkward, I realized. I didn’t want to go into detail about the reason I wanted this information.
‘It’s nothing, really,’ I said lightly. ‘I understand Lewis Crighton has a partner, and I just wondered if you might know who it is.’
A look of astonishment crossed Jeremy’s face.
‘Lewis Crighton has a partner? I thought the business was his and his alone.’
My heart sank.
‘Oh well, never mind. It was just a thought. It doesn’t matter.’
‘That’s not what you said last night!’ Mum declared. ‘You told me you thought it might be really important.’ She turned to Jeremy. ‘I had to stop her from ringing you there and then – at going on for ten o’clock. Not important, my eye. She thinks her story might depend on it.’
‘Your story . . . the one about the fire . . .’
‘And Dawn Burridge’s death.’ Mum was in full flow now. ‘She went to see Dawn’s mother yesterday, and it seems this secret partner might be the one behind it.’
‘Mum – I don’t know anything of the sort,’ I protested. ‘You’ll be having me charged with defamation of character if you’re not careful!’ I turned to Jeremy. ‘I’m just curious, that’s all. A shadowy figure in the background whets my appetite.’
Jeremy smiled wryly. I had the feeling he could see right through me.
‘Leave it with me, Sally.’
Jeremy hadn’t got back to me by the time I left to drive over to Josh’s cottage, and to be honest, all thoughts of my investigation had gone on the back burner, so excited was I at the prospect of seeing Josh again. He’d phoned me around lunchtime to say he and his friend had finished their walk and were now driving back to where Josh had left his car when they’d set out four days ago. He should be home by late afternoon, and would expect me at around seven.
I was feeling on top of the world as I drove. I’d only been to the cottage once before, in the dark, and he’d been driving, so I wasn’t confident I’d be able to find it again, and I’d put the post code he’d given me into the satnav. Soon it was informing me that I’d reached my destination.
‘I don’t think so,’ I replied, just as if the disembodied voice could hear me. I was indeed outside a house, but it looked more like a farm than Josh’s cottage, set back from the lane, with big gates and outbuildings. I drove on a little further, then pulled into a gateway to a field and rang Josh.
‘I’m lost,’ I said, when he answered.
He chuckled. ‘How can you be lost?’
‘I don’t know, but I am. The satnav sent me to a farm.’
‘Ah, that’s happened before. It’s OK, I know where you are.’
‘Which is . . . where, exactly?’
‘Only a few hundred yards away. Just keep going until you come to a T-junction and you’ll see the cottage on your right.’
‘I shall be ringing you again if I don’t see it,’ I warned.
‘You will,’ he assured me.
He was right. After just a short distance I spotted the cottage. The front door was open and Josh was looking out. Feeling a little foolish, I pulled on to the gravelled area in front of a small garage, and beside Josh’s car. Why didn’t he keep it in the garage? I wondered, and then remembered. Of course, he had a motorbike. Perhaps there wasn’t room for a car as well.
‘You found me in the end, then.’ Josh was opening my driver’s door, helping me out. And then I was in his arms, and as he kissed me, white-hot desire pulsed through me; I was thinking of nothing but him.
We were rather late making it to the pub for our meal; we’d had better things to do. Josh was a wonderful lover, generous and tender as well as passionate, and he aroused in me emotions and responses I’d almost forgotten I could experience. The touch of his hands and his lips stirred my soul as well as my body, the feel of the long hard muscles in his shoulders and back beneath my hands thrilled and delighted me, his heart beating next to mine and our breath rising and falling in unison made me feel as if we were somehow one, not two separate people at all.