Restoring Grace (59 page)

Flynn seemed confused.
'Yes, yes, of course. But do you
have to rush off? I was going to
suggest we all went out for lunch.'

‘No, no.' The thought of having lunch in the
company of Grace's sister, and Demi's mother, was grisly, even if she hadn't
been pregnant; but it was the thought of the
bit
of paper, as yet unexamined, which made going out
to eat really
impossible.

‘Ellie's got things to do,' said Grace, who was
just as
anxious to have Ran inspect the
scrap through his magni
fying glasses with lights in them.

‘Right,' said Flynn. 'But, Allegra, you can
come out to lunch with us? You and Hermia?' By leaving the kitchen himself, he
lured everyone else out.

‘Yes. Yes, I think I could.' Allegra smiled,
oddly girlish in the presence of Flynn's charm.

Demi, who had come into
the hall, looked pained, as
if invited to go on a cross-country
run in the middle of winter. 'Can I stay here? You've got some really good
games.'

‘
Of course,' said Flynn.

‘Perhaps you
should ask your mother,' said Allegra.

‘
Do what you like. There's no pleasure in taking sulky
young women out for meals,' snapped Hermia.

Grace sighed, wondering
whether if she put on a really
good pout, she could ally herself
with Demi and not go either.

*

Ellie felt
mean abandoning Grace, but she knew that
Grace
wanted the paper read as much as she did. Besides,
Grace had Flynn to
support her. Ellie sighed. Flynn was
so
lovely. She did hope Grace would realise that he wasn't
just someone to have as a short-term boyfriend,
but as a
partner for ever.

Ran, on the other hand, was specifically designed to
be short term, which, if only he'd
gone for her original
plan of a quick
affaire, would have been fine by her. In
all likelihood, she'd have been over him by now. But he'd
held out, and now she'd gone and fallen in love
with
him. It was probably because
she was pregnant — it had
put him on some sort of moral alert. She was
sure he
wouldn't have turned her down in
normal circumstances.
She didn't have an exaggerated idea of her own
attractiveness, but whenever he forgot his determination to
keep his distance he didn't seem able to help
flirting with
her. It was so
confusing. The whole situation was
completely
pants; she hadn't had a lovely affaire, and
was completely preoccupied with Ran, which would
mean she wouldn't
want to have an affaire with anyone
else,
and she was running out of time. Men were so selfish
sometimes!

*

Ran took the
paper carefully. 'Why is it warm?'

‘It's been
up my jumper. I was hiding it from Grace's sister. She's heard of Richard
Coatbridge.'

‘Most people
have. It's only you who hasn't. Now, let's get this where we can see it.'

‘Mm,' he
said later. 'It's part of a letter.'

‘But what
does it say?' Ellie had been jumping from foot to foot, beside herself with
frustration. It was like having your teacher mark a piece of work in your
presence.

‘Obviously,
most of it is missing . . .'

‘Yes!'

‘But what
there is left says:
called away,
then there's a splodge, but there's
quite a clear bit. . . .
not to embarrass
your
servants, I have concealed two panels behind the curtains.
I will collect them on my next visit . . .
Then it just goes on
about the weather and something about paying for some-
thing.'

‘But is
there a signature?'

‘No. Not on
this scrap of paper, there isn't. Are you sure you've got it all?'

‘
Yes. We were very thorough. We were quite pleased
to
get that bit.' Ellie felt deflated. All that work, all that
searching, the reward of actually finding
something, and
now the 'something' wasn't enough.

‘It's still
useful. What we need is someone to tell us
whether
Richard Coatbridge was known to visit
Luckenham House.'

‘He says
"on my next visit".'

‘
The person who painted the panels did. It's just
checking
who that is.'

‘I wish
you'd look at the painting. If you could just see the rabbit . .

‘Ellie, I do
believe you. It's just getting a bit of proof.’

‘But surely
an expert could tell if the panels were by Richard Coatbridge?'

‘Experts
have been known to make mistakes, but yes, I'm sure an expert could.'

‘And you
can't be our expert?'

‘No.’

Ellie felt very tired. 'More research? Finding the expert
we need?'

‘
I'm afraid so.' He looked at her. 'Have you had
lunch?’

‘
I've had
biscuits. With bits of ginger in them. Very nice.'

‘But not
lunch. Let's go and eat.'

‘I must ring
Grace first.'

‘Ring her
mobile while we're waiting to be served.'

‘I told you,
Grace hasn't got a mobile. And they were
going
out to eat, too, and won't be back for hours. Damn!
I know, I'll ring
Flynn's mobile.’

*

Grace took Flynn's mobile
into the Ladies to talk to Ellie.
It was too cold to stand outside.

‘
So there's
nothing on it that says who did the panels?'

‘
No, I'm afraid
not. But it does mention hiding the
panels behind the curtains, and coming to collect them next time he
visited.'

‘
So it definitely links
whoever wrote that letter with
the panels?'

‘Yes.'

‘So we need a graphologist. To check whose
handwriting it is.'

‘Oh, Grace, don't you think everyone's
handwriting looked the same back then?'

‘Well, I do, but I'm not a handwriting expert.'

‘Ran thinks we need a Richard Coatbridge
expert.'

‘
And how do you find one
of them? Oh. Hello, Hermia,'
said Grace. 'Ellie, I must go. I'll ring you when we get back.'

‘
Was that about your friend's scan?' asked Hermia,
obviously sure that it wasn't.

‘No.' Grace swallowed.

‘
Grace, I really do think
you're behaving badly over
this painting. You got far more from your aunt than
your
brother
and sister, and Edward left you very well
provided for. Not to mention the money he's
giving you for looking after Demeter.'

‘
Hermia, this is none of your business and anyway, I
refuse to discuss it in the Ladies' lavatory!’

Grace
stalked out, feeling that perhaps all Allegra's
ⁱ
ndoctrination about how
to behave hadn't been wasted
after all.

But Allegra
herself would be harder to deal with. Back at the table, she looked ready for
battle. All through the meal Flynn and Grace had managed to keep the conversation
away from the subject of the paintings, but now, with Allegra and Hermia deeply
into the coffee, Grace knew she would have to talk about them.

She took a
sip of the prophylactic brandy that Flynn had ordered her in case things got
really sticky.

‘
Well,' demanded
Allegra. 'Are you going to come clean?’

‘
Allegra!
I have not been deceiving you!'

‘Haven't you? Then how come I had to hear about
the paintings from Hermia, because Demeter told her?

‘
Did Edward
know about the panels?' Allegra went on.
'He lived here for some years!'

‘
I know, but we never drew the curtains. He
liked the fact that the curtains were so old, and therefore very fragile.'

‘I find that
very hard to believe!'

‘
The truth often is,' said Grace quietly, taking another
sip of the brandy.

‘
Because there was nothing to say about them.
They could have been nothing. You wouldn't expect me to tell you if I found
graffiti on the walls of the privy!'

‘
That's not at all the same,' said Allegra crisply. 'And
you know it.’

Grace did
know it, but wasn't going to concede totally
at
this stage. 'OK.' She nodded calmly. 'So it's not exactly
the same, but
how would you have reacted if I rang you up and told you I'd found some panels,
falling apart, behind the curtains in the dining room?'

‘
If you thought they
were totally unimportant why
were you so secretive about them?' asked
Hermia. 'Secretive?' Grace was playing for time.

‘
Yes.
Demeter was really upset when she realised she'd
mentioned them to me.'

‘
So you immediately mentioned them to Allegra?’

‘Yes
^!
She's m
^y
friend!’

Grace sighed.

‘
I think what
Grace is trying to say' - Flynn's calm,
deep tones came down like a blanket over a parrot's cage
of shrillness - 'is that until she knew what she
was telling
you about, Allegra' - he
put slight emphasis on her name
for a
second, in a way Grace knew Allegra would find
very attractive - 'there was no point in telling you
anything. I know she planned to tell you the
moment she
had a bit more information.'

‘
And have
you got more information now?' Allegra
might
not have been lulled completely, but she was a bit
less strident.

‘A little, yes,' said Grace. 'But not much.'

‘Well, share it. I promised Nicholas I'd get
all the information I could out of you.’

Flynn's eyebrow rose in a way that reminded
Grace of Edward when he was displeased. 'Allegra, I'm sure you
didn't mean to express yourself in quite such a
haranguing
way. Grace hasn't done anything wrong, you know.'

‘She has been devious, Flynn. I'm sorry to say
it, but she has.' Now Allegra sounded sulky, and it gave Grace courage.

‘
Very well,
Allegra, I'll tell you everything we've
discovered to date. OK? I found
the panels, but had no clue about them, which is why I asked Ellie to ask her
friend who is a picture conservator—'

‘A what?'

‘Restorer' - nothing about Ellie's hunt through
the
Yellow Pages
and her
frantic tales about wanting to do a
work
placement - 'to give his opinion. He had to take
them away to look at
them properly, and to stop them being attacked by the dry rot.'

‘
I thought they were nailed down,' said Allegra.
'They were.'

‘
So how did he get them out?' asked Hermia. 'If
they're
movable, they belong to Allegra.'

‘
I don't know how he got them out,' said Grace. '1
wasn't
there. I imagine he used some sort of tool.'

‘
Don't you think you
should have been supervising this
procedure?' said Hermia.

‘I dare say she would have done if she hadn't
been spending the night in hospital with your daughter,' said Flynn.

‘
Flynn!'

‘
What?' Any cup less robust would have shattered as
Hermia dropped it into its saucer. 'You said you
just went
to have a cut treated!’

Flynn ignored Grace's
protest and continued calmly, 'I
know Grace promised
Demi she wouldn't say anything
as long as Demi
never did anything remotely like that
ever again, but the night Demi's friend rang you she was actually very
ill. We took her to hospital and stayed with
her in A
and E most of the night.'