The Valley of the Shadow by Carola Dunn Read Free Book Online Page A

party, they were on the bridge leading to the ruined mill.
    “Good girl.”
    “She’s a sweetie. Our dog, Merlin, is the result of an unintended encounter between a pedigree black Lab and a farm sheepdog, with all the best points of both. We live in Mabe Burnthouse, not far from Falmouth. Chaz’s dad gave us a lift to Tintagel, where we started this morning, and he’s supposed to meet us in Boscastle tomorrow. He had to come over here on business. Hell, we’re not going to be able to finish the hike before dark! Is it far by road to Boscastle?”
    “Two or three miles. But don’t worry about it, I’ll take you in the … Oh, I forgot, I’ve got those dratted wooden cart wheels on the backseat!”
    “Wooden cart wheels? I thought those went out with Queen Victoria!”
    Eleanor explained her acquisition and the difficulty of extracting it from the Morris Minor. “But Nick and Chaz could get them out. Or, better, I can drive you down one by one and pick up Nick on the way home.”
    “That’s very kind of you, but we can easily walk it.”
    “It’s a narrow, winding road. I’d hate to think of you walking it in the dark. And I don’t know what we’re going to do about the clothes you lent Megan and Nick.”
    “They can’t go home dressed—undressed—the way they were when Chaz and I first saw them! There’s no hurry about returning the clothes.”
    “We’ll sort it out tomorrow. Except—Heavens!—Megan can’t drive a police car back to Launceston in nothing but a pullover and knickers. She’ll have to come home with me.”
    “You wouldn’t think rescuing a drowning man would lead to so many complications!”
    They caught up with the others as the men were manoeuvring the stretcher across the upper bridge. To get round the corners they had to lift it above the railings while two were climbing the steps and the other two walking backwards on the bridge. Then they reversed the process descending the other steps. It all looked very precarious to Eleanor, but they managed it without dropping the stretcher.
    Megan stopped in the middle of the bridge, staring past the stretcher party, and said, “Oh, hell!”

SIX
    Detective Inspector Scumble stood at the top of the footpath, looking irritated, admittedly nothing out of the ordinary for him. Megan’s boss was a large, solid man whose limited supply of patience was sorely tried by the vagaries of Eleanor’s memory. He failed to understand why—though she always remembered people—she could be relied on to forget where she had put a vital clue, what time she had done whatever it was she had done, and whether she had locked her doors.
    She regarded him now with quite as much apprehension as she saw on Megan’s face. She couldn’t see how he could blame either of them for what had happened, nor, indeed, what business it was of his. But she was quite sure he would find a reason.
    Eyes narrowed, he glanced at the man on the stretcher as he stood aside to let it pass, exchanging a couple of words with Dave. Then he stepped back to block the path.
    “So you got him out alive, Sergeant.”
    “Yes, sir. Just.”
    “Good job. No sign of identification?”
    “No, sir. He was naked.”
    “We need to find out who he is. You’ll go with him in the ambulance and stay beside him till he speaks or till he croaks.”
    “Sir!” Megan protested. “I’m not properly dressed. I have to go home and change.”
    He surveyed her from head to toe. “You’re decenter than half the totty-birds I see in the streets. If it bothers you, I expect they’ll lend you a hospital gown.”
    “But if I’m on duty, I ought—”
    “Are you complaining about night duty? You’ve had the afternoon off,” Scumble said, most unfairly in Eleanor’s opinion. He took a notebook from his pocket and handed it to her. “Here, I don’t suppose you brought your own. You’d better get moving. Don’t want them to go without you.”
    “I’ll bring you clothes at the hospital,