When Night Closes in by Iris Gower Read Free Book Online Page B

appointment book and checked the time she was meeting the next client. ‘Another one for Plunch Lane,’ she remarked. ‘The place is very popular all of a sudden and summer’s almost over. Well, I’d better be going.’ She picked up her jacket and bag. ‘You’ll be all right on your own?’
    â€˜Yeah. I don’t suppose there will be much to do this afternoon.’ Sally did not look at her and after a few moments, Lowri left the office.
    The sunlight was bright and she blinked as she walked round the back to the small parking area where she kept her car. The little red Mazda would be like an oven – there was no shade at the back of the buildings.
    â€˜Can I talk to you?’ A hand fell on her arm and she looked up into the face of Sarah Brandon. ‘I’m sorry I was so scathing about your colleague but she is just his type,’ she said. ‘I know you must think me a bitter, twisted woman and you’d be right but I have to know what’s happened to my husband.’ She was pale in spite of the heat.
    â€˜We didn’t really get on, you see,’ she was babbling, ‘we hadn’t slept together for years so it’s my fault he had other women. I hated him for being unfaithful and yet I loved him too. If only I knew something about those last hours before he vanished . . .’ She stopped speaking as Lowri drew her arm away.
    â€˜I’m sorry, Mrs Brandon, I really can’t help you. Please excuse me, I have to meet a client and I’m already late.’
    Lowri slid into the driving seat and started the engine and, as she drew away, she could see Sarah standing there like something carved from stone. She was clearly unstable, an odd woman, and yet Lowri felt deeply sorry for her. ‘Jon, you are a first-class shit!’ she said. ‘And you deserve everything you get.’
    The Ship Inn was situated on the cliff top overlooking the bay. Ironically, it was not more than two hundred yards from Plunch Lane. It was a place that Jon Brandon must have frequented on a regular basis but he had never taken Lowri there. Now she knew why: he was afraid his wife might find out.
    â€˜Looks a nice place,’ she said as she slid out of the back seat of Timmy Perkins’s car. Below, on the rocks, Lowri could hear the wash of the sea. How many times had she listened to the sound of the waves when she had been in bed with the man she loved, the man she thought she knew?
    â€˜Yeah, it’s all right, I suppose,’ Sally said. ‘We don’t come down this way very often, do we, Timmy?’
    â€˜Not really, it’s a little on the quiet side, mostly old fogies,’ Timmy said. Lowri smiled. Timmy was all of nineteen, to him anyone over the age of twenty-five would be an old fogey, herself included.
    There was a warm atmosphere inside the small lounge bar. The décor was traditional, with horse-brasses either side of the inglenook fireplace. Ships’ lamps hung from the beams. Smoke filled the room and the sound of some bland musical tape made a backdrop to the laughter and the raised voices of people enjoying themselves.
    â€˜Evening, folks.’ The landlord was tall and swarthy, with thick white hair that seemed to sprout all over his head and face. ‘Nice to see you again.’ He was looking at Sally. ‘What’ll you have? Your usual?’
    â€˜Please.’ Sally shrugged off her jacket and slipped into a corner seat, crossing her slender legs in the shiny black leather boots and making sure her skirt was revealing enough to be interesting.
    â€˜Lowri?’ Timmy asked.
    â€˜A glass of red, please.’
    She sat beside Sally and wished she had not worn trousers. She felt drab and unexciting, part of the older element that Sally and Timmy so scorned. ‘Why did you suggest this place, Sally?’ she asked conversationally.
    Sally looked guarded. ‘I just thought it might suit you,