Page 106 of The Clockmaker's Cottage
‘My father,’ Pippa answered.
ChapterTwenty-Nine
Horace lifted the watch gently from the table. For a moment he didn’t say anything. He simply held it in both hands, turning it over slowly, almost cautiously, as though it might disappear if he blinked.
The room was silent.
Pippa watched him, her stomach a tight knot. Theo kept glancing from the watch to Horace, waiting for him to say something.
Horace traced his thumb over the dent on the back casing.
Theo spoke first. ‘Horace… is itthewatch?’
Horace didn’t look up. ‘Without a doubt.’
This little watch that had been in her family for years was the lost commission that had ruined lives, split families, and caused decades of bitterness.
She swallowed. ‘My father gave it to me,’ she repeated. ‘His father gave it to him.’
Horace finally looked up, his eyes shooting straight to hers.
Horace blinked several times, trying to process it. ‘What’s your father’s name?’
‘George Bell,’ Pippa replied.
‘And your grandfather’s name?’
‘Samuel Bell.’
Horace frowned. ‘I’ve never heard of either of them.’
Arthur shifted in his seat, the first movement he’d made in what felt like ages. Pippa noticed it instantly, especially because he still hadn’t said a word since Horace had revealed what the commission was.
Pippa cleared her throat and went on. ‘Dad said it had never worked but strangely, its’s been working again since I arrived at Clockmaker’s Cottage, but nowhere else on the island.’
Horace stared at her, then looked down at the watch again. ‘This is unbelievable.’
Theo leaned in. ‘Horace, how is that possible?’
‘Because… there are two magnets. Two triggers. Walter and Agatha had one of them and I had the other.’
Pippa felt her pulse quicken. ‘So for it to work in the cottage…?’
‘For it to work in the cottage,’ Horace replied, ‘means the second magnet… must still be somewhere inside the cottage, and it appears it still activates the watch.’
Pippa’s mind raced. So the watch wasn’t temperamental. It wasn’t confused or faulty. It was doing exactly what it was designed to do, working only when the magnet was nearby.
Horace kept turning the watch over, almost mesmerised. ‘I’ve… I’ve imagined this moment so many times. Seeing it again. But I never thought it would actually happen.’
Pippa looked across at Arthur, who still hadn’t said a single word. He was watching the watch.
Theo noticed too. ‘Grandfather, this is good news. Are you all right?’
He nodded.
Horace continued. ‘This watch could hold the secret to everything that happened. If the recordings are still stored inside it… then we might finally know the truth about how this watch disappeared and ended up in the hands of your grandfather, Samuel Bell.’
Theo nodded. ‘I think we all need to take a trip to Clockmaker’s Cottage.’ He stood slowly. ‘Right then. Let’s go.’
