Page 81 of The Clockmaker's Cottage
He did. There was another click and he pulled at the desk drawer, which creaked open slightly.
Pippa gave a tiny gasp. ‘Oh my God. We are inside Agatha Vale’s desk.’
Theo hesitated, just for a second, and Pippa gave him a startled look. Then he pulled the drawer fully open.
Inside was chaos. Papers. Receipts. Pens. Envelopes. Old wrappers. Pippa felt a little thrill of nerves.
‘We shouldn’t…’ Theo said. ‘I’m not sure we should pry through Agatha’s private stuff.’
‘Who is going to know? There might be something in here that either supports Sebastian’s take on things or disproves it, and there might be some evidence revealing what the secret commission was. It won’t hurt to have a quick peek, surely?’
Theo didn’t look convinced. ‘I suppose…’
She nodded and pulled over a chair from the kitchen table and sat down. Theo sat on another chair near the desk and sifted through the top layer of papers, sorting old postcards, broken hairpins, and tattered theatre programmes into piles.
Pippa lifted a folded sheet of paper with a little water stain on one corner.
It was blank.
She put it aside.
Theo shifted aside a stack of receipts and paused.
‘What’s that?’ Pippa asked, leaning in.
He lifted out an envelope. The flap was still sealed with a blob of cracked red wax and on the front was written the name ‘Horace’. The handwriting was elegant, slanted, and unmistakably old-fashioned.
Pippa’s pulse quickened. ‘Shall we open it?’
‘What do you think?’
‘We’ve come this far.’ Pippa opened the envelope.
The letter inside was fragile, thin paper that had yellowed around the edges. Theo unfolded it carefully, laying it flat across the desk.
He began to read aloud.
15th July 1965
My Dearest Horace,
We have a problem.
The boy is not happy. He is beginning to cause waves, asking why he’s been taken off the project. We all know why, and I fear he will talk. I fear he will ruin our reputation.
We cannot involve W.
Once it is removed from the premises, no one will question us. There will be no proof. I will take care of that.
We must protect the Vale name at all costs.
A.V.
Theo looked at Pippa. ‘What the…’
Pippa was quiet. All she could hear was her heart thumping against her ribcage and the rain hammering outside. ‘Look at the date. St Swithin’s Day.’
‘That’s also the last time the island was cut off, as the rain flooded the causeway just like now.’
