Ravens Gathering Read Online Free PDF Page B

apprehensive.
    “I take it you don’t know about the development,” she said
at last.
    “No.  Enlighten me,” he invited.  There was still
a playfulness in his voice, but she sensed he was backing off a little. 
No doubt he had recognised that she had done the same.
    “We’re having some houses built.”  She gestured to the
opposite side of the yard.  A couple of hundred yards from where they were
standing was another gateway that led on to a track.  About half a mile
along that track there had once been some old barns.  They were virtually
falling down when Ian had bought the farm.  Now they were in the process
of conversion.  Already eight houses had been created, and five more were
under construction.  Unfortunately, only five of the eight had been sold,
and two of those had gone for less than they expected.  Hence Ian’s
meetings with the banks.
    “What’s that got to do with...Patrick?”
    The hesitation was brief, but she was aware of it.
    “He’s helping Matt.  They’re working on it
together.”  She saw understanding begin to creep into his
expression.  “I don’t think he could get any other work when the farm was
sold.”
    “Sold to you?”
    She cocked her head, then looked down at herself.  “Do
I look like a farmer?”  She was aware that she was taking them back in a
direction she’d already shied away from.
    “I wouldn’t have said you were typical.  So what’s the
story?”  He gestured to the farmhouse.  “I take it you’re not just
visiting?”
    “Could be.”
    “Not if you’ve got that much shopping.  Besides, you
said ‘we’ are having some houses built.  I take it that means you own the
land?  I also take it that means there’s more than one of you?”
    Plus there’s the incriminating evidence of the gold band on
my left hand, she thought to herself.
    “Been watching a lot of Inspector Morse ?”
    He looked at her blankly.  “Inspector...?”
    “John Thaw?” she offered helpfully.
    “The guy out of The Sweeney ?”
    “Well, yes.  But he plays Morse nowadays.”
    He shook his head.  “Haven’t seen much TV for a while.”
    “Been away?”  Stupid question really, considering the
colour of him.  And he must have recognised that from the look he gave her.
    “You could say that.”
    Her reference to his detective work had clearly fallen by
the wayside now.  Although she did contemplate bringing Columbo into the conversation, there was no
point really.
    “You’re right,” she said at last.  “This is our
house.  It belongs to my husband and me.  We bought the farmhouse and
a few extra acres.  But most of the land was sold to Mr Lambert at Lodge
Farm.”
    “So that’s when he would have lost his job?”
    Tanya shrugged helplessly.  “I imagine so.  It was
before we moved here.  From what I can gather, the land was sold a few
years earlier.”
    The stranger smiled awkwardly, as if an uncomfortable
thought had just struck him.  “I’m sorry.  I’ve just realised I must
sound as if I’m interrogating you.”
    “Not at all.”  And that was true.  It hadn’t even
occurred to her.  Their dialogue had seemed quite natural.  Now she
considered it, she could see that his questions had the potential to be
intrusive, but they had felt perfectly natural.
    He nodded at her hands.  “And your arms must feel as if
they’re about to pop out of your sockets.”  He glanced behind her at the
open boot.  “Let me help you take these in, then I’ll leave you in peace.”
    Her reservations about him were gone, though she couldn’t
have explained why.  Well, maybe there was good old-fashioned lust getting
in the way of common sense.  But she suspected it was more than just that.
    “Okay.”  She stepped aside to let him get to the
car.  He reached in and lifted all of the remaining bags out. 
Slamming the boot shut, she followed him to the kitchen door.  “Go on in,”
she told him when he paused outside.  A gentleman? she