The Power of One Read Online Free PDF

right and early the next morning Rina and Tim were at the airfield, examining the latest stage in reconstruction. This had become a regular walk for them lately, the footpath running along the perimeter giving a good view of the ongoing work and then leading up on to the cliff path.
    â€˜Was that postcard from George?’ Tim asked. ‘I just spotted it when Matthew collected the mail.’
    â€˜Jointly from George and Ursula. She added a postscript. They should be moving back next month when the repairs to Hill House are finished.’
    Tim grinned sheepishly; he’d been rather responsible for the damage to the front of the house which meant that the childrens’ home had to be relocated for a few months. There’d been talk of moving out for good but no one seemed to want to buy the place and the council had been unable to find other premises so it looked as though George and Ursula would be moving back there after all. Currently, they were both in temporary foster care in Dorchester though for the past two weeks they’d been away on some sort of outward bound scheme in ‘wettest Wales’ as George described it.
    â€˜He says that he hasn’t been dry since they got there,’ Rina said. ‘They’ve either been rained on or participating in “river things”. I get the feeling he isn’t keen.’
    â€˜And Ursula?’
    â€˜Says he’s just exaggerating. I must say, though, I’ll be glad to have them back. I had a letter from Stan too.’
    â€˜Oh.’ Criminal turned hero in Tim’s eyes, Stan was currently awaiting trial for what Tim and Rina both viewed as a very justifiable homicide. ‘He’s well and hopeful. His legal team seem to think they have a real argument to bring to the CPS.’
    â€˜Well with the Duggans throwing money at the problem, I think he’s got a good chance. Rina, what do you reckon happened on Paul’s boat?’
    She shrugged sturdy shoulders. ‘I’m most intrigued by the identity of the second man,’ she said. ‘Something very odd is going on, Tim. The old antenna is twitching. Paul was keeping secrets from everyone, including his family, which makes me think one of two things. Either he was deliberately deceiving them or he was trying to protect them from something.’
    â€˜And your money is on?’
    â€˜The second. Paul didn’t strike me as a deceitful man. I’d have said that his job probably instilled a degree of caution. From what I understand, this whole hi-tech business attracts industrial spies, but I wouldn’t have said he was a dishonest man. His sister-in-law certainly didn’t seem to think so, at least, that was the impression I gleaned from the way she reacted yesterday. She was surprised. No, shocked at the idea that there was something she didn’t know about.’
    â€˜Unless Paul was a very practised liar,’ Tim suggested. ‘And the brother?’
    Rina frowned. ‘Something odd going on there too. I think he was worried about their relationship. His wife and brother, I mean. But added to that he’s a man with something important on his mind; something he doesn’t know how to deal with.’ She flicked her walking stick impatiently at a clump of nettles. ‘The annoying thing is, I have no idea what.’
    Tim hid his smile as Rina’s stick whipped out again, this time taking the head off an errant thistle. She didn’t need the stick for walking, it was more potential weapon or fashion accessory than utilitarian but it could be a dangerous accessory. ‘I’ve no doubt you’ll figure it out,’ he said.
    â€˜Oh, of course I will, but it is aggravating, Tim, not to be in possession of all the facts. There are questions I should have asked earlier; things I should have discovered.’
    â€˜You had no reason to want to know things then,’ Tim argued.
    â€˜Which just goes to show, Tim.