Page 10 of A Letter to the Last House Before the Sea

‘Isn’t it lovely? I used to live in Spain, near the coast, and our cove measures up well to the beaches over there.’

‘What did you do in Spain?’

‘B&B work, selling apartments, this and that. I lived abroad for a few years and came home when my mum died earlier this year, and never left.’ She didn’t look unhappy about resuming her life in Heaven’s Cove.

‘I met a few of the locals while I was looking around the village.’

‘Really? Who was that?’

‘Someone called Belinda, first of all.’

‘Ah.’ Rosie sat back on her heels. ‘She can be rather full on. Was she all right?’

Lettie grinned. ‘Shewaspretty full on, but fine. She suggested someone called Claude might know about my family, when they lived here.’

‘He might,’ said Rosie, hesitantly, ‘but he’s not…’ She paused, choosing her words carefully. ‘He’s not always the easiest person to talk to.’

‘Has he lived here long?’

‘All his life, I think.’

‘And Belinda said he has some sort of archive of historic documents.’

‘Apparently, though I’ve never seen it. His mother was a great one for collecting information, and Claude continued after her death.’

‘Doesn’t he show it to anyone?’

Rosie shrugged. ‘Not as far as I’m aware.’

‘I thought I might try calling at his house…’ Lettie noticed Rosie’s expression and bit her lip. ‘Or maybe see if he’s in the pub?’

‘That might be a better idea. Claude guards his privacy rather fiercely and can be a little… abrupt when people knock on his door.’

‘So Belinda said.’ Going to Claude’s home was seeming less enticing by the moment. Lettie stepped back as Rosie got to her feet and rolled her shoulders. ‘I met someone else on the beach. A man who was swimming. He wasn’t terribly friendly.’

Rosie frowned. ‘What did he look like?’

‘Tall, dark, um…’ Lettie wasn’t going to say ‘handsome’. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. ‘He said he was a fisherman, and he was a bit, well, bad tempered, to be honest. He had a scar here.’ She traced a finger across her middle.

‘Oh, that’ll be Corey. He can be a bit prickly with grockles, and he’s got a lot on his plate at the moment.’

‘Grock-what?’

Rosie grinned. ‘Grockles. The Devon word for tourists. Take no notice of Corey. He has a good heart. He looks after his grandmother who lives at the top of the village.’

‘Really?’ That did imply a good heart. Lettie upgraded her opinion of Corey from obnoxious to simply unpleasant. ‘What about his parents?’

‘His mum moved away a couple of years ago to be closer to his sister who has a son with disabilities.’ Rosie’s mouth twitched in the corner. ‘If you ask Belinda, she’ll tell you all about it.’

‘I bet.’

‘And his dad died when Corey was small.’

‘That’s sad.’

‘Yeah, it was. I was only a child but I can remember the upset in the village at the time.’ She slapped her hands together to brush soil from her fingers. ‘Anyway, that was a long time ago. Would you like a cup of tea? I seem to live on the stuff.’

‘That would be lovely, if you’re not too busy.’

‘The gardening can wait, and my knees are killing me.’

Lettie followed Rosie inside, already feeling better after her bruising encounter with Corey. She would do her best to avoid him during her stay in the village.

The one person she did want to see again was Claude, with his stash of Heaven’s Cove cuttings from the past. They probably wouldn’t tell her what Iris had meant when she’d whispered,Find out for me, darling girl.Or if those final words were definitely linked to the mysterious letter hidden in her handbag. But surely discovering what she could about Iris and her family was the best place to start.