26. nothing that she wanted more.

The Portuguese postmark told her who the letter was from. As usual, the tone was apologetic and once again offered to pay her fare out to Faro. This time she didn’t just tear it up and throw it away like all the others. She kept it to show Richard. Whereas before there had only been a little self-doubt about what she had to do, because she had kept her Grandmother’s secret for so long, now there was none. She was going to tell Richard what she had been told.
After his brush with death and his excitement about what Sam and Lizzie had told him, Richard went back to Wilderness Hotel, run by kind Jessica Shepherd. He showered and gratefully sank into his comfortable bed. He slept a deep peaceful sleep.
Before breakfast the next morning, he went on his walk down the shoreline towards Light Tickle. Shanolla met him as he came round the corner past Renney’s Store opposite the fire station. They exchanged pleasantries, then she said and her hands were shaking, ”You’ve been asking questions about the tombstone haven’t you? What did you find out?”
“Not very much, only that according to the inscription a James Jones Jeffrey and his baby daughter Emily died at that exact spot in an accidental fire.”
Shanolla tight-lipped, thought about her Grandmother’s wish and then in a measured voice said, ”It wasn’t an accident.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean there was someone else in the house on the night they died.”
The maid, Richard thought to himself.
“Who was it?”