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Fifty breathless minutes later, Gwenna returned Freddy and Jake to their mother, who had had a pre-natal appointment to attend at the hospital She knew Joyce Miller well for the toether at the nursery for over a year

‘Coed ‘I’ll ave her a wry appraisal ‘Is the Evil Witch jerking your chain again?’ Gwenna shrugged acceptance ‘There’s still a few things needing done at my father’s house—’ ‘But you don’t even live there I can’t see what the state of the Old Rectory has got to do with you’ It was quite a few years since Gwenna had moved into the small flat above the office at the nursery Her accommodation was spartan but it had been a relief to embrace peace and independence ‘I don’t mind if it keeps Eva happy Tomorrow is a special day for Dad’ ‘And for you,’ Joyce chipped in ‘Massey Manor was built by your ancestors It was once your hed and shook her head ‘More than a generation back and even then it was going to rack and ruin My grand so badly and by then she andin a couple of rooic knack of etting the locals together and coarden restoration’ Gwenna grinned ‘Thanks, but I’ve only ever been the backrooue and his fantastic business connections which brought in the serious pledges of money He’s done a marvellous job Without his input ould never have made it this far’ ‘I’ve finally realised why you’re still single You adore your father,’ the redhead said ruefully ‘Noover to the Old Rectory where her father and stepht about that conversation She had not argued the point because the truth was too private But, even so, Gwenna did believe that for any man to match Donald Hamilton would be a very tall order indeed Her fatherwas special It had taken an exceptional hter, take her into his hoe She accepted that her father had his flaws As a younger man, he had had a pronounced weakness for women and more than one extra-marital affair Her mother, Isabel Massey, had been one of those women

The following , Gwenna watched while her father posed for the calected h coer With his silvering blond hair swept back from his tanned brow, he was a very presentable ed a successful career with a furniture co with the loss to an already polished public perforates were swept open and the local television news team recorded the moment and punctuated it with an intervieenna’s step in the li since she ell aware that she would be unwelcome and that the subsequent unpleasantness would discomfit her father

‘I didn’t realise the police bigere co too,’ a member of the Massey Garden committee remarked at her elbow ‘That’s Chief Superintendent Clarke’ Gwenna glanced over her shoulder and sao rave Anothersaid was evidently not to Donald Ha, for he had turned a dull red and he was saying loudly that so attention to the tableau With an exasperated smile on his lips, her father strode towards thesally as he approached But a curious little puddle of silence was steadily spreading through the crowd It enabled Gwenna to hear the senior police officer refer to ‘very serious allegations’ She watched in frank disbelief as her father had his legal rights read to him In full view of his fa arrested

In his opulent private suite at the Peveril House hotel later that afternoon, Angelo Riccardi flicked on the recording that had been made for his benefit

Having received an anonyered for thefinale that had been proht of his self-glorification as local worthy and philanthropist, brought crashing down from his little plastic pedestal of respectability