Blythe was feeling exactly the same, which was why she hadn’t mentioned her kiss with Sam. ‘That’s okay. But we need to have a proper catch-up before Christmas.’
‘Definitely. Thanks for understanding,’ said Vicky.
‘Why don’t you two have a look around the fayre before it gets too busy and I’ll keep watch on your stall,’ offered Blythe. She was so pleased that Vicky was letting Owen back into her life. Some people were just meant to be together.
‘Great, thanks,’ said Owen, taking Vicky’s hand and pulling her away.
‘Don’t watch. Sell!’ instructed Vicky as she was towed away.
*
Thirty minutes later Blythe was getting flustered by the big crowd of people around the stall. Where was Vicky? She’d been ages browsing the fayre. Blythe tipped some more pom-pom decorations out of the box and tried to attend to the customers in an orderly way. One lady had two in her hand and her head down studying more pom-poms.
‘Can I help you with those?’ asked Blythe.
The woman looked up. There was a moment where they both smiled before placing the other. ‘You!’ said Blythe, recognising her customer as the woman who had been creeping around Sam’s cottage. The woman dropped the pom-poms and turned to disappear into the crowd. ‘Oh no you don’t!’ Blythe was determined not to lose her again. ‘Hold the fort!’ she yelled to the stallholder next to her as she dashed from behind the stand and grabbed the hood of the woman’s coat.
‘Ow!’ she shrieked, and the crowd all turned to look.
‘Didn’t pay,’ said Blythe by way of explanation.
‘I’m back!’ called Vicky, holding up an armful of brown paper bags. It appeared she’d spent her profits before she’d earned them.
‘Great. Can you take over while I have a chat with this lady?’
‘Sure.’ Vicky dumped her packages, clapped her hands together and turned her attention to her many customers.
Blythe linked arms with the mystery woman. ‘I think it’s time you and I had a talk.’
‘I can’t stop – I need to be somewhere,’ she said, although she was walking in step with Blythe as they moved away from the crowded stalls.
‘It won’t take long. All I want to know is who you are, what you were doing snooping around that cottage over there and why you keep popping up in Holly Cross.’
The woman sighed heavily. ‘It’s going to sound crazy.’
‘Try me.’ They had reached Sam’s cottage so Blythe sat down on the wall and gestured for the woman to join her. ‘I’m Blythe, by the way.’
The woman hesitated then sighed resignedly. ‘Dawn,’ she said, dusting the wall before gingerly perching on it. She glanced over her shoulder at the cottage. ‘I’m not sure what I was hoping to find here. It’s all a bit of a mystery really.’
‘I love a mystery,’ said Blythe, now completely hooked.
Dawn pressed her lips into a flat line. ‘You see, I came here because I was given this car and the only address in the sat nav was this cottage.’
Blythe felt this wasn’t much of a mystery at all. ‘The previous owner probably came to see the lights once.’
‘From Manchester?’ asked Dawn, with a tilt of her head.
Blythe had to concede that was a fair way to come. ‘It’s very popular.’
‘He travelled all over the country visiting nature reserves. So why would this be the only address?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Blythe, wondering why this woman was so interested in what her car’s previous owner had got up to. Vicky was now waving at her to come back as the queue to the stall was snaking across the pavement and into the road. ‘Maybe they knew their way to those other places.’
‘He always said he liked exploringnewplaces. Tracking down rare bird species. But I’ve only found one spotters’ book with anything detailed in it and the last entry was August 2010. I’m not sure he was going birdwatching. I thought perhaps he was coming here. But I don’t know why. I feel like I didn’t know him at all.’
‘Know who?’ Blythe was losing track of what Dawn was talking about. Vicky’s waving was getting more frantic. Blythe was going to have to apologise and go and help.
‘My dad. He left me the car in his will.’ Dawn looked dejected.
