“I don’t know who else it could have been. No one apart from us came in or out of the building on Wednesday night.”
“It’s always the quiet ones, isn’t it? And how areyoudoing, lass?”
Nova opened her mouth to say she was fine, but something caught in her throat and for a horrible moment she thought she was going to burst into tears.
“It’s not been great,” she managed to mumble. “We just have to really, really hope that we get the money back, otherwise…” She trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.
“Well, I’m happy to donate money again if needs be. Esi and I don’t have much, but we’d happily give what we can to help this place.” Arthur paused, his eyes scanning the room. “The community center means a lot to us, you know. We got married in Esi’s hometown in Ghana, but we had our British wedding celebration in this very room, back in 1966.”
“How amazing! Has it changed much since then?”
Arthur didn’t reply, and Nova could tell he was back there on his wedding day, dancing with his bride. A small smile passed over his lips, but his eyes were misty.
There was a shout over by the main door, and Nova looked up to see one of the food bank volunteers trying to remonstrate with a figure in the lobby. She couldn’t see who it was behind the man, but she had a good idea. Sure enough, a second later she heard a familiar voice.
“You can’t stop me going in here; this is a free service for the whole community.”
“You’re welcome to come in when we open, but the dog has to stay outside. It’s a health and safety rule.”
“This is discrimination! Would you stop a blind person bringing in a guide dog?”
“No, but that’s different; guide dogs are assistance animals.”
“Well, Craddockismy assistant.”
“I said assistance not…Ow!”
The man bent over to nurse his shin as Phyllis barged past him, Craddock at her side. She scanned the room until she spotted Nova.
“Oh Lordy,” Arthur muttered, as Phyllis bowled toward them.
“I assume you’ve heard?” The woman’s voice reached them before she did. “I told you there was something strange going on with that man, and I was right!”
“Phyllis, shhh!” The last thing Nova needed was her announcing the theft to the whole center. “Let’s go and talk somewhere quieter.”
She took Phyllis’s arm and steered her out the hall, past the volunteer who glared at the older woman.
“We can go into Tintagel, it should be free.”
Nova opened the door and ushered Phyllis inside, Craddock and Arthur hot on their heels. As soon as the door closed, Phyllis let rip.
“The second I saw him, I knew something was up. But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine something like this would happen.”
“We still don’t know for sure it was Michael,” Nova said.
“Oh, it was him all right. I’ve considered all other explanations and that’s the only one that fits with the evidence.”
“Well, PC Khan was hoping to speak to him yesterday afternoon so we should know whether he confesses to the crime soon enough.”
Phyllis let out a snort. “He’s not going to have much luck interviewing Michael now. Not unless they have a spirit medium over at Port Gowan police station.”
“What do you mean?” Arthur asked.
Phyllis’s head snapped to look at him, and then a satisfied smile spread across her face. “Are you telling me you don’t know yet?”
“Know what?”
The older woman pulled her shoulders back and took a deep, dramatic breath before she spoke again.
