Tendrils Of The Past


 Contents
 Cover
 Also by Anthea Fraser from Severn House
 Title Page
 Copyright
 Character List
 Chapter One
 Chapter Two
 Chapter Three
 Chapter Four
 Chapter Five
 Chapter Six
 Chapter Seven
 Chapter Eight
 Chapter Nine
 Chapter Ten
 Chapter Eleven
 Chapter Twelve
 Chapter Thirteen
 Chapter Fourteen
 Chapter Fifteen
 Chapter Sixteen
 Also by Anthea Fraser from Severn House
 The Rona Parish mysteries (in order of appearance)
 BROUGHT TO BOOK
 JIGSAW
 PERSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN
 A FAMILY CONCERN
 ROGUE IN PORCELAIN
 NEXT DOOR TO MURDER
 UNFINISHED PORTRAIT
 A QUESTION OF IDENTITY
 JUSTICE POSTPONED
 RETRIBUTION
 Other titles
 BREATH OF BRIMSTONE
 PRESENCE OF MIND
 THE MACBETH PROPHECY
 MOTIVE FOR MURDER
 DANGEROUS DECEPTION
 PAST SHADOWS
 FATHERS AND DAUGHTERS
 THICKER THAN WATER
 SHIFTING SANDS
 THE UNBURIED PAST
 A TANGLED THREAD
 SINS OF THE FATHERS
 THE TIES THAT BIND
 TENDRILS OF THE PAST
 
 Anthea Fraser
 
 
 
 This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
 
 
 First world edition published in Great Britain and the USA in 2023
 by Severn House, an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd,
 14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE.
 Trade paperback edition first published in Great Britain and the USA in 2023
 by Severn House, an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd.
 This eBook edition first published in 2023 by Severn House,
 an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd.
 severnhouse.com
 Copyright © Anthea Fraser, 2023
 All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. The right of Anthea Fraser to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.
 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
 A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. 
 ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0978-8 (cased) 
 ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0991-7 (trade paper)
 ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0990-0 (e-book)
 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is purely coincidental.
 This eBook produced by
 Palimpsest Book Production Limited,
 Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland
 CHARACTER LIST
 Cicely Fairfax
 Theo, her son
 Imogen, Theo’s wife
 Abby and Mia Fairfax, Cicely’s granddaughters
 Charles and Sarah Drummond, the girls’ parents
 Lily and Luke, their friends
 Richard Coulson
 Julia, his wife
 Adam and Jamie, their sons
 Nina Phillips, college nurse
 Rob, her husband
 Danny, their son
 Rose Linscott
 Fleur Tempest, her daughter
 Owen Tempest, her son-in-law and deputy head of St Catherine’s College
 James Monroe, master at the college
 Guy Burnside
 Anya, his wife
 Suzanne (Suzie) Maybury, bookshop owner
 Terry, her partner
 Madelaine Peel, a freelance journalist
 Steve, her friend and fellow journalist
 ONE
 Dorset, April, fifteen years ago
 The bodies were found by a mother on the school run. ‘Abby usually comes running down the path as I draw up,’ said Mrs Emily Barton, aged 34. ‘I waited a moment or two and when she didn’t appear I went up the path and rang the bell. There was no reply, which was strange; then I noticed a light on in the front room. So I looked through the window and – I saw them.’
 Dorset, February/March, fifteen years ago
 ‘Sarah!’
 Sarah Drummond loaded the last of the carrier bags into her boot and closed it before turning. And caught her breath. God, it was Luke! How was she supposed to greet him? Once it would have been an enthusiastic hug, but those days were long gone. Thanks to Lily.
 ‘I thought it was you!’ he said as he reached her and bent to kiss her cheek. ‘How are you? How’s the family?’
 She smiled a little stiffly. ‘Fine, thanks. And you?’
 ‘Oh, same old, same old. Our lives are so hectic we hardly ever meet! Ships that pass in the night! How’s old Charles? We see each other occasionally at the golf club, but only for the passing word.’
 ‘He’s fine,’ Sarah said. Then, making an effort, ‘He’s been made a partner in the firm.’
 ‘That’s great! Do congratulate him for me!’ He paused, eyeing the empty trolley. ‘Suppose I park that for you and we go for a coffee and catch up?’
 ‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ she said quickly. ‘I have to collect Mia from nursery.’
 ‘Ah. Well, mustn’t keep you, but I can at least relieve you of your trolley.’ He gently removed it from her grasp. ‘Good to have seen you, Sarah, and regards to Charles.’
 Bloody Lily! she thought, as she climbed into the car. She knew Charles regretted losing Luke’s friendship – or at least the manifestations of it – and it seemed Luke felt the same. As she drove to the nursery her mind drifted back over the years.
 She and Lily had been room-mates at university, where they’d shared clothes and confidences and covered for each other over missed essays. And a year or two later it was to Lily she first confided that she was falling for Charles. Significantly, it seemed now, it was as they were discussing marriage that an unexpected divergence of opinion emerged, Lily stating categorically that she didn’t intend to have children. Sarah, who’d always adored babies, was taken aback.
 ‘Really?’ she’d exclaimed. ‘Why ever not?’
 Lily had shrugged. ‘Not part of my life plan,’ she’d replied, and refused, then or later, to be drawn further. And Sarah, having told herself Lily would change her mind when she met the right man, soon forgot the comment.
 Within the