The Islands in the Bay – Chapter (003) Leaving High Pines

 

February

The setting for the Arnold residence was breath taking and was remote and peaceful as promised.

However, the 10-bedroom house, called unimaginatively, Lakeside, looked unspectacular from the outside.

The interior on the other hand was the complete opposite and was the epitome of luxury, works of art adorned every wall, there were wood panelled walls, leather upholstery, silk wall coverings, velvet curtains, Bronzes, Chinese vases, porcelain, carved ivory, and English silver.

It may not have been “on trend” but the whole place oozed class.

However, despite its classic décor, it was appointed with all the mod cons, electronic surveillance, satellite communication, and their own generator in case the power was interrupted.

 

The day after moving to the house, Nurse, Vicki Pullen, joined the other four live in staff.

Elisa Ghelardoni, cook, housekeeper Rebecca Clarke and gardener handyman husband Ross, and last but by no means least George Wood and he referred to himself as the chauffeur gofer.

 

Once they had arrived at the house, much as he did at High Pines, Danny relied heavily on Molly, who apart from transcribing his recordings, also did his fact checking and helped with research.

He spent most of his time in the library, but Molly also had to help Sir Avery with his correspondence, but they made steady progress on the book.

 

Apart from writing he still had his daily chess games with Avery, either in his study or his room, and every day he looked paler than the day before.

The only time they left the house was for either exercise or to go to church and both things were weather dependent, and the weather in February was appalling, with snowstorm after snowstorm.

So, when the weather finally broke, they were all looking forward to going out to church, and on the evening before, in the middle of their chess game, Danny asked.

“Are you going to Church tomorrow?”

“No, no, God and I are not on speaking terms” he replied.

“We haven’t spoken since my daughter Charlotte and her husband John were killed.”

“Is that why Molly lives with you?”

“Yes, she was only a toddler at the time of the accident, not even 3” Avery said.

“What happened?” Danny asked.

“They were hit head on by a drunk driver.” he replied sadly.

“Thank God Molly wasn’t with them.”

“Thank God?”

“Well, yes, he got that part right at least” Avery agreed wryly.

“Is that why you raised Molly in the church?” Danny asked.

“No, it wasn’t that” he replied with a smile “It was because Charlotte would never have forgiven me if I had denied Molly a Christian upbringing.”

 

He thought about that conversation many times over the coming weeks, because although he said he wasn’t talking to God, he still kept a bible by his bed.

March

As February gave way to a less bitter and wintry March there were regular visits to the house by Sir Avery’s Lawyers and the occasional appearance of his Doctor.

By the time they headed into a more benign April Avery was confined to bed and the amount of time spent on their chess game got less and less.