A Cornish Kidnapping: The Loveday Mysteries, #2

By Rena George

Believing the remote Black Swan Inn, with its idyllic waterside location, could provide a romantic feature for her Cornish magazine, editor Loveday Ross, accepts an invitation to interview Marika Sweet. But the inn is not the idyllic creak-side hostelry Loveday had imagined.

It's a dirty, derelict, boarded up building - and there is no sign of Marika. A friendly neighbour, Millicent Sproat, reveals the inn is now in the hands of notorious local criminals, the Clemo brothers.

Unable to resist exploring the old place, Loveday sneaks in.  She does not see her attacker approaching from the shadows. A pain sears through her head as the blackness engulfs her and she crashes to the floor. Her policeman boyfriend, Detective Inspector Sam Kitto, is concerned for her safety, and warns her to leave the unsavoury brothers for the police to deal with, but that's not Loveday's way. Then there's a murder ... and more people start getting hurt. Could the Clemo's old sailing ship, the Arabella, provide the key to solving the mystery?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rosmorna
• Release date: Apr 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9781393480280

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

By the edge of a dark creek an old inn lies derelict and abandoned. Yet shadows move behind its shuttered windows.

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Out in the gloom, a ghostly sailing ship rocks at her moorings as a silent rower pulls for the shore.

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Will Loveday uncover what lies beneath the decks of the old Arabella before another frightened soul dies? Or will the secrets of the creek remain a mystery forever?

CHAPTER 1

Loveday Ross was in high spirits as she skipped down the stairs and out of the magazine office into Lemon Street. They’d done another great job on the July edition of Cornish Folk, and her colleagues were quite rightly celebrating. But this time she wasn’t joining the others in the pub. Her mind was already on the next issue of the magazine and the interview she’d set up with the hotel owner. If things went according to plan, this meeting could result in an entertaining two-page spread.

Her PA, Keri Godden, hadn’t been so happy about it though. ‘You’re surely not going there now, Loveday?’ The girl’s voice had risen in disbelief. She didn’t like her boss going off on her own to meet a complete stranger. ‘If you put it off until tomorrow I could go with you.’

‘I don’t need a babysitter, Keri.’

‘Well, I know that but-’

‘Besides,’ Loveday cut in, brushing aside her friend’s caution. ‘I’m intrigued. This woman has launched a new wedding planner business.’

Keri sighed. ‘Are you forgetting what happened the last time you went off on your own to meet that crazy woman?’

 ‘This is different. I’m not planning to rendezvous with a killer. This is a businesswoman. She runs one of those romantic16th century pubs all tucked away in a secret cove.’

‘You only have her word for that,’ Keri warned.

‘No, she’s texted me some pictures. Look.’ Loveday thrust out her phone. ‘It’s brilliant. There’s a great two-page spread here.’

Keri squinted at the images, taking in the Black Swan pub sign and the yachts at their mooring. ‘You gave her your mobile number?’ She rolled her eyes. ‘For heaven’s sake, Loveday! I thought we had rules about this. She’s a complete stranger.’

Loveday pursed her lips. Keri was right, she should be more cautious. but she had a good feeling about this one. The pictures were enticing, and she couldn’t wait to see the real thing.

‘I’m still not sure about this,’ the girl persisted, as Loveday took her jacket from the office’s ancient Victorian coat stand. ‘You’ve got form for this sort of thing… remember?’

Loveday wasn't about to forget. It had all started when her artist friend, Lawrence Kemp, invited her to join him and his class of students for an art project on the clifftop at Borlase. Drawn by the poignancy of the area, and the ghostly structures that were now all that remained of a once booming tin mining industry, Loveday had eagerly accepted. It would make an excellent feature for the magazine.

They hadn’t bargained for finding a body!

She shivered as she remembered. She could still see that shingled cove, and the man’s body staked out far below. He had been left to drown, like some macabre, childish prank gone wrong. But that had been no game. It was murder. And Loveday’s involvement had almost led to her losing her own life.

The memory sent another shiver down Loveday’s spine, but it was in the past now and she had moved on. This meeting was different.

Businesswoman Marika Sweet had been running her own pub for five years. The telephone conversation had been brief, but she’d explained the wedding side of the business was new and she was now working to promote it.

It was the kind