THE STORY SO FAR
Laura has recently inherited her beloved Aunt Jane’s house by the sea, which is as elegant and interesting as her enigmatic aunt herself. It’s a quieter place without her jazz music at cocktail hour, and Laura misses her fun-loving spirit, air of mystery and the stream of unlikely characters who would come to call. Yet Laura overcomes her loneliness and finds herself settling in, signing up for art classes and adopting a friendly little dog who refuses to leave her side. The more time she spends in the harbour town, the more its secrets fascinate her. How did Aunt Jane come to know so many people? Would she ever discover what went on behind the firmly locked cellar door leading to the tunnels that run beneath? Her husband Andrew is hell-bent on selling the place and, when Laura resists, he issues an ultimatum – the house or him. She chooses the house.
As soon as Laura had delivered her verdict on staying in Aunt Jane’s house, Andrew hung up. She let out a cry of exasperation, which made the terrier race to her side. ‘Don’t worry, boy,’ she said, patting the head of the little dog she’d recently found wandering in the street. ‘Let’s go for a nice walk.’
She felt in need of a good stomp to clear her head. It was typical of Andrew to lose his rag. Now, no doubt, he would blame her for ending a marriage that had been all but over for years, ignoring the inconvenient reality of his long-standing affair with a colleague at work.
