Page 39 of Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay
‘Shame,’ Benji says, winking. ‘No, you’ve nothing to worry about there. Tom is as sound as these castle walls.’
‘That’s not a great recommendation; they’re crumbling pretty badly in places, you know.’
‘Ah, well, Tom is still solid. Very reliable chap. Much more reliable than Jo was . . . ’ Benji looks down into his tea for a moment. ‘Anyway,’ he says brightly, ‘other than strange men turning up on your doorstep, what else has been happening since you got here?’
I tell Benji everything that’s happened so far, with the exception of those peculiar events I can’t quite explain. I’m still not sure about those myself yet, and I don’t think now is the time to begin discussing the possibility of ghostly goings-on at Chesterford with him.
After we’ve finished our tea I take Benji on a walk through the castle, introducing him to a few of the staff we meet along the way, then we wander out into the grounds.
‘I wonder where Tom is,’ I say, looking out across the wide expanse of grass that leads down to the front gates of the castle. ‘I’m sure he’d like to see you while you’re here. I think he was helping Joey plant some new trees this afternoon.’
‘You’re keeping him busy, then? He’s not just on restoration.’
‘At the moment he’s covering anywhere he’s needed. But I hope to have him as a full-time conservator when all our new members of staff start work.’
‘Wonderful, he’ll like that.’
‘So how much of your holidays do you have left?’ I ask as we stroll down the hill along the drive towards the main gate. It’s already time to collect Charlie, and we thought it would be a nice surprise for him if Benji came to the school to meet him too. ‘You must have been away a good few weeks already.’
‘That is a very good question,’ Benji says mysteriously.
‘Does it deserve a good answer?’
‘I could be on holiday indefinitely,’ Benji says, not looking at me.
‘How come?’
‘Well, when I said I’d been to visit my parents that wasn’t the whole truth. Iwasvisiting them, but I was also having a good think while I was there too.’
‘About?’
‘About whether to diversify.’
‘Diversify into what?’
‘Writing; I’ve been asked to pen a book.’
‘Really? That’s amazing. A book about what?’
‘It’s a bit of a mish-mash, really. The publishers want a book about how to trace your family tree, but to give it a twist they want me to add my own anecdotes from my years of tracing other people’s.’
‘That sounds great, Benji. Are you going to do it?’ I unlock the small side gate next to the main one, and we step through.
‘That’s what I’ve been thinking about.’
‘Not that I’ve ever been asked to write a book,’ I say, locking the gate behind us, and leading Benji down the path towards the village, ‘but isn’t it a huge honour that they want you?’
Benji nods. ‘Yes, it was a bit of a bolt out of the blue and I’m very keen to do it, it’s just . . . ’
‘What?’
‘They want me to write it in a few months – they have a publication slot available early next year that will coincide with a new TV programme the BBC are showing about tracing your family tree.’
‘And . . . ?’ I couldn’t really see what Benji’s problem was.
‘I can’t do my normal jobandwrite a book, Amelia, it’s impossible. When I’m working on a case it’s pretty full on – people want results as fast as possible.’
‘But can’t you take some time out? You’ve just had a little holiday; surely you could just extend it?’
