They were doing the right thing. Even if it did make him feel miserable.
‘You have the bathroom first,’ he said, desperately wanting some space. And then he’d have a really cold shower to hammer it through his stupid skull never to give in to his emotions and his desires ever, ever again.
* * *
Was he pushing her away because he was infertile? Mariana wondered. Or was he using his infertility as an excuse—because Eric was right about her after all and nobody would really want to saddle themselves with someone like her?
Or maybe it was both.
How stupid she’d been, letting him get close to her and thinking that maybe he felt the same way that she did, wanting a relationship yet being scared it would all go wrong. Saying one thing with his mouth and another with his body. She’d been foolish enough to believe that their shared lovemaking had actually meant something. But, yet again, she’d managed to pick a man who couldn’t love her for who she was.
Well, she’d definitely learned her lesson, this time. She’d keep all her relationships professional, in future. But she wasn’t going to let all her dreams slide into nothingness. She was going to find out the truth behind Leo Moretti’s painting and she was going to work on cataloguing his collection. Angelo might not want her as a woman, but she knew he appreciated her work. And work was what would get her through this. Just as it had got her through the misery of Eric’s behaviour.
After an awkward breakfast, they bought a tin of biscuits for Billy, then headed for the residential home where he lived. Angelo was scrupulously polite and professional and again Mariana regretted giving in to the impulse last night. Why hadn’t she kept her distance?
Billy Reynolds was pleased with his gift but he was even more pleased with the company. ‘I love your programme, Miss Thackeray. The way you follow the trail all the way back from people who don’t have a clue about what they have, and then they find out their painting’s worth a small fortune. But I don’t know anything about paintings, so I don’t really know how I can help you.’
‘My grandfather bought a painting which shows the house you used to live in.’ Angelo showed Billy the photographs of Leo at the manor, the painting, and the photograph Leo had taken of Manor Farm.
‘That’s Manor Farm, all right. And I remember your grandfather visiting. I must’ve been in my teens back then.’ Billy looked thoughtful. ‘So he found the painting up at the big house?’
‘Yes. We were wondering what the connection might be between the farm and the manor,’ Mariana said.
Billy shook his head. ‘No idea. My family had that farm for generations before me. I don’t know of any connection with the big house, other than the name.’
‘We think the woman in the painting might be called Alice,’ Mariana said. ‘Is she one of your relatives?’
He squinted at the photograph. ‘She looks a bit like my grandfather’s younger sister, but I don’t think she was called Alice.’
With Billy being in his seventies now, even if they allowed thirty years for each generation, his great-aunt’s generation would still have been born well after the date of the painting.
‘I should have asked my mum to write the names on the back of all the old photos. Shirley, my oldest daughter, is researching the family tree and every so often she brings down a bunch of photos and gets me to tell her what I can remember.’ Billy paused. ‘I could ask her to get in touch with you.’
‘That would be really kind. Thank you,’ Angelo said, giving Billy his card.
The next stop was the solicitor’s office in Norwich.
‘I’m afraid that information is confidential,’ the receptionist told them when Angelo asked about the Fishers. ‘Under the data protection laws, I can’t confirm or deny anything.’
Angelo handed her his business card. ‘I understand completely. But I was hoping you could ask them to call us.’ He explained about the painting. ‘Anything they say to us will be in the strictest confidence.’
‘I know it’s a bit above and beyond the call of duty,’ Mariana said, ‘but Angelo’s grandfather has lung cancer and we’d really like to solve this for him before...’ She stopped and grimaced.