nbsp; ‘What’s his name?’ he asked, as a parting shot.
‘Beeswax,’ she said smartly. ‘Mr M Y O Beeswax.’
Jason’s laughter rang in her ears as she escaped into the kitchen.
Jenna was already in there, looking bright eyed and flushed.
‘I’ve got the kettle on already. Is Jason coming in for a cup of tea? I’ve got something to show him,’ she said.
‘Yeah, I think so.’ Kayley found three mugs and lined them up.
Jason came in a few seconds later, leaving his work boots by the door.
‘Jason, come into the drawing room. I’ve found something out,’ said Jenna.
‘I’ll bring the teas through, shall I?’ Kayley called after them, but they were too intent on their mysterious business to reply.
She shrugged and opened the tea caddy.
In the drawing room, Jenna winced as Jason sat his dusty, jeans-clad bottom down on her new antique sofa.
‘What is it then?’
‘I’ve subscribed to this genealogy website,’ began Jenna enthusiastically, ‘and I’ve been looking up Frances Harville’s family in Nottingham. And I think I’ve found something interesting.’
‘Oh, right,’ said Jason. ‘Like, what happened to her and the kid after they left here?’
‘Possibly. I don’t know. But look here.’
She opened a page depicting a scanned-in photograph of a newspaper clipping from long, long ago. It contained a list of births, deaths and marriages.
‘Which one?’
‘Far right column, second down.’
It was a death notice for a Joseph Manning, draper, of Carlton Vale. Survived by his wife, Ethel, and three children, Frances, Mary and David.
‘Three children?’ said Jason. ‘I know she had a sister, but …’
‘Exactly. She had a sister, Mary, but no brother that she mentioned. And she would have mentioned that in her diary entries, given how upset she was at having to leave her family. So David …’
‘David’s the kid? Harville’s son?’
‘Same first name. And it was very common, in those days, if a daughter of a respectable family was “disgraced”, to bring the child up as their sibling. I really think this David is Frances’s son. I’m going to look for the birth certificate next. And then I’m going to try and find out what happened to him, and to Frances. Isn’t it amazing how much we can glean from these notices and parish records? I might take a trip to Nottingham tomorrow and see if I can take a look at the county archive.’
‘Go for it,’ said Jason, his interest turning quickly to the tray of mugs Kayley was bringing in. ‘Ah, that’s what I need right now. A good brew. Cheers, Kay.’
He turned to Jenna.
‘Do you know who her mystery bloke is, then?’
Jenna looked swiftly at Kayley.
‘Mystery bloke? No. What’s this about?’
‘Nothing,’ said Kayley firmly, leaning on a table to sip her tea. ‘Jason’s put two and two together and made seven.’
‘Yeah, ending your phone calls really suddenly and being all cagey about who you were talking to,’ said Jason, rolling his eyes. ‘That’s not a dead giveaway at all.’