‘I could understand him scooting off for a while if he thought he was going to get a lot of flak about abandoning Susan in her moment of need. But you’d think he’d miss all those people he worked for.’They were in the restaurant of the Welcombe Hotel, a gracious country house hotel with its own golf-course, about a mile outside Stratford-upon-Avon, which Roy had booked them into. Beth had expected something small and quite ordinary, but it was very grand; it had a vast drawing room with a huge log fire, comfortable couches and armchairs, and sumptuous bedrooms. Beyond the windows of the restaurant were floodlit formal gardens and a splendid view of the golf-course and surrounding countryside. It was the sort of place which would be fully booked most of the year with golfers and tourists, but so soon after the New Year there were only a handful of guests and the other people in the restaurant that night were mainly locals.Stan had directed Roy and Beth to two other people in nearby villages who had employed Liam, so they had called on both of them after leaving the pub.
