Katy Carter Keeps a Secret by Ruth Saberton Page B

her in the cottage when he was a boy, but Penny Pengelley from the sweet shop was convinced Cecily had bought the cottage before the First World War. Whatever the truth, Cecily Greville had been quite a recluse and when she died, without family or friends, she’d left her cottage to an animal shelter.
    “She never left any money to anyone but she was supposed to be one of the wealthiest women in the village,” Derrick continues, enjoying having a captive audience. “Where did all her valuables go? The jewellery? The money she’d stashed away for a rainy day?”
    “This is Cornwall, where it rains all the time, so she’d have spent all that.” Holly pulls a face, but the landlord isn’t put off by my sister’s cynicism.
    “Mock all you like, Holly Carter, but Cecily Greville came from one of the richest families in the area. Her father was a wine merchant, and believe me she’d have been worth something in any age. Before she died she told the old vicar she’d buried her life savings under the floor of the sitting room. He didn’t take her seriously, as she was quite muddled towards the end, but maybe she wasn’t as confused as we all thought?”
    I’m staring at him. “She told the vicar her life savings were buried under her sitting room floor? My sitting room floor? And you never thought to mention that before? Not in nearly five years?”
    Derrick shrugs his plump shoulders. “Sorry, maid. Never occurred to me before. Truth be told I’d all but forgotten it.”
    Derrick might have been able to forget that there’s a fortune buried under my sitting room but I know I won’t be able to. It’s going to drive me mad! How on earth can I sit on my sofa now watching EastEnders when underneath me are squillions of pounds? I’ll never sit still again.
    It’s going to be unbearable!
    If I find the missing money all our problems will be solved! I can get the roof fixed, rewire the cottage, pay off the mortgage and not write for Throb, and Ollie won’t have to work so hard. That’s what I call a result!
    I have to find out what’s under my floor! I have to!
    “Don’t you dare,” Holly says.
    “Dare what?”
    “Dare even think about pulling up the floorboards and looking underneath. It’s all nonsense, Katy.”
    It’s scary sometimes just how well my sister knows me. Then again, she’s seen me tear my parents’ place upside down hunting for our Christmas presents.
    “It might not be nonsense though. It could be true!” Frankie’s eyes are enormous. “Oh my God! Katy! There’s a fortune underneath your house, angel! I just know it!”
    Frankie has a fortune in his wallet and an even bigger one in his bank account, but he couldn’t look more excited as he clutches my arm and makes plans.
    “Even if there is, the money isn’t Katy’s,” says Maddy, pouring a gallon of water on my lovely sunshiny parade. “We know who it belonged to, don’t we? So it’s part of Miss Greville’s estate.”
    “Which Katy purchased,” says Derrick. “The house and all that’s in it are hers.”
    “And you said she had no family,” adds Frankie excitedly. “So it’s legally Katy’s! Finders keepers!”
    Although Frankie is a rock star and not a lawyer, he’s speaking with such conviction that I’m convinced. “Let’s go and look now! Before Ollie comes home and tells us we’re being daft!” I say.
    “You are being daft!” Holly’s practically shouting now. “It’s just a story!”
    But my poor sister might as well talk to the beer pumps because Mads, Frankie and I are now so worked up we can hardly sit still, and no matter how many times Holly tries to calm us down we’re quite unable to hear reason. By the time we leave the pub I’m one hundred percent certain I’m only metres and minutes away from financial salvation. As soon as I’ve found a way to lift the floorboards and pull out the treasure, my lottery habit, leaky roof and rewiring bill will all be history!
    “If you find