The Lost Ancestor by Nathan Dylan Goodwin Page B

with a grin.  ‘It would certainly keep the travel
costs down.’
    ‘It really would,’ Susan agreed.
     Douglas arrived back at the
table.  ‘Three lattes coming right up!  Maybe if the good lady wife
permits it, we can follow it with a Scotch or two later,’ he said, playfully
nudging his elbow at Morton.
    ‘Bit too early for me, I’m afraid.’ 
Morton smiled and reached down for his notepad and pen.  Pleasantries
over, it was time to start angling the conversation towards the Mercer
Case.  ‘Well, I’m really pleased that you were able to come down this way
and meet up like this; it could help a lot with this case I’m working on.’
    ‘No problem at all,’ Douglas said. 
‘We don’t need much of an excuse for a weekend away, do we, dear?’
    ‘Especially not somewhere so beautiful,’
Susan said meekly.
    ‘To be honest, I’m pretty well retired now
anyway.’
    ‘Ironmongery still doing well, is it?’
Morton asked, somewhat surprised to hear of a traditional shop doing so well
against the big supermarkets and online retailers.
    Douglas laughed.  ‘Oh, not that—my
brother makes a couple of quid from that—I’ve been in stocks and shares since
the early nineties.’
    Susan gently tapped Douglas on the
leg.  ‘We haven’t come here to talk about that, Doug.’
    ‘Sorry, fire away,’ Douglas said, pulling
a mock-reprimanded face.
    Morton picked up his pen, then posed his
first direct question: ‘What do you know about Mary Mercer?’
    Douglas drew in a long breath. 
‘Well, obviously I’ve not got a personal memory of her!  I might
look old but I’m not so ancient that I actually recall her.  Everything
that I know comes from family lore.  I think there was some kind of a
family bust-up so our side down in Bristol haven't really kept in touch with
the rest of the family.’
    ‘What were you told about what happened to
Mary?’ Morton probed.
    ‘Basically, from our position outside
looking in, Mary was driven away from Winchelsea.  Either she got into a
row at home or work, I don’t know which, then decided to up sticks and
leave.  She went to Scotland to get some peace and never returned. 
Simple really.’
    ‘And, as far as you know, she never came
to visit your grandmother, Caroline, or made contact at all?’
    ‘No,’ Douglas said assuredly. 
‘Never.  Mary was always the odd one out in the family, bit of a
loner.  She didn’t really bond with either of her sisters.  From what
my mum had said to me over the years, it would have been really out of
character for her to have suddenly made contact with our side again after she
left.’
    ‘That’s a bit strange, wouldn’t you say?’
Morton said.  ‘To just up and leave and never return.  That must have
been some huge argument.’
    ‘But it’s only unusual because of the type
of people we are, Morton.  I mean, I know my old ball and chain is a bit
of a handful at times, but I couldn’t leave her,’ Douglas said, smiling
playfully at Susan.  ‘But that’s because of the type of person I am. 
I expect you couldn’t leave your girlfriend either.  Mary wasn’t like us,
though.  As I said, she was the odd one out: a loner.’
    Morton smiled but wasn’t convinced. 
Every family had its share of trials and tribulations, but, to his mind, it
would take one cataclysmic event for anyone to voluntarily disappear and never
make contact with anyone in the family ever again.  ‘Do you know if
anyone on your side ever tried to find her?’ he asked, taking a mouthful of his
latte.
    ‘I wouldn’t know for certain; I would
imagine so.  My mum spoke of her on and off over the years but I don’t
think she was very minded to try and track her down—she’d not ever met
her.  I think they just respected the fact that she didn’t want to be
found.’
    ‘It would be nice to know what happened to
poor Mary,’ Susan said quietly.
    Morton looked at Douglas’s ambivalent
face.  He clearly didn’t share his