The Power of One by Jane A. Adams Page B

wondered, in a spirit of mischief, if she could arrange to have dancing skeletons on hers and then abandoned the idea on the grounds that she wouldn’t be there to share the joke.
    The announcement for
Payne 23
seemed to have come from the top of the column, the margins still running along the right-hand edge and the top corner still intact. She compared it to the way others were laid out.
    â€˜So your last name was Payne. Obvious enough and the line below must have been your year of birth and death.’ Stopped in her tracks by the obvious nonsense of that, Rina looked again at the columns. ‘But no, that definitely can’t be right, can it. If you’d been born in 1923 then that would be the date left on the page when this piece was torn off. The left-hand date, not the right hand … and as we haven’t got to 2023 yet, well … now that really doesn’t make sense.
    â€˜And if it had been a funeral date, say, September the twenty-third, well, no. That doesn’t work either, does it?’
    She scanned the pages for clues, but found nothing at first. A second newspaper made her wonder if this was part of a phone number. Beneath the name of one Betsy Marriot, for example, was the invitation for her friends and relatives to phone should they need further information and the number was given. But, surely, you wouldn’t just put a number without an advisory message and it was clear from the placement of the number 23, immediately beneath the PA of Payne, that no additional message had been present.
    What was going on?
    Rina scanned the other copies of the
Frantham Echo
for any further clue and found it, tucked at the bottom of a column from three weeks before.
    â€˜Arthur Payne,’ she read, ‘b. June 1923. To give all friends and family the chance to attend, the funeral of Uncle Arthur has been delayed. Please call Paul for further details.’
    The hall phone rang and Rina heard Bethany answer it. ‘Hello, Peverill Lodge. Oh Rina, dear, it’s for you.’
    Mac, Rina thought. She took the receiver from Bethany and retreated once more to her room. ‘Yes, Mac, something is very wrong and I need to speak with you properly. Now. And I’ve solved the puzzle, or rather I’ve found another piece of it.
Payne 23
. I’ve found another death announcement for the poor man.’
    Fitch had called them to say he was five minutes away. To be ready to leave. Lydia and Edward stood in the hallway, conscious of the dark stairs behind them, of the dramatic events that had taken place here and which now seemed to poison the atmosphere of the place, despite its peaceful, tranquil surroundings.
    They would be glad to leave.
    The car headlights coming up the drive caused a feeling of panic which Lydia fought to control. What if this wasn’t the man Rina had sent for them? What if it was …
them
?
    Lights were doused. The bulky man who eased himself from the driver’s seat matched the description they had been given. The surprise was the smaller, slighter figure that slipped from the passenger side.
    â€˜Hello,’ the girl said, fair hair gleaming in the headlights. ‘I’m Joy Duggan. Mum thought we ought to balance things up a bit, you know, all this macho stuff going on? This is Fitch. Fitch, say hello to the nice people.’
    Fitch came forward, hand extended. ‘Don’t mind her,’ he said. ‘She has one little adventure and thinks she’s Lara Croft or something.’ He shook Edward’s hand and then Lydia’s. ‘I suggest we get a move on,’ he said. ‘Rina doesn’t think we should hang around down south longer than we have to.’
    He put their suitcases in the car, assured them that it was fine to leave everything else behind. Tim would take care of that later. Got Lydia and Edward settled in the back of the Range Rover. It wasn’t easy to turn the large vehicle in the small space in front of