Chapter 2

With seemingly little trouble at all, Jack manged to book a flight for them for the following day and arrange a hire car. The flight was short but, unfortunately, the scenery wasn't good due to low lying cloud. Sue was disappointed not to see more of England, but was confident that the weather would improve during their stay. However, as they began the descent she was thrilled to see the patchwork of green fields appearing below them and the steel grey glint of the sea beyond the airport. It was mizzling when they got off the plane and all three of them were quite damp by the time they had got their hire car. Jack had volunteered to drive so that Sue wouldn't have to worry about driving on the 'wrong' side of the road and she was grateful, pleased that she could spend the time looking around her rather than watching out for traffic coming from unexpected places.

Sue was curious about her host and questioned Jack thoroughly about him. Alex was about the same age as Jack. He had inherited the family home a couple of years back following the death of his father and his mother had passed away the year before that. He wasn't married and spent his time travelling the world on assignments, coming back to Cornwall to relax. He was an excellent sniper, which was one of the reasons he and Jack had hit it off so well, and liked to rock climb or surf whenever possible. Jack recounted some of the things they had got up to in the time that they had known each other and Sue thought that he sounded like good fun.

The further they went away from the airport the better the weather became. First it stopped mizzling, then the sky had patches of blue in it and by the time Jack was pulling off the dual carriageway the sun had come out. Not that they could see it because the trees down each side of the narrow road they were now driving along met in the middle and formed a dense tunnel. Another turn and they were travelling along a single track road with high hedges blocking out the view and more particularly, of the road ahead. Sue found herself holding her breath as Jack grinned. The next turn took them between a pair of gate posts and onto a long drive with an avenue of trees on each side and friendly looking brown cows on the grass. Levi picked up his ears and gruffled a little. Then the house came into view.

"Oh my!" exclaimed Sue "Your friend lives here?"

Jack grinned, "Impressive isn't it!" he chortled.

The drive led to an old gatehouse which straddled the driveway to the front porch, the gates wide open and welcoming. Behind it, ending at a circular drive was Lanpetroc House. It was built of grey Cornish granite which sparkled in the sunlight, tall wide windows were uniformly placed along the walls which, in turn, were covered by neatly trimmed magnolias. Two long wings stretched out from the central building forming a capital E.

Jack carried on past the gatehouse and around through another gate which led to the stables some of which had been converted into garages. He parked the car in one of the empty spaces and went to help Sue and Levi out before getting their luggage. Sue stood in the courtyard looking eagerly around her. Noticing that Jack was moving, Sue followed him through the arched gate and onto the drive which led to the front door. Before they had chance to ring the doorbell, the door swung open and a tall muscular man with blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes came out.

"Kernow a'gas dynergh!" he called out "Welcome to Cornwall and welcome to Lanpetroc house!" He shook Jack's hand slapping him on the back at the same time then he turned to Sue and Levi, his eyes widened. "Introduce me, Jack" he ordered.

"Alex meet Sue Thomas my friend and co-worker and Levi. Sue this is my friend Alex Tremore,"

"Ah so this is the lovely Sue. Pleased to meet you and Levi too!" Levi held out his paw to shake

"Pleased to meet you too," replied Sue "I'm sorry but I didn't get the first bit that you said."

"Jack probably didn't either," grinned Alex. "Kernow a'gas dynergh means 'welcome to Cornwall' in Cornish. Come on in. Did you have a pleasant journey? The roads can be a little packed during the summer which is no fun." Jack and Sue followed Alex into the large hall and Sue looked around in amazement at the old panelling, plaster frieze and elaborate Jacobean ceiling.

"It's quiet at the moment," commented Alex "I do have a small house party staying here but they are all out and about doing things at present. I'm sure you'll meet up with them at dinner. In the meantime let's get you settled and give you the penny tour." He took Sue's two bags from her and Jack picked up his before leading them through the double door at the far end of the room. Through the door was the staircase and when they reached the top Alex pointed out the sitting room before taking them down a corridor and down some steps. "I hope Levi has been paying attention," Alex commented "It's his job to make sure that you don't get lost on your way back to the sitting room!" Alex opened a door at the top of a flight of stairs, "You are in the east wing. If you go down these stairs and turn right there are a couple of doors to the outside, should Levi need to make a quick escape."

He turned the handle on the door then suddenly said, "And what are you doing in here?"