Just Desserts by Jan Jones Page B

saw the two men standing by the bridge. Stay there , he added to the phone and prepared to climb on board.
    â€˜Nothing,’ he reported a few minutes later, sitting on the next bench along from Penny’s one. ‘I don’t think anyone’s been inside. Maybe one of the phone calls I made regarding the unlikely expansion at Lowdale Screw Fittings has alerted someone in the wrong place. Or quite possibly the right place.’ He glanced at the bridge. ‘Oh dear, they’ve gone. Shame. Talking to them might have told me where they were from.’
    There was a look of dawning suspicion on Penny’s face. ‘Leo, can you possibly be pleased about this?’
    He grinned at her. ‘Oh yes. It means I’m right.’
    The day of the Salthaven Show. Leo arrived at St Mary’s church hall to be greeted by Penny run off her feet due to stewarding all the extra entries generated by the Messenger’s ‘Famous Daughters of Salthaven’ piece.
    She squeezed his arm. ‘It’s really worked. Brilliant idea, Leo. Thank you so much.’
    Â Leo felt a surge of pleasure quite different from the satisfaction he always felt in tracking down information for a story. He was even more pleased, when going down the tables noting the names of all the winners, to see Penny’s Dundee cake adorned by a ‘First Place’ rosette.
    â€˜And fortunately Lucinda’s scones made with local Fellrigg Dairies cheese won too,’ said Penny. ‘It’s very important to keep family honours even.’
    The hall filled up with people viewing, sampling, and buying – and raising a satisfactory amount for the library. An old hand at town events, Leo’s photographer turned up just in time for the announcements. ‘Jam section,’ he said. ‘Always have to have a shot of these.’ He lined up the winners of the raspberry, the strawberry, the blackberry, and all the other single-fruit jams, then the free-choice combinations. Finally the overall winner: Mrs Lane for her damson & apple, with Rachel Fell’s hedgerow medley a close second.
    Mrs Lane accepted the congratulations of her peers with a stately inclination of her head. Leo was amused to see that Rachel received a rather more guarded smile until it was remembered that her mother-in-law had achieved several highly commended certificates in years gone by.
    Tiny spoonfuls of jam were tasted. ‘Very nice,’ said one of Mrs Lane’s friends. ‘But I reckon Mrs Scrivener’s blackberry jelly would still have the edge. Do you remember?’
    There were collected sighs from the older generation. ‘Ah,’ said Mrs Lane reflectively. ‘That was a rare grand jam. No one ever did find out where Jack Scrivener had his famous secret blackberry patch. You’d think he’d have passed on the knowledge before he emigrated, wouldn’t you?’
    A secret blackberry patch? Jack Scrivener? Leo was hit by an enormous, story-busting idea. It was all he could do to politely ask for a few words about the secrets of Mrs Lane’s success, then report on the auction-of-produce at the end, before following it through.
    â€˜Penny,’ he said urgently. ‘I think I’ve solved it. Can you drive us up to Lowdale?’
    She widened her eyes. ‘Are you nuts? Before I’ve helped tidy up? I’d be ostracized by the committee for ever.’
    So he sat impatiently in the corner, writing up the event and reading over all his assorted notes on the aeroplane crash. By the time Penny was ready he was ninety-nine percent certain that he’d got the solution. It all depended on one crucial thing.
    â€˜Park in the lane,’ he said. ‘Would you recognise a blackberry bush if you saw one?’
    Penny laughed out loud. ‘Well, of course I would.’
    â€˜Thank goodness for that. Can you see any here?’
    Penny stared at him as if he was mad. ‘Lots. All