From the book
'I'M VERY sorry, Dr Hayden, but your luggage seems to have gone missing without trace,' the baggage official informed Eloise as he looked up from the computer in front of him. 'There's no record of it even being loaded on your flight.'
'Missing?'; Eloise glared at the young man. 'What do you mean, it's missing? I was supposed to be in Cornwall twenty-four hours ago. I can't hang about here waiting for my things to arrive on another flight from Sydney. You'll have to send them on to me.'
'That won't be a problem, Dr Hayden,' the young man answered, reaching for a pen and the necessary documentation. 'The airline will pay for delivery under these cir-cumstances. Do you have the address of where you will be staying?'
Eloise suppressed a frustrated sigh and rummaged in her handbag for the name and address of the guest-house she had been booked into in Penhally Bay. As far as rating stars went, Trevallyn House looked like it was missing a few, but, then, that was the Australian Health Department budget for you, she thought cynically. Her superiors had told her a month in a Cornish seaside town should more than compensate for any discomfort from staying in a building that looked as if Captain Cook himself had dropped in on his way to Botany Bay in 1770.
She gave the man the brochure with the address on it, and also her own card, and tapped her foot impatiently as he took the relevant details. 'How soon do you think it will be located?' she asked as she took back the guest-house brochure.
The man gave a little shrug. 'It could be a day or two, maybe longer. It's hard to tell. It must have been put on the wrong flight in Sydney. It happens occasionally.'
Eloise mentally rolled her eyes. 'Well, it's nice to know my luggage gets to do a round-the-world tour, but I really would like you to do what you can to locate it and quickly. I've been in these clothes for close to thirty-six hours. I'm on official business so I need to have access to my luggage as soon as possible.'
'I'll do everything I can to speed things up but, as I said, it might take time,' he said. 'The increased security at airports has eased some problems but created others, as I am sure you will understand.'
Eloise gave him a small tight smile. 'Thank you for your help,' she said. 'I will look forward to hearing from you.'
She made her way out of the busy terminal to the hire-car pick-up area where after another long wait she was finally assigned to one of the tiniest cars she had ever seen.
'I'm going to kill you with my bare hands, so help me, God, Jack Innes and Co,' she said under her breath as she drove out of the parking lot. 'Just as well my luggage didn't arrive. Who knows where I would have put it.'
Penhally Bay was a typical Cornish village. There were picturesque houses and shops lining the streets overlooking the harbour and there were loads of tourists milling about, taking advantage of the warm summer weather. There was a lifeboat station at one end of the bay and a lighthouse at the other and as Eloise looked out to sea she could see several boats and their crews enjoying the calm conditions.
She found Trevallyn House on Harbour Road. It was similar to the other houses except it was slightly bigger, but what it made up for in space it clearly lacked in maintenance. The white paint was cracked in places and one of the shutters on the downstairs window was hanging lopsidedly by its rusty hinge.
She made her way to the front door with flagging spirits but before she could even search for the doorbell, the door opened with a loud creak and a round figure appeared in its...