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"So what happened this morning," Kendal asked.
"After I got dressed, I went to the window. I was going to open
it to let some air in. There on the beach was the same man
again."
"You mean the one in the oilskin coat?"
"Yes. I could see him as plain as I see you now. I rushed to the door, but when I opened it there was nobody there again."
"And this figure you saw, was he solid? I mean, could you see right through him?"
"I know what you're thinking, Mr. Kendal. That I imagined it."
"I didn't say that, Miss. But, to be honest, I've never really believed that there are such things as ghosts."
"Then how do you explain it?"
"Simple. I can't." Kendal leaned forward across his desk. "But what did you want me to do?"
"I'd like you to come with me to Uncle's cottage. I thought if there is anything odd about the place, you might experience something too."
"Well, I could. I don't have that many clients. But I would have to charge you for my time and ask you for some money up front."
"How much do you want?"
Kendal hesitated and then said, "Ten pounds?"
Samantha opened her handbag and took out her purse. She counted out ten one pound notes. Kendal suppressed a grin. This was going to be easy money for him.
"My charging rate is three pounds an hour plus expenses."

Samantha drove him to the cottage. It was raining steadily. Kendal had put on a rather grubby looking fawn raincoat and a battered trilby hat. Somehow they seemed appropriate. As Samantha got out of the car she pulled on the hood of her plastic raincoat. Neither of them had an umbrella.
Kendal looked up and down the beach. It was indeed open in both directions. Anybody on it would easily be seen.
Samantha unlocked the front door and they went inside. Kendal took off his hat and Samantha lowered her hood, While she was making some tea, Kendal looked around the living room. It was clear that Jack Hogben had had no sense of order. Idly picking up one of the notebooks lying on the table, he started to thumb through it.
"What the hell?" he said to himself, but he said it out loud.
Samantha heard him and came back into the room from the kitchen. "What is it, Mr. Kendal?"
"This notebook, Miss. It seems to be a sort of diary, but without any dates. Just the days of the week. According to this, he and someone called Terry succeeded in smuggling some precious diamonds into the country. It seems Terry had a fishing boat."
Kendal finished reading the notebook and then looked at the others.
They all contained Hogben's notes concerning various smuggling activities he had been engaged in over quite a long period.
"So do you think the figure I saw was this Terry?" Samantha asked.
"To be honest, Miss, I'm not sure I accept that you actually saw a figure, but I know that you think you did."
"But it was so real! I don't see how it could be my imagination."
Kendal suggested that they drove back to Belford. He said he would do some checking to see if anyone knew of a fisherman called Terry in the area. He also advised Samantha to stay the night at a hotel, rather than in the cottage alone.

[To be continued]

Moving steadily onwards

Ah, the lack of knowledge of youth! Yes, PVC4, we did have them once, and what's more, at the time this story is set, they would have been the large ones as opposed to the smaller ones (which we nick-named 'soap coupons') introduced in the mid-1960's,

Domino

Sorry Domino, but this drawn out approach to posting a story that's going nowhere is not for me, if you're trying to build up some sort of suspense you're failing miserably as there isn't anything in this story to create interest, never mind suspense.

Well, Rainydee, you could always post some stories of your own. Then the rest of us could see how it's done!

Domino.

Go through the older posts, Mandy's Story Parts 1 & 2 are mine.

Thank you all for your comments, even if they were adverse. I wouldn't say that I disagreed with you. This story has a very weak structure and a meandering plot. There is a reason for that. It originated in the early 1970's, when I was a member of a tape-recording club. One of the other members came up with the idea of starting a story, which I was to continue to a point and then pass back to him to continue and so forth. Sadly he got ill and the project never got past the opening stages. I decided to try to adapt it for here (the original had no rainwear content), but the inherent flaws have come through anyway. I then decided to end it early, which obviously doesn't help the structure one bit.
Rainydee, I have now read 'Mandy's Story'. It was certainly longer than most. (I don't see the virtue in squashing all the paragraphs into blocks, but maybe that's being picky.)
I was trying to come up with a story that didn't rely on pornography/erotica to carry it through. The consensus of opinion (which I find myself sharing) is that it just isn't possible.
It was never my intention to include any suspense, so the fact that you found none is probably not surprising.

Domino