Don’s visit to Andrew Glasson

Don Challenor’s visit to Andrew Glasson is both a practical attempt to protect Blake and the occasion on which Don learns that Jane Glasson disappeared twenty-two years earlier. He arrives hoping to arrange a home for Blake away from the danger surrounding Wortalleth West; instead, Andrew’s account of Jane’s disappearance and his message about Holly Walsh give Blake a reason to pursue a much older mystery.

Purpose and stakes

The visit takes place at the Glasson house, a sizeable art deco villa on the main road into Helston. Don approaches unsure whether Andrew will want to help. Blake had once worked for him on a live-in basis, but Don cannot know whether Andrew is content with the housekeeping arrangements she has made since Blake left. Fran Revell, who commissioned Don to find Blake another job, had likely expected a more direct solution to the problem than a new placement.

Don’s concern has acquired a sharper urgency. After his encounter with Amos French, he is genuinely worried for Blake. He has checked the house where she is staying and found little evidence of intrusion, but the study filing cabinet is now unlocked, though he remembers it being locked before. French and Gennady Zlenko appear able to enter and leave without other visible traces. Don’s plan is to move Blake out of their orbit before she knows she has been in it. He also hopes to satisfy Fran and secure his fee, then return to London with the property particulars and withdraw from the affair. He intends to advise Fran to do the same, while doubting she will listen.

The request to Andrew

Don introduces himself at the door as Don Challenor, acting on behalf of Andrew’s former employee, Blake. When Andrew asks what he is to her, Don presents his Mendez Chinnery card and explains that he is an estate agent. The house Blake currently lives in is being sold, he says, so she will soon be homeless; because she once worked for Andrew as a live-in employee, Don asks whether Andrew might take her in as a sitting tenant. He frames the request around Blake’s welfare, while also making clear that he thinks Andrew may share that concern.

Andrew is wary, and his anxiety is not clearly attributable to Don. He asks whether Don will see Blake after the visit; Don says he is going straight back to her. Andrew then agrees to let him in and directs him toward the conservatory. There, after sitting down and using his nebulizer, Andrew questions why Don would go to such trouble for a tenant. The hesitation makes the request more than a routine employment inquiry: Don has to explain his concern, and Andrew has to decide how much to disclose in response.

Jane’s disappearance

Andrew points Don toward a small, sun-faded photograph in a silver frame. It shows two fair-haired girls in their early teens, similar enough to appear to be sisters. Andrew identifies the girl on the left as Muriel and the one on the right as Jane. The photograph shifts the conversation from Blake’s former employment to the missing daughter whose image Andrew keeps close at hand.

No one Andrew knows has seen Jane for twenty-two years. She disappeared in June 1996, after finishing her second year at Cambridge. At the end of term, she and a friend travelled by train to London and parted at King’s Cross station. Jane said she would take the Tube to Paddington and catch a train to Cornwall. Andrew drove to Camborne to meet her, but she was not on the train; as far as the family knew, she had never boarded it. At first he expected a misunderstanding and thought she might arrive on a later train. She did not. The family never learned what became of her, and Andrew says that the prolonged uncertainty effectively killed Jane’s mother, though not officially.

The disappearance also explains why Andrew may be willing to help Blake. He and Blake had spoken often about Jane, and Blake had been sympathetic. She suggested that Andrew consult a seer to learn, if possible, whether Jane was still alive. Andrew considered the suggestion for some time before agreeing. He had expected to recognize a charlatan when he met the woman, but his account breaks off before he describes what happened. The visit therefore establishes the importance of the seer in Andrew’s search without supplying a conclusion about Jane’s fate.

The message for Blake

As Don prepares to leave, Andrew stops him and says there is something concerning Jane that he wants Blake to know. His specific instruction is that she should look up Holly M. C. Walsh on Facebook. When Don asks who Holly is, Andrew says Blake will know and can explain if she chooses; he believes he has already said enough. He offers no account of Holly’s role or of how she is connected to Jane, preserving the information as a lead for Blake rather than a revelation that Don can interpret on his own.

Andrew’s message changes the value of the visit. Don had come seeking a safe place for Blake and had obtained Andrew’s willingness to do what he could; he leaves with an unexpected link to Jane’s long disappearance. The practical request and the family mystery remain unresolved, but they now intersect through Blake: her earlier conversations with Andrew led him toward the seer, and his final instruction points her toward Holly Walsh. The scene supplies a concrete next step, not proof that Jane is alive or an explanation of where she went.