EPISODE ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY
After the four o’clock throwing-out-time at the White Hart, Mike felt he was
armed with enough information to visit the police station. Talking to some of
the regulars in the pub, Mike had discovered that his client Penny, who lived
near the common, had an adopted – or fostered – son, Donny, who had been
imprisoned for a series of rapes many years ago, but had escaped. After several
police searches through a succession of foster homes, the trail had gone cold.
But Mike, having heard the suspicious sounds when he went to cut Penny’s hair,
felt excitement growing inside him, like some amateur sleuth on the trail of a
known criminal.
In the pub, there had also been talk about the recent attempted rape on the
common, and the general consensus of opinion had been that the police were
pretty inept and would be unlikely to catch anyone committing a serious crime.
Several people offered the opinion that they were only capable of persecuting
the poor motorist!
As Mike crossed the common, intending to walk to Tunbridge Wells police station
near the town hall, he examined his motives. He had kept quiet about his own
suspicions in the pub because he wanted the glory of presenting the police with
a fait accompli. On the other hand,
he reasoned to himself, going into the police station was not exactly the
excitement he craved after six pints. In his mind, he saw himself as a
super-sleuth, gathering evidence that the police and others had failed to
unearth.
So he turned and walked back in the direction of Rusthall, intending to pay
Penny a visit.
*
After returning from church, Nigel had dropped Jackie off, telling her he was
going out for a drive on his own, and they could have Sunday dinner in the late
afternoon.
He got back just after four, smiling broadly and whistling tunelessly.
‘Where have you been?’ Jackie demanded.
Irritatingly, Nigel’s grin broadened and he tapped the side of his nose. ‘I’ll
tell you over dinner, when we’re all present and correct. This concerns Vanessa
as much as you.’
Jackie frowned deeply. ‘I hope you haven’t – ‘ she began, unable to finish her
sentence because her worry fused her brain.
Nigel nodded, as if in agreement with her unfinished sentence, and began
whistling tunelessly again as he strutted through to the living room. Jackie
scurried into the kitchen to hurriedly dish up the Sunday dinner. When
everything was prepared and on the dining room table, she rushed to the bottom
of the stairs and called: ‘Vanessa darling, dinner’s on the table.’
As soon as Vanessa came downstairs, Nigel swept into the dining room and began
carving the pork. Vanessa sat down, her eyes thoughtful and distant, and she
rubbed her stomach, which was now slightly enlarged. Her mother bit her lip
nervously and shuffled vegetable dishes about the table. Nigel gave them each a
plate with meat and they helped themselves to vegetables. As soon as everyone
had begun eating, Nigel smiled triumphantly and stared at Jackie, almost as if
he was waiting for her to lead him in to the conversation.
When she didn’t, he announced loudly, ‘I have some news, which may or may not
go down well, but I think it’s better for everyone concerned.’
They stared at him. Neither Jackie nor Vanessa spoke. They waited, as he
enjoyed the tension of the silence.
‘I have put plans into operation,’ he continued, ‘for Vanessa to live in a flat
in Rusthall.’
Vanessa was genuinely shocked. This was not what she had been expecting. After
another long silence, she protested vehemently. ‘I can’t afford the rent on a
flat. You bloody well know that.’
Nigel stopped her with a raised hand. ‘It’s all sorted. You’ll be able to claim
benefits, and I am secretly going to give you cash to live on. You’ll be very
well looked after, have no fear.’
Like a tap being turned on, floods of tears tumbled from Vanessa’s eyes onto
her food. She pushed back her chair and fled from the room. Jackie stared at
Nigel, her eyes scalding with anger. He hadn’t been expecting such an extreme
reaction from either of them and gave a feeble shrug.
‘It’s got to be done,’ he said. ‘It’s got to be done.’
*
Mike tapped loudly on Penny’s front door. The paint was peeling and the door
knocker had long since vanished into the mists of time. He thought he heard
voices, but that didn’t necessarily mean very much as he knew Penny was the
type to hold long conversations with herself. Her eccentricity was known
throughout Rusthall.
After a whispered silence, the door eased open a fraction, and Penny’s wizened
face peered through the crack.
‘Mike!’ she said. ‘What do you want?’
‘I think I may have left something here on my last visit.’
‘What?’
‘A pair of scissors.’
‘You couldn’t have done,’ Penny said.
Mike’s suspicions increased. He was aware her response had been too immediate.
She couldn’t have had time to even think about whether or not his scissors were
there.
He tried to gently ease open the door. ‘I think I may have dropped them down
the back of the chair. And they’re expensive scissors. If I could just come in
for a minute to have a look. I won’t keep you a moment.’
Reluctantly she let him in, and he saw her glancing briefly towards the other
door, where the sound had come from on his last visit.
‘I don’t think they’re here,’ she said. She tucked her hands down between the
cushions on an easy chair, hurriedly moved to the ragged sofa and did the same.
‘See!’
There came a slight shuffling noise from the other room, from behind the door,
almost as if someone was concealed behind it, listening to them. Mike knew he
was right. She was hiding her foster child – not so much a child any more –
behind that door.
Mike deliberately and casually turned his attention away from the door and
looked at Penny, who nervously tugged the hangnails on her fingers, and darted
glances over his shoulder towards the door.
‘I was wrong,’ he said. ‘I’d better be off. Must have left them somewhere
else.’
Before he could move, he was aware of a slight breeze, as a door opened behind
him, and he saw Penny’s eyes widen in terror.
‘No, Donny!’ she screamed.
As he half-turned, Mike caught the blow on the side of his head. He thought he
heard a terrific crack, like a tree being felled. And then everything went
black.
IN EPISODE 171
Vanessa is not pleased with her new accommodation.