by Helena Dixon
Kitty blinked and nibbled her top lip as she tried to recall if her grandmother or anyone else had ever mentioned Cullever Steps before. ‘Right, thank you, Cora. This must have been taken when I was a child, though. She’s wearing a bracelet I made her.’
‘I don’t know how she would have got there then, unless someone took her up on a cart ride or something. A lot of the moor was closed off for military things as I recall but then, I could be wrong. It’s a nice picture. Your mother looks happy there, doesn’t she?’
Kitty gave the picture a last look before stowing it away again inside the folder. Something about Cora’s expression when she looked at the photo made her want to hide it from prying eyes. ‘Yes, I suppose she does.’
Cora tucked her tray under her arm, gave her a sympathetic smile, and left the room. As she closed the door, Kitty let out a sigh and sank back onto the sofa cushions. Cora may have provided the answer to one question but now there were a lot more. What had her mother been doing that day at Cullever Steps? How did she get there? Who had she been meeting? And who had taken the photograph?
Chapter Ten
Matt glanced at his wristwatch, ten past seven, Kitty was late. He was about to call her room when she arrived, breathless, in the lobby.
‘Sorry, there was a crisis in the kitchen, and I needed to make arrangements for the start of the jazz evening tomorrow. Miss Delaware is something of a diva, but she is a star and we are very fortunate to have secured her.’ She shrugged on her dark blue coat and reached behind the reception desk for her umbrella.
‘Mr Potter is giving us a lift in his taxi. He’s waiting in the rank. Even though it’s not very far, it’s a foul night, too wet to walk.’ He opened the door for her and followed her outside into the rain. They hurried the few short steps from the front of the hotel to the taxi without speaking, the gusting wind rendering speech impossible.
Matt slipped into the rear seat of the cab next to Kitty and they set off on the brief journey through the town. She slid on the leather upholstery as the car lurched around a corner on the narrow street. Her leg brushed against his and he noticed her ease away from him, putting a few inches of space between them.
‘Do you think we’ll be able to see her?’ Kitty broke the silence.
‘We should be able to, they said she was feeling better, matron has given us special dispensation. Of course, she may not wish to see us.’ The spring rain was drumming hard now on the metal roof of the car and the windows had begun to mist over, caused by the damp drying off their clothes. Matt rubbed his hands against the reassuring roughness of his twill trousers to remove the sweat building in his palms. The familiar buzzing started in his ears and he knew he couldn’t bear it for much longer. He wound the handle to crack open the side window, sucking in the cold, damp air as it entered the car.
‘Matthew?’
He was only dimly aware of Kitty taking his hand in hers. He closed his eyes tight shut and focused on his breathing, the way the self-help guides had told him. The rainwater was cold on his face and he gulped in lungfuls of the cool air as he tried to shut out the memories of the past that threatened to close in and overwhelm him.
At last the roaring in his ears began to subside and he opened his eyes to see Kitty staring at him, her face white with anxiety.
‘Here, you ain’t going to throw up in my cab, are you?’ the driver asked, his gaze meeting Matt’s in the rear-view mirror.
He shook his head.
‘Matt?’ There were unshed tears shining in Kitty’s eyes and he became aware that he had her fingers in a vice-like grip.
‘I’m fine.’ His reassurance came out as a croak as he released her hand. He was aware of the driver’s continued scrutiny via the rear-view mirror. ‘I get a bit claustrophobic, remember.’
Kitty was flexing and releasing her fingers, presumably to try and restore her circulation.
‘I’ll drop you here.’ The taxi jerked to a halt outside the front doors of the hospital.
‘Cheers, mate, we appreciate this.’ Matt paid him for the short trip. The building was a red brick cottage hospital sited right on the embankment.
The receptionist at the main desk pointed them in the direction of the private wing. Mrs Craven was located in a small, quiet room. The air smelled of soap and stale cabbage.
‘I hope she’ll be able to tell us what happened.’
‘Me too.’ The scent of the air and the clinical surroundings made Matt’s skin itch and he wanted to finish the job and get out as soon as possible.
The elderly woman was propped up on a pile of pillows, her eyes closed, as they approached the bed. The papery whiteness of her skin was almost the same colour as her pillows.
A fierce-looking nurse in a dark uniform crackled up to them. ‘Ten minutes, she tires easily.’
A crepe bandage covered most of Mrs Craven’s hair, with just a few grey curls peeking out. Matt approached the bed with Kitty at his side. The heavy wooden door banged as it closed behind the nurse and Mrs Craven’s eyelids fluttered open.
‘You can come closer, I don’t have anything catching,’ she rasped.
Matt pulled up a chair and offered the seat to Kitty before getting one for himself.
‘How are you feeling?’ Kitty asked.
Mrs Craven waved a bony hand in the air. ‘I’m alive, which at my age is something to be thankful for.’
‘It was lucky I found you when I did or you might not have been,’ Matt remarked.
The old lady fixed him with a stare. ‘We had an appointment, young man, there was nothing lucky about it.’
‘Mrs Craven, what happened?’ Kitty leaned forward.
A faint frown puckered Mrs Craven’s forehead. ‘I went into the back garden to pull up some weeds. My gardener had missed a few. I wasn’t outside for very long and I heard a noise near the house. At first I thought perhaps the breeze had blown the back door shut, but there wasn’t any breeze.’ She paused in her narrative as if trying to recall what had happened.
She motioned for Kitty to hand her a tumbler of water from the bedside locker. After taking a few sips she passed the glass back to Kitty and continued with her story. ‘I couldn’t see anything, so I carried on pulling out the mare’s tail. I was conscious of the time and I wanted to get the job done before Captain Bryant arrived. With it being Gladys’s day off I wanted to go back in, so I’d hear the door.’ She moved her hand in Matt’s direction. ‘I’m not sure what made me look up again, I suppose the back door closing had made me uneasy.’
Matt wished the old woman would hurry up and spit out the facts. ‘So, what happened next?’ he prompted.
Kitty frowned at him and kicked his foot with the toe of her shoe.
‘The door had opened again, just a crack, not very much, but enough for me to notice. I was still on my kneeler, so I went to stand up so I could go and see what it was. I thought it might be next door’s cat, a beastly ginger striped thing that kills the birds.’ She halted again and Matt noticed her face pale and her skinny, ringed fingers began clutching at the white hospital sheets. ‘Anyway, at first I thought it might be the cat from next door but then I realised someone was standing to the side of me.’
‘Did you get a good look at them?’ Matt interrupted.
‘Whoever it was wore dark trousers and a man’s jacket.’ Mrs Craven’s voice faltered again, and Kitty offered her some more water. The elderly woman took a sip and gave the glass back. ‘The sun was in my eyes, and she tried to disguise her voice, you know, to make it sound gruff and manly.’
‘She?’ Matt and Kitty spoke in unison.
Mrs Craven closed her eyes. ‘It was a woman. At least it might have been a woman; he or she had this strange giggle.’
Matt could see she was tiring. ‘Young or old?’ he asked urgently.
‘Elowed’s age.’
Kitty stared at Matt. ‘What did she say?’
Matt shook his head. ‘We’d better go, I think we’ve exhausted her.’ He rose fro
m his seat and Kitty followed suit, pushing her chair back into place. He took a last backward glance at the small wizened figure on the bed, now sleeping peacefully. They had come tonight expecting to get some answers but were now leaving with even more questions.
Kitty frowned at him as they prepared to leave the ward. ‘A woman? I don’t understand, and what did she mean, Elowed’s age?’
Matt shook his head; he couldn’t think inside the clinical confines of the hospital. ‘I don’t know.’
They strolled together side-by-side to the front entrance. ‘The rain has slowed off a little now.’ Kitty unfurled her umbrella.
‘Let’s go for a drink somewhere.’ Matt knew he needed to get out of the hospital, and away from the Dolphin Hotel.
Kitty hesitated for a moment then moved her umbrella to share the cover. ‘Very well.’
During the short time they had been inside the hospital ward, the traffic had virtually disappeared and the storm had dwindled. Matt turned up the collar of his overcoat and dug his hands deep in his pockets as he walked beside Kitty, grateful for the scant protection of her umbrella.
Fortunately, the nearest respectable public house was only a couple of minutes away. ‘Have a seat and I’ll get the drinks. What would you like?’ Matt asked.
‘Gin please.’ Kitty collapsed her umbrella and headed for a quiet corner table while Matt placed their order at the bar. Thankfully the pub was quiet as it was still early, and the foul weather seemed to have deterred people from going out. Her grandmother would not have approved of Kitty being seen in a public house in the town with a young man, no matter how respectable the place was.
He carried the drinks over to the table and took a seat next to her.
‘Thank you, I feel like I really need this right now.’ She took a large sip of her drink.
Matt raised his own glass and took a long pull of his pint. ‘I know what you mean.’
‘So, where do we go from here? This has thrown us all of a heap! I thought talking to Mrs Craven would give us some answers. Now I feel more confused than ever. A man or a woman…’ Kitty’s voice tailed off and she shook her head as if trying to clear her thoughts.
‘Why did she mention your mother? Did something about the person who attacked her remind her of Elowed or was it because you were in the room just now and she was getting tired?’ Matt took another pull at his drink.
‘I don’t know. I didn’t know if she meant my mother when she was my age or the age she would be now if she was still alive. Maybe it’s like you said, she was just too tired to answer you properly and was confused.’
‘Or perhaps her attacker reminded her of Elowed in some way.’ Matt replaced his pint glass on the table.
‘Did I tell you that Cora identified where that picture of Mother was taken? The old picture we found in the folder?’ Kitty fiddled with the corner of the cardboard coaster under her wine glass.
‘Who’s Cora?’ This was another surprise; he hadn’t been aware that Kitty had confided in a staff member.
‘She works at the hotel; she brought a cup of coffee upstairs as I was putting the folder away and she saw the picture. You met her the day you first arrived; she took you to meet my grandmother.’ She folded another tiny pleat in the coaster edge.
‘Where did she think it was taken?’ After all this time he wasn’t certain that knowing the location that Kitty’s mother had visited would be of any value, but with the mystery deepening, any clue might help.
‘Cullever Steps on Dartmoor, near Scarey Tor.’
‘She was sure about it?’ He was vaguely familiar with the name from various training routes in his army days of artillery practice.
Kitty nodded and took another sip of her gin. ‘She said it used to be a courting spot. Mr Farjeon takes motor coach trips there. He has done for years.’
‘Farjeon, the one with the green and yellow booth by the ferry crossing?’
‘Yes, that’s the one. You must have seen him around the town. A short man in a yellow and green blazer, wears a straw boater. He was the one who found the body in the river.’
‘Hmm, interesting. How old is Cora? I take it she’s local?’
‘Yes, she’s lived here all her life, I think. Grams took her on years ago when she struggled to get work. Her son, Colin, was a bit wild apparently and got sent away. I don’t know what happened to her husband. She’s been at the Dolphin for a long time now.’
‘Did she know your mother?’
His question seemed to surprise Kitty; her eyes widened, and he could see her thinking. ‘I suppose she must have but she never talks to me as if she knew her. Maybe Grams told her not to when I was small, so I didn’t get upset, and she’s kept that up.’
‘Is she the same sort of age bracket as your mother?’
‘You mean if my mother were alive?’
Matt nodded.
Kitty frowned. ‘I never thought about it before. I suppose I could ask her. I would have thought she would have mentioned it before, though. I know a few people who knew Mother when she was young but most of them are Grams’ friends.’
‘Like Mrs C?’
‘Yes.’
‘If your mum grew up here, why is that? She must have had friends her own age, people she hung around with?’
Kitty took a large swallow of gin and shook her head. ‘Mother wasn’t exactly conventional, and Grams thought she was in with the wrong crowd, so she sent her away to school outside Dartmouth. I don’t know if Grams really knew who her friends were. Mother was quite bohemian.’ Her expression grew sad.
‘No diary anywhere or any clues for us to trace anyone?’
‘The various investigators all asked that. No, nothing. They couldn’t even trace where my father was likely to be. I think Grams mentioned once that she thought he was in America, but I could be mistaken. He’s as much a mystery as my mother.’
Matt’s tone softened when he noticed the sorrow in her eyes. ‘Do you ever wonder about him?’
Kitty tossed back the last of her drink. ‘Not any more. I used to when I was young, but I have no memories of him at all. He could have come forward at any time when all the publicity was out there when Mother vanished. If he comes now, he’ll be twenty-three years too late.’
Chapter Eleven
The barkeeper leaned over the counter. ‘Excuse me, Miss Underhay, happen you’d best go back to the Dolphin.’
Foreboding gripped her. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘Sirens. The bloke who’s just come in the public bar reckons as there’s smoke coming from the hotel and people out on the embankment.’
Kitty was out of her seat before the bartender had finished speaking. Matt handed her coat to her. Her heart pounded against the wall of her chest as she sprinted along the wet embankment. The acrid stench of smoke grew stronger the nearer she got to the hotel and the eerie wail of the fire siren echoed along the gloomy rain-soaked streets.
The fire engine was blocking the end of the street in front of the hotel. A gaggle of her guests accompanied by members of her staff stood in the fire evacuation zone.
‘Kitty, wait.’ Matt caught hold of her arm as she moved towards the fire engine. At least the flames of her imagination weren’t leaping from the windows.
‘I need to find out what’s happening, and my staff and guests…’ She waved a hand in the direction of the group on the pavement.
‘Go and talk to the fire crew while I check up on the guests.’ He gave her arm a gentle squeeze and headed over to the crowd.
She continued towards the fire engine. It only took a few seconds to locate the fire officer in charge.
‘Are you the proprietor, miss?’
Kitty nodded, her gaze still anxiously scanning the exterior of the hotel for any signs of damage. ‘What happened? Is anyone hurt? Is there much damage?’ If the hotel had suffered much damage her grandmother would be heartbroken, she would be heartbroken. She noticed that the crew were recoiling a large hosepipe which had been at
tached to a hydrant.
The fire officer turned and gave a few more instructions to his crew before returning his attention to Kitty.
‘The damage is confined to the rear of the premises. No one was hurt, miss. It’s mostly smoke. The rain we had earlier stopped the fire from getting a proper hold.’
Kitty noticed the guests and her staff being addressed by another of the fire officers.
‘What happened, though? When can my guests go back inside?’
‘The premises are safe for people to return. If you’d like to come with me, I can show you the cause of the blaze.’ He set off along the path at the side of the hotel. Kitty quickly spoke to her guests then followed at his heels, aware that Matt had joined her.
As they passed through the normally locked side gate and rounded the corner, the damage was obvious. The kitchen waste bins stood scorched and blackened near the rear of the hotel. A mixture of steam and smoke arising from the melted metal with a strong stench of burning hung like a pall in the air. A uniformed police officer stood to the side talking to one of the kitchen staff.
‘I don’t understand. What happened?’ Kitty coughed and frowned as she tried to comprehend the scene before her.
‘The kitchen waste bins appear to have been deliberately moved to a point close to the building but out of view of the staff, and then set alight using an accelerant. The contents inside the bins would have been dry enough to light.’ The fire officer indicated the remains of the metal chains which usually kept the refuse containers in the assigned area.
Matt stepped forward and peered at the links. ‘Someone seems to have had a bolt cutter on these.’
Before the fire officer could respond, the policeman came over to join them. ‘Miss Underhay?’
‘Yes.’
‘This is a serious business, miss. I’m sure the fire officer has told you that the blaze was started deliberately?’
Kitty nodded. ‘The bins are always secured away from the buildings. It looks as if someone has cut the chains, but I don’t understand how they could have accessed this area. The gate is always locked.’