Curious Campers

by Anne Lown

  I’ll have to ask who that is. Maybe one of the boys would know.

  Jenny strode along the path, trying to ward off the cold air fighting to slink beneath her clothing. She shivered, only part listening to Les who was making an effort to chat about nothing of consequence. Something had her neck tingling. She looked back down the road, unsure what was drawing her attention.

  It’s probably nothing.

  She hadn’t felt like herself since Harvey had had a go at her, but right that second, she had an urge to get home quick. When her street came into view, she sped up, almost running to get to the front door and jabbing the key at the lock.

  “What’s wrong with you?” He’d had to jog to keep up.

  Jenny slid the key home and turned it, swinging the door wide open. He’d had to launch himself through the gap before she slammed it shut and leant against the wall, trying to catch her breath.

  “I just wanted to get home.”

  She marched into the living room to close the curtains before she turned on a light. Jenny stared out into the front garden, slowly drawing the drapes together while watching for movement. She was about to give up and turn away, but something caught her attention.

  Someone was following me.

  Whoever it was stayed down by the hedge, hidden in the shadows. She was sure it was a man but couldn’t see who. The only one she could think of was Martin. He’d followed her before, but that had been months ago. Surely he hadn’t started that up again. The thought had her shuddering and rubbing her still-bruised arm.

  She tried to put it out of her mind by making coffee while Les got comfortable on the sofa. Jenny handed him a cup and sat alongside, sipping the steaming liquid and ignoring his glances until he spoke.

  “Why do you want to find the campers?”

  “They might have seen something. Pete found the man after they disturbed him, so they might be able to help Scott prove he’s innocent.”

  “That’s a bit of a long shot,” Les said. “Maybe they were at a party and just came back to find some randy idiot soiling their equipment.”

  Jenny shook her head. “I’ve a feeling they are more involved than that. They wanted those fag ends I found. That’s got to count for something.”

  “I suppose I can ask around, see if I find anything out.”

  At last. Someone was going to help her. Jenny leant back and relaxed.

  “About that opportunity.” Les rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. He didn’t seem so confident now he was about to tell her. “I have some people deliver things for me, when they are out on their walk. Not just this company, the others I work for, too. The guy who had your duty used to do it. I was hoping you could take over and do the same.”

  “What sort of things?” Jenny didn’t like the sound of it. He was being so candid in what he said, it could only be bad news.

  “Small parcels, to certain addresses. You just slip them through the letterbox with the post and walk away. Nothing else. You don’t see or speak to anyone. That’s it. I’d make it worth your while.”

  Jenny’s eyes widened. For a moment she wasn’t sure she was hearing right. Les was just asking her if she would be a distributor. “This is drugs, right?”

  “Um, weed. Not a lot. Just a once-a-week drop-off on different days, so you wouldn’t be carrying much in one go. No one would know.”

  “What makes you think I’d do it?” She was curious as to his motives.

  “You were with Scott for a long time. It’s obvious he smokes it. I thought you might, too.” Les shifted his weight, then reached forward and put his empty cup on the coffee table. “It’s not a big deal, just thought you could do with extra cash since you cut your hours.”

  Jenny didn’t know whether to be insulted or tempted. How daft was that?

  Would I really risk my job for a bit of extra money?

  Yeah, she could do with the money, but drug dealing wasn’t something she ever thought she’d consider.

  Maybe I could use this to my advantage.

  She placed her cup on the table, too, and sat back, trying to think on her feet. “Anyone ever get caught?”

  Les exhaled and turned his upper body slightly towards her. “No, not yet, but I’d have to admit there could be a tiny risk.”

  Jenny nodded. She wasn’t going to give him an answer straight away, that would be showing her hand too soon. No doubt he was thinking he could talk her into it now he had got the whole idea off his chest.

  “Where do you get your weed from?”

  “That I can’t tell you.”

  “Why not? You trust me, don’t you? I’ve got to know if I’m going to do it.”

  He narrowed his eyes, then said, “It’s better you don’t know, believe me.”

  They sat together for a while longer, chatting about other things. By the time he was ready to leave, Jenny’s muscles had released their tension. She rubbed her thighs with relief.

  “Can I see you again?”

  She looked up, her mouth agape. “I thought you were with Nadine?”

  “We’re just friends, that’s all.”

  “Okay. At the weekend, unless you find something out about the campers sooner.” The smile on her lips showed she was game, but he’d have to earn it.

  “Sure, I’ll let you know.”

  The house seemed vacant once he’d left. Jenny stood at the window with the light off and stared out through a gap in the curtains. It was weird to feel threatened again. She knew her senses were heightened since she’d been attacked earlier in the year, but that might not be such a bad thing.

  Maybe whoever was out there had gone.

  She certainly hoped so. The week so far had been enough of an emotional roller coaster, something she could do without. She crossed her fingers and let the curtain drop back in place before checking the back door and going up to bed. If the person really had gone, she would be all right for this night at least.

  Chapter Twenty

  Jenny sighed, relieved to have finished delivering the post for the day. It’d been a slog, her tired body not up to the job after a fretful night tossing and turning. The thought of someone outside her house and looming in the shadows had her too frightened to go to sleep. The offer she’d been given hadn’t helped either.

  She was scraping the soles of her shoes along the walkway when she saw Pete sitting in one of the break areas with two other guys. One was a driver concentrating on his tablet while he ate his meal, the other a friend of Pete’s. He wasn’t someone she’d spoken to before but had seen around the place since the office was amalgamated from three separate mail centres. He was ribbing Pete, getting a rise out of him and encouraging the driver to do the same.

  Jenny took the opportunity to grab his attention. “Hey, Pete, can I speak to you?”

  “Not another girlfriend,” his friend jeered. “Does Faye know you’re being unfaithful?”

  “Shut up,” Pete retorted. He clearly wasn’t enjoying the jokes at his expense.

  Jenny nodded towards the walkway. “Somewhere private, maybe?”

  She led him in the direction of the blue pod, a room where the managers held meetings with the staff and gave workplace training videos. She was in luck, the room was empty, so they slipped inside.

  “What’s this all about?”

  Jenny decided to be blunt. “I need to know about those campers. What did you see the other night?”

  “Why you wanna know that?”

  “They chased me down and took something from me. I need to know who they were and if I’m in any danger.”

  “Crap,” he said. “I can’t remember much. They were stood on the other side making strange noises.”

  “But what did they look like, can you remember?” Jenny used her fingers to massage her temples. It was hard to hide her impatience; it seemed no one wanted to tell her anything.

  Pete blew out a breath, his lips spluttering. “One was much bigger than the other. The small one was dressed like an alien
. His silvery suit had something smeared on it, seemed a lot like the blood we got on us from bumping into the body. I couldn’t work out what the other was wearing, it was too dark.”

  “Have you seen anyone around of a similar build? Two men hanging about together, maybe?”

  “No, not that I’m aware of.”

  “Last thing. Anyone you can think of I could talk to, who might know something? About Harvey’s knives as well. He’s not saying anything.”

  “What about that Colette. She knows Harvey real well.” Pete made sure he emphasised the last two words by raising his voice and widening his eyes.

  “Thanks, Pete,” she said, “you’ve been a great help.”

  It was an idea at least to go and talk to Colette, but Jenny wasn’t sure how she should tackle her. They’d never spoken to each other, and the way she’d been staring the night before didn’t instil any confidence, but it needed to be done. Then it occurred to her. The one person she hadn’t thought to speak to was Graham. She didn’t know where he lived, but she knew Sarah Rake from the manor did.

  Jenny leant in to her locker to grasp her jacket, but it slipped from her fingers and fell to the bottom. She reached down to retrieve it when a sudden pain erupted as the metal door slammed into the side of her head and bounced her onto the opposite metal rim. She dropped the jacket and held both her hands just behind her ears.

  “Oh, so sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

  It was Nadine. Jenny hadn’t noticed her creep up before ramming the door into her on purpose. The walkway was far too wide for her to have accidentally strolled into it. Before Jenny could speak, Nadine slipped away, a smirk on her face. Jenny rubbed at her sore head. She was going to have a bruise, that was for sure. The woman must’ve known where Les had been the evening before, not that it was any of her business.

  Jenny decided to get out of the building before she fell foul of another accident. She grabbed her belongings and walked outside to her car. The cold wind blew in gusts, whipping up her hair and sending paper debris flying out of the nearby bin. She’d parked at the far end by the smokers’ hut, and it was once she’d placed her things on the back seat that she saw her tyre was flat.

  Damn it.

  As she peered closer, she could see the cap was missing from the valve. Someone had unscrewed it, so that had to mean they’d let her tyre down, too. Jenny cursed into the wind.

  So much for going straight home.

  “Got a flat?”

  The voice came from the other side of the next car’s bonnet. She looked up. One of the drivers dragged on his cigarette and squinted through the smoke.

  “Yeah. Someone’s let my tyre down.” She picked up the cap she’d spotted on the ground and held it out for the driver to see. It confirmed what she thought, and he seemed to think so, too.

  “I’ve got an automatic pump. Can have it sorted in no time.”

  Jenny sighed in relief. It didn’t take long to replace the air, and she set off for Chapel End. She decided to stop off at the convenience store on the way. A bottle of wine was a must after the day she was having.

  *******

  Carmie was standing outside her charity shop at the time Jenny arrived in the village. She pulled up in one of the few parking spaces and got out.

  “You all right?”

  “Yes. I’m having the shop blessed, in case any more aliens want to come in.”

  Jenny would’ve laughed at the suggestion, but she knew how deeply Carmie felt about her belief in witchcraft. The whole thing had shaken her and brought the X-Files to life.

  “Do you want to chat while you wait? I’ll buy you a coffee.”

  Carmie accepted and followed Jenny into the café next door. It was far warmer in there anyway.

  “I take it you’ve not had another encounter of the third kind?” Jenny smiled, not thinking her friend would get the reference, but she clearly did.

  “I’m not mad! You can’t be too careful with alien blood.” She pursed her lips, showing her distaste for Jenny’s comment.

  “What do you remember about the alien?”

  “You asked me that already.”

  “I know, but just humour me, okay?”

  “I didn’t really get to see it, but the alien had blood on it. Might’ve been his, might not. It wasn’t very big, and it kept saying ‘Help me’.”

  “You didn’t tell the police that. You sure you heard it speak?” Jenny was surprised.

  “Yes, and I saw something else. Outside, it was grabbed by something bigger. I only just saw it because I looked up to make sure it’d gone.”

  “I’ve a feeling they were the campers who chased after me and Jason. Would you recognise it, build wise, if you saw it again?”

  “Yes, it was too scary to forget.”

  That was good to hear. Now she had two people who could identify the two men by their build if they saw them again. It didn’t sound much to go on, but it was amazing what could be recognised, and if they were to see them by chance, they’d probably know it was them.

  “I’ve got to visit Sarah Rake to see if she can tell me where a couple of people live. Let me know if you see or hear anything?”

  Jenny was just getting up when Carmie grabbed her arm. “Some women were gossiping in the shop today. Said they saw your Scott over the other side of the village, going into that Tom’s house. It was after he went out. Can only mean one thing.”

  “Who’s this Tom?”

  “Oh, you don’t know. He’s married to Chantal. She’s poorly, so he doesn’t go out much. A tall man with fair hair.”

  “I think I saw him in the pub last night. He was with Colette.”

  Carmie took back her hand and sat up straight. “He doesn’t drink, everyone knows that.”

  “Well, I think it was him.”

  Carmie’s words stung. Jenny didn’t think Scott knew many people in the village, and she’d never heard him speak of someone called Tom who lived there. If she understood her right, she was implying he was having an affair.

  “When was that?”

  “The night of the murder. Then again on Sunday.”

  Jenny’s stomach lurched. She grabbed at the edge of the table to steady herself, failed, and sat back down in her seat with a bump. So that was what he’d been up to. Why couldn’t he just say it? They were no longer in a relationship, so it wasn’t for her to judge him. He was so secretive nowadays she didn’t know what to think.

  Having an affair and not giving the police an alibi was madness.

  She glanced up. Carmie seemed concerned, so Jenny reached across the table and squeezed her friend’s hand.

  “I’ve got to go and see Sarah,” she said. “Catch up with you later, all right?”

  Jenny got back in her car, any thoughts of buying the bottle of wine forgotten about for the moment. The manor gate was already open, so she drove through and pulled up near the house. Dawn, the housekeeper, was in the front garden with her daughter, Ellie-Mae. The child looked like she’d not long got back from school.

  “Is Sarah home? I need to see her.”

  Dawn smiled. The woman had an easy nature, something her little girl had inherited. “She’s got company, but I’m sure she won’t mind.”

  Jenny followed Dawn through the hallway, flanked by a skipping Ellie-Mae. It wasn’t until Jenny walked through the living room door that she saw Colette over by the window, blowing smoke from her cigarette outside through an opening.

  “Sorry to bother you without warning,” Jenny started to say, but Sarah waved it off with the movement of her hand and invited her to come sit down.

  “This is my friend, Colette. I don’t think you two have met properly before.”

  Jenny had an uneasy feeling they’d been talking about her. She flitted her gaze to the woman, who stared straight back at her. “No, we haven’t.”

  “How do you know Harvey?” Colette asked.

  It was a surprising question to be asked straight away. “I work with him, in t
he same building, but not the same shift.”

  “Are you after him? Trying to get him to like you?”

  Jenny’s eyes widened. She realised after a few seconds her mouth was hanging open. She closed it and turned to Sarah to see if she knew what was going on.

  “Colette thinks you are trying to steal her man. Now Scott is busy somewhere else, she thinks you’re on the prowl for a new one.”

  “What?” Jenny choked. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “No. Of course not. And I’m not trying to steal Harvey from you.”

  “Then why are you in the pub with that bloke? He’s got a girlfriend, hasn’t he?” Colette seemed deadly serious.

  “He said they’d split up. Anyway, we’re friends, I’ve known him years.”

  “Well, you were getting mighty friendly with him on Halloween, until his girlfriend showed up.”

  “Hang on a minute, I didn’t come here to talk about me.” Jenny turned to Sarah. “I wanted to catch up with you to ask about the missing knives. Harvey’s missing knives.”

  Jenny spent a good few minutes filling Sarah in on what had been happening since Halloween evening. The woman had been useful when voodoo dolls appeared at the charity shop and had enlisted her friend Graham to help work out what was going on.

  “I was also wondering where your friend Graham lives? He was at the pub on Halloween, but I’ve not seen him since.”

  Sarah nodded. “Should think he’s at home. He isn’t too good in the cold weather and doesn’t like to go out in it.”

  “Is there a chance I can talk to him? He was very good last time, and I need to ask him if he saw anything unusual that night.”

  Sarah leant over and picked up her mobile phone. She dialled a number, but after waiting a while she rang off. “It doesn’t look like he’s answering. I’ll text him.”

  Jenny sat waiting, listening to the two women talk. It seemed Colette was there using Sarah for a shoulder to cry on. She denied knowing anything about Harvey’s knives and only wanted to know how to get back with him.

  Jenny felt awkward, but it was worth it.

  Sarah read the reply on her phone. “He’ll meet you at the pub tonight, about eight-thirty.”