Under Parr

by Andrea Bramhall

  “It was a friend of hers who told me. She wasn’t going to. She was going to just break up with me and she wasn’t even sure it was mine. She was going to have an abortion today. That’s what I needed to sort out. I needed to talk to her. To find out what’s going on. I mean, that’s my kid too. I know it’s her body. I get that. But I should get a say in my baby’s life, right?” He cried openly now. “That’s who I was on the phone to when you knocked on the back. Jessie, my girlfriend, well, ex now, I suppose. She said her new bloke was on his way here to kick my head in. Then I’d get the message to leave her alone. That’s why I ran when you startled me. I thought it was him.”

  Jesus, was no one going to be what she expected them to be today? She pulled the picture from her pocket. “Do you know this man, David? He might have been a friend of your grandad’s.”

  David shook his head. “By the time Grandad got to Brancombe he was past having friends.” He wiped his face with his sleeve and picked up the page. He scrutinised it closely, tipping his head from one side to the next as he did. “I’m sorry. If Grandad did know him, I didn’t meet him.”

  “It would have been from the nursing home,” Kate said. “Do you recognise him from there?”

  He frowned but looked again. “I don’t think so. You’ve got to understand, when I was working there when Grandad was sick, I was mostly looking after him and a couple of the fellers on his floor. John Wood, Harold Fine, and Grandad. I didn’t really see anyone else. Grandad was really bad, he needed a lot of care. His lungs filled up with fluid and mucus, and his throat didn’t close properly. He couldn’t swallow, so we had to suck the spit out of his mouth to stop him from choking to death on it.” He shook his head. “Can you imagine that? Drowning on your own spit.” He wiped his eyes again. “I spent every minute I could with him. I didn’t pay attention to anyone else. Even though I know I should have done.” He shrugged. “I loved my Grandad.” He handed the page back to her. “So, I’m sorry, but no. I don’t recognise this guy. I wish I could help you, but I can’t.”

  Kate nodded. “Thanks for your time, David. And I hope you get everything sorted out with your ex.”

  He nodded and pointed to the padlock. “Would you mind putting that back on when you leave? I’d really like my bike to be there in the morning when I have to go to work.”

  “Sure.” Gareth picked it up. “And sorry we gave you a scare, man.”

  He shrugged. “Just doing your job, right?”

  “Erm, yeah. Right.” Gareth led them out.

  “Don’t say it.” Kate opened her car door.

  “Strike three.”

  “Enjoy your walk home, Gareth,” she said and pushed the button to lock the doors before he got in. She smirked and turned the engine on.

  He banged on the window. “Aw, come on, sarge!”

  She shifted into gear and pulled away a few yards, then opened the door. “Get in. I’m having dinner with Gina tonight.”

  CHAPTER 15

  “Best behaviour, Sammy,” Gina said as she parked up around the back of Kate’s house.

  “I’m always good, Mum,” Sammy replied with a cheeky grin.

  “Do I look like I was born yesterday? Don’t answer that.”

  Sammy released her seatbelt and climbed out of the car. “Can I play with Merlin?”

  “Ask Kate.”

  Sammy raced down the small back garden and knocked on the patio door.

  A dog started barking instantly.

  Gina closed the gate behind her and smiled at the sight of Sammy rolling around on the ground with a blur of grey-and-white fur.

  Kate stood in the doorway, gazing at her. “Hi,” she said softly.

  “Hi.” Gina felt shy. Shy like she hadn’t felt around Kate before.

  “Don’t look so scared. I ordered pizza.”

  Kate had long ago warned her that she couldn’t cook. Coffee, cereal, and toast were the limit of her culinary expertise.

  “I’m not scared. I know how to use an oven.” Gina relaxed a little under the self-deprecating humour.

  “Sammy, do you want to carry on playing with Merlin inside? All the heat’s escaping while you roll around on the ground.” Kate winked at Gina.

  “Sorry,” Sammy said as she scrambled to her feet and scooted past Kate’s legs. Merlin was right behind her, and the game did indeed continue: Sammy wrestling with the dog and holding out a rope toy to play tug of war with.

  “Tea?” Kate asked.

  “Erm, sure.”

  “I have wine, but I thought if you were driving—”

  “Wine’s good.”

  Kate looked at her.

  No, that’s more like scrutinising.

  “Just the one.”

  “What’s happened?” Kate asked quietly as she led Gina into the kitchen.

  Gina shook her head. “Nothing.”

  Kate cocked her eyebrow.

  “Really. Nothing’s happened yet.”

  “But?” Kate poured two glasses of red and held one out for her.

  Gina bit her lip and took the glass of wine. She took a big gulp before she wrinkled her nose and spoke. “I’m meeting Jodi tomorrow.”

  Kate’s eyes widened. “That’s fast.”

  Gina shrugged. “She had a space.”

  Kate pointed to the dining room table and pulled out a chair.

  Gina sat down and waited until Kate was sitting next to her. The open-plan kitchen-dining room was large enough to accommodate a table big enough for six and still allow plenty of space to move around in. The kitchen was well-proportioned, white, and seldom used. By Kate, anyway. Gina found herself making use of it more and more. She felt more at home in Kate’s house than she did in her own.

  “Nervous?” Kate asked.

  “No,” Gina said. “Terrified.”

  Kate laughed. “Jodi’s great, Gina. She can really help you.”

  “I’ll have to take your word for that.”

  Kate shook her head. “Just give her a chance. You’ll see.”

  “I’m going. The appointment’s made.”

  Kate reached across the table and took her hand. “Want a ride?”

  “I’m perfectly capable of getting myself there.”

  “I know you are. That’s not why I’m offering.”

  “No, you want to make sure I turn up.”

  Kate pulled her hand back and wrapped it around her glass.

  “I’m sorry.” Gina shook her head. “I’m sorry. I know you’re just trying to help.” She took hold of Kate’s hand again, threading their fingers together. “My mouth runs away with me when I’m scared.”

  Kate squeezed her fingers gently. “Okay. So you tell me what you want.”

  “A ride would be very much appreciated.”

  Kate smiled and tossed her long auburn hair over her shoulder. “No problem. What time’s the appointment?”

  “Eleven.”

  “I’ll pick you up at ten.”

  “Do you know where we have to go?”

  Kate nodded as the front door bell rang out, setting Merlin off barking again. “I’m coming. Sammy, keep hold of Merlin please.”

  “Okay.” Sammy wrapped her fingers around Merlin’s collar and stroked her while Kate paid for their pizza and deposited the boxes on the table.

  “Hands, Sammy,” Gina told her daughter and hid a smile as Sammy looked down at her filthy appendages before trundling to the sink to wash them.

  “One margarita pizza.” Kate opened the box in front of Sammy then plonked a bottle of sauce next to it. “And madam’s ketchup.” She also put a glass of water on the other side of the box. “And please don’t feed Merlin all the crusts. She’ll get fat.”

  Sammy grinned unrepentantly. “But she likes ’em.”

  “And you like crisps. Does your mum let you have all the crisps you want?”

  “No, but she should.”

  Kate laughed. “I’ll be counting. Any more than two, and we’ll have to talk about your crisp consumptio
n.”

  Sammy looked aghast and Gina chuckled. “Talk about hitting a kid where it hurts, sergeant.”

  “Tough times call for tough measures.” Kate held up the wine again. “The spare room’s always made up. If you’d rather not drive home…” She waved the bottle slightly.

  Gina pushed the glass closer to Kate and glanced at Sammy. “You better make it a big glass, then.”

  Kate frowned and looked towards Sammy. “Oh right. Yeah. On account of having to sleep with the freight train.” Kate poured, and poured generously. “I have painkillers for the morning too.”

  “Bless you,” Gina offered as she picked up the glass and offered a silent toast. “So, tell me what’s going on at work.”

  Kate groaned. “Do I have to?”

  “Yes. You’re taking my mind off things.”

  Kate glanced at Sammy. “You sure?”

  “Keep it PG rated and we’re fine. Right, kiddo?”

  “Yeppers,” Sammy said around a mouthful of pizza. “I don’t mind all that blood and stuff, but mum gets pukey.”

  “Pukey? Is that a word?” Kate asked.

  “Totes.”

  Gina frowned.

  “As in, totally,” Kate said.

  “How is it you understand what she says more than I do? You’re older than me.”

  “I work with the youth element. We have to go on courses to be down with the kids.”

  Gina giggled. “Right. Another wonderful use of taxpayers’ money.”

  “Precisely.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Start with the blood and guts,” Sammy demanded.

  “I’m actually working on a case right now that doesn’t have any blood or guts.”

  “Boring.”

  “It’s all about the bones.”

  Sammy’s eyes widened. “Cool.”

  “Yep.”

  “Where did you find ’em?”

  “On the beach. Well, sort of. There’s this bunker—”

  “The one near the golf club?” Sammy asked.

  “Yes.”

  “That’s so cool. I went down there—”

  “Samantha Temple, when were you running around the bunker at Brancaster beach?” Gina plastered on her stern face and watched Sammy over the rim of her glass.

  “Erm…” Sammy gulped. “Dad took me there ages and ages ago. When I was just a little kid.”

  Gina sighed. Matt the Prat strikes again. She shook her head. “Fine. But do not think for one second you’ll be going down there again. Got it?”

  “Yes, Mum.”

  “Good.” She turned back to Kate. “Sorry. You were saying?”

  Kate cleared her throat. “Yes, right. Well, it was sealed off after the flood, but the guys at the National Trust had decided they were going to open it up properly for the kids to go in and learn and stuff.”

  “But they found a skelington instead.”

  “Skeleton. Yes.”

  “Who is it?”

  “We don’t know. We’re trying to find out. Actually, you might be able to help me with that, Gina.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “We have a picture of what he would have looked like. We think we know where he came from, but we can’t identify him. No one seems to recognise him. That or someone’s lying to me.”

  “Okay, and where do I fit into this?”

  “You’ve lived around here all your life. If I show you the picture, would you see if you recognise him?”

  “It’s not a creepy picture, is it?”

  Kate frowned. “Define creepy.”

  “Something that would give me nightmares.”

  Kate screwed up her face then laughed. “No. This just looks like a computer drawn face. Nothing creepy about it.”

  “Okay.”

  Sammy dropped her pizza slice back into the box and scooted closer to Gina. “Can I look too? I might recognise him too.”

  “I doubt that, and no.”

  Sammy crossed her arms and pouted. “But Kate said it’s not creepy, so why can’t I look too?”

  “Because I said so.” We’re still dealing with the aftermath of the last dead face you saw, kiddo. I’m not adding another one to the list of issues you’ve got to deal with. Likewise, if you’re not thinking about it, I’m not bringing it up right now either.

  “Sorry, Sammy. Your mum says no, so you’ll have to go back over there and see if you can sneak that third pizza crust to Merlin while I’m not looking.”

  Sammy shuffled back to her seat and grudgingly reached for the third crust while Kate handed Gina a folded page. Merlin put a paw on Sammy’s knee when she held the crust below the table.

  Kate offered her a wink and an eye roll in Gina’s direction. Gina pretended not to see, content to let them bond over a little mum teasing. Part of her didn’t want to unfold the paper. She had visions of seeing Connie’s face and throwing up everywhere. The other part of her knew she was being stupid and delaying the inevitable was only drawing more attention to the fact that she was struggling with this simple task. What if I do recognise him? Another person I know, dead. And if I don’t, I’m putting myself through this for nothing. Not even going to be able to help Kate.

  “It’s a picture of an old man. Somewhere between sixty and eighty. He looks like every picture of a grandad I remember seeing in books when I was a kid. There is nothing scary or worrying about this image in any way, Gina. I swear. But you don’t have to look at it. I’m sorry I asked.” She spoke quietly enough that Sammy couldn’t have heard as she played with Merlin and stuffed more pizza in her mouth. Then she reached over to take the page away.

  “I’m sorry—”

  “Don’t be. I’m sorry for asking.”

  Gina pulled the page away from Kate’s hand. “No, I’m being an idiot.” She unfolded it and stared at the picture. Kate was right, there was nothing odd about the picture. He just looked like an old man. A little thin, balding head, a scruff of a beard, weathered cheeks, and wrinkles around his eyes told a story of a life well lived. But a life no one could relate to him. The artist had managed to inject some sort of thought behind his eyes. A look that said more than the empty sockets of his skull could have ever conveyed to them. He looked sad. Lonely. And Gina wished she could ease that by giving him his name. But she couldn’t remember it. “I know him, or knew him rather. But I can’t remember his name.”

  Kate stared. “That’s okay. Where do you remember him from? I can go and ask them.”

  “I think he worked at the golf course.”

  “The golf course? The one on Brancaster beach?”

  Gina nodded. “Years and years ago.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I worked for a catering agency when I first left school. They’d call in agency staff for the clubhouse when they had big events on. I worked two or three of them. Silver service. It was good money. A few royals in attendance.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. Prince Michael of Kent was there on one occasion.”

  “And you’re sure this man worked there?”

  “Yes. He worked on the actual golf course, though, so I didn’t really have much to do with him. I’d see him sometimes when we were messing about up in the dunes. He was always trying to run the kids off if they were sneaking across the links. Some of the boys used to try and nick the golf balls.”

  “You were playing around there with your friends?”

  “Yes. When I was sixteen, seventeen. When I was seeing Matt.”

  “Ah.”

  Gina smiled as she heard the penny drop. “Indeed.” Sammy was conceived amongst those dunes.

  “Right. Well that gives me a place to start tomorrow. I’ll take Gareth along and see if we can finally get a name for Mr Bones.”

  “Gareth? Who’s Gareth?”

  “Oh, yeah. That’s another thing that’s happened today. I’m not working with Jimmy at the moment.”

  “How come? Is he off sick or something?”

  “I wish. Ga
reth Collier was partnered with Tom, but let’s just say there’s been some friction and we’ve had to come up with another solution.” Kate took another sip of her wine.

  “I see. Did you not consider throwing them a ruler?”

  Kate laughed and put her hand to her mouth too late to stop the fine spray of red wine that escaped.

  “Ew,” Sammy shouted, pointing and laughing. “Say it, don’t spray it!”

  “Thanks for the advice, kid.” Kate grabbed a fist full of paper towels and mopped up the mess around her laughing guests.

  “Sorry,” Gina offered.

  “No problem. I don’t know why Stella and I didn’t think of that. But we decided to split them up, and now I’m working with Gareth and Jimmy’s buddied up with Tom.”

  “And how is Gareth doing?”

  “I have to admit, given what Tom has reported about him, I didn’t hold out too much hope, but I’ve been very pleasantly surprised so far.” She threw away the napkins and poured more wine in their glasses. “He’s been receptive to my feedback, asked useful, intelligent questions, and shown signs of a sense of humour.”

  “So, you’ll make a copper out of him yet.”

  “The signs are good.”

  “But he didn’t get on with Tom.”

  “Oil and water get on better. And Jimmy doesn’t think much of him either. I’ll have to ask him about that.”

  “Well, if he’s doing his job and listening to you, what more can you ask of him?”

  “Not much at this stage really. But it would be nice to figure out what the problem is.” She shrugged. “You know me and puzzles.”

  Gina was beginning to.

  “Ooh, one more question. Does the name Alison Temple mean anything to you?”

  Gina froze. She hadn’t heard that name in a long time. Most people around knew the history between her and her parents. They’d long since gotten over bringing it up and watching her react to the latest news from Howard and Alison Temple. Ten years. It had been ten long years since Gina had told her parents that she was pregnant, and refused to abide by her father’s wishes and get rid of the baby. Get rid of Sammy. Gina looked at Sammy. She was a pain in the arse most days, and more trouble the rest of the time, but Gina wouldn’t be without her. She was her life.

  “That’s our surname,” Sammy supplied.