“Gerry shouted her name into the receiver and Tony came to find out what had happened. Gerry explained while periodically calling Abigail’s name. Finally, the receiver was picked up and Harry’s voice called back,
“What’s all this racket about kid? I was in the storeroom putting up those shelves when one section collapsed, her ladyship screams, I came in to see what had got her knickers in a twist and she grabs her coat and disappears out the front door as if she had a crowd of zombies on her tail. Oh, and there’s no bloody lights on here”
That was the longest passage of speaking Gerry had heard Harry utter since they had met and he sounded out of breath at the sheer effort.
Tony took over the call,
“Harry, its Tony, seems like the shops in the Matthews empire have all experienced power failures, all at the same time. The boss should be on his way back to you by now but I can’t see how we can operate with no lights or power.
“If the power is not restored within one hour I would say there’s no point in trying to stay open. The weird thing is every other business around us has power, what about you?”
There was silence while Harry went to check Tony’s statement and he came back to confirm the exact same situation. “Well, I for one, am not sitting around here while there’s a nice warm pub across the road. I’ll give it thirty minutes and then I’m off!” was Harry’s closing remarks and the line went dead.
“We can’t afford such liberties like Harry so I’m afraid we’re stuck here unless the boss gets back to us”
Within five seconds of Tony putting the receiver down the phone rang again. Matthews irritation was evident.
“Tony, what the hell is going on, I’ve been trying to get hold of you and Abigail for the past ten minutes but both lines were engaged. I’ve had to call in an engineer to sort this problem out; god knows that will cost me. How busy are you, I might have to use your shop as base? Oh, is that layabout kid still there, or has he done a runner?”
Tony shook his head and smiled. He was almost going to enjoy passing on his bit of news,
“Gerry is still here Mr Matthews. But I’m afraid this shop will be no good as your base as we are without power, along with Abigail, who according to Harry, ran out of the shop screaming after their lights also went out”
At this news Matthews started to panic,
“Abigail? What’s happened to her! If that drunken slob has laid a finger on her I’ll kill him…”
Tony had to shout his boss’s name several times to get his attention, finally resorting to using his first name before it had any affect,
“PERCY! Abigail is fine, just a little upset and Harry has done nothing. Now what are we supposed to do here. If you have to get an engineer to the other shop will we have to do the same? With respect, I think we may as well close up and call it a day. No lights, power or heating, nobody will want to come in here today. So, do I have your permission to close the shop?”
There was silence for several seconds then a defeated Matthews spoke,
“I suppose you will have to, but everyone has to be back at their posts tomorrow morning unless you hear different from me, and that includes that Gerry!”
After hanging up Tony relayed the good news to Gerry and said he would give him a lift home once they had closed up for the day.
It wasn’t yet two thirty in the afternoon and Gerry had worked out he would be home before his Grandmother and he could have a cup of tea waiting for her. Things could get back to normal very soon, he hoped.
But not so!
14
Tony dropped him off just around the corner from the flat after promising to ring him in the morning with any developments regarding the power failure.
As soon as Gerry opened the front door he had a sense of foreboding. He stood in the small hallway that led directly to the two bedrooms for a few seconds before he headed in that direction. Ignoring the living room, which was normally his first port of call, there was a very faint aroma in the air which he didn’t recognise.
The first door was his bedroom but all seemed in order so he next opened the door of his Gran’s room and as he did so, he heard a faint groan and sobbing coming from within. He pushed the door open gently and found his Grandmother on her knees next to the bed. On top of the bed was the old suitcase, but this time, it was empty of any of its previous contents. Beside the case was one of the cloth bags that had held some of the items, now empty, apart from the label pinned to the opening.
He picked up the bag to read the label; the writing sent a chill down his spine:
‘Patricia’s favourite jewellery’
His mother’s most treasured possessions, the only items that remained of her memory. Now those had been stolen from him.
But under where the bag had lain was something even more significant, the bunch of skeleton keys that had gone missing from his work.
He knelt down by his Grandmother and gently put an arm around her shoulders. She leaned against him, still sobbing gently. After what seemed like an age, she suddenly stood up and made space for herself to sit on the bed. She dabbed her eyes with a lace handkerchief and cleared her throat to speak. But first Gerry had to know something important,
“Gran, did this happen before you came home from the funeral or was there someone here when you got back?”
She shook her head and began speaking,
“No dear, Mr & Mrs Byewater bought me home early because I didn’t want to go to the meal that had been set up for those attending. I knew they wanted to go back because there were so many old friends they hadn’t seen for years. Although Mr & Mrs Evans, your old boss, weren’t present which surprised some, especially Mr Stockwell”
“I was told by Mr Parker that they were leaving to go on a month’s cruise last Saturday, so I’m sure they would have left before the news broke about Mrs Stockwell’s death”
“Ah, that explains things, I must telephone them tonight” she replied.
“But Gran, we have to phone the police to tell them about the burglary”
Gerry was not prepared for what happened next. Mrs Reynolds stood up and spoke with determination,
“NO, Gerald, they will not be told. In fact, nobody else is to know about this incident. Those cursed items are now out of our lives forever and perhaps we can now have some peace”
Gerry stood open mouthed unable to comprehend what she had said, before he countered with more than a little anger,
“Don’t tell anyone? Some of those things were Mum and Dad’s personal belongings and by rights they should be coming to me once you’ve gone. No Gran, I’ve got every right to get those items back and I WILL phone the police!” and he turned around to leave the room.
His Grandmother tried to block his progress to the door but he managed to brush past. She shouted after him,
“Gerald, Please, I forbid it!”
His last words to her were,
“Like Hell I’ll let them go!”
As he opened the front door he heard the loud thump of a body falling. He hesitated before dashing back to her room. She lay unconscious on the floor next to her bed.
He was immediately filled with remorse and tried to revive her, the person who had cared for him for most of the last ten years. But she did not respond to his coaxing or cries.
He went to the phone on her bedside cabinet and dialled 999. When the operator answered, he asked for an ambulance, gave the details requested and followed the instructions he was given to check pulse and breathing and look for any signs that his Gran might have struck her head when falling.
Her pulse was weak and breathing very shallow but there were no signs of having struck her head on any item of furniture or other injuries. As he knelt beside his only remaining relative the telephone operator reassured him that an ambulance was on the way and kept asking him to check the pulse and breathing of his Gran. Finally, after what seemed like an age, he could hear the siren of the approaching emergency vehicle. He dashed to open the front door jus
t as it pulled up outside.
Within five minutes of arriving Mrs Reynolds was placed in the back of the ambulance, Gerry quickly made the flat safe and secure and joined her inside the vehicle. They reached the local hospital in less than six minutes.
Gerry was told to wait outside the emergency cubicle while staff checked his Grandmother to ascertain her condition. It was a further agonising wait of just under an hour before a doctor came out to speak with him. He asked Gerry to describe what had happened prior to her collapse. He did so but played down the reason for the argument and his sudden feeling of hostility he had felt towards his elderly relative.
After hearing what Gerry had to say, the doctor replied,
“She seems to be in some kind of coma, bought on by sudden shock and her heartbeat is slightly irregular. Is she under any medical observation by her GP?”
Gerry remembered the appointments she had been having over the past couple of months but couldn’t give the doctor any idea of the reason for these visits. After giving details of the surgery she attended Gerry was advised to go for a cup of tea and come back in about an hour.
He managed to find a table in a corner that wasn’t close to other patrons of the cafeteria and tried to make some sense of the chaotic events of the past few hours. A feeling of shame and regret came over him once more as he remembered his own outburst of anger towards his Grandmother.
After a while he forced these feelings to the back of his mind and focused on another issue that he couldn’t understand.
How did the old set of skeleton keys suddenly reappear? Obviously the burglar had got them from somewhere or somebody
That somebody was the next question to answer. Only three people knew they had gone missing and could have committed the crime themselves, or more likely passed them onto the burglar. It was either Matthews, Abigail or Harry; it had to be one of them who was involved.
Any one of the three could have taken the keys but could any of them have committed the burglary? Abigail and Harry were together in the shop and could give each other an alibi, added to which, Abigail was hysterical at the time of the power cuts and like Harry, didn’t know the times when their flat would be unoccupied.
Matthews knew the time of the funeral but would have been too pre-occupied with sorting out the power problems at his shops. So, as he had surmised earlier, none of them would have had time to break into the flat. Back to the issue of the keys.
Any one of them could have taken the keys and passed them onto the burglar. But nobody else knew about the suitcase and its contents, yet nothing else was stolen as far as he could tell.
His thoughts went back to his Gran. Why didn’t she want the police notified about the burglary? She had said something about the curse being gone. So, what! He thought, curse or no bloody curse those things would have been mine, now they’re gone.
Another thought came to him. He had tried on a number of occasions to get his Gran to give him more details of his parents’ accident. If something happened to her how would he ever find out? That thought caused a few tears to run down his cheeks and he quickly wiped them away before anyone else noticed. Moments later he felt a tap on his shoulder and looked up to find Ernie standing behind him.
“Are you ok Gerry?”
Gerry cleared his throat before answering,
“Oh, hi Mr Newsham. What are you doing here?”
Ernie pulled up another chair and sat opposite Gerry.
“I bumped into a neighbour of yours in town and they told me about your Grandmother being put into an ambulance followed by you getting in as well. I made a few enquiries to find out where the ambulance had taken you so I came along to see if you needed any support. Look, your tea has gone cold, I’ll get us both a cup, hang on there while I organise it. Do you want anything to eat?”
Gerry shook his head, even though he hadn’t eaten since breakfast time food was the last thought on his mind at present.
Ernie returned with the tea and a couple of mini packets of biscuits, which he placed on the table between them. He stirred his tea and opened one of the packets before speaking in a soft friendly voice.
“Want to tell me what happened Gerry?”
Gerry took a sip of the near scalding liquid but didn’t seem to notice its heat.
“We had a series of power cuts in all the shops and they couldn’t be fixed right away so Matthews had no choice but to give us the rest of the day off. I was working in the Hereford Street branch so Tony, the Manager, gave me a lift home and dropped me around the corner. This was just before three o’clock when I arrived back home”
He then related the events as they unfolded ending with the heated argument between himself and his Grandmother. The reason for her not wanting the police involved still rankled with him and he told Ernie so. Ernie asked him the question,
“Would you be able to give the police a list and description of those items that were stolen?”
Gerry visibly slumped in his chair.
“Not really, the only thing she showed me was the box holding a medal her ancestor won during the Boer War, she never got around to showing me specific items in detail. But she mentioned things like raw diamonds and small gold nuggets this ancestor had stolen. Along with some tribal items he conned people out of in exchange for trinkets”
Ernie sat back, drank some tea and looked around the cafeteria. He leaned forward and spoke quietly,
“This isn’t the time or place to discuss such things. Can I suggest we go and see the doctor in A&E to check on your Grandmother’s condition? Depending on what you are told we could go back to the flat and have a look around. Agreed?”
Gerry hesitated, drank his tea and ate a couple of biscuits before replying,
“I suppose you’re right, I’ve been putting off going back to see him in case it’s bad news”, and he wiped his eyes before standing up to leave. Ernie stood up beside him and put a hand on his shoulder,
I’ll come along with you and ask any difficult questions if you’d prefer, it’s up to you”
Gerry nodded and they went back to find the A&E doctor he had spoken to earlier. They had to wait a further twenty minutes before the doctor had finished with another patient and he led them into a side room and closed the door. The doctor began by asking,
“Is this a relative or friend with you Mr Reynolds and do I have your permission to speak frankly in his presence?” Gerry nodded so the doctor continued,
“Your Grandmother is still unconscious and in some form of coma. Her GP confirmed she is indeed on medication for an irregular heartbeat although she has no papers to indicate this, or what the medication entails. She should carry that information with her at all times to assist any medical person in circumstances such as this.
”She is quite weak, there are indications she has eaten very little in, maybe the past ten days. Did you have meals together Mr Reynolds?”
Gerry thought before answering,
“Only on Sundays. I work full time and I always left for work before she got up and on most evenings she told me she had already eaten before I arrived home. Could a sudden shock have caused this coma?” Gerry asked, but unseen by the doctor Ernie gave him a quick tap on his ankle and spoke up.
“What Gerry is referring to is that a close friend of his Grandmother’s died recently and she attended the funeral today. I was there and she seemed anxious not to hang around for the spread afterwards. In fact, she arranged for some of the mourners to take her straight home after the service” He glanced at Gerry, almost defying him to divulge any more information. Gerry took the hint.
The doctor digested that news for a few moments before continuing with his report.
“That could have a bearing on things I suppose, but there might be other underlying issues that further tests might divulge. In the meantime, she has been moved to a medical ward and you are free to go and see her if you wish, but I have to tell you my thoughts first on what could happen.
“She is on a drip
to give her some form of nourishment and this may stabilise her and in time improve matters. However, Mr Reynolds, I have to be honest with you, if your Grandmother has lost the will to live or to fight to recover all the medical interventions in the world won’t help. I’m sorry but she has to want to recover or have a reason to do so. Now do you have any questions?”
Gerry shook his head and looked down at the floor. Ernie asked,
“You say she is on a drip, is she on a ventilator or heart machine doctor?”
“No, if she was on either then the decision of what to do next might have to be made sooner rather than later. Right now, let’s say the ball is in her court. If there’s nothing else I’ll get a nurse to take you to the ward. I’m sorry Mr Reynolds, I wish I could give you more positive news” the doctor said as he rose to show them out.
A nurse took them to the High Dependency ward and without saying anything to either Ernie or Gerry she spoke to the staff nurse in charge,
“Staff, the son and grandson of Mrs Reynolds have come to see her, is it ok to show them into her room?”
Ernie was first to react, almost with a look of horror on his face,
“I’m sorry Nurse, this is the grandson of Mrs Reynolds, I’m just a close friend. Her son died in a car crash several years ago”
Oh, I apologise. I just assumed you were both related” the nurse replied.
Ernie’s comment alerted something in Gerry’s mind. Perhaps he knew some details of his parent’s death, and he would quiz him later. He had also noticed how pale Ernie’s face was at the nurse’s initial comment. But it was only a fleeting moment and Ernie recovered his composure and tapped Gerry on the shoulder and whispered in his ear,
“It’s only fitting that you go in on your own Gerry. I’ll wait out here for you”
He followed the nurse into the room and stood by the side of the bed, just about managing to control the trembling in his body. This was his fault she was laying in the hospital bed. The nurse brought a chair for him to sit next to his Gran and he nodded his thanks.
“You can hold her hand if you want to, it may help her to recognise a familiar touch. Have you eaten lately Mr Reynolds?” she asked in a sympathetic tone.
The Reluctant Villain Page 15