‘Oh, that’s better. Thanks.’
‘Let’s go to bed.’
‘Let’s. It’s only half-past nine, but let’s. I was going to do some jobs ready for tomorrow.’
‘Let tomorrow take care of itself. Come on.’ Peter pulled her to her feet and with his arm round her waist set off towards the stairs.
‘We haven’t locked up! I’ll check the back door and the cat flap. You do the front bolts.’
Chang and Tonga were already in bed. ‘Peter! Mimi’s not in yet.’
‘Never mind, she’s always the last in, and it is early.’
‘I shall worry.’
‘Don’t, she’ll be all right. Hurry up!’
Chapter 7
Before he pinned it up, Jimbo read the postcard Sylvia had brought for his Village Voice noticeboard.
‘Mimi gone missing? Caroline will be upset.’
‘She is. We waited all day yesterday for her to come home but she hasn’t, and Dr Harris is very upset. Mimi was the first cat she had, you see, and she’s quite old now – for a cat, that is.’
‘Poor old thing.’
‘I think she’ll be back. She’s the one who brings all the mice home and one day a young rat, heaven help us!’
‘Oh God! Where did she put it?’
‘Well, we caught her trying to struggle through the cat flap with it in her mouth, but she couldn’t quite make it through and had to leave it outside.’
‘Thank God for that!’
‘Exactly.’
‘I assume it was dead?’
‘Oh no, she brings them home alive and gives them to Dr Harris.’
‘What a delightful habit.’
‘As you can imagine I’m not best friends with Mimi but I don’t like to think of her as being missing. We’re conducting a hunt in Rector’s Meadow this afternoon – that’s her favourite hunting ground, you see.’
‘I’ll put the card up right now. I’ll mention it around, see if anyone’s spotted her.’
‘Thank you.’
‘How’s Beth this morning?’
‘Well, she’s gone to playgroup with one of Dr Harris’ scarves tied round her neck and an old handbag of hers with some treasures in it, and Dr Harris has taken BooBoo, an old toy rabbit of Beth’s, with her. Fingers crossed, it seems to have worked. I’ve been playing with her for nearly an hour and suddenly she said I could go. So I went. But I’m going back to sneak a look in school before I go home. Dr Harris took them both to see the surgery yesterday and Beth seems more resigned now. If you find her on your chair again, please ring me, won’t you?’
‘Of course I shall. Straight away. Damned worrying, her floating about the village like that. Damned worrying.’
‘I’ll get my shopping done then. Thank you, Mr Charter-Plackett.’
‘Hope the dreaded Mimi turns up.’
When Sylvia went back to the school at a quarter to twelve to collect the children she walked into a full-scale row.
Pat Duckett was standing in the hall, floormop in one hand, mop bucket by her side indignantly protesting to Kate Pascoe that the floor was clean by anyone’s standards and she—
‘I’m sorry Pat, but it isn’t. The children laid down to do their floor exercises and every one of them was dusty and grimy when they stood up.’
‘They’ll ’ave to dust themselves off then, won’t they? Stands to reason when the floor’s been walked on all morning and it raining too! Every time someone steps outside a classroom they ’as to walk on the hall floor. Small wonder the floor gets dusty, at the very least, by the end of the morning.’
‘It simply won’t do – and then to eat their food in here with all that dust.’
‘Well, I’m sorry Ms Pascoe but it isn’t on my list of things to do, mopping the floor before I gets the tables out. There isn’t time.’
‘Time there will have to be. I can’t think what the office would say if they came and saw the floor in this state.’
‘And while we’re putting our cards on the table, what about that cat?’
‘What about it?’
‘I don’t never remember anyone bringing a cat to school, ’cept those days when Mr Palmer had an animal day and everybody brought something. A cat reg’lar isn’t the thing in a school. Heaven knows what germs it might be bringing. Oh hello, Sylvia. What do you think about a cat in school?’
‘To be honest, I don’t know. Is there something in the regulations or anywhere?’
Kate Pascoe pointed to the floor. ‘I’ve my class to get back to. Please see that this floor is clean before the tables are put out.’ She turned on her heel and went back to her class.
Pat screwed the mop dry and began mopping. Then she leant on the mop handle and said, ‘You don’t want a job as school-caretaker, do yer, Sylvia?’
‘No, thanks.’
‘I thought not. I’m about at the end of my tether with her. And that cat. It spits if yer get too close. It ’as claws like a tiger’s. I reckon it’s related to a panther. Black as night, evil it is. It’s got all-seeing eyes. Does my nerves no good at all.’
‘You’d better leave.’
‘I’ve half a mind to. I reckon it can put the evil eye on yer – yer know, like yer read in books. If cats start disappearing it’ll be ’er that’s spiriting ’em away.’
Mindful of Mimi, Sylvia went off to collect Alex and Beth, thinking over what Pat had said. It was all ridiculous of course but … ‘There you are, come along then, you two. Had a nice morning?’ Beth held up a picture for her to see.
‘Oh Beth, that is lovely, Mummy will be pleased. What have you made, Alex? A car. That’s splendid. Let’s get home. We’ve got everything, I think. Come along then. Bye bye, Mrs Neal.’ Beth’s thumb was in her mouth, her lover tickling her nose, the scarf still round her neck, her handbag hanging from her arm. Alex skipped blithely along, his sister walked quietly, as though weighed down by care. Sylvia glanced down at her; at least she hadn’t run off. Thank goodness.
Caroline put the children’s boots on and then her own. ‘Come along, children. Ready, Sylvia?’
‘I am. Have you seen my gloves?’
‘Here they are on the table.’
‘Oh, right, so they are.’
They crossed Pipe and Nook Lane and climbed over the wall into Rector’s Meadow. The children ran along in front kicking a ball while Caroline and Sylvia walked behind looking in the grass as they went and calling. The wind was keen and Caroline pulled her scarf more closely round her neck.
‘Mimi! Mimi! Really, I suppose it’s pointless calling. If she sees us she’ll come, won’t she?’
‘Yes. Have you seen Kate Pascoe’s cat?’
‘No, but we shall tonight. That’s where we’re going when you sit in.’
‘Oh, I hadn’t realised. Pat says it’s related to a panther. She doesn’t like its eyes.’
‘Oh, honestly!’
‘That’s what I thought.’
‘We could try the old barn, couldn’t we?’ Caroline pointed to the stone barn alongside the wall adjoining the Big House estate. ‘She might have got in there and can’t find her way out.’
‘That’s an idea. Yes, we’ll do that.’
They wandered all the way round the edge of the field calling for Mimi and looking in the long grass, but there was no sign of her. When they reached the barn Sylvia said, ‘The door isn’t locked. Never is. And look – there are places at the bottom of the door where she could have got in. It’s rotting away.’ She took hold of the bracket where the padlock once was and pulled the door open. It opened about a foot and then jammed and they all squeezed in.
Once a barn for holding winter-feedstuff for cattle, it still had bale upon bale of hay stacked against the walls. The thick stone walls had withstood a couple of centuries of weather and were still as strong as the day it was built. The roof, a sturdy construction of timber and tiles, was intact; the only light came from two square openings high up at the apex of the opposite shorter walls. Th
e hay was dry and old and long past its usefulness.
Caroline called, ‘Mimi! Mimi!’ but there was no answering mew, only a scuffling amongst the bales. ‘This place is huge. It would make a fantastic house, wouldn’t it?’
Sylvia said, ‘I heard something then.’
‘Did you? I didn’t. Do you think it’s Mimi?’ Alex and Beth were climbing onto a bale and jumping off with great shrieks of delight. ‘Mind! Careful, you two.’
Sylvia’s eyes widened when she heard the rustling noises again. She mouthed rather than said, ‘Rats?’ Caroline looked at her in silent horror.
‘I’ve always had a dread of …’
‘So have I.’
‘Come along, children, Mimi’s not here. Let’s go home. Mummy’s feeling cold. A hot drink, I think, when we get back. Time to go, darlings, come along. We’re wasting our time. I’d rather find her dead than not know. That’s the hardest part, not knowing.’ Despairingly she called again: ‘Mimi! Mimi! No, it’s no good. Let’s go. Don’t forget your ball, Alex. I wonder if she’s gone into Sykes Wood? I’ll try there tomorrow perhaps, as a last resort.’
‘Peter, I’ve just had a thought. If Kate is a vegan, what on earth shall we have to eat?’
‘I’d forgotten that. I can see I shall be having a bacon sandwich when I get home to fill me up.’
‘I can’t think what vegans make for a dinner, can you?’
‘You’ll soon find out.’
‘Ready?’
The lights were on at every window in the school-house when they got there. Caroline was full of anticipation. She loved seeing other people’s houses; it gave one such a brilliant clue as to what made them tick.
Peter rang the bell and they heard footsteps approaching the door. ‘Do come in. Isn’t it cold tonight?’ Kate was in black, a kind of evening dress with long sleeves and bugle bead decoration on the bodice. Caroline had come in a smart winter dress and felt she’d made an error of judgement, but it was too late now. Kate’s long black hair was plaited and the end of the plait fastened up on top of her head with a wide velvet ribbon. It left her long thin neck quite bare; around her throat was a selection of thin silver necklaces with pendants of one kind or another hanging from each one.
Tonight she wore make-up – a magenta lipstick with magenta eyeshadow between her eyebrow and eyelashes and a black line all around her eye. Peter found her rather alarming; Caroline was amused. What kind of statement was she making here? She was like something out of a nightmare. Her long pointed nails – the kind which made Caroline wonder however the owner managed to achieve even the simplest task without the nails getting in the way, were painted to match her lipstick. Somehow Caroline didn’t fancy food prepared by hands which looked like that. But then she shrugged her shoulders; she was being quite ridiculous. What on earth had long nails to do with the food she ate?
What really took her breath away was the decoration of the narrow entrance hall. Where she, Caroline, would have used light colours to give the passage width, Kate had used dark navy. The ceiling was light blue with silver stars of different sizes stuck to the ceiling. The same treatment had been given to the tiny sitting room – dark walls and a light blue ceiling, but this time golden suns with rays coming from them were stuck all over the ceiling. God! If Michael Palmer could see this!
Peter said, ‘I love your decorations – they are so unusual. You must have worked awfully hard to get all this done in such a short time.’
‘I have. At the weekend I stayed up all night to get finished. I’m glad you like it. I know it’s not to everyone’s taste, but I’ve tired of magnolia and all that dratted stippling effect and stencilling everyone’s been doing for years. Thought I’d have a change.’
Caroline seated herself on a sofa draped with Indian throw-overs. She sank almost to the floor, the sofa was so soft. Peter sat in a chair more suited to a tiny elderly aunt than a man of six feet five. He dwarfed it and it looked in serious danger of collapsing under his weight.
‘A drink?’ Kate suggested. ‘The meal’s almost ready.’ They both nodded. ‘I have orange juice or elderflower wine. Or dandelion if you prefer.’
‘Well, I’ve never tried either so I’ll plump for the elderflower, thanks.’
‘So will I.’ Peter raised an eyebrow as Kate left to get the glasses. He mouthed ‘Help’ and went to sit on the sofa beside Caroline. She kept her face straight and looked round the room. The pictures were of wild stark landscapes and one was of sea crashing onto dark, forbidding rocks. There was a kind of threatening effect to the pictures which quite unnerved Caroline. How could Kate be so pleasant and yet like – actually choose to buy – such forbidding prints?
‘This elderflower is very refreshing, Kate, very pleasant.’ Caroline lifted her glass in a toast to Kate.
‘It is, isn’t it? The dandelion is very potent, so you can try some before you go home. At least you don’t have to drive!’
‘Do you make the wines yourself?’
‘I do but not this one; a friend gave me this.’
‘Can I help with the dinner at all?’
‘Oh no. Well, you could carry things in. I’ll just check the potatoes and then I’ll give you a shout.’
Peter sipped his elderflower wine and silently gazed at the decor and the furnishings. It really was quite amazing. He felt something brush his leg and he jumped. He looked down to see what had touched him, and found himself staring into a pair of the greenest eyes he had ever seen. ‘Good grief, it’s a massive cat.’
‘Shush!’ Caroline looked towards the kitchen door, and hoped Kate hadn’t heard him.
‘It’s a monster! I thought Tonga was big but this is ridiculous. Hello, puss.’ Cat spat and Peter hastily pulled back his hand.
Kate called from the kitchen, ‘Ready, Caroline!’
‘I’m coming.’
Between them they carried in a huge selection of salads. The protein was provided by what looked like meatloaf. There were thick slices of French bread and a dish with what looked like butter in it, but couldn’t be. She brought in hot new potatoes in a covered dish and invited them to sit down.
Peter admitted that out of ignorance he thought vegans lived on the odd lettuce leaf and a bowl of rice. ‘Obviously I’m very wrong. This looks like a feast fit for a king!’
Kate nodded her head in acknowledgement. ‘Certainly not, Rector, that really does show abysmal ignorance.’
‘I do beg your pardon.’ He bent his head to say a silent grace.
‘This is a nutloaf I made myself to an old Turkish recipe. The salads are self explanatory. The spread is not butter but made from soya beans.’
They began to help themselves and Kate whilst filling her plate said, ‘Beth seems to have had a better morning, Caroline.’
‘Yes, she does. I’m hoping we’ve turned a corner. It just needed a bit of careful thought and we think we’ve found the solution.’
Peter helped himself to a pile of new potatoes and said, ‘Tell me, Kate, are you settling in OK?’
‘Oh yes, thank you. Bit of a blip this afternoon, though, I’m afraid.’
‘Oh? Anything I can help you with?’
‘Pat Duckett has given in her notice.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that. She’s been at the school a long time.’
Kate rolled her eyes heavenwards. ‘So she frequently tells me.’
‘Does she give a reason?’
‘Yes – me.’
‘You?’
‘Yes. I won’t have things slipshod, you know. It won’t do. She’s got very lax.’
‘I see. I’m surprised. Then we shall have to find someone quick. Still, we have a whole month, don’t we? She’ll have given a month’s notice.’
‘Well, no, she hasn’t. She’s leaving on Friday. Says she’s not bothered about her pay.’
‘Oh? That’s most unlike Pat. She’s been so reliable: The office will want an explanation of such a hurried departure.’
‘I know. I wonde
red if there were any mothers who come to mind who might be interested.’
Caroline was enjoying the food beyond her wildest expectations. It was so spicy and aromatic, she had to give credit where it was due. ‘This food is delicious,’ she enthused. ‘I’d love to try a few of your recipes. How about Bel Tutt?’
Kate looked puzzled. ‘I don’t know that dish. Is it good?’
‘No, it’s not a recipe! It’s a person. She might be interested in the job.’
‘Oh, I see.’
‘Dicky Tutt is the Scout Leader and Bel helps. Any nonsense and Bel wades in. They’ve all learned to respect her!’
‘If you’ll give me her number, I’ll give her a ring.’
Peter offered his help. ‘Better still, I’ve some paperwork for Dicky which I’m dropping into his house tomorrow. I’ll have a word with Bel myself if you like. Explain the situation.’
‘Thank you, Rector, please do that. If she’s interested I’ll see her any time out of school hours.’
Next morning, Peter had a real hangover. ‘This must be the result of that second glass of dandelion wine. I feel terrible, what about you?’
‘Ghastly! I’m so glad I haven’t got surgery today. I’ve a dreadful pain in my head.’
‘Same here. Quite weird, actually. I keep thinking ridiculous thoughts.’
‘She did warn us it was potent. I shall stick to water if we go again.’
‘So shall I. I’m not going running this morning – I just can’t. I’ll dash off and say my prayers and then come home. Jimbo will laugh. He always declares he’s much fitter than me, and boasts he could do double the distance if he had the time. The children are still asleep.’
‘They’re tired from playgroup.’
‘You stay in bed till they wake up.’
‘I shall. I wonder if Mimi will come home today? I’m going walking in Sykes Wood this morning, see if I can find her.’
‘Not by yourself?’
‘No, Sylvia said she would come too. Even though she has never liked Mimi.’
‘I’m not surprised.’
‘Peter!’ He grinned. Caroline snuggled down; he went to the bathroom and groaned when he saw his reflection in the mirror. He looked appalling and felt it.
Village Secrets Page 6