Red Snow

by Larraine Susan Harrison

  Ryan rose to his feet. ‘Do you know the police are looking for you?’ he said.

  ‘Sit down,’ said Joe gruffly. He picked up his torch and shone it fully in Ryan’s face.

  ‘You’re Bill’s grandson, aren’t you?’.

  Ryan sat back down on the floor. ‘Yes,’ he hissed, ‘and it was my grandad’s shed you were stealing from.’

  Skippy growled as Joe took a step towards Ryan and towered over him.

  ‘You’d better keep your mouth shut,’ he said menacingly. ‘I’m in no mood for loud-mouthed lads.’ He pointed his finger at Ryan. ‘Just keep hold of your dog and keep quiet. I need to talk to Megan about something.’

  Megan was scared for Ryan’s safety. Joe seemed touchy and easily angered. She thought if she tried to keep Joe talking, he might calm down a little.

  ‘What do you want to talk to me about Joe?’ she asked.

  ‘I don’t suppose your dad told you what was in my letters,’ said Joe after a pause.

  ‘No,’ said Megan, ‘I didn’t even know they were from you, until you told me.’

  ‘He always was a fool,’ said Joe bitterly. ‘What has he told you about me?’

  ‘Nothing. That’s the trouble,’ she replied. ‘But I think I might have met you before, when I was younger.’

  She couldn’t see Joe very well in the semi-darkness, but she could sense a kind of warmth when he talked to her.

  ‘Your mum used to bring you to Ray’s Garage, when I worked there,’ he said. ‘You used to like sitting in the Frog-Eyed Sprites.’

  ‘You lent Maggie one of those didn’t you?’ said Ryan.

  ‘I thought I told you to keep quiet,’ said Joe viciously.

  ‘Don’t get mad at him,’ pleaded Megan. ‘He’s been trying to help me find out about my mum. No-one will tell me the truth about what happened to her.’

  Joe sighed. ‘Your mum would want you to know what happened. I know she would.’

  ‘Can you tell me what you know then?’ asked Megan.

  Joe looked at Megan. ‘I didn’t lend your mum the car,’ he said. ‘I drove her to York in it. It was my chance to drive one of the Sprites without Ray checking up on me. Why should I stay at the garage, when both Ray and Bill were having a day off at a car rally? I was supposed to be an apprentice, but they treated me like dirt.’

  Ryan was annoyed at such criticism of his grandad. ‘Why didn’t you get another job then, if they were so bad?’ he said.

  Joe bowed his head. His voice was low and full of pain. ‘Because no-one wants to employ a killer,’ he said.

  There was a silence before Megan spoke again. Her voice was trembling. ‘What do you mean Joe? Have you killed someone? Who have you killed?’

  Joe ran his hands nervously through his curly hair. He looked unsettled and uneasy. ‘When you throw grenades and drop bombs, you know you’ve killed people,’ he said, ‘but you don’t know who they are. They’re just the enemy. If you don’t kill them, they’ll try to kill you … but that doesn’t make it any easier.’

  In the quiet of the room, Megan could hear Joe breathing rapidly, as if he couldn’t catch his breath. Tension hung in the air like choking dust.

  ‘Maggie said the army would make a man of me,’ said Joe, after a while, ‘but in the end, it did just the opposite.’

  Ryan looked angry. ‘Lots of people have a hard time in the army, but they don’t steal things,’ he said.

  Joe spun round and put his face near to Ryan’s. ‘You’ve got plenty to say for yourself haven’t you,’ he said threateningly. ‘Just let me give you some advice. Don’t accuse people of things, unless you’ve got evidence,’ he yelled. ‘Now just button it, while I finish talking.’

  He moved away from Ryan and went back to sit in front of the door. ‘What else do you want to know Megan?’ he asked.

  Megan was becoming more and more afraid for Ryan, but after all this time, she knew exactly what she wanted to know.

  ‘If you drove my mum to York and back, then why was she driving alone when she crashed?’ she asked.

  ‘Your mum was a very persuasive woman,’ said Joe. ‘She was pestering me all the way back from York to let her drive the Sprite. So, when we turned off the York Road into Oakton woods, I said she could drive it from there. I didn’t see any harm in it. It was a private road and there were no other cars about. But Maggie being Maggie, she insisted on driving it on her own, so I got out and left her to it.’

  ‘Did you see what made her crash?’ asked Megan nervously.

  ‘I was walking behind the car,’ said Joe. ‘That particular Sprite had a more powerful engine than most of them and she was driving too fast.’

  His voice began to break as he revealed what happened next. ‘She was going too fast, but she would have been OK, if she hadn’t suddenly swerved.’

  ‘Did you see what made her swerve?’ asked Megan.

  ‘Not really,’ he replied. ‘But I saw Irene running out of her house after it happened and then I saw you running from behind the garden and Irene scooping you up and carrying you inside.’

  There was a long silence.

  ‘It’s my fault she died,’ said Joe tearfully. ‘If I hadn’t let her drive the Sprite, she would still be alive now. I’m so sorry.’

  Megan didn’t know what to say. She had found out the truth at last and yet she was not entirely satisfied. She was having disturbing thoughts about her mother’s relationship with Joe. She couldn’t understand why her mum had been seeing such a lot of him and she was beginning to think it may be better not to know.

  Joe looked up, as if he had almost read her thoughts.

  ‘Megan,’ he said. ‘Do you know who I am?’

  Megan didn’t know why she hadn’t made the connection before. She had become so focused on the events surrounding the crash that she had missed some very important information. Joe’s last name was Hawkins. It was the name she had seen on her mum’s birth certificate.

  ‘Maggie was my sister,’ said Joe swallowing hard. ‘She was my big sister. Apart from Sarah, she was the only person who cared about what happened to me after I came out of the army.’

  Megan was speechless. Joe was her uncle and her dad had not wanted her to know.

  ‘When your mum died, your dad didn’t want you to have anything to do with an uncle like me,’ said Joe sadly. ‘And I can’t say I blame him. But I’ve got a daughter of my own now and she needs to know who her cousin is. None of this is her fault, or yours, so why should you both suffer?’

  ‘Is that what the letters were about?’ asked Megan.

  ‘Yes,’ said Joe. When I saw you with Kirsty that day, I recognised you straight away. You look just like Maggie and I yearned for you to meet my daughter Alice. It’s not her fault she’s got such a mixed-up dad. I wrote to your dad, asking him if you could meet your cousin, but he never replied.’

  There was so much more Megan wanted to ask, but the situation was bad. Joe was a wanted man and she knew that Ryan would call the police as soon as they got out of the house.

  ‘How long are you going to keep us here?’ said Ryan.

  Joe stood up and moved away from the door. ‘I’m not keeping you here,’ he said. ‘I’m not into kidnapping children, least of all my own niece. You can go when you want.’

  Ryan got up, still holding Skippy’s collar. The dog had calmed down by now and was even wagging her tail at Joe. Megan got up to join them, but as they moved towards the door, Joe put his arm across it, barring the way.

  ‘I need you to help me first,’ he said.

  Ryan still felt afraid. He didn’t trust Joe one bit.

  ‘I know you’ll call the police as soon as you leave here,’ said Joe, ‘but I need some time to explain things to Sarah first and I need a phone to call her on. I must have dropped mine when I ran off.’

  Ryan d
idn’t believe him, but he said nothing.

  ‘I’m sorry Megan, but I need you both to empty your pockets and hand me your phones,’ said Joe.

  ‘My dad won’t let me have a phone,’ said Megan, as she emptied her pockets. Joe took Ryan’s phone from him and put it in his pocket. ‘I need to make sure you won’t call the police as soon as you leave here,’ he said. ‘They’ll find out the truth soon enough. I just need time to call Sarah before I talk to them, that’s all,’ he added. ‘She doesn’t deserve all this. The least I can do is try to explain.’

  He looked at Ryan. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get your phone back. I’ll leave it here for the police to find.’

  Ryan still wasn’t convinced that Joe was telling the truth about anything, but he wasn’t going to argue with him. ‘Can we go now?’ he asked.

  ‘You can do what you like,’ said Joe.

  Megan was still in shock. It had been a lot to take in. She followed Ryan through the door in silence, until Joe called after her. ‘My little lass looks a lot like you. We’ve all got the same red curly hair, only I dye mine black.’

  Megan stopped. ‘What did you say her name was?’

  ‘Alice,’ said Joe. ‘Alice Maggie Hawkins. She was born just after your mum died, so we gave her Maggie as her middle name.’

  Joe watched them as they descended the stairs and walked away from the house. Ryan had planned to phone the police from Irene’s house, but her car wasn’t there, so he kept on walking. Megan looked back at the empty gatehouse. She should have been pleased that at last she had discovered the whole truth about what happened on her seventh birthday, but she felt empty. She had just found an uncle and a cousin, but things being the way they were, she may not see Joe again or meet little Alice. She thought that if Joe was found guilty of all those burglaries he was likely to end up in prison and her dad would never agree to let her visit him there. But something Joe had said to Ryan about evidence, made her wonder if Joe was innocent after all. She consoled herself with the thought that, somewhere nearby, she had a little cousin called Alice Maggie, who would be about five years old by now. Just a bit younger than she was when all these bad things started to happen that changed her life.

  When they got to the woodyard, Ryan began to run. ‘Come on Megan,’ he cried. ‘We’ve got to get home and call the police.’

  Megan hung back. ‘Joe needs time to call Sarah,’ she answered.

  ‘Don’t be so naive Megan,’ said Ryan. ‘That was just a trick to give him time to get away.’

  Megan was confused. She knew Joe had probably committed all these crimes and yet she wondered if it was all a mistake. His life was in a mess, but all she could think of was the effect it was going to have on little Alice.

  When they arrived at Bill’s house he called the police immediately. Bill seemed to blame Joe for everything. He told Megan how Paul wanted Maggie to stay away from her brother Joe, after he came out of the army. ‘We all felt sorry for him at first,’ said Bill. ‘He’d seen a lot of bad things in the army, but he was so angry with everyone that people were scared of him.’

  ‘Was my mum scared of him?’ asked Megan.

  ‘No,’ laughed Bill. ‘Maggie wasn’t scared of anyone. She still saw quite a lot of Joe, despite what Paul said.’

  ‘But why didn’t my dad keep in contact with Joe, after my mum died?’ asked Megan. ‘He’s still my uncle, no matter what he’s like.’

  Bill tried his best to explain. It was too late now to hide anything.

  ‘When your dad found out that Joe had let your mum drive that Sprite, he partly blamed him for the crash,’ said Bill. ‘He told Joe he never wanted to see him again.’

  ‘Maybe we should let Irene know about Joe,’ interrupted Ryan. ‘He could be dangerous and he might still be in the gatehouse.’

  ‘I doubt it,’ sneered Bill. ‘He’s probably half way to York by now, with your phone.’

  ‘The police can trace mobile phones,’ said Megan. ‘I don’t think he’ll use Ryan’s if he goes on the run.’

  It wasn’t long before Paul and Andy returned. As their car drew up outside, Megan felt a sense of panic. ‘Will you tell my dad what’s happened, Uncle Bill,’ she pleaded. ‘I can’t face him.’

  ‘OK,’ said Bill. ‘I’ll talk to them in the kitchen.’

  Bill was gone for some time, leaving Megan and Ryan to talk over everything that had happened to them over the past few months.

  When Paul finally came into the room, he put his arm round Megan. ‘I’ve made a bit of a mess of things haven’t I Megan?’ he said gently. ‘But things are going to change from now on. I promise.’

  ‘He’s got himself a job on my building site,’ said Andy. ‘I vote him the best electrician round here.’ Megan smiled politely. She hoped things would get better for her dad, but she knew he didn’t always keep his promises.

  That night Megan spoke to her dad about Irene and told him how she would like them to make peace with each other. ‘Irene has apologised for taking her eyes off me that day,’ said Megan. ‘I know I heard the crash, but I didn’t see anything.’

  Paul listened carefully before replying. ‘I can’t promise everything will be OK, just like that,’ he said slowly. ‘Feelings run too deep to change overnight, but I do promise to write to Irene. I’ll ask her if she would like to talk.’

  Megan was pleased, but she didn’t mention anything about Joe. She was too exhausted to tackle anything more and that night they both had a warm drink and went to bed early.

  13

  Life and Death

  A few days later, things had calmed down a little. Megan and Ryan had both spoken to the police and Ryan got his phone back, much to his surprise. It seemed that by the time the police got to the gatehouse, Joe had gone, but later on he walked into a police station and gave himself up for questioning. Megan was secretly pleased that Joe had not made the situation worse for Sarah and Alice.

  Paul said very little to Megan about Joe over the next few weeks and she didn’t ask him anything. She didn’t want to spoil things for him. He seemed to be calmer than she had ever known him. He even kept his promise to write to Irene and a few days later they spoke on the phone for a very long time. Megan had no idea what they had talked about, but she was astounded when her dad told her he had accepted an invitation to visit Irene in the next few weeks.

  On the day that Megan called to tell Ryan the news about her dad and Irene, it had been snowing all morning, even though it was early March. Megan decided to wear the new coat she’d bought when she went shopping with Kirsty. She thought she looked so grown up in it, but Ryan didn’t seem to notice. He was looking very pleased with himself.

  ‘We’re moving into part of our new house next month,’ he announced. ‘We can only live in a couple of rooms, but it will be better than staying cooped up here with my grandad.’

  Megan tried to sound pleased for Ryan, but she had come to rely on his company in her search for the truth and she knew she would miss him.

  ‘Will you stay on at Oakton school?’ asked Megan.

  ‘Definitely,’ said Ryan. ‘It’s OK there. It’s not like it used to be. It’s a really good school now.’

  Megan was surprised. ‘Is it?’

  ‘Yeah. You should tell your dad. He might change his mind and let you go there, if that’s what you want.’

  ‘I don’t want to move schools any more,’ said Megan. ‘I’ve made friends with a girl called Rosa. She’s my best friend now. It’s amazing how we like the same things…’

  Ryan got up and looked out of the window. He didn’t seem interested in Megan’s school friends. ‘It’s stopped snowing,’ he said. ‘Shall we go to Irene’s? I want to find out if Tom’s come back. We’ll leave Skippy here.’

  Megan had almost forgotten about the wild cats. If Ryan hadn’t seen the blood on the snow and found the wild cat in the wa
tchtower, she would never have started the long journey to find out the truth about her mother.

  As they walked along the woodland path, Megan noticed how beautiful everything looked, covered in the light snow. ‘It’s just like the day you took me to see Zoe,’ said Megan. ‘Except there are snowdrops and crocuses under the snow now.’

  ‘She was a pretty scary cat, wasn’t she?’ said Ryan. ‘I’d never seen anything so wild and fierce.’

  ‘Come on,’ said Megan, ‘let’s go and have a look at the watchtower again.’

  As they walked up the crooked path behind the bench, signs of the blackening fire peeped out from under a faint carpet of fine snow. ‘It’s like a different world up here now,’ said Megan.

  They stared into the tower. ‘A lot’s happened since we were last here, hasn’t it?’ said Ryan. Megan nodded.

  ‘I was wrong about Kirsty, wasn’t I?’ he said suddenly. ‘She’s always so cheerful. I can’t believe she’s been burnt in a fire and lost one of the dogs like that.’

  ‘She runs to raise money for the hospital burns unit,’ said Megan. ‘That’s where they treated her hands.’

  ‘I got her completely wrong didn’t I?’ admitted Ryan.

  ‘You can’t always tell what people have been through,’ replied Megan wisely.

  Ryan looked visibly upset. ‘What’s wrong?’ asked Megan.

  ‘My step-mum is always so cheerful. It gets to me sometimes, but she was ill last year and she nearly died,’ he said softly.

  ‘Is that why your dad wants to build her a new house?’ asked Megan.

  ‘Yes,’ said Ryan. ‘I didn’t want to move from London. I was angry with everyone, but now I feel awful. At least I’ve got both parents still alive and I’ve even got a step-mum.’

  ‘You never talk about your real mum,’ said Megan. ‘When will you see her again?’

  ‘She works for a company in London,’ said Ryan. ‘Last year the company sent her to America and I thought she wasn’t ever coming back, but now it looks like she is.’