The Shadow of the Sycamores

by Doris Davidson

  In just a minute or two, Willie Rae strode in, his canvas apron flapping, his white hair wet with sweat from standing in the intense heat in the smiddy. ‘So?’ he demanded. ‘What have you been up to, my lady?’ Without waiting for her answer, he bent down to scoop her up and deposited her gently on the bed.

  She lay still for a few moments, then said, ‘I’m sorry for being a nuisance. I was wanting to try myself but my legs wouldn’t take my weight.’

  ‘Aye, you’ve put on a wee bit o’ weight since you came here,’ he laughed, ‘but don’t do anything like this again. Get somebody to help you. Now, I’d better get back or the shoe I was shaping’ll be hardening already.’

  When he went out, Fay took a quick look in the pram, found both her children asleep and then returned to the bedroom. ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’

  ‘There’s nothing I’d like better.’

  Fay stayed with her charge until Nessie came back, letting little Andrew amuse Janet while she cooked the piece of lamb that had obviously been intended for the supper and preparing some vegetables to accompany it. Once relieved of her duty, she hurried home to make something for her own family, hoping that Henry would not be too upset about Abby’s tragedy to eat.

  Innes Ledingham practically danced back to the carriage he had left on the edge of the town. His journey to Ardbirtle had not been in vain – he had learned something that he felt was central to his quest.

  ‘Where were you all afternoon?’ Gloria demanded after supper. ‘Am I supposed to manage this place as well as do all the cooking?

  He slid his arm round her waist. ‘I was in Ardbirtle, my dearest, and I think I have discovered where Henry Rae has hidden Janet.’

  ‘You think? So you do not know for sure?’

  ‘I am almost sure,’ he smiled. ‘I saw an older woman running in to talk to Fay for a few minutes and come rushing out again.’

  ‘If she was running and rushing, it could not have been Janet.’

  He heaved an exaggerated sigh. ‘I am well aware of that. No, that was not Janet but, after some time, Fay came hurrying out with her children in the perambulator and I followed her.’

  ‘Oh, for goodness sake, Innes! What did you think you …’

  ‘I believe that Janet is in the house she visited – Oak Cottage it is called.’

  ‘What gave you the idea she was there?’ Gloria sneered. ‘Whose house is it?’

  ‘I do not know yet but it is obviously one of Fay’s friends or Henry’s.’

  Gloria mulled over this for some time, then she muttered, ‘Maybe she is there, then, but I still think we should leave it alone. Janet will never come back here to bother us.’

  ‘You never know,’ he said, darkly. ‘Once she regains her health, she could quite easily realise that she could …’

  ‘She can do nothing. You know that.’

  ‘She could report me to the police for trying to poison her.’

  ‘They would not believe her. You are the highly respected Superintendent of The Sycamores, while she was just a cook.’

  ‘Stranger things have happened and, besides that, she could blackmail me. I married her bigamously …’

  ‘You told me you had removed that page from the register so there is no proof that you married her, is there?’

  ‘I am afraid there is, Gloria. Every person here attended the wedding.’

  ‘The police would not believe a bunch of lunatics.’

  ‘There were the nurses, the servants and the male workers. They were all present.’

  ‘Ah, yes. Well, what were you intending to do?’

  ‘I have not formed a plan yet.’

  Innes spent a sleepless night, thinking of several ways to get Janet away from Oak Cottage and discarding them as unfeasible but, just as daybreak filtered through a tiny crack in the curtains, his heart gave a leap. Why did he not just get hold of Henry on his own and threaten to expose him to the police for his hand in her abduction if he did not give her up? He did not actually commit the crime, of course, but he was the ‘receiver of the stolen goods’.

  If that failed, he could threaten to do some harm to Henry’s wife and children if he did not do as he was told. The poor fool was only a street sweeper, when all was said and done, although he boasted the title of Town Officer. He was not a well-educated man and would be easily intimidated. Yes, Innes reflected, it should be easy enough but it might be better to wait a little longer until Janet was fit to walk.

  Henry was still very upset when he went to bed. He had paid Abby a visit during the evening and it had wrenched at his heart seeing her grief over her infant. He was glad that Nessie had been there for her earlier on. Maybe he should suggest that Fay take Abby’s little boy to stay here for a few days out of the way, until after the funeral, anyway.

  Worrying over this, Henry remembered that Pogie had said he was doing his little son’s funeral himself and he had closed his business to the public for the next week. Would he be able to comfort his wife properly, though, or would she feel the need to have a woman-body with her? She wasn’t as strong as she would have everybody believe. He could vouch for that.

  Nessie would likely offer to stay with her which would mean there would be no one to keep an eye on Janet – and look what had happened to her when she was on her own for the afternoon.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  It took Innes Ledingham quite some effort to hide his excitement as he left Ardbirtle Post Office. His heart rate had doubled when he asked his question, wondering if his explanation for asking it sounded feasible but the postmaster had accepted it with a smile. ‘Oak Cottage? That’s Willie Rae’s house. He’s the blacksmith but the smiddy’s at the back of the house, entrance in Hillview Road.’

  His heartbeats had almost suffocated him then, Innes mused on his way back to The Sycamores, and the band constricting his chest was only loosening now. Willie Rae! It would be too great a coincidence for the resident of Oak Cottage to be anything other than one of Henry’s relatives. A brother, perhaps? Or father? He had never mentioned either, only his sister, but that did not preclude their existence.

  Allowing the mare to proceed at her own pace, he decided not to tell Gloria where he had been, nor what he had learned. She had been getting on his nerves recently, always questioning him about where he had been. He had forgotten, in her absence, how manipulative she was, which was why he had been glad to see the back of her before. That was when his mind had turned to Janet, the girl he had loved as a youth. He had thanked God for bringing her back into his life but she had proved to be less interesting and exciting than he had thought.

  He had contacted Gloria then, asking her to come back to him and making no secret of his ‘marriage’. He wished now that he had not bothered. He was better off without her – at least his life had run smoothly while Janet was at the helm. But he had destroyed any chance he may have had of making it up with her. She would want nothing more to do with him and it would be wisest to let her go.

  A coldness came over him now. He could not afford to let her go. She must have run away because she guessed that he was slowly trying to poison her and, when she recovered properly, she would set the law on him. She had, apparently, not yet told Henry Rae anything but the time would come – no doubt about that.

  His mind in a complete turmoil since Janet disappeared, Ledingham had forgotten that she could not possibly have got away by herself and was now actually believing that she had risen from her sickbed and run off. Naturally, she would have gone to Henry first – they had been friends even before they came to The Sycamores – but Rae had realised that he would be first to be suspected of harbouring her and had passed her to his brother or father. Willie!

  Innes smiled in satisfaction. All that remained to be done was to find a way to outwit Mr and Mrs William Rae, to somehow manoeuvre things so that Janet was left alone in the house or to make her come outside on her own. He had not actually planned how to get her into the carriage but his ingenious mind woul
d not fail him when the time came.

  The mare stopped of her own accord at the stable door. He dismounted and entered the kitchen, where Gloria turned a venomous eye on him but said nothing in front of Beenie, who was gleefully waiting for the explosion that did not materialise. He had hardly got seated in his office-cum-sitting room when Gloria barged in. ‘Where did you sneak off to this time?’ she demanded.

  ‘I did not sneak anywhere,’ he answered with what he hoped was quiet dignity. ‘I went to Letherton Farm to see if Jack Duthie would give me a better deal for the milk.’

  This clearly took the wind out of her sails but she snapped, ‘And did he?’

  ‘He did – so my journey was not wasted.’

  ‘You should have been doing something to get your precious ‘wife’ back,’ she snarled. ‘With her still on the loose, my nerves are in shreds waiting for the police to come and arrest you for bigamy.’

  Innes almost told her that she was shredding his nerves, carrying on the way she did. Besides, when – if – he was arrested, it might not be for bigamy. The longer it went on, the more likely that he could be charged with murder, yet he was determined not to be rushed into anything. He had to be sure that there would be no slips, nothing to trip him up and alert the police. That was why he had told Gloria nothing of what he was doing. In fact, it had occurred to him several times lately that it might be a good plan to dispose of her, too. There was still plenty arsenic in the potting shed.

  ‘I’m as fit as a fiddle, Nessie.’ Janet had been saying this for a week now and still the other woman wouldn’t let her go out. ‘I could easily do some shopping to save you or take a dander along to see Fay and the bairns.’

  ‘And give Ledingham a chance to snatch you back?’

  ‘I don’t think he’s bothered. He didn’t find me at Henry’s house and Fay didn’t tell him about you and Willie so I think he must have given up.’

  ‘From what you’ve told me about him, I wouldn’t say he was the kind to give up but maybe you’re right. Well, well, then, I’ll let you go along to see Fay but we’d better set a time limit so I’ll know you’re not in any trouble. One hour there and straight back, agreed?’

  ‘Agreed,’ Janet smiled.

  The visit, joyfully received by Fay, went off without a hitch and Nessie was forced to admit that she had been wrong. There was still a glimmer of doubt in her mind but she kept it to herself. Janet had little enough pleasure in her life these days and she wasn’t going to spoil things for the poor woman … unless, of course, needs warranted it.

  Nessie, however, was astonished at how soon things were to be spoiled for her poor lodger.

  Henry had risen with the peculiar feeling that misfortune of some kind was about to overtake him but he said nothing to Fay. With two young children to look after, she didn’t need anything else to worry her.

  Because of his own dread of what might happen, he changed his normal figure-of-eight route, giving himself farther to push his little handcart, which was no real hardship. He kept the horse dung separate from the other refuse, as was his custom, at the end farthest from his nose, to be given out to those who needed it for their gardens. A small smile flitted across his face as he recalled one of Geordie Mavor’s favourite observations when they met in the street.

  ‘I canna understand some folk putting horse shite on their rhubarb,’ the carrier would joke. ‘I like custard on mine.’

  Of course, there wasn’t much of anything else to pick up – the people of Ardbirtle mostly burned their rubbish or let it rot in their middens. But there were the odd bits of paper blown about by the wind or torn cardboard boxes and things like that so they were all placed at the end nearest to him.

  Today, his mind was not really on what he was doing yet his sense of foreboding made him look about him as he went along Mid Street, down Beggar’s Brae and into Mill Street, which took him to the other end of Mid Street. It was when he was halfway to his starting point that he caught a quick movement out of the corner of his eye. He was almost sure that it had been a man but there was no one to be seen.

  Positive that someone had dodged out of sight, he left the cart and hurried to look along the alleyway that ran along the rear of the houses and did get a glimpse of a tall figure disappearing round a corner. To his frustration, it had vanished into thin air by the time he reached the spot but he would swear that it had been Innes Ledingham.

  His vague unease now condensing into solid fear for Janet, he rushed to his father’s house to warn her, startling the two women when he burst in breathlessly. ‘I’ve just seen Ledingham!’ he cried. ‘He knows I saw him for he jinked into the back lane and I don’t know where he went after that. He just disappeared.’

  Janet said nothing but Nessie said, ‘Are you sure it was him, Henry? Did you see his face?’

  ‘I only saw his back but I’m near certain it was him. Who else would take to his heels when he saw me? Besides, he was wearing yon long black coat and the high bowler. Not many men round here dress like that.’

  Having recovered from her initial shock, Janet muttered, ‘Is he looking for me?’

  The other two glanced at each other, not knowing what to do, then Henry said, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised, Janet. There’s been a lot going on you don’t know about but I’ll have to go. I left my cart sitting in the middle of the road. You tell her, Nessie.’

  She followed him into the little porch. ‘What should I tell her?’

  ‘Everything.’

  ‘Henry, she maybe looks fit physically but I’m not so sure about her mind. That devil must have put her through hell and damnation.’

  ‘Just tell her everything, Nessie. It’s time she knew.’

  ‘D’you think he’s found out where she is?’

  ‘If he had, he’d have been at your door, not skulking about on Mid Street.’

  Innes sat for some time before he picked up the reins. That had been a narrow shave but he was almost sure that Henry Rae had not got a proper look at him.

  It was a good thing that he had made himself so familiar with the layout of the town. His previous visits had necessitated some dodging out of the scavenger’s sight in various areas but never had he been so nearly caught. He gave a nervous giggle. Little did young Rae think that he had taken refuge in one of the houses. The back porch door had been ajar and he had crept in and closed it behind him. He had waited there for … oh, it must have been a good twenty minutes before he could be sure that the coast was clear and he could make good his escape.

  By Jove, he had been lucky, now he came to think about it. Not only had there been the risk of Rae finding him, he had been sweating like a common labourer in case the occupant of the house would come through but nothing had happened. He had let himself out eventually and then walked, as nonchalantly as he could, to where he had left his carriage, well out of the town.

  He halted as he reached down for the reins to drive home. He could not cope with many more of these heart-stopping experiences, although he was feeling more composed now. The best thing to do at this point would be to turn round, go straight to Oak Cottage, gain entry to the house by some means and …

  He could plan no further than that. What would happen next would depend on what had gone before.

  Janet was waiting expectantly when Nessie returned to the kitchen. ‘You’d better tell me – whatever it is.’

  ‘How much do you remember about coming here?’

  Janet’s face paled. ‘Not much, to be honest. I know I was very ill but I don’t know how I got here. Was it Henry that took me away?’

  ‘No, it was Max Dalgarno.’

  ‘Max? But …’

  ‘Look, Janet, I think I had better start at the very beginning.’

  And so Innes Ledingham’s treachery was unveiled, from the falsehood about his wife’s death, possibly also about Mrs Emslie’s death, to his decision to ask Gloria to come back to him. Nessie had to explain here that Mrs Rattray, the cook supposedly hired temporarily, was
in fact his first wife and that he had actually been poisoning Janet with a view to finishing her off altogether.

  Janet listened to it all, saying little but obviously becoming more and more shocked, and, when at last the quiet voice stopped, she said, ‘Would you leave me on my own for a wee while, Nessie, please? I need to go over it all in my mind.’

  ‘Aye, lass, I can understand that. I’ll let Willie know what’s been happening and then I’ll go along and tell Fay. I’ll go to the butcher as well and get a bit of ham for the tea but I’ll not be very long.’

  ‘Don’t hurry back – I’ll be fine.’

  She wasn’t fine, though, she admitted to herself when the other woman went out. So much had happened that she had no memory of and hearing about it had left her feeling utterly helpless – as if she had no control over her own life. After some deeply concentrated thought, little flashes of the past came to her – the onset of that queer illness, the sickness that always grew worse no matter what Innes gave her to stop it. But of course he hadn’t been trying to help her at all. The temporary cook had turned up just the day after the first attack of what she had believed to be a stomach upset. The temporary cook! His first wife! Gloria!

  Lingering on this horrible revelation, Janet was beset by an even more horrible thought – a thought so horrifying that she had to close her eyes for a few minutes to stop the walls closing in on her. She had married Innes Ledingham in all good faith but his first wife had still been alive! He had committed bigamy but what she had done was much, much worse. She had slept with a married man and done everything that sleeping with a man entailed! They had not been making love during those years of what she had thought of as marriage – they had been fornicating illegally!

  Fornicating! She had never considered what she had done with Tom Aitken as fornicating. They had been young, desperately in love, he was going away and they had pledged their love in the only way they knew. He had sworn on his honour that he would marry her when he came home … but he hadn’t come home.