‘Look, Molly, it’s urgent. I must speak to Bunty at once. Her life is in danger.’
‘Gordon, whatever do you mean? Bunty is here at Butlins. How can she be in danger?’ Molly whispered, trying hard not to alert the security man to what she was saying.
‘I can’t talk for long, as I’m using the hospital telephone and I’m not supposed to be out of bed.’
Molly felt her heart thump in her chest. ‘Gordon, what’s happened, and why are you in hospital?’
‘I found Richard. He bragged that he’d fed the drugs to Aileen that caused her death. He thought we were alone and he’d been drinking. What he didn’t realize was that he’d been overheard by Aileen’s father.’
‘That’s good news, isn’t it? But why are you in hospital, and why is Bunty in danger?’
‘I’d gone to see Aileen’s parents to tell them my side of the story. Stupid, I know, but I’d always got on well with her father and he was prepared to listen to what I had to say. It seems his impression of Richard has changed in the years since I was imprisoned. He agreed to invite Richard to his home to confront him. It was while he was out of the room that Richard bragged to me he’d drugged Aileen and was pleased I’d been accused of her murder.’
‘But how were you injured? I’m assuming you were as you are in hospital . . .’
‘A minor injury. It’s Aileen’s father who was really injured. He was shot in the chest and it’s not looking so good.’
Molly was horrified. Her hands were clammy as she held the telephone receiver, and she felt light-headed. ‘Shot? How?’
‘Aileen’s father was enraged with what he overheard and there was a struggle. The old man had a handgun in his desk and went to retrieve it. Richard grabbed the weapon and pointed it at me. There was a tussle and it went off, hitting Aileen’s father in the shoulder.’
‘How awful. But why is Bunty in danger?’
‘It was as I went to help the old man that he told me he believed me and would speak to the police to help clear my name. In the meantime, I was to return to Butlins and marry the woman I loved, as life was too short not to be together.’
‘But what about Richard? Where was he?’
‘I thought he’d run away, but it seems he was still in the room. The next thing I knew, the gun had gone off twice. I took a bullet in my arm, and the second hit the old man, this time in the chest. It was then that Richard ran off. He still has the gun . . .’
Molly was finding it hard to focus on what Gordon was telling her. ‘How long ago was this, Gordon?’ She prayed it was only a couple of hours ago, as Richard would not have been able to travel to Skegness from Scotland in that time and Bunty would be safe once they’d informed the police.
‘It was this morning. It’s been hell just trying to get the police to understand that Richard must assume we are dead and believes Bunty is the only person alive who knows the truth about him. All they would focus on was that Aileen’s father had been shot and an escaped prisoner was in the room. I was under guard in hospital for a while until he came round from his operation and managed to speak a few words. Thank God he did.’
Molly glanced at a clock on the wall and tried to count in her head. ‘Then it could be eleven or twelve hours ago. Could he be in Skegness yet?’
‘My motorbike is missing, so yes, he could be at Butlins already. Please, Molly, you must find Bunty and protect her.’
19
A cough from the security guard reminded Molly that the office was due to be locked for the night. She scribbled down the name of the hospital and a telephone number, and promised Gordon to do all she could to make sure Bunty was protected.
Leaving the office, Molly climbed onto her bicycle, unsure of what she should do. From the ballroom, she could hear strains of music. Within the hour, the band would be playing ‘Goodnight Campers’ and holiday-makers would be filling the paths and heading to their chalets for the night. She decided to cycle over to the Pig and Whistle to talk to Bunty. Her first consideration must be for her friend’s safety. She left the bike and headed into the crowded pub, nodding to holidaymakers who called out to her. It was hard to pin a smile to her face when she was so worried about her friend. She spotted Plum with some colleagues by the far end of the bar and headed in that direction, hoping that Bunty was with them.
‘Drink?’ Plum called as Molly reached the edge of the group of redcoats.
‘Not at the moment, thank you. I’m supposed to be on duty for another half-hour. I’m looking for Bunty. Have you seen her?’
Plum glanced around her. ‘She was here a short while ago. I spotted her wishing Connie a happy birthday. You look worried. Is there a problem?’
‘It’s a little noisy in here. Can you come outside and I’ll explain? I can’t really shout.’
‘Let me just give Connie her drink and I’ll be with you. I must say you certainly seem worried,’ Plum said, giving her chum a quizzical look.
Molly pushed back through the crowd, stopping to ask a few redcoats if they’d seen her friend. By the time Plum joined her, she was beside herself with worry.
‘Now, tell me what’s troubling you. I’ve never seen you look so serious.’
Molly explained about Gordon’s telephone call. ‘We need to find Bunty at once, but I don’t know where to start. I had hoped she would be with you in the pub celebrating Connie’s birthday.’
‘I asked Connie if she’d seen Bunty. Apart from when Bunty wished her a happy birthday, she’s not seen her. Connie reckons it was about half an hour ago.’
The two friends sat in silence for a few seconds, wondering what to do next, until their thoughts were interrupted by an announcement over the tannoy saying a child was crying.
‘That’s it!’ Plum said, jumping to her feet from the bench she was sitting on. ‘You go to the ballroom and ask for them to broadcast that Redcoat Bunty is required in the staffroom. I’ll ask for the same in the Pig and Whistle, and the theatre. See you by the staffroom in five minutes.’
Molly climbed back onto her bicycle and cycled as quickly as she could to the ballroom. En route, she asked staff she passed if they’d seen Bunty. Each time she drew a blank. Reaching the ballroom, she found a redcoat to relay the message over the loudspeaker system.
Heading back to meet Plum, she had but one thought: what if Richard had already arrived at the holiday camp and found Bunty? She couldn’t begin to imagine his state of mind after this morning’s events in Scotland.
‘Whoa, hold up there. Where are you going at such a speed?’
Molly gripped the brakes of her bike as she saw Johnny step out in front of her. It was only his quick thinking that stopped her flying over the handlebars. As it was, she stumbled from the bike and fell into his arms as it crashed to the ground. ‘Oh, Johnny, we need your help. It’s Bunty . . .’ she managed to say in between taking great gulps of breath.
‘Has there been an accident?’ he asked, holding on to Molly so she didn’t fall.
‘No, but I fear for her life. I have to get back to the staffroom to meet Plum. I’ll explain on the way.’ She went to pick up her bike, which had landed in a flowerbed.
‘Leave it. I’ll get someone to collect it later,’ he said, placing an arm round Molly’s waist and guiding her along the footpath to where Plum was waiting with some colleagues, including Charlie Porter.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked in an unhappy voice.
‘It’s all right, Molly. I asked him to join us. I thought perhaps it was time he knew what was happening, if you-know-who has arrived.’ She glanced towards Johnny.
‘I’ve told Johnny. You’ve no need to speak in code,’ she assured her friend. ‘What should we do next?’
‘Perhaps we should call the police,’ Plum suggested.
Johnny thought for a moment. ‘It would take too long, and it would be very hard to convince them of what has happened. By the time they contacted the police in Scotland, it would be too late . . . That’s if this Richard i
s here and has Bunty,’ he added.
‘Oh, please don’t say that,’ Plum said, turning more than a little pale.
‘If we think the worst, we will be able to cope,’ Molly said, patting Plum’s arm to console her.
‘We need to make a search of the camp,’ Johnny said, calling staff members closer so they could hear. ‘I don’t want to alert or alarm the campers, but we need to be thorough. For those of you who have just arrived, we have reason to believe our colleague Bunty may have been abducted by a man. She was last seen in the Pig and Whistle just over an hour ago in her Butlins uniform. The man may be armed. If you spot Bunty, report back to me. I will be in my office calling in extra security staff before joining the search. Whatever you do, be careful, and remember, we don’t want to alarm the campers, and we don’t need heroes.’
Johnny then divided the group and gave instructions where they should search.
‘Plum and I want to search together, and I think we should start in our chalet,’ Molly told Johnny.
He nodded. ‘As long as a male colleague goes with you,’ he said, looking around as staff headed off to look for Bunty. Only Charlie Porter remained. ‘Charlie, will you accompany Molly and Plum, please?’
The two girls looked at each other but accepted they needed an extra pair of hands. ‘At least we can watch what he’s up to,’ Plum whispered, and Molly agreed.
They set off down the long pathway lined by chalets until they reached the end of the row of staff accommodation. The door to their chalet was swinging on its hinges from a light breeze blowing in from the sea.
Charlie put his finger to his lips and crept forward, reappearing several seconds later. ‘It’s empty, but the door lock’s been broken. You’d better both check if anything is missing.’ He lit a cigarette and settled into a deckchair outside the chalet. Pulling a notebook and pencil stub from his pocket, he began to write.
‘I can’t see that anything of mine is missing. How about you?’ Molly said as she straightened an upturned bedside table close to Bunty’s bed.
‘There is something missing. I feel it in my bones,’ Plum answered as she moved to the centre of the chalet and closed her eyes.
‘Whatever are you doing?’
‘Trying to remember what the chalet is like.’
Molly watched as Plum screwed her eyes tight, waited for thirty seconds, then opened them and looked around the room. ‘Over there by Bunty’s bed. There were a couple of photographs on the bedside table.’
Molly knelt down and checked under the bed. She pulled out a small photograph of Gordon in a wooden frame. ‘This is the only one I can find.’
‘The other one wasn’t in a frame,’ Plum said.
Both girls checked thoroughly, pulling back bedcovers and even looking between the pages of Bunty’s library book.
‘He must have it. Richard must have broken into the chalet to find Bunty and taken the photograph,’ Plum said, sitting down heavily on her bed and sighing.
‘So he doesn’t remember what Bunty looked like? I suppose it’s been years since he last saw her, when they all worked at the hospital. I doubt he’d have taken much notice of a nurse with so many working in a large London hospital.’
‘But he’s made a mistake. He took the photograph of you from when Charlie thought you were Bunty. He has your picture with “Redcoat Bunty” printed at the bottom. It’s you he’s looking for, Molly.’
Molly felt the blood drain from her face as she sat down beside Plum. ‘But it doesn’t explain where Bunty is, does it? Charlie, you’d better come in and hear this,’ she called out.
Charlie listened as the girls told him what was missing. ‘I’m going to shoot over and update Johnny and get maintenance to fix your door,’ he said. ‘Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone, you hear me? In fact, you stay here and don’t move an inch.’
The girls nodded and watched him leave the chalet.
‘Do you think Bunty came back to the chalet and disturbed him?’ Plum asked. ‘She could be lying hurt somewhere.’
‘I think we should go and look for her. I can leave a note for Charlie,’ Molly said, reaching for her writing set. ‘It’s best we take something to protect ourselves in case we do come across the detestable man.’
Plum rummaged under her bed and pulled out a riding crop. ‘This’ll give him a nasty sting if he crosses me,’ she said, slapping her hand with the object.
‘I have a putting stick that I’ve been meaning to take back to the sports store. That will give him more than a sting if I wallop the man.’ She finished scribbling the note for Charlie, slipped a torch into her pocket and grabbed her weapon. ‘Come on – let’s go.’
The girls crept out into the dark night, moving slowly in case anyone was listening. The chalet ranks were dimly lit by a couple of lamps further down the path.
Plum prodded Molly in the back. ‘Let’s head up between the chalets towards the boating lake. It’s always quiet there this time of night, apart from a few courting couples.’
Molly nodded and took a few more steps before turning left between two chalets that were in darkness. ‘Oh my goodness,’ she exclaimed as she stopped suddenly. Plum ploughed into the back of her, and both jumped as an indignant voice yelped in pain. Molly flashed her torch downwards and found Freda looking up at her. ‘Whatever are you doing down there, Freda?’
Freda stood up and brushed her skirt. ‘I was coming over to find you. George and Kath are having an early night so I wondered if you fancied a drink if you were off duty. I was peering at the chalet numbers when I tripped over this.’ She bent down and picked up a lady’s white plimsoll.
Plum took the shoe and examined it. ‘Look . . . inside . . . I thought as much. It’s Bunty’s name.’
‘Is Bunty one of the girls you share with?’ Freda asked. ‘And why are you carrying those?’ She pointed to the putting stick and whip.
‘This is Plum, my other chalet mate. Bunty has gone missing and we think she has been abducted.’
The two girls smiled a hello to each other in the torchlight.
‘And the man has a gun, and he thinks Molly is Bunty . . .’ Plum’s words rushed away with her.
‘Blimey! It’s all go at Butlins, isn’t it? I have a hundred questions, but perhaps you can explain as we search. What does she look like?’
Molly described Bunty as the friends set off. ‘You will like Bunty. She’s good fun but has been through a lot.’
‘Haven’t we all!’ Plum hooted aloud, before slapping her hand across her mouth with an ‘oops’.
‘We thought we’d look around the boating lake first,’ Molly explained.
‘That’s a good idea. Then perhaps down by the beach,’ Freda suggested. ‘I took a walk this afternoon and it’s not far to take someone.’
‘The tide’s coming in. It’s almost high tide,’ Plum exclaimed. ‘Richard could drag her there and leave her, and . . . and she could have drowned . . .’
‘Perhaps we should go to the beach first,’ Freda suggested.
The girls headed off at a brisk pace towards the beach, with Molly explaining to Freda as much as she could about Bunty and Gordon’s problem and how Richard was likely to be at the camp hunting for their friend.
‘What I don’t understand is why, if Richard thinks you are Bunty, why then she has disappeared?’
Plum explained to Freda about Charlie Porter the journalist and how they wanted to deceive him to protect Bunty and Gordon.
Freda sighed. ‘Honestly, Molly, I think it was safer back home in Erith when you only had Simon to contend with.’ She stopped and looked around her. ‘The beach looks so romantic in the moonlight.’
The girls could just make out the shoreline. It was almost high tide, with clouds hiding the moon. A gentle breeze chilled the air and Molly shivered. Where was Bunty? ‘Look – what’s that?’ She pointed to something on the beach up ahead caught in the beam of her torch.
Plum hurried forward and picked up another shoe. ‘I
t’s Bunty’s, and look – her redcoat jacket is over there.’
Freda retrieved the jacket. ‘It’s ripped, but it’s dry.’ The girls huddled round the jacket and checked it by the light from the torch. ‘One of the sleeves is hanging off, and there’s a big tear up the back. It looks as though this Richard has been quite rough with her.’
‘I would think there’s been a struggle around here. Bunty must have escaped or . . .’ Plum took the torch from Molly and shone it ahead. The moon chose that moment to appear from behind a cloud. The girls could see the shape of a person slumped at the edge of the sea.
Plum was there first and threw herself onto the wet sand, grabbing Bunty under the arms and dragging her away from the incoming waves. ‘She’s breathing, but it’s very shallow. Come on, love, wake up. You’re safe now.’
Freda and Molly joined Plum and helped move Bunty to dry sand.
Freda checked the unconscious girl. ‘I can’t see any broken bones or bleeding, although there appears to be some bruising round her neck and here on her arm. We need to keep her warm until help arrives.’
The two redcoats removed their jackets and Freda her cardigan. Molly propped her friend onto her lap and wrapped her in the dry clothing. ‘You’re safe now, Bunty. You’re safe,’ she said, hugging her close.
Bunty’s eyelids flickered and opened. ‘Gordon . . . He killed Gordon,’ she murmured, before her eyes closed again from the exertion.
‘Gordon is fine, Bunty. I spoke to him on the telephone. He rang to warn you. If it hadn’t been for Gordon, you would be dead,’ Molly reassured her.
‘We need to get medical help for Bunty,’ Freda said. ‘It’s best I go, as you two know her and she will need friendly faces around her when she comes to.’
Molly nodded. She was worried that Bunty was becoming delirious. ‘Go to the staffroom. It’s in the reception building. Johnny will be there. Tell him what you know and say we think that Richard may still be in the grounds of the camp. Please, Freda, hurry.’
The Butlins Girls Page 25