Near And Dear

by Pamela Evans

  ‘Where else can I go?’ he asked feebly.

  ‘You must have a mate who’ll put you up? You must not go to your mother . . .’

  ‘She’d take me in.’

  ‘I know she would but you mustn’t put her in that position, Mick. It wouldn’t be fair.’ Jane felt very strongly about this. ‘She had a miserable time with your father for all those years. Now he’s gone, she’s managed to make a decent life for herself. Don’t spoil it for her. Do the decent thing and leave her out of this.’

  ‘But . . .’

  ‘Don’t sink so low as to put your own mother in a position where she could get into trouble with the police ... for goodness’ sake.’

  ‘Jane . . . please let me stay here.’

  ‘I want you to leave, Mick.’

  He didn’t move. Just stared at her in a bemused state.

  ‘Right. I’m going to join Pip in the kitchen,’ she said. ‘And I shall expect you to have gone by the time I come back into this room. Leave by the front door so as not to upset your daughter . . . please.’ She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. ‘I really believe that the best thing you can do is to go to the nearest police station. But whatever you do, good luck.’

  She left the room and went into the kitchen. She was about to sit down and join Pip at the table when Mick burst in and charged over to the back door.

  ‘Where’s the key?’

  ‘Mick, what the devil . . .’

  ‘The key.’

  She pointed to a row of keys hanging on hooks on the wall.

  ‘The one with the yellow tag,’ she said.

  He grabbed the key, locked the door and put the key in the pocket of his leather jacket. Shadow, who had been curled up on a chair, sensed danger and shot out through the cat-flap at such speed there was a loud metallic clatter.

  ‘I’m sorry to have to be like this,’ said Mick breathlessly, looking from one of them to the other, ‘but I really do need to stay here.’

  Pip stood up, horrified as she looked at her father who was shaking all over, his eyes wild and peculiar.

  ‘Daddy . . . what’s going on?’ she asked, trembling. ‘Why have you locked us in?’

  ‘To keep visitors out, Princess.’

  Jane was imbued with a feeling of dull rage at his selfishness in coming here, followed by a surge of pity for the desperation that allowed him to let his beloved daughter see him stripped of all dignity. She reminded herself that all his problems stemmed from greed, and she herself was tired of making excuses for him.

  ‘He’s in trouble with the police and wants to stay here,’ she told Pip calmly.

  ‘The police?’ said the girl, turning pale with fright. ‘Oh, Daddy.’

  ‘Oh, I’ve had enough of this, I’m going to get help,’ said Jane, running towards the door to the hall in the hope of getting to the front door. But Mick was there first and blocked her way.

  ‘You’re not going anywhere,’ he said.

  ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, Mick! Enough’s enough. Give us all a break and grow up.’

  Holding her by the arm, he dragged her over to the worktop and took a carving knife from the drawer.

  ‘If you don’t do as I say, I’ll have no option but to use this,’ he threatened.

  Pip screamed.

  ‘Daddy, stop it, stop it!’ she yelled, on the verge of hysteria.

  But Mick had lost his head completely and could think of nothing but saving himself from prison and doing whatever he had to. He was twitching so much, he reminded Jane of someone in the early stages of a fit.

  ‘It’s all right, Pip,’ she said, managing to get free from Mick to go to her daughter and put an arm around her. ‘Your father won’t hurt us.’ She looked at him. ‘Will you?’

  Standing with the knife pointing towards her, he said, ‘Not so long as you do as I tell you.’ He was shivering, his face wet with tears. ‘Look . . . I don’t want to hurt you . . . I love you both more than you could possibly know. But you’ve gotta let me stay here and not shop me to the police if they come looking for me.’

  ‘You need help, Mick,’ said Jane.

  ‘Huh, tell me something I don’t already know!’

  ‘Medical help, I mean,’ she said. ‘You need to get your head sorted out.’

  ‘If you mean in a prison cell, you can think again.’

  ‘They have doctors who specialise in problems of the mind . . .’

  ‘You think I’m a nutcase?’

  ‘No. But I do think you are very confused and obsessional about things. You are also very frightened,’ she said. ‘Look at you, you’re terrified out of your wits.’

  ‘Who wouldn’t be in my situation?’

  ‘This is what it will be like for you for the rest of your life, if you don’t give yourself up,’ she told him. ‘You’ll always be afraid. Always be waiting for someone to tap you on the shoulder . . .’

  ‘Sooner that than prison.’

  ‘Oh, Daddy,’ said Pip sadly. ‘How have you got into such a mess?’

  ‘I’ll be all right, Princess,’ he said. ‘Once I get out of this bit o’ bother, everything will be fine.’ His face hardened. ‘But no one is leaving here or coming in.’

  ‘Davey will be home from a football match soon,’ said Jane.

  ‘He’ll come in, o’ course. And once he’s in, we’ll be one big happy family together.’ Mick glared at Jane, brandishing the knife. ‘Apart from that, no one comes and no one goes. Right?’

  Jane put her arm more tightly around Pip. She had a terrifying suspicion that Mick was no longer in control; that he had now crossed the fine line into insanity.

  Giles was driving Davey home, idly listening to the two boys chattering in the back of the car, sounding so grown-up now that their voices had broken. How fleeting childhood was, he thought. He was glad they hadn’t drifted apart when Davey moved away because they were such good pals.

  As gales of youthful laughter filled the car, he found himself wishing again that he and Jane and their children could become one family. But despite his very best endeavours, she remained staunchly opposed to the idea of resuming their love affair, still convinced that such an arrangement would mean trouble for Giles. He’d told her that didn’t worry him. He’d even suggested that she start divorce proceedings. But Jane said to do that while Mick still wasn’t in agreement was just inviting trouble.

  It was painful to see her on a regular basis, the way things were. He missed her at home too. It wasn’t the same at the cottage now that the Parkers didn’t live next-door. There wasn’t the fun and the warmth and the sociable atmosphere. An elderly couple lived in Jane’s cottage now. They were nice people but liked to keep to themselves.

  The truth was, his life was lacking a vital element without Jane. Because of this, he had decided that when Kevin left home, he himself would leave the area and make a new start somewhere else.

  But now he pulled up outside Jane’s house and Davey clambered out, thanking him for the lift and laughing with Kevin over some private adolescent joke. Giles waited, watching the boy, his dark hair shining in the street lights as he sauntered down the front path and disappeared through the side gate on his way to the back door which was the one the family always used. Then Giles drove to the end of the street to find a suitable spot to turn the car around.

  Passing Jane’s house on the way back, he was surprised to see Davey standing at the front, looking bewildered.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ he asked, poking his head out of the car window.

  ‘The back door’s locked and I can’t get any answer from the front.’

  ‘That’s odd,’ muttered Giles, getting out of the car and walking towards the house, noticing that the lights were on behind closed curtains, indicating that Jane was at home.

  ‘I can’t understand why Mum has locked the back door ’cause we all come in and out that way.’

  ‘Perhaps she’s had to go out unexpectedly and left the lights on to deter intruders?’ suggested
Giles, who knew Jane would never allow either of her children to come home to an empty house unless something out of the ordinary had happened.

  Davey shook his head. ‘I know she’s in because I can hear her and Pip moving about in the kitchen. They must have the portable telly on in there because I can hear a man’s voice. They’ve probably got it on so loud, they didn’t hear me banging on the door.’

  They would hear that, surely? Giles thought, but said, ‘Let’s give the front doorbell another try, shall we?’

  ‘Yeah, okay.’

  Davey was reaching up to press the bell when his mother opened the door.

  ‘Ah, there you are Jane. We were beginning to think you’d gone out,’ said Giles with a friendly grin. ‘Davey couldn’t get you to hear him.’

  ‘Sorry. I did hear, I was . . . er, busy doing something,’ she said quickly and breathlessly, looking very preoccupied.

  There was something disturbing in her eyes when she looked at Giles for a second before ushering Davey inside with unusual haste and closing the door after only the briefest of thanks for bringing him home. Had it been fear he had seen there? Or was he overreacting to the signs of some mild domestic anxiety? He wasn’t sure. But Jane certainly hadn’t been her usual cheerful self. An uneasy feeling lingered as he drove away. It wasn’t like her to be so abrupt.

  In one of the neighbouring streets, something he saw in his rear-view mirror caused him to pull up suddenly.

  ‘Hey, Dad,’ rebuked Kevin as he was jolted forward. ‘What are you trying to do, send us both through the windscreen?’

  ‘Sorry, Kevin.’

  ‘What’s the matter? Why are we going back?’ he asked as his father turned the car round and headed back to Jane’s.

  ‘Nothing for you to worry about,’ said Giles, not wishing to cause alarm. ‘I need to speak to Davey’s mother about something, that’s all.’

  What he had seen in his mirror had been Mick Parker’s Jaguar. Giles would know that metallic blue car anywhere. Even in the pale glow of the street lights, he knew it was Mick’s. But why was it in the next street if he was visiting Jane? It could only be because he didn’t want his presence there to be known. Parking problems certainly weren’t the reason because he could have parked his car on Jane’s drive. And why hadn’t Davey been able to get in the back door as he normally could? Mick Parker was up to no good in that house, Giles was sure of it.

  ‘Wait here, Kevin, I won’t be long,’ he said, getting out of the car.

  ‘Okay,’ said the boy, leaning forward and tuning the radio to pop music.

  Giles hurried straight round to the back of Jane’s house, his rubber-soled sports shoes silent on the concrete path. The curtains were drawn across the kitchen and dining-room windows so he couldn’t see in but he knew Mick was in there.

  He rapped his knuckles on the back door.

  No reply.

  He knocked again, harder.

  ‘Who is it?’ came Jane’s muffled tones.

  ‘Giles.’

  ‘I’m busy right now, Giles, I’ll see you tomorrow.’

  ‘I’m not leaving until you let me in,’ he said. ‘I know Mick is in there with you.’

  There was silence then the door opened a fraction. ‘Go away, Giles,’ said a whey-faced Jane, peering out at him.

  ‘Not until I’ve spoken to Mick.’

  The door was opened wide, Jane was pushed inside and Mick, brandishing a knife with one hand, grabbed Giles with the other and dragged him inside, closing the door behind them.

  ‘If you interfere in something that’s none of your business, you’re likely to get hurt,’ he threatened.

  ‘For goodness’ sake, stop playing gangsters and put that thing down,’ said Giles impulsively.

  ‘He isn’t playing,’ warned Jane, looking at Giles gravely.

  There was a brief hiatus while he assessed the situation.

  ‘Come on now,’ he said, moderating his manner as the danger of Mick’s state of mind registered fully. Giles was a very fit man. He could easily overpower an unarmed Mick. But in his current mental state any move on him might push him over the edge and send him berserk with the knife. ‘Whatever the problem is, I’m sure it can be sorted out without the knife. That thing is lethal. Someone is going to get hurt if you don’t put it down. You don’t want that for your wife and children, do you?’

  ‘ ’Course I don’t. What do you take me for?’

  ‘What’s all this about anyway?’ enquired Giles firmly.

  ‘Mick’s in trouble with the police and wants to hide here,’ Jane informed him.

  ‘You know that isn’t fair to Jane, don’t you, Mick?’ said Giles.

  ‘Oh, for God’s sake! All I want is somewhere to lie low for a few days,’ he said. ‘I’m not asking her to go out and rob a bank.’

  Giles suggested that the police would trace him to this address and was told the reason this wouldn’t happen.

  ‘They’ll soon find Jane’s address,’ he argued. ‘They’ll go through your place in Brighton with a fine tooth-comb. ’

  ‘They won’t find it because it isn’t there,’ insisted Mick. ‘I don’t keep a personal address book.’

  ‘But I’ve written to you there, Daddy,’ said Pip. ‘They’ll see this address on the letters. Unless you’ve thrown them away.’

  It was obvious from the look on Mick’s face that he hadn’t.

  ‘You’ll make it a lot easier on yourself if you give yourself up,’ said Jane.

  ‘She’s right,’ added Giles.

  ‘Shut up!’

  ‘My son’s outside,’ said Giles. ‘He’ll come looking for me soon.’

  ‘We won’t let him in.’

  ‘Let Jane and the children go and keep me here as a hostage, if it will make you feel safer?’

  ‘So that they can call the police . . . don’t take me for a mug,’ said Mick in a mocking tone. ‘Now, all of you, go into the living room where I can see what you’re doing.’

  They all trooped into the room at the front of the house and he stood inside the closed door, the knife pointed towards them.

  ‘You might as well make yourselves comfortable ’cause you’re not going anywhere.’

  ‘How long do you plan on keeping this up?’ asked Giles.

  Mick didn’t answer. He was listening to the rumbling sound of a car drawing up outside. He went over to the window and drew back the edge of the curtain, just enough to see out.

  ‘Bloody hell, it’s the police!’ He glared at Giles. ‘You bastard . . . you sent for them before you knocked on the door!’

  ‘Mick, calm down,’ said Jane.

  ‘Nothing to do with me,’ Giles was quick to assure him. ‘They must have traced you through Pip’s letters or something.’

  There was a loud knocking at the front door.

  ‘Nobody move,’ ordered Mick.

  ‘Someone will have to answer it,’ Giles pointed out. ‘They won’t just go away.’

  The doorbell rang simultaneously with an imperious rat-a-tat-tat.

  ‘Are you in there, Mrs Parker? It’s the police. We want to talk to you.’

  Mick’s eyes darted fearfully around the room as the trap closed around him. They came to rest on Jane.

  ‘You and the kids go out there,’ he said nervously. ‘Tell ’em that I’m not leaving this house until they’ve gone. If anyone tries to come in, I’ll kill Giles and turn the knife on myself.’

  ‘Oh, Mick, for pity’s sake . . .’

  ‘Daddy, please don’t do that, please!’ screamed Pip, tears streaming down her cheeks, her pony tail swinging as she shook her head. ‘Please . . .’

  ‘Don’t, Dad,’ said Davey, his dark eyes almost black in his pale, terrified face. ‘It isn’t worth it. You might not have to go to prison for very long.’

  ‘Better still, I’ll tell ’em myself to make sure they know the position.’

  Walking out of the room backwards with the knife pointing in front of him, Mick went to th
e door and shouted his terms to those outside.

  ‘I’m sending the wife and kids out,’ he said. ‘I want to be free to leave here without being arrested. I won’t come out until you’ve gone. If anyone tries to come in . . . the wife’s boyfriend gets it with the knife, and then I’ll top myself.’

  There was a highly charged silence as Mick came back into the other room and indicated to Jane she should leave. Ice-cold with fear for both men, and assuring Giles she would look after Kevin, she ushered the children along the hall to the front door, pushed them into the arms of the waiting policemen then quickly followed, slamming the door behind her.

  Now in full possession of the facts, the police tried to negotiate with Mick through a megaphone. But he wouldn’t believe that they wouldn’t be lying in wait for him if he tried to leave. This was a tricky situation for the police. Storming the property could prove fatal for one or both men.

  Jane and her children, and Kevin, were sitting in a police car outside the house with one of the policemen. There were now several police cars at the scene and a crowd of onlookers had gathered.

  ‘He’s completely flipped,’ Jane told the police officer. ‘I couldn’t get through to him at all. And I thought I would be the one person he would take notice of.’

  ‘You never know what someone will do when they’re in a blind panic,’ said the policeman.

  ‘I honestly don’t believe he would actually kill anyone, though,’ she said. ‘Not even while he’s in this state.’

  ‘My guvnors are obviously not willing to take a chance on that at the moment.’

  Pip made a sudden announcement.

  ‘I know someone I think might be able to talk Daddy out of this without anyone getting hurt,’ she said.

  ‘You’d better tell us who it is then, hadn’t you, young lady?’ said the policeman.

  Although each second passed at an agonisingly slow pace as they waited for Patsy to arrive, Jane had to admire the efficiency of the police force in getting her to the scene so speedily.

  She arrived dressed in a short black skirt and simulated leather jacket. She hugged Pip, said hello to Davey and was introduced to Jane. She then made it clear to the police that she was not prepared to co-operate with them unless she had their promise that they would not send anyone into the house until she gave them the word. Eager to bring this matter to a conclusion, they agreed.