by Ann Purser
“Don’t leave me!” said Jamie, now very frightened. “There is a man in the back! I can see him!”
“You got a good imagination,” said Walter, and climbed out of the cab, disappearing into the darkness.
§
Lois and Derek arrived back at the house more or less at the same time. “Did you…?” Lois could see that Derek’s van was empty. No Jamie. She had had no luck, either, although she’d knocked up Bill and Rebecca to ask them. Bill had immediately pulled on his jacket and set off to get his bike.
“I’ll be able to use my ears as well as eyes,” he said. “The more of us looking, the quicker we’ll find him.” He was gone before Lois could protest. And anyway, she was glad. There was something so reassuring about Bill.
They went into the kitchen and found Josie and Douglas sitting with Gran at the table. Their faces dropped when they saw that Lois and Derek had no Jamie with them.
“Right,” said Lois. “Time to get Keith Simpson. I’ll go and phone.”
Gran looked up. “Wait a minute, Lois,” she said. “I bin thinking, and I’ve got a suggestion. It’s probably no good, but worth a try.”
“What?” said Lois baldly. She was feeling increasingly panicked, and had a hard job to remain calm in front of the others.
“Well, you know he was upset about missing his piano lesson…”
“So?” Lois was over by the door now, on her way to the telephone.
“Suppose he went to see Enid? He often goes over to fish in that stream with other kids in summer. He knows the way. He might’ve thought she’d be pleased to see him…” Her voice broke. “We’d all be pleased to see him right now,” said Lois, and burst into tears.
“Hey, Gran,” said Douglas. “That’s a good idea! Just the sort of stupid thing he would do. I know!” he said, with sudden inspiration. “Let’s look and see if his piano book’s still there!” He got up quickly and went to the door.
“Wait, Douglas,” said Gran. “I looked. It’s gone.”
Lois collected herself rapidly. “Oh my God,” she said. “Cathanger bloody Mill. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because you think your precious Enid Abraham could do no wrong!” snapped Derek. “Come on, let’s get going.”
“Mum, why don’t you phone?” said Josie practically. “We’d know straight away, then, and not worry any more…if he is there…”
Lois shot out and they were all silent, listening. After a few minutes, she returned, white-faced.
“There’s no reply,” she said. “D’you think they’ve abducted him…gone off somewhere?”
“Course not,” said Douglas stoutly. “Probably can’t hear the phone with Jamie playin’ the piano the way he does. Go on, Mum, get goin,” he added, patting her reassuringly on the arm. “Sooner he’s back here the better.”
Gran got up from the table and, much to his embarrassment, hugged Douglas tight. “Good lad,” she whispered. Josie sniffed, and Lois and Derek went out again into the night without saying another word.
§
In the now total darkness, Jamie sat in the truck cab, frozen with fear. He daren’t look behind to see if the man was still there. He couldn’t hear any sounds of Mr Abraham, who had vanished. He thought of getting out and running off, running anywhere, so long as it was away from this dreadful place. Then he remembered the staring man. He’d be out of the back of the truck in no time, and could catch him with no trouble.
Walter Abraham was searching in the old barn for stuff to dry out condensation on the spark plugs. He was sure there some somewhere. Bloody truck! Trust it to seize up just when he needed it most! The boy had been quite cheerful, up until the time he claimed there was a man in the back. He could’ve got him home, apologized to his parents, and no more would have been said. He stood back and surveyed the shelves. Not there, then. Perhaps it was in the house, in the back scullery. He probably left it there when he’d last used it.
He came out of the barn, needing no light to see his way. But as he approached the truck, the clouds parted and suddenly, like the moment of Creation, there was light. The moon shone into the yard, casting long shadows, but illuminating clearly the truck and Jamie’s bike in the back. And – Walter peered closer – the hunched figure of a man. He recognized him at once. It was his son, Edward, crouching like a hunted animal waiting to spring.
Jamie, surprised by the blessed moonlight, turned once more to look through the dusty window. He saw the man stand up, and then, horrified, watched him leap out of the back of the truck, straight on to the bent figure of Mr Abraham. Both men went down to the ground, and he heard muffled shouts and groans.
It was too much for Jamie. He opened the truck door, and jumped down, yelling and screaming. He rushed over to the men, and began pummelling them with his fists. “Stop it! Stop it!” he shouted. “Stop it, or I’ll get Miss Abraham!”
Weak with the effort, he stood back, near to tears, and suddenly felt hands on his shoulders. “What the bloody hell’s going on here?” said a deep voice. Jamie whipped round, and saw his mum’s cleaner, Bill.
The attacker rapidly got to his feet, abandoned Walter, who lay motionless on the ground, and began to run. He was very fast, and though Bill chased him halfway up the track, he lost him. In any case, as he said to Lois afterwards, he thought it best to make sure Jamie was OK, and have a look at the old man.
Minutes later, Derek’s van drove into the yard, and Lois ran over to Jamie, hugging him as if she’d never let him go. “Mum, please!” he said. “Is Mr Abraham all right? That man was trying to kill him!”
But Walter had moaned and, with Bill’s help, sat up, rubbing his head. “Ruddy burglar!” they heard him say. “Took me by surprise. Is the lad all right?”
Now Enid came rushing out of the house, and helped get Walter to his feet. When he was sitting safely in his chair by the fire, assuring them he needed no doctor except a glass of whisky, Lois, Derek and Bill stood in a huddle by the door. “Will you be OK with him, Enid?” Lois said. Her tone was not friendly. “I’ll ring the police when I get home.”
“No need,” said Enid, very firmly. “I shall do it, thank you, Mrs Meade. I can give them all the details, and Father can help. We’re grateful to all of you…” Here Walter nodded, and muttered his thanks.
“And as for Jamie, and what has happened here tonight,” said Lois coldly, “I will be in touch tomorrow, Enid. And you’d better have a bloody good explanation for all this.”
Enid stared at her. “But Jamie said you knew he was here…” she said, her confidence collapsing. Surely the boy wouldn’t have lied to her?
“Yeah, well, we’ll see,” said Lois. “But there’s a lot more questions I want answers to. Like why you didn’t answer the phone just now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I never answer the phone in the evenings…” said Enid dully, unable to explain how much she dreaded hearing her brother’s voice, knowing that whatever he had to say would inevitably involve her in something she did not want to do.
“For God’s sake, why not!” said Lois, but Enid turned away sadly.
Bill went off into the darkness on his bike, now elevated to hero status in the eyes of Jamie, and the three Meades returned to Long Farnden in total silence.
Thirty
Next morning, Wednesday, Enid was due to be at the Charringtons’, just up the road from the mill. Rosie looked around at her untidy, grubby kitchen and looked forward to the clean-up miracle Enid could be relied on to work on it. However, at nine o’clock, half an hour later than Enid usually arrived, Rosie looked at her watch and said to Anna, “Where on earth is she? It’s not like her to be late. Perhaps I should give her a ring.”
Anna, whose dislike of Enid had not abated, replied that even Miss Perfect slipped up sometimes. Like last night.
“What do you mean?” Rosie asked. “And where did you get the ‘Miss Perfect’ from? Not from the children, I hope. They are very fond of Enid, and I’ll not have them calling her
names. Please don’t say that again, Anna.”
Rosie’s little homily closed the conversation, and it was not until she had gone outside to feed the rabbit – the children could not be trusted – that she remembered Anna’s remark about ‘last night’. When she came in again, she reminded her, and saw Anna hesitate. “Well,” she said. “It was not really about Miss Abraham. I took the puppy for a little walk – to do a pee-pee, as you say – and saw a boy with his bicycle. He said he was Jamie…I think…yes, Jamie Meade, and had got off to fix his light. I asked him where he was going…” She paused.
“And where was he going?” said Rosie. She did wish Anna would not invest every story with high drama.
“To the mill, he said. For a piano lesson with Miss Abraham. Do you not think that curious? What about the mother, the recluse? And the grumpy old father?”
“And the villainous son,” said Rosie grimly. “Well, I’m going to ring Lois Meade and hope that she can send someone else in Enid’s place. I could ask after Jamie, too.”
Lois’s answered immediately. “Morning, Mrs Charrington,” she said. “Nothing wrong, I hope?” She was feeling tired. They had had a long post mortem last night, once they’d got Jamie home and put his bike safely in the shed. Gran had been anxious to get the boy to bed, but Derek had put him through a grilling, wanting to know exactly what had happened at the mill, and whether he had been frightened or hurt. Jamie had been defensive. “They were very nice to me,” he’d said. When he’d described the noise from Enid’s mother’s room, he had played down his fear. He’d been worried that Dad would stop his piano lessons if he thought there’d been any kind of danger. And, anyway, even though he’d been terrified for a while, he was sure none of them would have harmed him. It was just that burglar…And that hadn’t been the Abrahams’ fault. He hoped the police would catch him. Poor old Mr Abraham…
Lois had been sitting at her desk, about to ring Cowgill, when Rosie rang. Although Jamie had been pretty convincing, Lois knew him too well. He’d been frightened by something, she was sure, and was covering up. She knew why, of course, and felt sorry for him. When Derek had finished with him, she’d gone in and tucked him up as if he was still a little lad. “Dad’s been very worried,” she’d said. “We all were. Don’t do a silly thing like that again, will you? Night, love,” she had added, and kissed him lightly. He’d sighed deeply and turned on his side, but it was a good hour before he fell asleep.
For all Jamie’s efforts to make light of the circumstances, Lois had known the minute they got out of the van in the mill yard that something was nastily wrong. It was the so-called burglar. She and Derek had seen nobody on their way down the lane, and Bill had said the intruder had crashed through a gap in the track hedge and disappeared across the field into woods. Would a burglar do that? And wouldn’t he have had a getaway car? No, it all felt very much awry. She would ask Jamie no more questions. He must put it out of his mind. The piano lessons were another matter. It would all depend on what Enid had to say when she came in this morning. Meanwhile, Cowgill should know the details so far.
Rosie was saying something, and Lois tried hard to focus on a long rambling speech about the puppy and Anna, and the people at the mill. When Jamie’s name was mentioned, she snapped to attention. “What did you say?” she asked.
“Well, nothing to do with Enid not coming this morning, really, but…” She relayed what Anna had said. Lois muttered, “Oh yes, we know about that,” and asked more urgently if they’d had a call from Enid saying she’d be late, or anything?
“No, nothing,” said Rosie. “It’s not like Enid, is it? I’d go down and make sure she’s all right, but I’m not really keen on…well…you know…”
Lois did indeed know, and had now decided that though she was far from keen herself, the time had come for her to ignore Enid’s warnings and pay a visit herself. She’d had enough of all the fiddle-faddling about – Gran’s words here – and with Derek’s accusation ringing in her ears – “trusting that woman in the face of plenty of warning” – she told Rosie she’d send Sheila Stratford instead. Then she telephoned Cowgill and filled him in, and told Gran she might be out for lunch.
As she opened her car door, she was surprised to see Hazel drawing up outside. “Can I have a word, Mrs M?” Hazel said, unsmiling.
“I’m in a hurry,” Lois said. She’d had no apology from Hazel, and was not in the mood to be indulgent, even if she was the daughter of her best friend.
“Right, I’ll make it snappy. First, I’m sorry I sounded off about Enid Abraham. Out of order, I know. Very sorry. Next, I hope you’ll take me back, because I like it…and I like you,” she added, with a very uncharacteristic wobble. “But more important, I want to warn you.”
“Warn me, Hazel? What of?” said Lois, feeling a huge relief that Hazel was back in the fold. If she’d gone, it would have been a failure for New Brooms.
§
“The Abrahams,” Hazel said baldly. “I hear all kinds of things, mixing with the undesirables as I do.” Lois knew that good things had come of Hazel’s work with Cowgill. It was a pity there wasn’t a better word for snout, grass, informer. Hazel had put her life at risk on occasion, knowing full well that involvement in drugs could, and did, provoke dangerous reactions in a murky world. It was a kind of mission for the girl, and Cowgill made full use of it.
“What things?” said Lois.
“There’s trouble down there. The kids say they used to go down to see if they could fish in the mill pond…and other things, o’course. The old man sent them packing every time. And they said the curtains were always drawn across one of the windows, but they twitched, like someone was watching. They notice things, the kids. They get wary.”
“Oh my God,” Lois said wearily. “Thanks, Hazel. And, by the way, we’ll forget our little barney. I do trust you, Hazel, but I have to stick up for Enid unless there’s something solid against her…Must go now. Cheers.”
Lois drove off, relieved that at least one problem was solved. But her irritation with Enid was growing. Why hadn’t she phoned in if she was sick? And shouldn’t she have checked that it was all right for Jamie to be there last night? One phone call would have done it. There was a definite chilly centre to Enid Abraham. Like the way she took charge in the yard, more or less forbidding Lois to call the police. She was very like her brother, people said. How much like? And was it more than a physical resemblance? By the time Lois turned into the track to the mill, she was simmering.
The early sun had disappeared behind heavy clouds and the mill was shrouded in its usual gloom. Lois shivered as she got out of the car. Nobody about. Well, that was nothing new. Chickens cackled from a barn across the yard, and a cow called out in what sounded to Lois like a soul in torment. Blimey, talk about Cold Comfort Farm!
She marched across to the back door. Well, the only door, as far as she could see. Folk at the mill for centuries had had no need of a front door. The mill stream ran alongside the house, and the rotting remains of the big mill wheel still clung uselessly to the wall. The big pond was covered over with blanket weed, an unpleasant light green, hiding its depths. What a place. No wonder Enid didn’t want visitors.
Lois listened before she knocked. No sound came from inside. No friendly conversation, or a Hoover cleaning up. Nothing homely. Then a dog barked twice, a sharp, warning yelp. Lois knocked loudly, and waited.
Nothing happened. The air in the yard seemed to have thickened into something old and stale. Lois had a strong impulse to get out, to find somewhere fresh and wholesome and take some deep breaths. But she had a job to do, and she knocked again. This time the dog barked for longer, but still no one came.
Lois put out a tentative hand and gave the door a slight push. It opened a fraction, and creaked loudly, but nobody appeared. Lois looked all around, especially behind her, before pushing it wide enough for her to step gingerly over the threshold. An old sheepdog with rheumy eyes barred her way, snarling.
Lois gritt
ed her teeth. She was not going to be put off by any bloody dog. Grabbing an old rubber glove left abandoned by the door, she clouted it round the head and pushed her way into the Abrahams’ kitchen. It was gloomy, but neat. The cats dozed, not bothering to get up. A shelf clock, its plain face worn away by time, ticked over the fireplace. The kitchen table was covered with a chenille cloth bordered by bobbles, just like Lois had seen on her grandmother’s table years ago. In the corner, in a high-backed wooden chair, sat the old man, not moving, but staring at her with eyes that were very much alive.
“Oh, God!” Lois said, startled into retreating a few steps. “Sorry…Mr Abraham, is it?…I knocked, but…”
“What d’you want?” Walter Abraham spoke flatly, as if hypnotized.
“Where’s Enid?” Lois’s anger was returning. “I’d like to speak to her…urgently.”
The old man said nothing for a few seconds, then to Lois’s horror, tears began to fall unchecked and ran down his cheeks, some into his half-open mouth. He shook his head. “She’s gone,” he said.
“Gone shopping? When will she be back?” Lois was daunted now, uncertain what to do about this old man weeping in front of her.
Again he shook his head. “Not shopping. Gone. Gone away. And I don’t know when – or if – she’s coming back.”
Now what? Lois frowned, and made a decision. She pulled a chair out from under the table and sat down. “You look terrible, Mr Abraham,” she said. “Why don’t you tell me what happened, then I can make us a cup of tea and see what help you need.” She sighed. She was a cleaner, not a ruddy social worker.
He made an attempt to get up from his chair, but sank back, his eyes closed. After another moment of silence, he opened them and said, “We had a big row. Worse than usual. About your lad coming down here. It upset Mother, and I was angry.”