One insensitive wit called out that some people would do anything to push ahead and get to their motors before the roads clogged altogether.
We walked down a sloping yard to the school sickbay. Matron waited by the door. Everything after that happened so quickly and quietly that afterwards it barely felt real.
Billy was taken inside. Charlie and Selina followed. Mrs Douglas and I brought up the rear. Mrs Douglas spoke a few words to the matron. She then turned to me. ‘I’m so sorry but I believe there is little more I can do and no point in crowding the professionals. Mr Moffatt is in good hands with Matron and the doctor.’
‘Thank you. You’ve been most helpful.’
‘I wish Mr Moffatt well. I suppose he was a soldier and we know that the pain makes some men try anything. I’m sorry if I was abrupt earlier. It was the shock.’
I suddenly felt sorry for her. For weeks, months, she and the school staff had prepared for this day. They had accommodated the scientists, drilled the boys, prayed for their moment of glory, and bore the intrusion of reporters and nosey parkers. No doubt the publicity would be good for the school in the long term, but now the strain showed.
She spoke kindly. ‘The ambulance will be here quickly. There are emergency ambulances on alert in the nearby fields where vehicles are parked. The police will ensure priority. Let me know if there is anything else we can do. I’m sure you’ll understand that the school has a reputation to consider.’
‘Yes.’ How had she been aware that Billy had taken narcotics? In a way it surprised me that a woman cloistered in a public school would be so alert to drug-taking. Perhaps I should not have been surprised. The old boys who came back were no different in the ways they dealt with their pain than other returned soldiers, and the young will always want to experiment.
She hesitated, ready to speak again. ‘You are not a theatrical yourself?’
‘No.’
She nodded. ‘The headmaster, my husband, he… On this occasion I believe I can speak for him. Unfortunately there is no place at this school for Miss Fellini’s son. We are fully subscribed for the near future.’
Now was not the time to say that I did not know Selina had a son.
Mrs Douglas waited as if for some assurance that I would pass on the message, and then she turned and walked away.
I found Charlie and Selina in the corridor of the sickbay, seated on straight-back chairs. Charlie stood. ‘I’ll let Joe know that Mr Moffatt won’t be returning with us. And I’m sorry, Miss Fellini, but we must be airborne as soon as the Evening News photographer is ready to go. We’ll land on the same field as this morning and then fly on to London.’
He looked uncomfortable, a man with a careful timetable whose reputation demanded that he keep to it.
Matron opened the door of the sickbay. We all looked at her. ‘Just a few details for the doctor. What is the patient’s full name?’
Selina answered. ‘William James Moffatt.’
‘His date of birth?’
‘Second of June, 1891.’
‘Thank you. The ambulance is on its way.’
‘Can’t he come back with us to Leeds? I can take care of him, bring in a doctor and nurses.’
‘He is in no fit state to travel. Doctor has arranged for him to be taken to the infirmary at Castleberg which is close by.’
Selina was not convinced. ‘Is it a good infirmary?’
‘Oh yes. Believe me, that is the wisest course of action. The busy roads and railway between here and Settle and Skipton would make his journey intolerable.’
Selina bit her lip. She nodded. ‘Then I’ll come with him.’
Charlie hovered, looking at me. I motioned for him to wait as I sat down beside Selina. Suddenly my reason for being here took shape. It was up to me to ensure that Selina returned home in time to rest before her evening performance.
‘Selina, let me stay with Billy. We engaged the plane so that you would be home this morning and able to rest. Billy knows that. He’ll expect you to go back with Charlie and Joe. When Billy regains consciousness, he’ll be mortified if he thinks he has kept you here.’
She put her head in her hands. ‘I can’t abandon him.’ Her voice sounded suddenly choked. She put a hand to her throat. ‘I can feel it, my throat contracting.’
‘Is it possible to cancel tonight’s performance?’
She shook her head. ‘We don’t do that. We can’t disappoint the audience.’
‘Then let me stay and you go. Billy will not want to think you’ll croak like a frog and have people throwing rotten eggs at you.’
She smiled at so preposterous a thought.
Charlie spoke gently. ‘You saw the roads from the air as we came. Traffic will be crawling. Trains will be packed, and all fully booked.’
‘You’d planned to rest,’ I reminded her. ‘Mr Brockett was adamant.’
She made a dismissive gesture. ‘Adamant is Trotter Brockett’s middle name. Others have to dance to his tune. I don’t.’
‘You know what hospitals are like. You’d be barred from seeing Billy until visiting day. I know it’s not the same, but if you’re prepared to fly back, I’ll stay here. I’ll go with Billy and whatever changes the doctor reports, the least thing, I’ll telephone. I was a nurse and so I’ll know what they’re talking about.’
It had to be her decision. Billy looked very bad to me, like a man sunk into a coma.
‘You’re right. I’d be useless.’ She reached out and touched my arm. ‘If there’s anything he wants, Kate, he must have it.’
‘Of course.’
Charlie did just the right thing. He leaned towards her, offering both his hands to draw her from the chair. ‘Come on, Miss Fellini. I’ll see you all the way home. Billy is in good hands with Mrs Shackleton. She’s the person I’d like to have on stand-by if I took poorly.’
It was the last two words that did the trick. Billy had taken poorly. The words diminished whatever torrent raged in the poor man’s body and mind.
Selina let Charlie draw her from the chair. ‘And you’ll telephone me, Kate?’
‘I will, and Mr Brockett at the Queens Hotel.’
‘Thank you for thinking of that. I’ll ask Beryl to let him know. He’ll need to make arrangements for tonight, a substitute act for Billy.’ Just saying his name put her on the verge of changing her mind, but Charlie took her arm.
‘He’ll be…’ he bit back words. I believe he intended to say, He’ll be right as rain, or he’ll be on his feet in no time. The arrival of the ambulance allowed him to say, ‘He’ll be tucked in a hospital bed before we’re airborne.’
She looked from him to me. ‘I can’t leave him to be bumped along in some ambulance to an old workhouse infirmary. That’s what it’ll be.’
‘I’ll go with him. I’ll make sure he’s in good hands, or nurse him myself if I must.’
‘Will you?’
‘If that’s what you want me to do.’
‘Yes. I wish you would.’ She put her hand in her coat pocket and took out a wallet.
‘Not now. I’m still working for you.’
‘How will you get back?’
‘By train probably. I’ll stay to make sure Billy is being properly taken care of and if necessary I’ll stay overnight.’
‘That’s very good of you.’
‘I need to write a note for my housekeeper. Will you be sure to have it delivered for me?’
‘Of course. That’s the least I can do.’
There was a table at the end of the corridor. I took writing paper and an envelope from my satchel and sat at the table to scribble as much as I could about what had happened so far, and to ask Mrs Sugden to speak to my assistant, Mr Sykes, and to keep him informed.
Selina watched me. ‘There must be hospitals nearby if this one isn’t suitable, if they can’t help him here.’
‘Yes. When he is stable, and when the roads clear. There is a big hospital in Skipton, but being moved so far now won’t do him any good.�
� I did not add that perhaps nothing now would do him good.
She squeezed my arm. ‘I’m grateful, Kate. I never imagined this, just my fear that something would go wrong. It’s as if I brought it on him myself.’
I paused in my writing. ‘You said that two deaths in the company may not have been accidental. Something must have prompted you to believe that.’
‘I tried to tell you last night. It seems ridiculous. I’m not superstitious but this past year two friends died who shouldn’t have died. Each time, it was when the moon is new. I talked to someone who knows about astrology and asked did she think that something malign in the stars was affecting us all. She said I must be careful.’
‘Can you explain a bit more?’
‘Finish your writing and I’ll tell you.’
‘Tell me now. I don’t work alone. If there’s something my assistant needs to know, let’s not waste time.’
She nodded. ‘I hoped I was wrong. First Dougie Doig was killed on the road this time last year.’
‘Dougie Doig?’
‘Doig was his stage name. Douglas Dougan. He had a novelty animal act with his three performing dogs. People gossiped, but we were just good friends. Close friends. We were at York Theatre Royal. Dougie left the theatre after his act. Shortly after, he walked under a tram. An accident, it was said. In January you may have read about the Sunderland Empire closing during investigations after an accident on stage. That was Floyd Lloyd, a delightful old chap, and a clever ventriloquist. He was like an uncle to me. Floyd was horribly crushed to death when a sandbag dropped from the flies. We’d had such jolly times, he and I. His dummy was Manny Piccolo. Floyd always said that he was rather dense but that Manny Piccolo was a genius and would solve all our problems. He had a special moment in his act where members of the audience could ask Manny’s advice. Everyone loved him.’ She loosened her coat. ‘It’s so hot in here. You were right not to wear fur.’ She sighed. ‘And now Billy. I can’t bear it. It’s as if I put a jinx on anyone who comes close to me.’
Hastily, I scribbled a rather long PS on my letter to Mrs Sugden, confident that she would be able to decipher my hand. I asked Mrs Sugden to find out the background to the deaths of Douglas Dougan and Floyd Lloyd, and for Sykes to come to the Varieties that evening. He knew less about the world of theatre than I. If we were to investigate accidental deaths on behalf of Miss Fellini, it would be helpful for him to know the company.
There was no point in telling Selina that she should have told me all this much sooner. I sincerely hoped that she was wrong and these events were unconnected. More than ever it seemed to me that Selina Fellini was a woman on the edge and that Billy’s collapse would be taken to her heart and given the weight of some judgement from heaven.
‘Selina, I work with a former policeman, Jim Sykes. I’m going to bring him in on this. Might you be able to arrange seats at the theatre for him this evening?’
‘I’ll have tickets left at the box office.’
After adding this information, I sealed the envelope and gave it to Selina. ‘I don’t believe Billy’s indisposition is connected with the stars and the phases of the moon.’ I took the pillbox from my pocket. ‘Mrs Douglas handed me this pillbox. I believe that Billy is suffering from having taken too much of something. Do you know what the tablets are? I’ll need to tell the doctor.’
‘The tablets are antacid. He doesn’t have an addiction to drugs.’
‘Not even cocaine?’
‘Well there is that, and he takes something for pain but it’s his usual dose of morphine and it never varies.’
‘But this is his pillbox?’
It was distinctive and modern, picturing an elegant couple dancing. She stared at the pillbox and gave a slight gulp. ‘I suppose so.’
Charlie called from the doorway. ‘Mrs Shackleton, you need to come now if you’re going in the ambulance.’
‘I appreciate everything you’re doing, really I do.’ She leaned and kissed my cheek. I could now identify the underlying notes of her perfume. It was the scent of cedar wood.
Seven
Bouncing Back
By the time Charlie brought the aeroplane in to land on Soldiers Field, scattering three dog walkers and an elderly man taking his constitutional, a tinge of pink brightened the clouds. The day looked set fair. Perhaps the sky was pleased to have put on such a spectacular performance. Joe stayed with the plane and their additional passenger, the newspaper photographer. Charlie insisted on walking Miss Fellini the short distance to her home. Once there, he was as enchanted as every other visitor at the sight of the place, but he and Joe needed to make haste if the Evening News was to show the world the early morning picture of the darkened sun and its corona. Charlie reluctantly shook hands with Selina. He expressed the hope that Billy would soon recover.
‘Oh, he will,’ she assured him. ‘He always bounces back.’
Selina stepped inside her house, went directly up the stairs to her bedroom. She sat down, unclasped her clutch and took out the Oxford pencil tin that was just the right size to contain the injection needle.
She placed it at the back of her stocking drawer. Would Billy bounce back?
Eight
It Ain’t Funny
Our having come from last night’s eclipse party direct to Giggleswick created the sense of night and day merging. I looked at my watch. It was just 7.00 am as we journeyed to Castleberg in a kind of convoy. Two policemen on motorcycles rode at the head. The old doctor and I sat in the back of the ambulance with the still unconscious Billy Moffatt. Every inch of the cobbled way caused a shudder in the vehicle.
I should know better than to ask stupid questions but at that moment I was not the former VAD nurse, but the friend for such a short time and with responsibility to stand in for Selina, and whoever else loved Billy. ‘Do you think he can hear us, Doctor?’
The old man’s thin lined face with its prominent nose and small eyes, along with his stooped shoulders and grey homburg and dark coat, gave him the look of a nicely rounded baby elephant. He looked at me as if the thought of whether Billy might hear us had never occurred to him. ‘You won’t be able to sit and talk to him, if that’s what you’re thinking. He needs peace and quiet, and nursing care.’
‘I was a VAD nurse.’
He perked up. ‘So was our infirmary sister. She went on to do further qualifications. Perhaps you met her. She was in Egypt.’
‘I didn’t go to Egypt.’
That ended our conversation.
I tried again a few moments later, taking the pillbox from my pocket. ‘This is Billy’s. I believe he may have been taking something against the pain.’
‘Ah.’ He took the pillbox and sniffed. A few grains of white powder clung to the inside of the lid. He licked a finger, dabbed up a grain or two and put it to his nostril. ‘He was an old soldier, or young old soldier I should say?’
‘Yes.’
He put the pillbox in his pocket. ‘I’ll see he gets it back.’
His words cheered me. He expected Billy to pull through.
*
Selina was right. Castleberg was the local workhouse. Yet the infirmary appeared well-equipped and efficiently staffed. Billy was placed in the men’s ward, with screens around his bed. As expected, I was not allowed to sit by him. Over an hour passed before the ward sister came into the corridor to talk to me.
A tall, gaunt woman with high cheekbones, olive skin and dark eyes, she blinked several times as if the reflection of her own starched white apron startled her.
The thought of staring and blinking made me wonder whether anyone, in spite of all the warnings, had stared into the sun this morning and damaged their eyes. There would be something in the late edition of the papers if that had happened. The thought worried me.
‘You’re here for Billy Moffatt?’ It was a Birmingham accent. Who knew what brought her this far north.
‘Yes.’
‘I can put a chair by the bed if you’d like a little ti
me with him.’
This was unprecedented. Stray visitors only got in the way of hospital routine. If she was offering me a chair by the bed, there could be only one reason.
My mouth opened but no words came.
She stood, waiting, and then said. ‘I’m sorry. How thoughtless of me. You were here for the eclipse. You mustn’t have slept. Do you want to rest somewhere?’ She smiled. ‘Doctor said you were VAD. You’re welcome to come to the nurses’ room.’
I shook my head. ‘Thanks for the offer, but no. I take it that Billy hasn’t regained consciousness.’
Death in the Stars Page 5