‘That’s very commendable.’ Relief ebbed through him.
‘Not really. He just isn’t cunning enough to lie, that’s all.’ With that she departed, while Lenny waited sullenly in the doorway, his eyes fixed on Dave, whom he believed had cheated him.
As the fat woman retreated, Dave opened the window wide and showed Lenny the watch. With Lenny’s eyes following his every move, he drove towards the shrubbery where he raised the watch once more, before dropping it where it wasn’t easily seen. Lenny saw, and his bright, crooked smile was something Dave would never forget.
Giving a short wave, he turned out of the drive and headed home. He thought about Libby. After a while he’d phone her, but for now he needed time to think.
And what he thought about was ‘the other one’. The one Rosemary had been so afraid of.
Libby had been to the window umpteen times. It was now seven o’clock and there was still no sign of him.
For the second time that evening, she called Jack at his home. ‘Are you absolutely certain he didn’t leave word with someone?’ she asked. ‘Did you check with the secretary? Was there anything on his desk that might have showed where he was going?’
Jack was anxious too. ‘You know I did all that,’ he reminded her. ‘We have to face it, Libby. Wherever Dave has gone, he didn’t want anyone to know, but I’m convinced it’s not a woman. Dave worships the ground you walk on, and I don’t care what happened in the past, I just know he isn’t fooling around now.’
‘Then where is he? And why hasn’t he called?’
‘Well, we know he left his mobile on his desk, so that tells us two things. First, he was in such a hurry and so preoccupied that he didn’t have his mind on what he was doing. And secondly, he can’t call from his car.’
‘He can call from a phone box though, can’t he? That’s if he really wants to.’ Her blood was beginning to boil. ‘I’ll tell you this, Jack, he’d better have a good explanation or there’ll be sparks flying when he gets back, I can promise you.’
‘Give him a chance to explain, Libby.’
‘I’ll think about it!’
In a mood as dark as the night outside, Libby made the children clear up their toys. ‘Upstairs to bed,’ she ordered, needing to be on her own.
They moaned and groaned about how it wasn’t eight o’clock yet and anyway they wanted to wait up for Daddy. ‘You’ll do as you’re told,’ she snapped. ‘Wash and bed. Now!’
When Jamie started crying and Daisy looked as though the world was about to end, she relented. ‘All right. Wash and get into your nightclothes, then you can come back down for half an hour. After that it’s upstairs and into bed, and no arguments.’ It was wrong of her to send them packing early just because she was angry, she reasoned.
While the children ran upstairs, she went once more to the window where she looked out on a cold, wild night. ‘Where the hell are you, Dave?’ she muttered.
Through her anger there spiralled a worm of anxiety. He had been so moody of late. Preoccupied and secretive. What else was she supposed to think other than that he was seeing another woman? And yet, like Jack, she didn’t think so. But if it wasn’t another woman, what was wrong with him? Where was he? And why wouldn’t he confide in her?
She rang May. ‘I just don’t know what to think,’ she said. ‘Maybe I should call the police. Maybe he’s hurt somewhere.’
May calmed her down. ‘He’s stayed out late on business before, hasn’t he?’
‘Well, yes, but this is different.’
‘Why? I mean, does he always tell Jack where he’s going? And when he’s out until this time, does he usually call you?’
‘Not always,’ Libby had to admit, ‘but if he knows he’ll be late, he usually tells me before he goes out in the morning.’
‘Maybe he forgot. Or maybe he didn’t think he’d be late.’
‘That’s not good enough, May. What about the message he left for Jack? He knew he’d be out all day. So why didn’t he tell me?’
‘Think about it, Libby. Why should he? He probably thought he’d be back at his usual time, that’s why.’
‘You still think he’s seeing another woman, don’t you?’
‘I shouldn’t have worried you like that, Libby, and I’m sorry. Maybe I jumped to the wrong conclusion but, like I said, if you’re still worried, the only way is to ask him when he gets in. Right now you should make yourself a cuppa, play with the kids for a while and wind down. Sounds to me like you’ve got yourself into a right state, my girl.’
‘If he is seeing another woman, he’ll swing for it, the bastard!’
‘Look, I can come round if you like.’
‘What? You think I’m in a mood to commit murder, do you?’
‘Are you?’
‘At this minute, yes.’ She laughed. ‘Don’t worry. When he walks through that door, I’ll be calm and collected.’
‘Good.’
‘But he’d better have a damned good tale to tell.’
That very thought was in Dave’s mind as he came along the lanes. ‘I’d better be prepared for fireworks,’ he mused grimly. The clock on the dashboard said twenty minutes past eight. ‘I’ve been home later than this,’ he muttered, ‘but I never told her, that’s the trouble.’ He cursed himself for not trying harder to find a phone box. ‘If only I hadn’t left my mobile behind. There’s never a bloody phone box in sight when you want one.’ But then he had travelled on the motorway whenever possible, and it would have wasted too much time to stop at the services on the way back.
With his heart in his mouth, he parked the car and went into the house. His mind was still alive with what Rosemary Dwight had said. He had given it a great deal of thought on the way back and was very close to telling Libby everything. But even now he held back, particularly since his visit today, because he honestly believed it would be too dangerous for her to know.
Libby was in the kitchen. Just as she had promised May, she remained calm and collected in spite of feeling the urge to bounce all the pots and pans off the walls. ‘No lies,’ she said, looking up from her place at the table. ‘And no excuses. I want to know exactly where you’ve been and who you’ve been with.’ She paused, regarding him with such a hard expression he knew it was make or break time. ‘Or I swear to God, Dave, I’ll have my case packed and be out of here with the kids before you’ve even taken your coat off.’
He had a choice. Either he risked losing his family for a second time or he came clean and told her everything. Neither was what he wanted. ‘It’s not what you think.’
‘Then it’s up to you to put me right.’
‘Don’t put me on the spot like this, Libby. Please. There is no other woman.’
‘What then?’ Seeing how worried he was, she began to soften. ‘Are you in some kind of trouble?’
‘You could say that, yes. But it’s not the kind of trouble I’ve ever faced before. It’s something I need to sort out for myself.’ His mouth felt dry and uncomfortable. Licking his lips, he sat down, holding her gaze with serious eyes. ‘I’m asking you to trust me, Libby. Later, maybe, I can tell you about it. But not now.’
‘Why not now?’ Anger simmered beneath her calm exterior. ‘Aren’t we supposed to confide in each other? Didn’t we promise we’d never have secrets from each other ever again?’
Dave walked across the room, where he stood with his back to the sink and his eyes on Libby. ‘Yes, you’re right,’ he conceded. ‘I want to tell you but it might be dangerous. Besides, I’m not all that sure you’ll believe me.’
Libby settled back in her chair. ‘Try me.’
‘Where are the kids?’ What he had to say was not for their ears.
‘In bed. They fell asleep waiting for you.’
Without another word, he went out of the house and collected the folder of papers from his car. Returning to the kitchen, he threw it down on the table. ‘Read that.’
While she read the cuttings, he took off his coat and hung it over
the back of a chair. Then he went into the lounge and poured himself a good measure of whisky. He was hunched on the sofa, deep in thought, when she came in, her face white and puzzled. ‘This stuff doesn’t make sense,’ she said, sitting down beside him. ‘It’s all about a ghost – haunting and suchlike.’
‘And you don’t believe in things like that, do you, Libby?’
‘No, I don’t.’ She stared into the fire, her mind in a whirl. ‘What’s all this got to do with us, anyway?’
‘Look at me, Libby.’ When she did as he asked, he spoke to her softly, deliberately. ‘You saw her. That day in the woods, you saw her too, didn’t you?’
She knew what he meant and didn’t dare admit it. ‘That was just a woman who’d lost her way.’
‘No, sweetheart. That was the same woman who sat in the car with Daisy. She spoke to Daisy and I didn’t even know she was there. It’s the same woman I saw that day we were driving back from the restaurant, and it’s the same woman as the one in Daisy’s drawing. Remember how Daisy took that drawing with her to the restaurant when we went to fetch your scarf? She followed the kitten to the old man’s bedroom and she said he was very upset when she showed him the painting.’
‘We only have Daisy’s word for that.’
‘But you didn’t think she was lying, did you?’
‘I can’t remember what she said exactly.’ In truth, she remembered every word.
‘When she showed the old man the painting, he was “upset”. That’s what Daisy said. She also said how Mrs Fellowes came in and ran her out.’
‘I remember.’ She had never forgotten.
‘There’s something very weird going on and whether we like it or not, we’re caught up in it. You have to believe me. The evidence is there, in those documents. That woman was killed in an accident on the very lane where I first saw her. Her husband was badly injured but he survived. From that day on, he was like a cabbage, unable to communicate.’ Falling to his knees, Dave grabbed Libby by the arms and shook her. ‘It’s the old man, Libby. The old man!’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’ Against all her instincts, she was being made to see what he could see, and it terrified her.
‘The reports say the woman was in her early thirties when she was killed in that accident. I’ve worked it out. The old man could well be her husband.’
‘But you don’t know that, do you?’
He struggled for the right words. ‘I don’t know for certain,’ he admitted, ‘but I honestly believe that old man Fellowes is the same man who was badly injured in that accident all those years ago. He survived but his young wife was killed.’
‘What are you saying?’ She couldn’t believe she was even discussing it.
‘I believe she’s searching for him.’
‘Why on earth should you think such a thing?’
‘I went to visit an old woman called Rosemary Dwight today. She was there when the accident happened and the dying woman told her that she would never leave her husband.’ Dave emphasised every word. ‘Before she died in Rosemary’s arms, the woman begged Rosemary to tell her injured husband that she would come back for him.’
Libby made no sound. She sat very still, visibly shaking.
‘Don’t you see, sweetheart? That’s why she haunts the lane. She’s searching for him. She can’t rest until she finds him.’
Pushing him away, Libby laughed nervously. ‘If that’s true, why was she in the woods? Why did she get in the car with Daisy? Assuming she really did and it wasn’t Daisy’s vivid imagination.’
‘You might well ask. And you might well ask why she’s chosen to haunt me in particular. Because that’s what she’s doing, Libby. That’s why I’ve been almost out of my mind. She appears out of nowhere. She talks to me. She wants me to help her, she’s pleaded with me to help her, and she’s said other things too – “The lane. The old man.” She told me if I looked there, I would find the answer.’
‘That’s enough, Dave.’
‘I didn’t want you involved but you asked and now I’m telling you. It all begins to add up. Everything leads back to that night – that restaurant and the Fellowes.’ Grabbing the papers, he shuffled through them until he found one right at the bottom of the pile. ‘Look there, Libby.’ Handing her the page, he watched her face drain of colour.
‘My God!’ Her eyes wide with disbelief, she looked up. ‘It’s uncanny!’
‘Now do you see? That’s a photograph of her husband when he was a young man.’ Going to the mantelpiece he took down a photograph of himself and Libby and placed it alongside the cutting. ‘We could be brothers,’ he said. ‘I believe that’s why she chose me. Because she saw him in me. She trusts me and, for whatever reason, she believes I can bring him to her.’
‘Dave, stop and think what you’re saying.’ She was very frightened. He seemed so convinced. She had never believed in the supernatural, and yet deep inside her there lurked a whisper of belief in what he was saying. Suddenly she understood why he had been so distant lately. Something like this could drive a person crazy.
‘I wish I hadn’t told you.’ He was regretting it already, although at the same time he felt a tremendous sense of relief. ‘I don’t want you to worry.’
‘How can I not worry?’
‘At least you know what’s been on my mind.’
She smiled. ‘I was right though.’
‘In what way?’
‘It was another woman, though not of the usual kind.’ Reaching up, she wound her arms round his neck. ‘You’ve frightened me. I want you to leave it be now.’
The clock on the mantelpiece chimed the tenth hour. ‘I’m ready for my bed,’ he murmured in her ear. ‘What about you?’
‘Didn’t you hear what I said?’ Leaning back in his arms, she looked seriously into his eyes. ‘I want you to leave it be. Please!’
Dave was thankful that the phone rang just then. He hurried to answer it. After a few moments’ conversation he was back beside Libby. ‘Jack says he thought I’d emigrated.’
‘He wasn’t the only one. Don’t you ever do that to me again.’
‘I won’t.’
The phone rang again. This time it was Barclay, the man who had threatened to take his valuable properties out of the agency’s hands. Libby listened to Dave’s side of the conversation. ‘Of course you can rely on me, Mr Barclay. Nine thirty in the morning, yes. That’s fine. Yes, I’ll be there.’ With an angry flick of the wrist, Dave dropped the receiver into its cradle. ‘Damn!’
‘What’s wrong?’
‘It’s just that I planned to go and see Ida Fellowes in the morning, and now I’ve been pinned down by this fellow Barclay. I can’t not go, because it took me long enough to court him back after I missed our last appointment. Now there are other properties involved, and a handsome profit to be made if I can swing a good deal.’ He grimaced. ‘There’s also the reputation of the agency at stake. Barclay is an influential man. We don’t want any more skirmishes with him, not now we’ve got a chance to redeem ourselves. It shouldn’t take me above a couple of hours though. I’ll go and see Ida Fellowes after that.’
‘I don’t want you to go anywhere near that awful place.’ Libby caught his gaze and held it. ‘Promise me, Dave. Promise me you won’t go.’
Before he could answer, the phone rang yet again. ‘Popular tonight, aren’t we?’ Once more, he was deeply grateful for the timely intervention. ‘Hello? Yes, she’s right here.’ He called Libby to the phone. ‘It’s the dreaded May,’ he said with a disarming smile. ‘I suspect she’s checking up on me.’
While Libby was talking, he slipped off to bed.
When she came into the room, he pretended to be asleep. She had asked for a promise he could not give.
When Libby woke in the morning, he was gone. A note was propped against the kettle; he knew this was the first place she’d make for.
Don’t worry, sweetheart, I haven’t gone missing again. It’s just that I have a lot of paperwork to get
ready before I team up with Barclay. Meet me in the pub at one and I’ll treat you to lunch.
See you then.
P.S. Bet you look gorgeous!
There was no mention of Ida Fellowes or whether he’d do as she asked and keep away from that bloody awful place. ‘The cunning bugger! He knew I’d raise the issue again this morning, so he got out from under while the going was good.’
In the cold light of day, the conversation last night seemed unreal. But the apprehension she felt was very real.
Later, after dropping the children off at school, she relayed the entire conversation to May, who was not in the least taken aback. ‘It doesn’t sound as if he could have made it all up,’ she said. ‘Men aren’t all that inventive.’
‘You mean you actually believe it?’ May never ceased to amaze her.
‘Don’t you?’
‘I’m afraid to.’
‘Sounds to me like you already do.’ Astute as ever, May went on, ‘If you didn’t believe it, you’d have no cause to be afraid.’
The idea had been swimming in Libby’s mind all morning. Now she made up her mind. ‘I’m going there.’
‘Going where?’
‘To see Ida Fellowes.’
‘Is that sensible?’
‘Maybe not, but she seems to be involved and if I can prove to Dave that he’s wrong, it will be worthwhile.’
‘I’ll shut up shop and come with you.’
‘No need for that. I can handle Ida Fellowes.’
‘Dave won’t like you going out there.’
‘He won’t know.’ Giving May a meaningful look she added, ‘Unless, of course, somebody tells him.’
‘I hope you don’t mean me.’ May opened her eyes wide with indignation. ‘ “Safe as houses”, that’s what they used to call me at school because I never broke a confidence.’
‘All right then, “Safe as houses”, can I have an hour or so off?’ She studied the wall clock. ‘It’s quarter past ten now. If I leave straightaway, I should be back by one. Did I tell you, I’ve been invited out to lunch by a handsome man?’
Seeker, The Page 24