‘And this Sid, he wouldn’t have been involved?’
‘Definitely not. Neither would any of the others.’
‘Some of them have been in prison—’
‘No matter. I trust them all.’
‘What do the police think?’
Mabs shook her head. ‘The night people need this place. That’s why I haven’t told the police. They would question all my regulars who would feel hurt and disappointed. I can cope with this, but hurting them would make everything ten times worse.’
Zena told Greg when he came home and asked him if he had mentioned the café’s primitive safety arrangements to anyone.
‘No, of course not.’ He frowned then added, ‘Well, I talked about it to Jake, joking about the differences between our safe and secure village and his perilous part of London. But he wouldn’t steal from Aunty Mabs and never break things for the fun of it. He’s fond of her. You know that.’
‘Of course I do, but who might he have told?’
‘Come on, Sis! I know you don’t like the woman but I can’t imagine Madeleine coming all this way to steal a few shillings.’
‘Poor Aunty Mabs. I’m going down to help clear up before the café opens. She’s done most of it, making sure everything was straight for the day café, but there’ll be shopping needed to replace what was ruined and broken, and some extra baking to do.’
‘I’ll come too and we’ll make some better arrangements regarding security.’
Once the day café closed, Mabs set about cooking scones and sausage rolls, Zena and Greg cleared up the mess left by the thief – or thieves. It was Greg who found the envelope screwed up and thrown towards the rubbish bin. It was written in Zena’s handwriting and addressed to Jake.
They discussed the mysterious find then Zena put it in her pocket and thought about the best way of facing Jake with it. Surely he wasn’t responsible for the robbery? But how her letter to him had found its way there was something that needed a good explanation.
The following Friday Jake arrived, full of apologies, explaining that his neighbour, Vera, had a hospital appointment and he couldn’t let her go on her own. ‘I’ve been helping her with shopping and all that since her accident,’ he added. He had unpacked a few belongings at the usual lodgings and had come straight to Llyn Hir.
Lottie, Greg and Zena had been sitting with a meal keeping warm expecting him to arrive at any moment. Being late was not unusual for Jake, but when an hour had passed, they ate the meal and Zena went to the pictures.
‘Can I wait till Zena gets back, Mrs Martin?’ he asked. ‘I’ve come a long way and I don’t want to go back again without talking to her.’
They chatted easily, questions and answers on life in the village, friends they shared, then Greg mentioned the robbery at Aunty Mabs’s café.
‘Is she all right? She wasn’t hurt was she?’ Jake looked alarmed but with concern for Mabs. Not, Greg decided, with any recognizable sign of guilt. ‘One of her customers, was it? There are a few doubtful characters, aren’t there?’
‘No, she doesn’t think it’s one of the people who spend their nights there. Somehow, word got out of where she keeps her money and where the spare key is hidden.’
Jake stared from one to the other. ‘No, Greg! Not me! I’d never hurt her, I’m fond of her, you know that.’
‘You knew about her casual security arrangements.’
‘I’d, I’d never tell anyone.’ Then he paused. ‘All right, I did talk about it, to Rose and Madeleine but they’d never … come all this way to steal a few pounds? It has to be one of the night people.’
‘Where was Madeleine on Thursday?’ Greg asked quietly.
‘In London. No – she was visiting friends in Aylesbury. But it can’t have been her, she was there when I went after work, we had tickets for a concert.’
‘And Rose?’ Lottie asked.
‘She didn’t want to come, she doesn’t enjoy the same music as Madeleine and me.’
‘For some reason we can’t fathom, Rose dislikes us,’ Lottie said. ‘Perhaps she—’
‘This is crazy,’ Jake interrupted. ‘Why are you looking at someone who lives in London? It has to be someone local.’
‘Find out where she was, will you, Jake?’
‘No, I won’t!’ He stood up and reached for his jacket. ‘I won’t stay here and listen to this nonsense. Please tell Zena I’ll be leaving tomorrow at ten and I’d like to talk to her.’ He left without another word.
Zena was told what had happened and at nine the following morning, before she went for her weekly visit to Roy Roberts, she called at the house where he regularly lodged and was told he was at the garage filling the car for his journey back to London.
In fact, Jake was at Llyn Hir, where Lottie told him Zena would be cleaning for Mr Roberts for the next couple of hours.
Zena waited for half an hour fingering the envelope addressed to him that had been found in the café after the robbery. Going to the pictures had been childish but the truth was she didn’t know how to show him the envelope and state their suspicions. Whatever she said would come out wrong and he would refuse to explain. He probably wouldn’t accept that it had been found where she said it had been found. Whatever he had planned to discuss with her, it had not been important enough for him to actually find her.
Jake waited at the house, then set off for London. On the way he passed the shop, which was closed. Zena had made it emphatically clear that there was nothing she wanted to discuss.
A week later, Roy Roberts mentioned to Zena her idea of recording his version of what had happened on paper. ‘I think it would be good if you will write it down as I tell it. Could you do that for me?’ She thought about it and decided she would. She collected notebooks, pens, ink, blotting paper and set off to begin. Thank heavens for her shorthand skills.
It was difficult to keep him on the subject he wanted to explain. His thoughts wandered between his childhood, which was unhappy, filled with criticism and punishments, and the life he’d dreamed of giving his own boys. He was evasive when it came to facts. At one point he turned the conversation to Rose Conelly. ‘That’s why I understand why she behaves like she does. She suffered the same kind of misery as I did. I handled it differently, that’s all.’ He looked at Zena, scribbling furiously in shorthand as she tried to preserve his outpourings. ‘She’ll never be happy, that one. She won’t forget and never tries to understand why she was treated so badly. Best to forgive even if you can’t forget.’
‘You wanted to record what happened before your wife left, taking the boys?’ she asked hopefully.
As though unaware of her question, he said, ‘Your father was a fool. He trusted people. Wouldn’t look the truth in the eye.’
She eventually got him back onto the subject and he told her that his wife accused him of having an affair with her sister, Donna. ‘Rubbish it was,’ he said, ‘and Donna told the story purely to make trouble. We were in the bedroom but that’s not a sin, is it? I was helping her to turn the mattress and we fell, laughing as I tripped over the corner. Donna went all coy and refused to confirm my explanation. Some people get their satisfaction by making trouble for others. They find happy and contented characters the most entertaining when they mess things up for them. Take that girl for example. She was so twisted with jealousy, she hated seeing people happy and—’
‘What girl are you talking about? Donna? Rose?’ It was a few moments before she looked up and saw that he was asleep.
She went in to see Doris next door and stayed for a cup of tea, popping back twice to see if Roy had woken. ‘I think I’ll go home and try to write down his thoughts another day, he’s obviously too tired to concentrate,’ Zena said. They both went for one more look and found the poor man had been sick.
‘He’s still asleep,’ Zena whispered.
Doris pulled her away from where she was trying to undo the buttons of his shirt to remove the foul-smelling garment. ‘Leave him, love. I think we nee
d an ambulance.
Roy was taken to hospital and the next day, when she enquired, she was told he’d had a heart attack. She visited him and dared to ask if she should contact his sons to tell them he was ill, but again, he refused. ‘Their mother told her version of what happened. I’m the villain and always will be. The truth has gone for ever.’
‘Will you tell me what really happened?’
‘When I’m well enough to get out of here, we’ll talk about it. There’s maybe some of the story I can tell, but not all.’
‘Are you sure I can’t write to them?’
He shook his head. ‘They wouldn’t believe anything I told them and perhaps it’s for the best, no point in trying to persuade them that their mother was the one, not me. Not after all this time.’
Zena and Greg were walking Betty through the wood and came to the gate of SunnyBank. The house appeared to be unused, rubbish had gathered around the drive and the front door, curtains were closed and it had an abandoned look. They heard footsteps then saw a heavily built man coming from the side of the house towards them struggling with a large sack.
‘I know him. That’s Percy, one of Aunty Mab’s night people.’ Greg called and the man stopped, half-turned as though about to run, then put down his burden and waved a hand. They waited at the gate as he approached.
‘Hello, Greg, who is this lovely young lady?’ To Zena’s surprise he was beautifully spoken. ‘I hope my appearance didn’t alarm you, my dear.’
‘This is my sister. Zena, meet Percy,’ Greg said. ‘What are you doing in there? It’s private property.’
‘I’m taking my bedding away. I’ve been sleeping here during the day for a few months off and on but I heard in the post office that the tenants are coming back so I thought I’d better clear out before I’m caught.’
‘Why do you sleep in the day and go to the café at night?’ Zena asked.
‘Perhaps I will when I find a decent place but to be honest, I sleep here in the daytime because this place gives me the creeps after dark. I can’t stay here at night.’
Greg laughed. ‘A giant like you afraid of ghosts?’
‘Of course I’m not, but it isn’t a place to relax and sleep at night. Sleep comes easier in the daylight hours. Then, if you hear a noise, you can look and discover the cause. Unexplained noises hidden in darkness can keep me awake for hours.’
‘I’ve been in every corner of the house and there’s nothing creepy about it,’ Zena told him, still smiling at the thought of the large man avoiding the dark hours.
‘I’ve seen you, Miss. You’re cleaning ready for the return of the tenants, aren’t you?’
‘Yes, but they aren’t due for a few more days.’
Percy nodded agreement. ‘So I understand.’
They walked with him for a while, as he explained that he didn’t want another winter sleeping rough. ‘I’ve found a room not far from the centre of the village and I intend to visit Frankie’s café for a few hours each night. Until I can train myself out of the regular nightshifts,’ he added with a laugh.
With just a few more days before Karen and James Penberthy returned, and with only Roy Roberts’s and Nelda’s cleaning to fit in, Zena booked a train for London. She would find an hotel easily enough and would find Jake and face him with the incriminating envelope.
When she turned up at the office at 5.30 on that Friday evening, she saw him coming out and he was alone. He was overjoyed to see her, hugged her and began chattering about where they would go, what they would see, and unavoidably she was caught up in the excitement.
‘As a first step,’ he said, ‘we’ll eat. There’s a small café just around the corner and it stays open all evening so we can sit and talk, and I can get over the wonderful surprise of seeing you standing there, like a dreamed up apparition waiting for me.’ With an arm around her, smiling happily, he led her to the café.
‘What did you think of my having two weeks off with pay, from cleaning SunnyBank?’ she said, and was surprised at the lack of understanding on his face. ‘You did get my letter?’
He frowned, then said, ‘That’s generous, but why would they do that?’
‘Because they’ll be away for a couple of weeks and want to lock the house up.’
‘Great news.’
‘And what about the new customers I wrote to you about, Curtis and Sons, a large manufacturing company needing everything in the stationery line, as they were let down by their previous supplier. Isn’t it wonderful?’
‘Congratulations, I didn’t know about that.’
‘Of course you did, Jake! I wrote to tell you.’
‘Sorry, love, but you didn’t mention that. You must have forgotten.’
She decided then to tell him the truth even though he would realize she had been trying to trick him. ‘Sorry, Jake, but the truth is, Aunty Mab’s café was robbed a few days ago and we found an envelope there, one written by me and addressed to you. It had been opened, the letter was missing, and from the date, it was the one in which I told you about the unpaid weeks and the large contract.… I’m sorry!’ she said, as she saw his eyes widen with shock. ‘I’m truly sorry I tried to trick you, but I don’t trust your friends and I had to find out if you or they were involved.’
He listened in silence as she explained in detail about the theft, and about the key and the stupid arrangement of hiding the cash behind a skirting board. ‘Apart from Greg, Mam, and me, you were the only one who knew and, I’m sorry, but I thought, if you talked about it to Madeleine and—’
‘Zena, I did tell Madeleine and Rose. We were talking about the differences between living in a safe corner like Cold Brook Vale and the part of London where I live.’
‘Then it’s possible that one of them was involved?’
‘No.’
‘Not even by telling someone else? Someone who would take advantage of the information?’
‘No. They don’t mix with people who would steal. Besides, who would travel so far for such a small amount of money? It has to be one of her customers.’
‘She doesn’t believe that. Sid, one of her regulars, has appointed himself her guardian and he never leaves until he sees her get the bus or a taxi. On that day there was very little time between her leaving and the day staff coming because she fell asleep.’
‘Could it have been this Sid?’
‘Definitely not.’ She hesitated then asked, ‘Do you know where Madeleine and Rose were on that night? Thursday of last week?’
Ignoring her question he said, ‘We’ll have to leave it for the police to deal with.’
‘She didn’t call the police.’
‘So she must think it was one of her regulars.’
They argued for a while, Jake convinced it was one of the night people, and Zena unable to put aside her doubts about Rose and Madeleine.
‘All right, love. I’ll try to find out where Rose was on that night.’ He thought for a moment then shook his head. ‘No, I’m wrong. That was the night before. I didn’t see either of them on that night, but I honestly don’t think either of them capable of such a thing. Why would they?’
Zena went home the following day, convinced the visit had been a waste of time. She doubted whether Jake would question Rose or Madeleine and common sense told her he would be right not to try, it all seemed so pointless. Her mother was out and Greg was working so she went to see Mabs.
Mabs smiled an enthusiastic welcome. ‘Come and see what your Greg has arranged,’ she said grabbing a coat. ‘Come on, there’s a bus in five minutes.’ She bustled her out and refused to discuss anything until she had examined the new arrangement. The café was still open with the day clientele and Mabs waved and went through to her kitchen. She waved an arm with a ‘ta raa!’ and Zena saw a new safe built into the wall. ‘And that’s not all,’ Mabs said proudly. ‘The door has a padlock and the spare key is with a friend living around the corner.’
As it was almost time for the day café to close, Zena stayed a
nd helped Mabs prepare for the night customers. Then they went back to Mabs’s flat and had a meal. Zena gave details of her brief visit to London and Mabs shook her head.
‘What were you thinking of, love, going all that way? It was a few pounds, definitely not worth travelling all that way to steal. Someone must have seen me pick up the key one day and had heard about my stupid hiding place and took a chance. Stop worrying about it. It’s over and won’t happen again.’
‘Why would a thief stop and destroy the food and break things? All that unnecessary damage. It was the same person who broke into our shop, it must be.’
‘It’s over,’ Mabs said, ‘Whoever it was has had their fun, it won’t happen again.’
A week later, when Mabs was closing the door on a windy, rainy morning, she hesitated about going home. The street was dark and clouds seemed to touch the rooftops. She had missed the bus and was about to go out and look for a taxi when lightning lit up the darkness and thunder rumbled and roared overhead. She would be soaked just walking to the taxi office so she decided to sit and wait for the storm to ease. She was tired and her old coat wouldn’t keep out this heavy rain. The prospect of arriving home in wet clothes didn’t appeal and comfortably settled in a chair in the kitchen, she gradually fell asleep. She roused a few times and still the storm raged around her.
A glance at the clock told her there would be a bus in a little over two hours but it was better to spend the few hours in the dry rather than struggle home in this. She gathered her coat around her, found a stool for her legs and relaxed again into sleep.
The noise of the storm drifted around her but didn’t disturb her sleep, but a small scratching sound did. She opened her eyes to find the place still dark and listened intently. Someone was at the shop door. For a moment she was afraid to move, then she slowly eased herself out of the chair and reached for a weapon. Her fingers touched a large tin of baked beans. At least it was something to throw.
The End of a Journey Page 25