The Door That Led to Where

by Sally Gardner

  ‘Your friend says her father’s name is Dalton.’

  Oh shit, thought AJ. If only he’d had time to tell her about her real parents, to prepare her for the electronic jungle. His mind filled with the vision of Elsie and Norris going to the police station and Esme saying she hadn’t a clue who they were.

  ‘Are you employed?’

  ‘Yes. I’m a clerk at Baldwin Groat, in Gray’s Inn.’

  He realised that in the eyes of the police officer he had suddenly risen from the pile of hopeless youth. He was somebody. He was a clerk in legal chambers.

  In the end he was cautioned and told to report to the station in five days’ time. After that he fell fast asleep.

  AJ slept for two days solid. The nurse told him he’d had visitors, his mum and his auntie, but hadn’t woken up. On the third day, he was told that he could go home. New Year was a busy time and his bed was needed. Norris turned up with a carrier bag. At first AJ didn’t recognise him. He looked … solid, content. His hair was cut short and he was clean-shaven but the main difference was the beaming smile that went from one ear to the other.

  ‘Happy New Year. How’re you feeling, mate?’ he asked.

  ‘Wobbly,’ said AJ. ‘But otherwise all right.’

  ‘You’re as white as a wedding dress.’

  ‘Did you find Esme?’

  ‘Who?’ said Norris.

  ‘Oh no,’ said AJ, putting his hands to his head. ‘No, no, don’t tell me you didn’t find her. Bugger it! I shouldn’t have slept so long. God knows where she is now … ’

  Norris burst out laughing.

  ‘Of course we found her!’

  AJ let out a huge sigh.

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘The police assumed she’d taken drugs or been on the booze. I thought it might be tricky trying to explain but, turns out, Ingleby, bless him, had told her about me and Annie. Anyway, you know the funny thing? They say blood is thicker than water, and the minute I saw her and she saw me and Mum, she smiled such a lovely smile. Mum gave her a big hug and whispered to her to stay quiet and we’d have her out in a jiffy, and we did.’ Norris handed AJ the carrier bag. ‘Here, put these on. I thought you’d look a right nob walking about in nineteenth century gear.’

  ‘How is Esme finding this London?’

  ‘Duck to water, father to daughter. Never meant to be anywhere else, just like her old dad. This is her century, the other was a huge mistake. She’s trying to get her head round it all. Now, come on, let’s get the hell out of here. I can’t stand hospitals. They give me the heebie-jeebies.’

  Outside, he hailed a cab.

  ‘Shouldn’t we take the bus?’ said AJ.

  ‘No,’ said Norris. ‘Stokey, mate,’ he said to the cabbie. ‘Bloody luxury. You know, I was going to be a cabbie before I followed your dad.’

  ‘What was he like – my dad?’

  ‘Lucas Jobey? A wild card – clever and too kind-hearted for his own good. I tell you this: he loved your mum, and what happened to him and to Annie has cast a long shadow over all our lives. Loss is a very hard thing to deal with. Loss has lead weights attached to it.’

  At Bodman House, Norris walked behind AJ, carrying his things, as he slowly climbed the stairs. He heard footsteps coming down and looked up. A girl he had never seen before stood on the first-floor landing shyly smiling at him. She had short, bobbed hair and was dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. He was thinking, she’s cool, when to his surprise this unknown person took his arm.

  ‘Mr Jobe— AJ,’ she said. ‘You’re home.’

  ‘Miss … Esme?’ he said.

  ‘Yes,’ she said, smiling. ‘Who did you think it was?’

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Elsie came out of the kitchen wearing her Christmas apron that had on it a huge face of a reindeer with a red nose.

  ‘Good to see you, love,’ she said, giving AJ a kiss. ‘And thank you for sending these two home.’

  ‘Best quiz night ever, wasn’t it, Mum?’

  Elsie giggled in a way that AJ had never heard before.

  ‘I’ve made lunch,’ she said. She dropped her voice to a whisper. ‘Your mum’s here. Roxy’s gone off with a group of friends to the cinema, so it’s just us. Oh – and by the way, your mum knows everything. Norris told her.’

  ‘Really? You mean about the door?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Elsie. ‘And about the murder of your dad. Knocked her for six, that did. But she’s been a real help. She took Esme off to the Angel and sorted her out some clothes. Be nice, love.’

  Jan was standing by the Christmas tree in the lounge.

  ‘Give us us a hug then,’ she said.

  This is a first, thought AJ, hugging her. He couldn’t remember the last time such a thing had happened.

  ‘All Esme and me want to know,’ said Jan, ‘is that you aren’t going go back and stay there.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘Where your dad went.’

  AJ had been trying not to think about what he was going to do. A wail from the eternal electronic jungle whirled up Church Street and it was then that he knew that this was his city. He knew the beat, he knew the hum of home, he knew this was his time.

  ‘No, Mum, I’m not but –’ He stopped. ‘Why did you never tell me about him?’

  Jan brushed down her dress as if invisible fluff was stuck to it.

  ‘Go on, Jan,’ said Norris, handing her a Babycham. ‘Go on, tell him. Sit down, mate, you have to rest that leg.’

  There was a strangled silence.

  ‘There’s nothing to tell,’ said Jan.

  Elsie came in with a plate of cheese straws and sat on the sofa. Esme quietly sat down beside her.

  ‘Jan, love,’ said Elsie firmly. ‘You can’t run out of petrol before you’ve even put the car in first gear. Start it up, girl.’

  Jan bit her bottom lip and then said so quietly that AJ wasn’t sure he’d heard her, ‘I loved your dad. To tell you the truth, I’ve never loved anyone like I loved him. He was all the lights on the Christmas tree – but brighter, if you know what I mean.’ She sniffed. ‘We were married and I’d never been so happy. You know, I thought I was the luckiest girl in the whole of this block of flats – in the whole bleeding world. Lucas said he had to do one last thing and then he would be back for good, no more travelling. I thought he meant he was going to find another job. I thought we’d be together until we were two old wrinklies.’

  ‘What did you think he did?’ asked AJ.

  ‘He said he was a travelling salesman,’ said Jan.

  Norris laughed. ‘Well, that’s one way of putting it.’

  ‘Your dad told me about the door that led to where,’ said Jan, ‘and I thought it was just one of his fantastical stories. He had such wonderful stories in him, he made the past come to life. I didn’t realise the past was alive and ticking, that he was a time traveller.’ She let out a noise that AJ put down as a laugh. ‘Me – Jan Flynn – marry a time traveller? Come on, that only happens in films or in Doctor Who. I’m just an ordinary person, nothing special, nothing to walk through a door for. When he never came back I thought I would break in two. Then there was you. I didn’t know I was pregnant when he left. You were the only thing that kept me stuck together. You looked so like him, it hurt. I thought the bastard had abandoned us, taken away my future and left me with nothing but a baby. Elsie always said there was more to it but by the time I realised I would never see him again, all the anger that had been churning in me had set like cement. What is it you call me?’ She paused to think. ‘That’s it – the red reptile. I found the notebook in your room. It made me laugh. “The Red Reptile Handling Manual.” I thought, I deserve that.’

  ‘Mum, you shouldn’t go nosing about.’

  ‘And neither should you, but you have.’

  ‘If he hadn’t,’ said Elsie, ‘I would never have had the best Christmas of my life. I would never have had my Norris back and never –’she gave Esme a cuddle‘– met my granddaughter.’<
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  Chapter Forty-Six

  Norris and AJ were barred from helping with the washing-up; AJ on account of his leg, which was now propped up on a stool, and Norris because his mum was spoiling him something rotten. Esme joined them; there wasn’t space in the kitchen for three people. AJ looked at Norris and Esme sitting together and thought it was hard to imagine them in any other period of time.

  ‘I’ve got to ask,’ said AJ. ‘What happened when you showed up at the Rose and Crown?’

  ‘My mum got to her feet, clipped me round the ear and said – pardon my French – “Where the fuck have you been?” Then she burst into tears.’

  AJ laughed. ‘I wish I’d been there.’

  Elsie and Jan were having a good old natter in the kitchen; they could even be heard giggling.

  ‘What exactly did my father do?’ asked AJ.

  ‘He traded with the future is what he did,’ said Norris. ‘He brought snuffboxes through the door.’

  ‘What snuffboxes?’ said Jan, coming in with a tray of coffee. ‘You never told me anything about snuffboxes.’

  ‘You never asked,’ said Norris. ‘They were little gems, worth a bloody fortune.’

  ‘You mean those three little boxes I’ve got in my knicker drawer are worth something?’

  ‘Three of them?’ said Norris. ‘Bloody hell, Jan, you could have been living in a palace. You still got them?’

  ‘Of course I have. Lucas gave them to me on our wedding day. He said nothing about them being worth a bloody fortune. I thought they were just pretty trinkets.’

  ‘Jan, girl, you are well set.’

  ‘Stop it,’ said Jan. ‘You’re winding me up.’

  ‘I’m not. The prices those little charmers fetched at auction eighteen years ago blew my mind. Lord knows what they would be worth today.’

  ‘Is that what Baldwin was up to?’ asked Jan.

  ‘Yeah, sort of. He had his greedy fat fingers in lots of grubby little pies.’

  ‘Hold on,’ said AJ. ‘How did my dad meet Baldwin?’

  ‘Through Old Jobey. It was the old boy who first went through the door. The trouble was, he never suited the twentieth century – too stuck in the mud of his own time. He had a temper when he was off the lead and would bark at anyone who crossed him. It didn’t take long before he needed a lawyer in this century – I mean, the last one. His lawyers, Stone Groat, had been in Gray’s Inn so he went there and found Baldwin Groat. He liked lawyers, did Old Jobey, and Baldwin liked nutters, especially rich nutters. After a while Old Jobey didn’t want to come this way any more. His health was failing so he sent Samuel Dalton with the snuffboxes.’ Esme moved a little closer to Norris. ‘Baldwin and Dalton would meet for a pint in the Apple Tree at Mount Pleasant, the goods would change hands and Dalton would return to Old Jobey carrying gold. It was only when Lucas took over from Dalton that he realised exactly how much Dalton and Baldwin had been ripping him off.’

  ‘That was when I met your dad,’ said Jan. ‘I was working in the chambers as a tea girl and cleaner. I never liked Baldwin – he was a smarmy git, always trying to touch me up. Today it has a name.’

  ‘It had a name then,’ said Norris. ‘Bloody bastard.’

  ‘Lucas met Norris through me,’ continued Jan.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Norris. ‘He told me about the door in dribs and drabs. I didn’t know what to think. He told me he didn’t trust Baldwin but couldn’t persuade his father to cut his ties with him as he had with Dalton. I introduced Lucas to a mate of mine who’d done time with me at Feltham.’

  ‘Taking and driving, naughty boy,’ shouted Elsie, who was earwigging from the kitchen.

  ‘This mate had been to Eton, had posh friends and by then owned an antique shop in Notting Hill Gate.’

  ‘What had he been in prison for?’ asked AJ.

  ‘He was a tea leaf,’ said Norris. ‘All delicate fingers and pink ties, that boy. He could hardly believe what he was seeing when I took Lucas along to show him the goods. He thought at first they must be fakes. He soon found out they were the real McCoy. Anyway, to cut a long story short, Lucas and he did a deal both were happy with. Baldwin took it badly, said he had a contract with Old Jobey giving him exclusive rights over the trade in snuffboxes. By that time, I’d been through the door with Lucas a few times and met Annie. I had a mind to bring Annie here … ’ Norris paused for a moment and Esme slipped her arm through his. ‘When Lucas told his old man how much gold Dalton and Baldwin had stolen from him over the years, it got ugly. Old Jobey went berserk and decided the door should be locked so no one else could profit from his business. He made up his mind that he wanted his son home. Lucas had other plans. He wanted to lock the door too, and stay in the twentieth century with Jan. The trouble was, the key had gone missing. I had my suspicions that Baldwin nicked it.’

  ‘Then Baldwin had my family murdered,’ said AJ. ‘And with the Jobeys out of the way and the door unlocked, he and Dalton were free to carry on the trade until … until … ’ The pinball machine stuttered back into life. ‘What was the name of that mate of yours?’

  ‘Purcell,’ said Norris.

  ‘David Purcell?’ said AJ. ‘You sure?’

  ‘Certain. I was thinking I might look him up.’

  ‘So Dalton and Baldwin hooked up with Purcell,’ said AJ.

  ‘I don’t know about that,’ said Norris. ‘I was away at the time.’

  ‘Here’s something I don’t understand,’ said AJ. ‘Baldwin was looking for the key. If he’d nicked it, he’d have known where it was.’

  ‘Not necessarily,’ said Jan. ‘Lucas took the key everywhere with him. He told me it was his talisman. Early one morning after Lucas disappeared, I found the key on Baldwin’s desk. I was so upset, seeing it there, I put it in my pocket.’

  ‘Bloody hell, Jan, I wouldn’t have thought you’d have it in you to do such a thing.’

  Jan giggled. ‘You don’t get to be an old fighter without some cunning. I didn’t know what to do with the key. I kept it for ages. In the end I gave it for safekeeping to a funny old geezer – a professor of history or something – who lived upstairs at Raymond Buildings. He’d been really kind to me. I took AJ to him when he was just a few weeks old.’

  Elsie came in with half a Christmas cake.

  ‘Casablanca’s on the telly tonight. I love that film,’ she said, sucking her dentures. ‘I want to be swept off my feet and say, “Play it again Sam.” But with a Swedish accent.’

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  AJ spent his time recovering at his mum’s flat. He had wondered how long her good mood would last. It could only be twenty-four hours – forty-eight at the most – before the red reptile raised its ugly head again. He was genuinely shocked when after three days she was still cheerful.

  ‘You all right?’ he asked her.

  ‘Never better,’ said Jan. ‘I feel I’ve been given a new start. You don’t think I’ve left it too late, do you?’

  ‘No,’ said AJ. ‘It’s never too late.’

  Even Roxy, to whom AJ couldn’t claim to ever having felt close, now seemed to spend most of her time in his bedroom showing him YouTube videos that she thought he might find funny. AJ suspected the real reason for Roxy’s new-found sisterly love was more to do with Esme than him.

  He wondered if Esme could even be the cause of his mum’s improved mood. She had a way about her that was calm. She listened to all everyone said, which was something that no one usually had time for. AJ had worked out that about a quarter of all conversation went unheard. If he had a hat he would take it off to Esme, for she was coping with this new world amazingly well. He kept trying and failing to put himself in her shoes. Supposing he walked into the year 2107 – what would it look like? Would there still be a world? He reckoned it was easier by far to travel back in time than forward.

  ‘At least,’ he said to Esme, ‘going back has some travel guides in the form of history books and the advantage of knowing what happened before it happens.’ />
  Once he hobbled into the kitchen to find her sitting on the floor staring at the washing machine on a spin cycle.

  ‘OK?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes,’ she said, not looking at him. ‘Who would believe that a future world would be so full of magic?’

  ‘It’s a washing machine.’

  ‘It’s fantastical.’

  ‘So was 1830,’ he said.

  AJ’s leg was better and he could walk without his crutches. He was hobbling round the flat when the midday news came on the TV.

  Roxy was about to change the channel when AJ said, ‘Leave it on a sec.’

  Roxy sighed.

  Ms Finch was outside the Old Bailey, talking about the forgery case. So much had happened that AJ had forgotten about the box of papers that Esme had carried back. He went into his room and pulled it out from under his bed. Inside were meticulous handwritten documents relating to the purchase of the snuffboxes.

  He put on his coat and picked up the box.

  ‘I’m just going out. I won’t be long.’

  ‘Mum will be furious,’ said Roxy.

  He decided to get off the bus at Mount Pleasant. He walked to Phoenix Place and looked longingly through the wire mesh fence. He thought of Slim and Leon. He had to go back just once more to make sure they were all right.

  Who am I kidding? he thought to himself. If they don’t want to be there they can walk through the door. There was nothing to stop them.

  ‘AJ,’ said a voice. He turned to see the professor walking towards him. ‘Long time no see,’ he said. ‘It looks like you’ve been in the wars again.’

  ‘It’s nothing,’ said AJ.

  ‘Do you still have the key?’

  AJ nodded.

  ‘You haven’t locked the door?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Going to?’

  AJ laughed.

  ‘Would it make a great difference if I did?’

  ‘Jack chopped down the beanstalk,’ said the professor. ‘Killed the giant and that was that. I suppose if he hadn’t, he might have had endless problems. Did you find what you were looking for?’