When the girls got home from school that afternoon, Mel told her mother casually, ‘I thought I saw Dad this afternoon. He passed me in a car as I was walking home. There was a lady driving it.’
‘You’d have a job,’ Jess chuckled. ‘He’s in London right at this minute and probably having the time of his life.’
‘Well, he must have a double then,’ Mel muttered, and the subject was dropped.
It was strange not to have Simon there at the house that evening, and once the girls had gone to bed Jess checked and double-checked that all the doors and windows were locked, suddenly conscious of how isolated they were at Stonebridge House. Funnily enough, she had never felt that way before, but then she supposed that was because she’d always had a man in the house. She had expected Simon to phone but so far he hadn’t. But then she wasn’t overly concerned, and in actual fact it was quite nice to have the bed all to herself and to be able to stretch out. Snuggling down under the duvet with a large mug of cocoa and a Take a Break magazine, she sighed contentedly. The wind outside had died down some time ago and everywhere was strangely still. I wouldn’t be surprised if we weren’t in for a thunderstorm, Jess thought, glancing towards the window. The sky was a curious grey colour and there was not a sound to be heard until suddenly the dark was illuminated with a flash of lightning. Here it comes, Jess thought, feeling nervous. She had never liked thunderstorms. The bedroom door was then flung open and Jo appeared, clutching the teddy she still took to bed each night under her arm.
‘Can I get in with you, Mum?’ she asked, just as a crash of thunder sounded in the distance. Before Jess could answer her, Jo had covered the distance between the door and the bed and was cowering under the duvet.
‘It’s all right, love. It can’t hurt us in here,’ Jess said soothingly as another flash of lightning lit the room.
Jo hotched closer to her and Jess put her arm about her protectively. It was then that the bedside light flickered and dimmed before going out completely.
‘Shit!’ Jess muttered. ‘It looks like the fuse has tripped on the lights.’
‘Can you fix it?’ a little voice came to her from under the covers.
‘Of course I can,’ Jess said far more brightly than she was feeling. ‘But the fuse box is down in the cellar. Will you be all right while I go down and fix it?’
‘Y . . . yes,’ Jo whimpered as Jess swung her legs out of the bed. The thunder was growling ominously now and becoming louder by the second. A sure sign that it was coming closer.
‘Now where does your dad keep his torch?’ Jess tried to think and then remembered that he kept it in a drawer in the kitchen.
Damn, that would mean she had to find her way down the stairs in the dark, but what alternative was there?
The baby began to kick as if he had picked up on her nervousness, and fumbling round in the dark she found her dressing-gown and slid it on before groping her way to the door with her hand held out in front of her.
‘Mum, what’s happening?’ Mel’s voice wafted along the passage to her.
‘It’s all right, love, the lights have tripped, that’s all. Just sit tight and I’ll have them back on in no time,’ Jess shouted back to her.
She inched her way along the landing, keeping close to the wall, and when she came to the staircase she gripped the banister and tentatively began to descend the stairs. Everything looked completely different in the darkness and Jess’s heart thumped uncomfortably as the shadows seemed to jump out at her.
Keep a grip on yourself, girl, she chided herself. You’re a bit old to be frightened of bogey men.
It was as she was stumbling blindly along the hall that the sleeve of her dressing-gown caught the vase of flowers she had on the hall table and instantly it overturned and ice-cold water cascaded all down her leg as the vase crashed to the floor.
‘Bugger it!’ Jess cursed as she moved doggedly on. There was no point in trying to pick everything up until the lights were back on.
As she stumbled into the kitchen she stopped dead as a flash of lightning illuminated the room. The back door was swinging open but she could have sworn she had locked it before going to bed. She glanced down at Alfie, who was cowering in his basket, then clutching the front of her dressing-gown she said as calmly as she could, ‘Is anyone here?’
There was nothing but the crash of thunder overhead as she stood there trembling. Her mind was working overtime. What if someone had broken in? Reaching out to the knife block that she kept on the nearest worktop she snatched the largest cleaver from it and advanced towards the door with it held out in front of her. The key was still in the lock and there was no sign of a forced entry.
Sighing with relief, she slammed it shut and hastily locked it, cursing herself as she did so. And it was then that the whispering started, urgent and close by. She whirled about but there was no one there. Now she began to throw the drawers open and when her hand finally closed around the handle of Simon’s torch she sobbed with relief and quickly switched it on before shining it all around the room. She was alone as she had somehow known she would be. The beam of bright light sliced through the shadows as her heart slowly returned to a steadier rhythm. Straightening her shoulders in a determined way she then headed for the cellar door. She hated the thought of having to go down into that damp dismal space, but as things stood she really didn’t have a lot of choice. The girls were frightened and they were relying on her.
Feeling her way down the slimy steps she made a mental note to clean them properly the first chance she got. She had been promising herself that she’d do it since the day they’d moved in, but there was something about the cellar that frightened her and she’d always put it off. It’s probably all the scary films I’ve watched, she comforted herself as she slowly moved on, placing one foot gingerly in front of another. She knew roughly where the fuse box was, and now she shone the torch around until she’d located it. The new fuse box the electrician had installed was very sensitive, and this was not the first time the lights had tripped since it had been put in. It only needed a bulb to blow and the whole lot would go out. Jess saw the problem instantly, once she had managed to open the door of it, and she quickly flicked the switch up and down again. The lights instantly came back on but just as they did she heard a noise behind her and as she made to turn, something came crashing down on her head and she dropped to the floor like a stone.
‘It seems likely that someone had broken in,’ the police officer informed her the next day, snapping his notebook shut. ‘That’s probably why you found the door open in the kitchen when you first came downstairs. You must have disturbed them. Hadn’t you got your house alarm on?’
Jess shook her head miserably, feeling like a complete idiot. ‘No, I don’t always bother because it’s so quiet here,’ she said sheepishly.
‘Then you should,’ the officer said sternly. ‘It’s these quiet, out-of-the-way places that are the biggest targets for thieves.’ The house had been crawling with police until half an hour ago and Jess’s head was spinning at all the questions they had asked her. But now there was just the officer standing before her and one other left.
Laura was standing with her hand protectively on Jess’s shoulder and she glared at the man.
‘I don’t think she needs to hear that right now,’ she said briskly. ‘She’s shaken up enough as it is.’
‘I’m sorry, but I’m only doing my job,’ he pointed out, then turning to Jess again, he asked, ‘Are you quite sure that you didn’t get a look at who did this to you?’
Jess sighed. She had already answered the same question at least a dozen times. ‘No, I didn’t. It all happened so quickly, and then all I saw was stars for a few minutes and when I’d pulled myself together, whoever it was had run off.’
‘And you’re quite sure that nothing’s been taken?’
‘Not that I can see.’
The officer shook his head. ‘Well, there are no fingerprints on the bottle that was used as the weapon on
you, unfortunately, so I fear there isn’t a lot we can do for now, unless anything else occurs to you, so I’ll leave you to rest now. Are you quite sure that you don’t want to go to the hospital?’
‘No way,’ Jess said quickly. ‘They’ll know me there soon at this rate and I’m perfectly all right apart from an egg on my head.’
‘Very well. But do make sure that you put your burglar alarm on in future and if you need us, don’t hesitate to give us a call. Good day.’
Once the police officers had finally left, Laura said, ‘You’re not having much luck at the minute, what with one thing or another are you, love?’
‘You can say that again.’ Jess tentatively touched the lump on the back of her head.
‘What I can’t understand is why Alfie didn’t bark when a stranger came in,’ Laura said thoughtfully.
‘I hadn’t thought of that, but then you know what a big softie he is and he’s terrified of thunder,’ Jess grinned. ‘He’d wag his tail for anybody who made a bit of fuss of him. One thing is for certain: after this, he certainly won’t qualify for Guard Dog of the Year.’
‘No, he won’t, and I think we can safely say Simon won’t be too keen to leave you on your own again when he comes back and you tell him everything that’s happened,’ Laura said ruefully. ‘But then I suppose we should look on the bright side. You’ve come out of it with nothing worse than a thumping headache and a lump on your head. They say everything comes in threes, and what with the car incident, the hairdryer and now this, you’ve hopefully had your lot of bad luck.’ She then made her friend a nice strong cup of tea with lots of sugar in it and insisted that she put her feet up for an hour. After all, as she pointed out, surely nothing could go amiss if Jess was just sitting there and she was keeping her beady eye on her?
Chapter Thirty-Two
The rest of the week passed uneventfully and Simon arrived home at four o’clock on Friday afternoon. He listened with amazement as Jo told him all about what had happened since he’d been gone. Jess couldn’t get a word in edgeways.
She was feeling a little cross with him, if truth be known, because as yet he hadn’t even given the girls a small present, which she considered was the least he could have done after a few days gallivanting down in London. Not that Mel seemed much bothered. She’d been in a slightly better mood while her dad was away but the second he set foot through the door she disappeared like a cat with its tail on fire.
‘I bet you won’t be leaving the back door open again,’ he said caustically when Jo had finished her tale, and Jess bristled.
‘As it happens I would have staked my life that I’d locked it,’ she snapped.
‘But you couldn’t have done, could you?’ he argued. ‘Otherwise they would have had to break in and the police said there was no sign of a forced entry.’
‘I suppose so,’ she admitted grudgingly, with an awful feeling that she was never going to hear the last of this. Simon could be very self-righteous when he wanted to be. She was bristling like a porcupine by now but she softened slightly when he put his arm around her. ‘Are you quite sure that you’re all right?’
‘I’m absolutely fine,’ she told him. ‘Just a lump on the back of my head and dented pride.’
‘Then let’s hope that’s the end of it,’ he said. ‘You obviously disturbed whoever it was, and hopefully they won’t risk coming back.’
Within days their life had slipped back into its normal pattern, apart from the fact that Jess no longer ran the girls to school.
She was heavily pregnant now, and had less than two months to go until the birth. She tired easily and had taken to having a rest for an hour each afternoon with a good book or a magazine. She quite enjoyed it because she knew that this new-found space would be very short-lived. Before she knew it she would be running around after the baby – and she found that she was really looking forward to it now. There were were still periods when she fretted about how Mel and Simon would cope, but for the majority of the time she was content.
Beth was getting large too now – in fact, Laura told her that she was eating her out of house and home, gobbling up everything edible in sight. The girl still had absolutely no notion of what lay ahead of her and Jess cursed the boy who had got her into this condition.
February came in with driving winds and pelting rain, and once more the river at the bottom of the garden burst its banks to such an extent that Blue Brick Cottage was at risk of being flooded. The water crept up the garden at an alarming rate and came dangerously near to the front door, but thankfully up to now it had come no closer, although Laura feared it would if the rain continued.
Jess fretted about the girls walking to and from school in such appalling conditions but they simply took their umbrellas each day and assured her that they were fine. They were obviously enjoying their new independence. Simon worked whenever he could, but weather conditions ensured that some days he was unable to do anything. Jess sensed that he was concerned about money and she was proved to be right when he approached her one day after the postman had been and said tentatively, ‘Jess, I know it must seem as if I’m always holding my hand out nowadays but all the insurances are due this month. Both the cars, the house insurance and our life insurances.’ He looked terribly uncomfortable, and knowing what a proud man he was, Jess instantly felt sorry for him.
‘So,’ he went on, waving the letter that had just arrived in the air, ‘I was wondering if I could perhaps have another temporary loan? I know I haven’t paid back any of the rest of what I owe you yet, but I will as soon as I get back on my feet again.’
Seeing as the insurances were the only bills Simon ever paid now, Jess couldn’t see why he was making such a big thing of it, but all the same she told him, ‘Of course you can. How much do you need?’
‘Three thousand should do it.’
‘Three thousand pounds?’ she gasped incredulously.
He coloured slightly as he nodded. ‘Yes, three thousand. Do you have any idea at all, how much the insurance on this place is? It’s like a second bloody mortgage.’
‘All right, all right, of course you can have it,’ she said hastily, ‘I’ll write the cheques out so you can send them off today,’ and keen to avoid an argument she made an excuse to leave him to it and hurried away.
On the days when he was unable to work, Simon took to clearing out the attics. He had always intended to turn the large attic into an office but as yet he hadn’t tackled Martha’s room or any of the other smaller rooms on that landing. Jess was pleased about that. Somehow it didn’t seem right to touch the girl’s room.
Today, as soon as she had seen her daughters off to school, she went back to bed for half an hour. She had been up half the night with heartburn and smiled as she thought back to what her gran had used to tell her: ‘If a woman has heartburn during the last part of her pregnancy, it means that the baby will be born with a lot of hair.’ Her gran had been full of old wives’ tales and now as the birth approached, Jess missed her more than ever.
Settling herself comfortably back against the headboard, Jess took Martha’s journal from the drawer. She hadn’t touched it since learning of poor Miss Melody’s baby dying, but now she felt ready to read on and so she opened it to the next page.
5 January
Poor Master Leonard has been beside himself with grief and fear today, and has barely left Miss Melody’s side. Cook kept sending up treats to tempt him to eat, but they were all returned to the kitchen untouched. Miss Prim and Grace have been in there all day with her too, taking it in turns to sponge her with cool water and praying for her temperature to break.
‘I really think you should return to your cottage now, Mother Dickinson,’ Miss Prim told the old woman late that afternoon. ‘By your own admission there is nothing more that you can do. And now that the snow has stopped, Bertie could escort you home. He will then try to get into Nuneaton to fetch the doctor.’
‘I dare say yer right.’ Mother Dickinson rose wearily and ru
bbed her aching old back. She could never remember being so tired in her whole life and would be happy now to return to her own fireside and her cosy little cottage in Caldecote.
Master Leonard rose from his seat at the side of the bed and crossing to the old woman, he took both her hands in his. ‘May God bless you for what you’ve done for my wife,’ he told her sincerely.
She shrugged. ‘I just wish I could ’ave done more, sir,’ she mumbled.
Master Leonard then fumbled in the pocket of his creased breeches and withdrew a number of gold sovereigns as the old woman’s eyes almost popped out of her head.
‘Please take this as a sign of my appreciation.’
Her head wagged from side to side, setting her grey hair dancing about her head like snakes. During the vigil none of them had had time to wash or set a brush through their hair.
‘That’s too much,’ she protested.
He smiled sadly. ‘If anything, it is not enough – so take it, I beg you.’
She cautiously took the heavy coins in her hand and felt the weight of them before dropping them into the pocket of her old grey serge dress.
‘Thank yer kindly, sir.’ She lifted her shawl and Polly then led her from the room and they went in search of Bertie, whilst Leonard and Miss Prim turned their attentions back to the poor woman lying in the enormous brass bed.
Grace and Martha had retired to the kitchen to snatch a well-earned cup of tea with Bertie and Cook. Phoebe was there too, and once they had seen old Mother Dickinson and Bertie on their way they all returned to sit at the large scrubbed table.
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