Gyles wasn't about when they came downstairs, but after they'd eaten a belated breakfast he came to drive them to the cottage. The warmth in his eyes when he greeted her made Kirsty flush a little, but she answered him calmly enough, only her eyes betraying her inner emotions.
When they got to the cottage they found the firemen had arrived there again and were about to fix a tarpaulin over the roof. The chief officer came up to them at once.
'The tarpaulin should keep the weather out for you. Luckily the roof beams weren't too badly damaged and haven't collapsed, although quite a few of them at that end of the house will have to be replaced. The worst mess came from the polythene sheeting that was lining the roof, and it was the fumes from that that made so much smoke. But the house itself isn't damaged much, you should be able to move back in as soon as we get the tarpaulin up and you've cleaned up a bit. But you can thank Mr Grantham here for that.' We got here before the fire had spread too much, thanks to him calling us so promptly.'
Turning to Gyles in surprise, Kirsty said, 'You called the fire brigade?'
He nodded. 'I saw the flames from the house.' Then, glancing at his watch, he added, 'I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I have to leave you for a while. I have an appointment in town that I just can't skip, "but I'll be back later this evening.' He drew Kirsty to one side and put his hands on her upper arms. 'Will you have dinner with me?'
"Yes, of course.'
His grip tightened slightly and an intense look came into his grey eyes. 'I want to kiss you.'
She smiled up at him eyes misty, and raised her fingers to gently touch his lips. 'I know.' She felt him quiver and then he quickly caught her hand and buried a kiss in her palm before he stood back abruptly. For a moment longer he gazed at her, then he turned and walked briskly away.
Kirsty didn't come down to earth for quite some time. Even when they'd changed into old clothes and begun to remove the effects of the smoke and grime from the cottage she was still in her own private and very wonderful world. A world that fell apart an hour later when the fire chief sought her out, a serious frown between his brows.
'It seems you were right, Miss Naylor,' he said grimly. 'It wasn't a spark from your bonfire that caused the fire’ after all.' He held out a matchbox to her and Kirsty took it wonderingly. 'We found this on the edge of the. thatch nearest to the lane. Some idiot must have just flipped it over the hedge, not realising that the roof was so near.'
As Kirsty pushed open the matchbox she suddenly grew very still. She knew that the man was still talking to her, but nothing penetrated. Inside the box there was a cigarette-end. It was black with a thin gold band at the edge of the filter tip. She remembered the sound of Gyles' footsteps halting in the lane outside her window the previous evening. Slowly she became aware that the officer had asked her a question and was waiting for an answer.
'I'm sorry. What—what did you say?'
'I was just saying that it's a very unusual brand of cigarette. I've never seen any like them before. Do you know anyone who smokes them?'
She pushed the matchbox shut. 'No. No, I don't.'
'Well, whoever it was deserves to be shot. You and your sister could easily have been killed."
He went on further, but Kirsty didn't hear him and presently he and the rest of the firemen left. Numbly Kirsty turned and went into the kitchen, reaching up high to the shelf above the range and putting the matchbox on it, out of sight. Then she slumped down in a chair and gazed blankly into space, the words 'you and your sister could have been killed' going round and round in her head. But when Penny came into the room her voice was quite steady.
'Do you think you could ask Dave to lend you his van so that you can go back to the Manor and collect our cases? And will you see Mrs Grantham and thank her for her hospitality, but say that the cottage is quite habitable so we Won't have to bother them again.'
Penny raised her eyebrows in surprise. 'Yes, all right, but don't you want to go yourself ?'
'No, I'll stay here and start moving our things back in.' Carefully she turned away so that Penny couldn't see her face. 'And will you ask Mrs Grantham to tell Gyles that I don't feel up to going out tonight?'
Penny's voice rose in concern. 'You're not feeling well? What is it, the smoke?' Kirsty managed a rather wooden smile. 'No, silly. I went to bed early yesterday because I felt a bit down. It must be the same thing.'
'Then for heaven's sake don't starting lifting the furniture about. Dave can help me to do that this evening. It won't hurt to leave it out there for a bit longer.' Penny came over and looked at her anxiously. 'You look awfully pale. Promise me you'll rest till I get back?'
Kirsty reached out and gripped the younger girl's hand tightly, her eyes dark in her pallid face.
'Kirsty, what is it?' Penny stared at her in alarm.
'Nothing. Just—shock,'t suppose.' She gave a right smile. 'Hurry back.'
For the rest of the day she behaved more like a robot than a human being. She moved and walked and talked, but it was as if the part of her that had thoughts and feelings had been shut away in a cupboard because the reality was too unbearable even to contemplate. In the evening Dave came round and helped them with the furniture and stayed to .supper. He reminded them that they should inform the insurance company straight away, so Kirsty sat down and wrote a letter. She was glad to do it, to do anything that would put off the moment when she would have to face the bitterness of her own thoughts.
'Did the firemen find out definitely what caused the fire?' Dave asked them.
'They think it must have been a spark from the boafire, don't they, Kirsty?' Penny answered.
Kirsty hesitated for only a second before saying firmly, 'Yes, that's what they said.'
It was nearly dusk by the time she had finished her letter and she decided to go and post it at once. Light rain had fallen earlier and there were still some clouds helping to darken the sky, so she put on her coat and walked slowly along to the village post office which had a letter box built into the wall. Afterwards she went to sit on the wooden bench on the green for a while so that Dave and Penny could have some time alone together. She tried not to let herself think about the past but only about the future, and of that there could no longer be any doubt. They must put Briar Cottage up for sale at once. Whether they left the district completely didn't matter, but she didn't dare take the risk of anything else happening to them. It was obvious that then- enemy would stop at nothing now to get rid of them; it had gone far beyond attempts to ruin them financially, now their very lives had been placed in danger. And she must, for Penny's sake as well as her own, let their assailant know that he had won by putting the house up for sale as soon as possible. That way they would probably be safe from any future attacks until they left.
Even now when everything seemed to point to Gyles, Kirsty still could hardly admit to herself that he was guilty. Only last night she had been convinced that he returned her feelings, that he loved her and had been on the point of telling her so. It was just impossible for someone to have deliberately tried to set the house on fire and then behaved towards her as he had. They'd have to be mad to do——That thought froze her mind for several minutes until she remembered that it was Gyles who called the fire brigade. Why would he have done that if he'd wanted to harm them? Because he didn't want the house to burn down, because he only wanted to scare them. Against her will the answers came unbidden into her mind. Her thoughts raged back and forth, her reason accusing and her heart defending, until she felt as if she was going mad herself, and she was still no nearer to a solution. She longed to trust him but for Penny's sake she knew she dared not take the risk.
It was quite dark when she rose and began to walk back towards the cottage, and the old-fashioned lamps dotted at intervals round the green were already lit, attracting moths to their bulbs. As she walked she tried to decide how she could best persuade Penny to leave without having to tell her about; the cigarette-end, for she was determined to keep that to herself. The no
ise of a car engine made her look up and she recognised Gyles' white Range-Rover as it passed under a lamp further down the road, travelling towards her. Her pulse began to beat faster as she wondered whether he would stop and speak to her, if he had come to look for her even. What could she say to him? How could she face him? Her footsteps slowed and she waited tremblingly at the side of the road, dearly visible in the lamplight. Dimly she could make out the figure of a man in the driver's seat. He must have recognised her by now, but he didn't appear to be slowing down, if anything he was going faster. Kirsty stood transfixed in the roadway, unable to move as the Range-Rover sped towards her and she realised it was coming straight at her, its headlights blazing. For several petrifying moments she was too stunned to accept what her senses were telling her and it was only at the last instant that a subconscious sense of self-preservation
brought life back to her limbs and she leapt out of the way.
But those few paralysed seconds had cost Kirsty dear, for even as she thought, she was safe, the skirt of her coat caught en the back 'bumper of the vehicle and she was thrown to the ground and dragged helplessly along like a rag doll. Flinging up her arms, she managed to cover her face, but she was pulled along for several yards before the material gave and she was left lying in a huddled heap on the ground.
From somewhere a long way off she could hear someone crying, great choking sobs of terror and hurt, and it was some time before she realised that it was her own voice. She didn't know how she got to her feet or why she didn't call for help, she remembered nothing until . she staggered into the kitchen of Briar Cottage and fell on the floor. Looking up into the appalled faces of Dave and Penny, she said in a dead, empty voice, "He tried to kill me. Gyles tried to kill me." She would have given anything to have passed out then, to have sunk into a blessed oblivion that shut out all memory and all feelings, but even that was denied her; she was fully ' conscious, fully aware that the man she loved had deliberately tried to run her down.
Dave was talking to her, asking questions, his voice sharp and urgent, while Penny, her face almost as white as her own, had brought a basin and was starting to bathe her hands. It was almost with surprise that Kirsty saw that they were bleeding, the backs of them badly grazed; she could feel no pain, only this great torment of anguish in her heart.
'Kirsty!' Dave was almost shouting at her in his urgency and she slowly raised her head to look at him, her eyes dark with numb despair. 'Kirsty, you must try to tell me what happened. Do you understand?'.
She nodded and answered dully, 'I told you, he tried to kill me.'
'Gyles Grantham?'
'Yes. He drove his Range-Rover at me. I jumped out of the way .but my coat got caught and I got dragged along for a little way. Look.' To convince them she turned on the chair they'd lifted her into and showed them the great rent in her coat. 'Look,' she said again, rather like a child who is afraid of not being believed.
'But Kirsty, it must have been an accident. The Squire wouldn't run you down on purpose.' Dave's voice was incredulous, disbelieving.
'Oh, wouldn't he?’ It was Penny's furious voice that answered. 'You don't know the half of it, she started to pour into Dave's ears the details of everything that had happened to them since they came to Motley. Kirsty made a futile attempt to stop her but then subsided into the chair, her face bleak and hopeless.
'But most of that is purely circumstantial,' Dave said when she'd finished. 'You have no proof that it was the Squire.'
'I know, that's why Kirsty wouldn't let me go to the police.' Penny turned to her. 'But you say it was him who knocked you down. Are you sure, Kirsty, really sure?'
'Oh, yes, I'm sure.' Her voice flat, almost emotionless, she went on, 'I made him angry, you see, terribly angry. He forbade me to help his mother, but I went ahead anyway. He said that he could kill me for what I'd 'done, but I didn't think he meant it.' Her voice began to shake and she laughed, a strange, unnatural sound. 'How stupid can you get? A man tells you he wants to kill you and you don't believe him.' She gazed at their horrified faces unseeingly, her mouth twisted in irony. 'Even when I knew he'd set fire to the thatch I
still wouldn't let myself believe that it was him. It wasn't until I saw his car driving at me that I… that I….’ She began to shake violently, the fear coming back and engulfing her again.
'Kirsty, it's all right now. You're safe. Safe with us.' Penny put her arms round her and cradled her like a child.
She heard their voices above her head and then Penny was holding a glass to her mouth and ordering her to drink its contents. Gradually the shaking eased and the dull numbness took over once more.
Dave was on his knees beside her, looking at her earnestly. 'Try and concentrate just a little longer, Kirsty. You said that Gyles Grantham set light to the thatch, but you told Penny and me it was a spark from the bonfire. What made you change your mind?'
.Painfully she replied in a low voice, "I lied to you. I didn't want to frighten Penny. I thought that if we put the house up for sale and went away…" She broke off and nodded towards the fireplace. 'On the shelf over the range you'll find a matchbox with a cigarette-end in it. The firemen found it this morning in the thatch near the lane and gave it to me. It's a brand that only Gyles smokes, he orders them specially from abroad. I suppose he thought it would -be consumed in the fire.'
Before she'd finished speaking Dave had hurried to find the matchbox and open it. His face was grim as he said, 'Yes, I remember noticing that he smoked some like this at your party. That settles it, then. With this evidence the police will be able to pick him up at once.'
'The police?' Kirsty had been slumped in her chair but now she pushed herself up. 'No, you can't go to the police. We'll just leave here, go away tonight. We'll go to London. It doesn't matter where we go as long as we leave here. He �won't come after us, he only wants
�
us to go away.' She began to babble incoherently, her numb brain unable to cope with the need to find words to convince him.
But Dave rounded on her, his voice angry. 'Are you crazy? He cold-bloodedly tried to run you down and for all he knew left you lying dead in the road I And you could both have been burnt to death in your beds last night! Not only you, Kirsty, but Penny as well, he said forcefully. 'And if you think I'm going to stand by and let anyone—even the Squire—get away with that, then you underestimate me.' His voice softened as he saw the stricken look on her face. 'I know you're frightened out of your wits, but once the police have been told and they've taken him into custody, you will be quite safe from him, you won't have to be afraid any more.'
It was Penny who said in a hollow voice, 'Kirsty isn't afraid of him, she's afraid for him. She's in love with him.'
Dave stared at them both in dumbfounded silence, then he said sadly, 'Oh, my God! You poor kid.' He shook his head. 'I'm sorry, Kirsty, but it's got to be done. You must see that.' He tried to take her hands but quickly let them go again when she flinched with pain.
Slowly she nodded. 'All right. I suppose I've known all along there's no other way.' Leaning back in the chair, she dosed her eyes, too exhausted to go on fighting any more.
Events then seemed to be like snatches from a film; some stood out clearly in her mind, others she was hardly aware of. She supposed that Dave went out to send for the police, but she didn't see him go, only realising that they had actually arrived when a middle-aged man with iron-grey hair and alert eyes behind
his world-weary expression began to question her all over again. She answered him as honestly as she could, but her voice often trailed away into a miserable silence until he brought her back with a gentle reminder. It was Penny's turn then and she replied far more vehemently, her voice angry and bitter. Some time, Kirsty wasn't sure when exactly, Dr .King came to examine her and when she took off her jeans she found that she was badly grazed all down one leg, from her hip to her knee, where she'd been dragged along the ground. He cleaned -her up, gave her an anti-tetanus injection, bandaged
her hands, and gave her some tablets to kill the pain. Kirsty took them reluctantly; she would have been glad of a physical pain to replace the numb emptiness she was feeling now. The doctor wanted her to go to bed, but she steadfastly refused, putting on dean clothes and going to sit quietly downstairs again, watching, waiting, her nerves as. tense as bowstrings.
Most, of the policemen went away, but some time later the Inspector came back again and said that she would have to go to the police station in Barham to make a statement. She went without a word. Penny sat beside her in the car and tried to comfort her, but she hardly knew that her sister was, even there. At the station they asked her everything all over again while someone took it down, and then she had to read through what she'd said and sign her name. After that nothing happened for quite a while and she just sat in a chair feeling utterly weary and dejected. But she didn't want to go home and go to bed. Because if she fell asleep she might dream, and she knew with utmost certainty the terrible form the dream would take.
Voices sounded suddenly in the corridor outside, loud and angry. She recognised Gyles' voice as it cut through the others, harsh and demanding. Slowly, her nerves at screaming point, she rose to her feet. Dave and Penny, their tones alarmed, were talking urgently across her, but she didn't hear them. Without warning the door burst Open and Gyles stood on threshold, his eyes blazing savagely in his taut face. One glance found her and he took a hasty step into the room. Dave immediately moved to protect her from him just as two uniformed constables dashed into the room after Gyles and caught his arms. For a moment he resisted them, then he shrugged and bit out, 'All right, I'm coming, damn you I' His eyes locked with hers, burning into her brain, shrivelling her up inside, and then he was gone, striding abruptly away.
Kirsty sank slowly back into her chair, her eyes staring at the empty doorway. She had known it would be hard, but never as bad as this; she felt as if something had died inside her, something that she would grieve and sorrow over for the rest of her life.
Sally Wentworth - Garden of Thorns Page 15