‘I’ll be working all day throughout Saturday and Sunday,’ she said. ‘It will be so boring for you. I’ll ask Megan or Sally to come and sleep here if it makes you any happier, but I’ll really be all right. Once the doors are locked and bolted for the night, I won’t open them for anyone. Not for Mrs Priestley’s cat, not even for you,’ she joked.
‘I particularly want to see something of Snowdonia while I’m here,’ he said, and Rosemary felt the coldness of their imminent parting at his words, ‘While I’m here.’ She could pretend all she liked but the day when he would leave her was only a few weeks away at most. ‘But,’ he was saying, ‘I was hoping to see it with you.’
‘Next weekend I could go with you. But not this one.’
‘I don’t want to go without you, but if you think I’ll interfere with your concentration … ’ He kissed her as he spoke and smiled deep into her eyes. ‘As you spoil mine.’ He kissed her again and said dreamily, ‘What was I saying – ?’
‘You were saying that you’d leave me to get on with my work. And incidentally,’ she said, sitting on the bed, ‘what about your own story? Have you submitted it to a publisher?’
He shook his head.
‘It seems to have been lost in the post.’
‘Darling! Why didn’t you say? Have you any notes? Anything at all to help you to rewrite it?’
‘Not even the will to try again. It’s taken the heart out of me having it ruined like that. Dammit, who’s doing all this to me?’
Rosemary turned away from him and pretended to rearrange the pillows. Her heart was sad. She knew that was untrue. His lies were getting weaker. He had already told her it had been safely received by his father.
* * *
The weekend passed uneventfully. As Megan pleaded a previous arrangement, it was Sally who came on Friday evening at six and stayed with her. Rosemary was relieved to discover that the sometimes overbearing girl didn’t interfere with her intention to work on her book. On Saturday morning she was at work and on Sunday she stayed in bed late, spent a little while talking to Mrs Priestley of whom she seemed to have become rather fond, then went for a walk before coming back to cook lunch for the two of them. The work Rosemary had to do was completed and packed ready for posting by four o’clock and they sat then and talked and waited for Larry to return.
Sally didn’t discuss Larry at all, nor did she even hint at her firm belief that Larry must be doing the things that had frightened Rosemary. She knew of the conversation Megan had had with Huw and Richard but it remained a secret from Rosemary and her strengthening fears were unuttered. She hoped that if she could somehow stay another night, she might pick up something from Larry’s conversation or his behaviour that would help her prove that he was involved. To this end, she suggested inviting Huw and Richard in for a drink.
‘I don’t know,’ Rosemary said doubtfully. ‘Larry will be back by seven.’
‘He isn’t antisocial, is he? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind you having a few friends in. Ask Mrs Priestley and Gethyn as well, shall we? I’m sure Larry can’t object to a little light social chatter?’
* * *
To everyone’s surprise the gathering was a great success. So few people and everyone different, yet the thing gelled and the house was soon buzzing with conversation and laughter. Huw had gone to buy drinks, and Mrs Priestley had thought to bring some extra glasses. In a hasty search of the store-cupboard, Sally had found the makings of a savoury rice salad and some tins of meat. A green salad filled a large bowl and with the addition of crisps and biscuits, the table looked festive. By eight o’clock the room was warm, and Rosemary had no fears about opening the front door and leaving it open.
Rosemary was pleased to see that there was no lull when Larry arrived. He sat on the end of the settee and chatted to Mrs Priestley as if they were all old friends.
‘I hear you’ve been walking in Snowdonia,’ Huw called across. ‘Bet you didn’t walk to the top?’
‘I sure as hell did,’ Larry replied.
Larry left Mrs Priestley and her cat and went to sit between Huw and Richard. The three heads close together were companionable, and it was only when Richard raised his head to laugh, that Rosemary realised how similar Richard and Larry were.
‘I saw you in town yesterday,’ Huw called to Gethyn, who was helping Rosemary and Sally pass food between their guests. ‘Who were the fireworks for? Not planning on having a little party on your own, are you?’
Gethyn looked slightly uneasy. The words weren’t unkind, but there was, in the suggestion that a man of his age could enjoy fireworks on his own, a hint that Gethyn was perhaps a little odd.
‘I was hoping you’d all contribute and have a bonfire party,’ Gethyn said quietly. ‘I had in mind something to cheer Rosemary and – well, now you know, I suppose there isn’t any point. I was planning it as a surprise for her.’
The teasing with the slight edge had been turned neatly round, Rosemary thought.
‘Gethyn! What a lovely idea! Let’s still do it, shall we?’
They didn’t hear anyone knocking on the open door. A man walked in and apologetically asked if he could speak to his son.
‘Dad,’ Richard said rising at once to go and greet him. ‘Come in and meet the neighbours.’ Rosemary stared in shock. The man was the one who had hit Larry at the cafe on Constitution Hill.
‘Sorry to barge in,’ the man said. ‘My name’s Peter, by the way. I have to see Richard, briefly. There’s a part he wants for that car of his and I need to know exactly which part he needs.’
He was offered a drink. Then he caught sight of Larry and his face changed.
‘I see the madman is still with you,’ he said. ‘As I’ve already told your friend, Megan, it’s time you told him to go, young lady.’
13
There was a silence as if Peter’s words had been a small explosion and the aftermath had people stunned.
‘Dad,’ Richard said. He took his father’s arm and led him outside, still carrying the drink he had been given. To those left in the breathless silence, there came the murmur of voices, occasionally raised so they could hear words, like, ‘Obsessed’. ‘Crazy’. ‘Dangerous’. Larry stood staring at the open door, his face a mask of shock.
‘Why should he talk like that?’ he asked finally. ‘The guy came up and punched me on the face one day. That’s right, isn’t it, baby? And he calls me crazy?’ He put an arm around Rosemary’s shoulders and forced her to smile. ‘It seems he resents my looking a bit like Richard, though I’m better looking of course! Now how d’you deal with a queer fellow like that?’
Rosemary touched his shoulder and smiled at him to take the angry look from his face. Mrs Priestley stood up as if to go and Larry stopped her.
‘Don’t leave, Mrs Priestley, there’s plenty of food left and we can go for more drink if it’s running low.’ He filled her glass and then began to talk about his experiences over the weekend. ‘This is some country,’ he said. ‘There’s a different scene around every corner.’
‘I’m sorry about that,’ Richard said, appearing in the doorway.
‘No matter.’ Larry, playing the gregarious and friendly host, pushed a foaming glass into Richard’s hand and waved a hand at the food. ‘Come on, people! Let’s eat and drink and be merry.’
‘For tomorrow we – cry?’ misquoted Mrs Priestley.
‘Hell, who cares about tomorrow!’
* * *
‘Have you made any progress with your house-hunting?’ Richard asked Gethyn later in the evening.
‘Yes and no,’ Gethyn replied. ‘Yes, I’ve made progress, but no, I haven’t yet found anywhere. The trouble is, I want to stay here.’
‘It doesn’t hurt anyone to have a shake up now and again,’ Huw interrupted. ‘It can be worrying to have to make a move, but sometimes it works out for the best. You can be in one place too long.’
‘Not in my case,’ Gethyn said, then he lowered his voice and added, ‘I want to be h
ere to keep an eye on Rosemary. We’re all enjoying Larry’s company, but I for one don’t forget for a moment all that’s been happening to her since he arrived.’
‘I’m uneasy too,’ Huw whispered back, ‘but what can we do? She loves the man, and there’s nothing we can say that will persuade her to doubt him, or encourage her even to check on all he’s said.’
‘Don’t let my father’s reaction make you overreact, mind,’ Richard warned. ‘I think they had a misunderstanding, that’s all.’
‘But he could be right,’ Gethyn said. ‘Someone is tormenting Rosemary and, who else could it be?’
‘You look serious, all of you!’ Rosemary called, and Larry looked at the three solemn men and echoed her words.
‘We’re afraid the booze will run out,’ Huw said, the solemn look not leaving his face.
‘Come with me and we’ll buy some more,’ Larry said at once. He patted his pocket to check that his wallet was there and they went out together.
It was midnight before the party finally broke up and Mrs Priestley had to be escorted into her house by Rosemary and Sally. They saw her in and made sure she was all right before leaving her sitting in front of her cold grate, insisting that she was, ‘As warm as toast and twice as tasty!’
‘You wouldn’t like us to see you upstairs?’ Sally asked.
‘No, thank you! I’m not drunk you know, only very excited and happy. We’ll be all right, won’t we, Queenie? But thanks my dears, you’re both very kind to me.’
Reluctantly, they went out, reminding her to lock and bolt her door.
‘We’ll wait ’til we hear it done,’ Sally shouted as they pulled the door to. ‘Bless her, she needs looking after, doesn’t she, Rosemary?’ she added in a whisper and Rosemary smiled agreement, curious at the friendship between the lively girl and the elderly woman. The bolt was thrown and they went back to number two as Richard and Huw were leaving.
Gethyn and Larry were in the kitchen, filling black plastic rubbish-bags with the empty cans and wrappings, and Sally knew that there was no way she would be expected to leave before morning.
‘It’ll be all right if I stay another night, won’t it?’ she said.
‘Sally, need you ask!’
‘Only one stipulation,’ Larry said. ‘Don’t call us before eleven!’
‘What a hope,’ Rosemary laughed. ‘Some of us have to work you know!’
Gethyn looked at Rosemary and frowned. He was imagining her sleeping beside Larry, and didn’t like it one bit. He left the remainder of the clearing up and went home, forcing a smile and a thank you to his hostess but managing not to say even goodnight to Larry.
The impromptu party-givers settled to sleep, Larry and Rosemary in the double bed. Sally on the put-you-up in Rosemary’s study. Sally stared at the ceiling and wondered if her suspicion that Larry was playing some dangerous game were true, and if so, what his reason could be. She touched her fingers and counted, noting every incident in which he could have been involved, trying to see some pattern to explain what had happened. At three o’clock, she turned over and slept, none the wiser.
Together in the double bed upstairs, Larry and Rosemary whispered softly to each other.
‘Miss me, honey?’ he asked.
‘Of course I did. I was jealous too. Jealous of you meeting new people and seeing new things without me.’ She cuddled closer to him.
‘Next weekend I’m free,’ she coaxed. ‘Where shall we go?’
‘Walking around these hills, eating at one of your pubs, that’ll suit me.’
‘No, I think we should see the Gower. We’ll stay with Mam and Dad, if you don’t object?’
‘Meet the parents? Gee honey, that’ll be great.’ He looked suitably alarmed. ‘The Gower you say, that’s in the south, isn’t it?’
‘I love Gower in the winter, when the scenery is widened by the lack of leaves. Everything looks different, there’s more of everything. Different season, different view.’
‘In the city it’s better, every day is different,’ he said, teasing her and expecting to provoke an angry response, but her even breathing told him she was asleep. He kissed her lightly and settled to sleep himself.
Sally and Rosemary got up early to prepare themselves for work.
At eleven o’clock Larry rang.
‘Honey, there’s been a phone call from your mother. They’re coming here on Sunday. Is that all right? I said it probably was, but that I’d ring if you still preferred to go there.’
‘That’s fine.’ Rosemary was pleased that her parents were visiting. ‘Try and persuade them to come on Saturday and stay over,’ she suggested.
‘I’ll do that – even if it does mean I’ll have to be a “good boy” for a night or two! Love you darling.’ He squeaked a kiss and rang off.
* * *
They were watching for the arrival of her parents’ car on Saturday morning when another car turned down the narrow path and stopped on the parking place. There was only room for three cars and Rosemary began to cross over the footbridge to ask the strangers to park elsewhere, when she recognised the vehicle. It belonged to the Hughes’s in number three. They had returned, at last, from their visit to their daughter in Bala.
‘Rosemary, how are you, my lovely girl?’ The rich, deep voice of Henry Hughes boomed across to where she stood waiting to welcome them. He bent from his six feet two and helped his wife out from the passenger seat. Muriel Hughes was plump and always laughing. She laughed now as she waved across at Rosemary and shouted, excitedly.
‘Darlin’, it’s great to be back, we’ve missed you. I’ll be in now in a minute to hear all the gossip. Got time, have you? Duw, there’s cramped it is in that car. I feel like a concertina that hasn’t been used for years!’ She laughed loudly and happily, full of excitement at being home again.
‘I’ll help with the luggage, shall I?’
‘Here, let me do that, you and the lady can get on with the talking,’ Larry called, having seen and heard the reunion.
He came to where Rosemary stood watching as Henry Hughes began dragging bags out of the back of the car, talking non-stop as he did so. Muriel stared at him admiringly and asked, ‘Hello, Larry, love! Seems you’ve got plenty to tell me, young Rosemary.’
Rosemary offered her hand to Larry and they walked to the car smiling.
‘You know each other? But how?’
‘Larry came and saw us at our daughter’s place, didn’t you Larry? Wanted to know all about the people in the village for a project he’s working on. How’s it going? Nearly finished it I expect.’ She laughed as she hugged him and then looked at Rosemary. ‘Are you two? You know.’ She winked. ‘Well,’ she demanded, as neither answered her. ‘Come on, you can tell your Auntie Moo!’
‘Yes, Muriel,’ Larry replied, hugging Rosemary, ‘we are – you know—’ And he winked back.
‘Well-well! Fancy that! You’ve grown up a bit while we’ve been away, girl,’ was Henry’s comment.
Rosemary took one of the smaller bags and went with Muriel to her house. As they opened the door, Muriel gasped.
‘There’s stuffy it is. I’ll have to live with the doors and windows open for a bit to get the staleness blown out. Lucky I’m good and fat, or it’ll blow me out as well!’ Laughing she led the way in and opened the windows. ‘Damn me, one of them wasn’t locked! Don’t tell my Harry, he’ll only blame me and make a fuss.’
‘You should have left a key, someone would have opened the windows now and then to freshen it before you came back,’ Rosemary said.
‘Not if what we’ve heard about the goings on at your place are even half true!’ Muriel said. ‘Come on, love, there’s milk and biscuits in this bag, put the kettle on and tell me what’s been going on.’
It seemed impossible to refuse and as Muriel kicked off her high-heeled shoes and loosened a button on her skirt, Rosemary attended to the kettle and began to relate some of what had happened.
She told the story as if it were a
humorous one, making more of the funny side of things and playing down the fear and panic she had experienced.
‘I’m so glad Larry was there most of the time,’ she said finally. ‘I’d have felt very alone, with only Gethyn on one side and your empty house on the other.’
‘And Gethyn’s mam,’ Muriel said with a loud laugh. ‘Not that she’d be much good, poor dab, being over seventy, but at least it’s another woman.’
‘You – you haven’t heard?’ Rosemary said quietly. ‘Mrs Lewis. She’s dead.’
‘What? What happened for goodness sake? She was all right when we left.’
‘Fell, up on the mountain somewhere. Gethyn doesn’t find it easy to talk about it yet, and I haven’t got the full story myself.’
‘Fell, you say?’
‘Apparently no one found her until she had been there long enough to get severely chilled. Poor love. She was Gran’s friend and I miss her. It was like having a link with Gran, being able to talk to Mrs Lewis. I was in America when she died. I couldn’t even go to the funeral.’
‘Where was Gethyn?’
‘What d’you mean? He was at home as always.’
‘When she fell, where was Gethyn?’
‘Gone into town, I think,’ Rosemary said, trying to remember what she had been told. ‘It was early the next morning before they found her and it was too late to save her.’ She frowned at the jolly-faced woman who was staring into space. ‘Muriel, why did you ask where was Gethyn? Where did you expect him to be?’
‘Oh, I’m being melodramatic, darling, you know me. But just before we went to Bala, they had a terrible row. Her and Gethyn. He wasn’t speaking to her, she told me that. I wondered if an argument could have got out of hand.’
‘You think Gethyn could have hurt her? Never!’ Rosemary said emphatically.
‘No-no. Not hurt her, heavens above, no. Just didn’t bother to look for her, mad with her and letting her see he was upset.’
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