Looking for Captain Poldark

by Rowan Coleman

  Ray’s hand slowly began to warm up as he held hers. ‘Lisa, I’ve made mistakes, stupid mistakes. But I want you to know that I would never do anything to hurt you. Not ever. And, if I could protect you from hurt, and pain, then I would.’

  Lisa closed her eyes, and turned her face away from him.

  ‘Well, you can stay on the trip,’ she said, pulling her hand from his. ‘But I think you and Abby should probably get a train home. I thought I could do this. I thought maybe I was ready to live back in the world again, but I was wrong. It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I let myself get carried away. Tomorrow we go to Bodmin. We find Kirsty’s aunt, and we look for where they’re filming and then this is all over. We go back to how life was before.’

  ‘What if we don’t want to go back to how life was before?’ Ray asked her.

  ‘Well, you can do what you like,’ Lisa said, opening the car door and undoing her seat belt. ‘After tomorrow it’s got nothing to do with me.’

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ********************

  Location: Bodmin, Cornwall

  Radio station: NBC Radio

  Track playing: ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’ by The Proclaimers

  Miles travelled: 539.5

  Miles until Captain Poldark: 4

  The last leg of the journey was mostly silent, except for the radio, which Abby sang along to loudly and in a Scottish accent. Then she remembered that everyone else was really tense and in a bad mood, so she stopped singing.

  At least the sun came out, driving away the low layer of cloud to reveal a fresh blue sky dotted with white fluffy clouds. They were the sort of clouds that looked like dancing giraffes or elephants on roller skates, Lisa thought, although she didn’t say that out loud.

  They pulled into a pay-and-display car park in Bodmin, and Lisa twisted round in her seat to look at Kirsty.

  ‘So your aunt works in a café,’ she said. ‘Do you know what it’s called?’

  ‘Well, I know what it was called years ago,’ Kirsty said, looking worried. ‘You know this whole idea is just crazy. I don’t know her, and she doesn’t know me. She didn’t come forward when I got taken into care. Why would anything be different now? Maybe we should just go to a police station and get it over with.’

  ‘No,’ Lisa said. ‘It’s worth a shot to try and find your aunt. We’ve come this far, and you never know.’

  ‘OK. It was called The Yeast of Bodmin,’ Kirsty said, ‘because it has its own bakery.’

  ‘Right.’ Ray took out his fancy phone and Lisa watched as he put the name into the search engine. ‘Well, it’s still in business, and it’s a five-minute walk from here. Whether or not your aunt still works there, we’ll have to wait and see.’

  ‘What if she doesn’t want anything to do with me?’ Kirsty said, suddenly frightened.

  ‘One step at a time, Kirsty,’ Lisa said, reaching behind her for Kirsty’s hand. ‘One step at a time.’

  The Yeast of Bodmin was busy. There were older ladies meeting for coffee and cake and a family of tourists in matching macs. Then there were younger people, sitting at benches, sucking milkshakes through straws, taking selfies and giggling.

  Lisa noticed that Kirsty shrank away from the confident young teenagers in the café. She stood behind her and Ray as if trying to make herself invisible.

  Behind the counter were two women, one about forty, the other about half that. Both wore red headscarves with white polka dots, tied in jaunty top knots.

  ‘Do you recognise either of them?’ Lisa asked.

  Kirsty shook her head. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I never met Alison.’

  Lisa nodded at a table in the back corner, as far away from other customers as possible.

  ‘You lot sit down. I’ll order some teas.’ She grabbed Ray’s arm. ‘Look out for her. She’s terrified.’

  Ray nodded. ‘I will.’

  ‘Hey, Lisa,’ Abby called. ‘Get some scones too. And jam. And clotted cream.’

  ‘Really?’ Lisa raised an eyebrow. ‘You want a cream tea now?’

  ‘What? We’re in Cornwall, dude. When in Rome and all that shit.’

  The group of teenagers burst into laughter, and Kirsty sank even deeper into her seat.

  When it was finally Lisa’s turn to be served, the younger woman took her order.

  ‘Thanks,’ said Lisa and handed over her money. ‘I just wondered. Do you know of someone called Alison who works here, or used to?’

  The young woman froze for a moment, clutching a handful of change in mid-air. ‘Who’s asking?’ she said.

  Lisa nodded over at the table. ‘The girl I’m with. Her name is Kirsty – she’s Alison’s niece, Pete’s daughter, although I don’t think they’ve ever met. She’s been in care and had a very bad time of it. Alison is the only family she knows of. Look, to tell the truth, she’s in trouble and she needs help.’

  The girl considered Lisa for a moment before glancing over at the table where Kirsty sat with her head bowed.

  ‘Mum!’ she called through the beaded curtain into the kitchen. ‘Get out here!’

  Alison set down a plate piled high with scones and pots of jam and cream in the middle of the table.

  ‘Bloody hell, you look like him,’ was the first thing she said to Kirsty.

  ‘Is that a good thing?’ Kirsty asked. She couldn’t look her aunt in the eye quite yet.

  ‘He was a handsome man,’ Alison said. ‘If he’d had even half the brains to match his looks … you weren’t even born when he was killed on his bike. He didn’t even know you were on the way. I tried to keep in touch with your mum, afterwards. I really did. But she was hard to keep track of.’

  ‘I know,’ Kirsty said.

  ‘Do you want to tell me what’s gone on?’ Alison asked. ‘Last I heard, she’d got a place with a guy. I mean you were about three then. I should have tried harder to stay in touch. I had no idea you were in care. What happened?’

  ‘Mum went to prison, again,’ Kirsty said. ‘She’s actually better when she’s in there than when she’s out. At least she’s more or less clean from drugs, and stays away from dodgy boyfriends. I see her once a month and she’s OK. She’s better.’

  Alison looked firmly into Kirsty’s eyes. ‘You’ve been dealing with this on your own. Didn’t you think to call me before? When she first went away?’

  ‘I told my case worker about you.’ Kirsty shrugged, looking away. ‘He said he’d follow it up.’

  ‘The main thing you need to know,’ Lisa said, ‘is that Kirsty is a runaway. People are looking for her, and they might be looking for us. She was trying to get to you and so we brought her here, but there might be some fallout, some trouble. We don’t know. And –’ Lisa looked at Kirsty ‘– well, some bad things have happened to her. Things that she will need a lot of support to deal with.’

  Alison nodded. She pressed her lips into a thin line as Lisa and Kirsty told her everything that had been going on.

  ‘You look like him,’ she said again to Kirsty after they’d all run out of words and tears. ‘Can I … can I give you a hug?’

  Kirsty nodded, and Alison folded her into her arms.

  ‘Right, we’ll take this one step at a time, OK?’ Alison said gently. ‘Maybe you and your friends would like to come round to mine. We’ll call the local bobby, ask him for advice. We’ll sort it all, love. I promise you. And you are not alone anymore. You got me and Cass now, and we won’t let you go, I promise.’

  Kirsty suddenly sat up, her face turning white as she stared out of the window.

  ‘What?’ Abby asked her.

  ‘It’s him, Charlie. He’s here. He’s across the road, but how? Oh shit! He put an app on my phone. He said he wanted to know where I was all the time. Oh god, I forgot – he’s been following me this whole time.’

  She took her phone out of her pocket and dropped it in a glass of water on the next table.

  ‘Right, let’s get out of here,’ Lisa said. ‘Back way?’ />
  ‘Go through the kitchen. What should I do?’ Alison asked.

  ‘Don’t mention that you’ve seen us,’ Lisa said. She picked up a menu with the café’s phone number on the bottom. ‘We’ll call you here.’

  ‘You go,’ Ray said. ‘I’m going to talk to him.’

  ‘Ray, you can’t …’ Lisa said. ‘He’s dangerous.’

  ‘Just to slow him down a bit,’ Ray hissed as Charlie began to cross the road. ‘Nothing major. You guys get going. Hurry!’

  The three women rushed out through the kitchen into a small courtyard. Cass closed the door behind them. Lisa heard the bolt slide home.

  ‘The car park is really close,’ Lisa said. ‘I think we can get to it this way. Let’s head down there.’

  They ran down the narrow passageway towards trees that Lisa thought meant they were close to the car park. Except for their footsteps there was no sound. But the alley ended in a brick wall that was taller than any of them.

  ‘Epic!’ Abby said, leaping up and grabbing hold of the top of the wall. With a mighty effort, she pulled herself up and straddled the wall. She held a hand down to Kirsty. Lisa gave Kirsty a push and Kirsty reached the top of the wall. Between them, Kirsty and Abby pulled Lisa up.

  ‘This is the best day ever,’ Abby said, as she jumped off the other side of the wall. They were on the edges of the car park, the little lilac Micra in sight. ‘All I need now is some kind of belly crawl through mud, and it will be full-on perfect.’

  ‘We made it!’ Lisa said, unlocking the car as they ran towards it. ‘Come on.’

  ‘Kirsty!’ A voice that Lisa didn’t recognise, but that Kirsty clearly did, called her name across the car park. Kirsty didn’t move, caught in the moment as if she were frozen in time.

  ‘What you doing, Kirsty?’ the man said, as he began to stride across the car park. His shirt was torn and a bruise was forming on his cheek.

  If he looked like that, then what did Ray look like, Lisa wondered, and where was he?

  ‘You’ve had your fun. You’ve got the attention you’ve been seeking. But now it’s time to go home, babe. Come back to me, where you belong. Don’t I always take care of you? Treat you nice. Who are this lot? Do you think a couple of biddies can protect you from me?’

  ‘Get in the car,’ Lisa said. She calmly but firmly grabbed Kirsty’s arm and broke her out of the trance. ‘NOW!’

  Lisa followed Abby and Kirsty into the car. She pressed the central-locking button just as Charlie’s palms slammed against the rear passenger window making all three women scream.

  ‘Drive,’ said Abby, as Lisa fumbled with the keys, trying to get them in the ignition. ‘DRIVE!’

  Lisa felt her heart quicken and her hands stiffen. This was her worst nightmare – one of them anyway – coming to life. Her whole life since Frank had been about guarding against something like this, about being ready for anything that might happen to her. Was she going to fail now? Was everything she had put herself through for the last few years going to be for nothing? Charlie had found something hard, a rock, a brick maybe. He hurled it against the window. Lisa heard the glass crack.

  No.

  That was the single word she thought, saw, even tasted in that moment.

  No.

  She slid the key into the ignition, turned it, put the car in first and her foot down. In her rear-view mirror she saw Charlie, fists clenched, face red as he screamed after them. Then he ran to his car.

  ‘It’s OK, love,’ Lisa said, trying to calm Kirsty. ‘Take deep breaths.’

  ‘Where’s Ray?’ Lisa looked for him as they passed the café, but there was no sign of him. ‘Do you think he’s hurt?’

  ‘We’ll find him. But, for now, we need to worry about Charlie,’ Abby said, twisting in her seat. ‘He’s behind us. What should we do? Can you go faster?’

  ‘It’s a twenty-mile speed limit!’ Lisa said. ‘There are speed bumps!’

  ‘Drive to the police station,’ Abby said.

  ‘I don’t know where it is. Look it up on your phone,’ Lisa said as she slowed down at a zebra crossing for a couple of kids and a dog to cross.

  ‘Oh my god, Lisa!’ Abby yelled.

  ‘I’m not going to run down children and dogs because of that scumbag!’ Lisa said. ‘Besides, he’s not going to try anything while we are in the middle of town. He knows the police would be here in seconds.’

  ‘It’s not that,’ Abby said. ‘Although also that. My phone, I left it in my jacket in the café. Pass me yours.’

  ‘Mine only does texts and calls!’ Lisa said, as she finally got moving again, shifting into second gear.

  ‘Right, well, I’ll call the police then!’ Abby leant forward, taking Lisa’s Nokia from the coffee compartment. ‘Christ, it’s dead!’

  ‘Plug it into the charger,’ Lisa said. ‘It should only take a couple of minutes.’

  She put her foot down as they headed out of town and towards the moor, but picking up speed didn’t make her feel any better. As the town, houses and people slipped away behind them, they drove into wild moorland. And Lisa felt their safety net slip away too. It felt like anything could happen out here. And no one would know.

  ‘Check the phone,’ Lisa said, as she heard it beep.

  ‘No signal!’ Abby said. ‘Bloody Cornwall!’

  ‘He’s close,’ Lisa said. ‘Really close.’

  ‘Maybe try fifth gear?’ Abby suggested.

  Kirsty sat perfectly still, staring straight ahead, as Lisa pressed her foot down. But it was no good. Her Micra was never going to be faster than Charlie’s BMW.

  ‘We aren’t going to outrun him,’ she said.

  ‘Then just stop,’ Kirsty said. ‘Just pull over. Let me get out. It’s me that he wants. Once he’s got me, he’ll leave you alone.’

  ‘Are you crazy?’ Abby said. ‘No way, we never leave a man behind.’

  ‘You barely know me,’ Kirsty said. ‘I’m a stranger, a no one. I don’t matter to anyone. Look, there’s a lay-by ahead. Just pull over. I’ll get out, and this will be over.’

  And then Lisa knew exactly what she had to do.

  Slowing down, she indicated as she pulled into the lay-by.

  ‘Lisa, man! What are you doing?’ Abby cried as she came to a stop. ‘Don’t do this!’

  Kirsty pulled at the door, but the child locks on the back doors were on.

  ‘I can’t get out,’ Kirsty said.

  ‘I know,’ Lisa said, watching in her rear-view mirror as Charlie got out of his car. She saw him put on his sunglasses and begin to strut over to them, cock of the walk. Lisa looked from him to the road, empty of traffic as far as the eye could see and back again. ‘That’s because there is no way on earth that I would ever hand you over to that monster. You do matter, Kirsty. You matter to me, and you matter to Abby and Ray, and your aunt and we are going to sort this out. That prick is not going to win.’

  Lisa slammed her foot hard on the accelerator just as Charlie approached. Fighting to control the Micra, she turned hard right onto the road and headed back towards Bodmin. Abby cheered as they watched Charlie scrambling back to his car.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Kirsty said. ‘This is only going to make him mad!’

  ‘Exactly,’ Lisa said, as the Micra sped along. ‘And that’s exactly how we want him to be.’

  ‘She’s got a plan!’ Abby whooped. ‘I have no idea what it is, but Lisa has gone all Captain Poldark on Charlie’s arse!’

  Lisa stopped the Micra dead at the same zebra crossing as before and waited. Sure enough, Charlie got out of the car almost at once. This time he was carrying something. A baseball bat.

  ‘Abby, cover her with your coat,’ Lisa said. ‘Sit tight. OK girls, it’s going to be OK.’

  Charlie slammed the baseball bat into her windscreen. The glass cracked and buckled but did not give way. Kirsty screamed and cried, and Abby swore, hard and loud, but Lisa didn’t move. She just watched him, waiting. Another blow landed on the front
passenger-door window, and then he smashed her lights front and back. He didn’t see the crowd gathering, the people making phone calls, hopefully to the police, taking videos and photos. Lisa watched him, perfectly calmly. And she knew that the calmer she was, the more angry he would get.

  Finally he stood at her window, his sunglasses gone, his face twisted and angry as he raised the bat.

  ‘I’m going to fucking kill you, bitch,’ he screamed.

  ‘I don’t think so, son,’ the police officer said, slamming him hard against the car, grabbing the baseball bat and then putting him on the floor.

  ‘Yes! Yes!’ Abby cheered. ‘Go the feds! Fuck that! Go Lisa, you are one ice-cold, crazy hard case.’

  Lisa waited until Charlie was handcuffed and in the back of a police car.

  It was only when she got out that she realised her legs were trembling so hard that she could barely stand.

  ‘You all right, love?’ A woman police officer rushed to support her.

  ‘Yes,’ Lisa said. ‘I think we are. Where’s Ray? Is he OK?’

  ‘Oh yes, Ray. Yes, he came to the station a few minutes ago. He’s got a bloody nose, but he’s being checked out and he seems OK.’

  ‘Thank God.’ Lisa felt a rush of relief.

  ‘Want to tell us what’s been going on?’ the young woman asked her.

  ‘Yes,’ Lisa said. ‘It’s a very long story.’

  Much later, as WPC Grey passed her a statement to sign, Lisa said, ‘I’m sorry. What a mess.’

  ‘Look,’ WPC Grey said, ‘I’m not going to say that I think the public should get involved with this sort of thing. But, if your story checks out – if the things you say about this Charlie are true, and I’ve met his sort before – well, you and your friends rescued a child from harm. You brought her back to her family, and helped bust a major child-abuse ring. I don’t think you should apologise for that, do you? It took a lot of courage to do what you did today. You’re one brave woman.’

  One brave woman.

  She’s talking about me, Lisa thought. That’s me she’s talking about.