Unlocking the Past

by Grace Thompson

  “And that’s what I intend to do. The trouble is, I can’t think what.”

  They talked for an hour, standing in the tall grasses at the edge of the hay field, and when they parted Ernie felt as if he had grown up and come of age.

  He went into the bedroom he shared with Frank quietly, but a glance at the other bed showed him Frank wasn’t there.

  He came in a few minutes later, puffing slightly. “I’ve been outside to be sick,” he explained. “Been feeling bad all evening. Me and Eleri.” He lay on his bed wide awake, all his senses alert and poised as if for flight. He listened intently, his heart pounding, waiting for the dawn, or for the loud imperious knock of the police, whichever came first.

  Chapter Ten

  The robbery was still underway when two policemen arrived at the factory at twelve-thirty, but most of the goods had already been transferred to the van hidden behind the hedge of the field beyond the wire perimeter. They drove through the open gates and, once out of the car, began to search for the unconscious man. But they were at once drawn to sounds from inside the building and quickly realised that a robbery was in progress. Surprised by the change in their expectations they failed to catch any of the thieves, who ran off in different directions.

  They first tried to stop two men who were running, heavily laden, from the open doors. Another appeared, hesitated, then ran towards the wire where a section had been cut away to enable them to pass the stolen items through to another member of the gang. One of the first two darted around the police car and pelted along the lane and was soon swallowed up in the darkness. The other ran in a darting zig-zag manner, and after throwing a carton at the policemen, pushed his way between them, knocking one of them off their feet.

  The one who had been loading the van was the driver and, unseen, he made his way to the van.

  Whistles blew and the stabbing light of torches broke the darkness, then one of the policemen found the switch and the outside lights flooded the area but failed to do anything useful, just lost the hunters their night sight.

  There was the rumbling sound of the van starting up and one of the police made for the gates in the hope of stopping it. But before they could get out of the yard and through the hedge, one of them saw Basil staggering towards them, his elongated shadow before him making him look like a giant. They both turned to face this new threat.

  “Easy,” Basil said hoarsely. “I’m on your side. I’m going home to see my wife.” Then he sat down again and rolled over on his side and slept.

  The two representatives of the law gave up all thoughts of following the vehicle they had heard driving away, and went inside Basil’s office to telephone for assistance and an ambulance.

  * * *

  The van made its way through the quieter streets of the town taking a short cut by driving across the waste ground that had been Philips Street and down Brown Street. In his haste to reach the contact point before the police were alerted, the driver took the corner by Temptations too wide and the van hit the side of Charlie Bevan’s house. The driver did a hasty bit of reversing before recovering and driving off.

  The squeal of metal scraping against stone woke Charlie and Gwyn and the dog and Charlie went down to see what had happened. Opening the door he saw Rhiannon and Dora standing at their door wondering what had caused the noise.

  “Anyone hurt?” Dora called across, and Charlie came out, with Gwyn a small shadow beside him, and looked at the crushed wall near his front door.

  Behind them the dog was barking and Gwyn went inside to let her out.

  “The house isn’t damaged and no one is hurt. Damn me, for a minute there I thought that Hitler was back! Just some crazy driver, that’s all. Are you two all right?”

  Dora and Rhiannon walked over and Rhiannon reassured Gwyn that the house wasn’t falling down, that his father would be able to fix it and his bike was too far away from the door to have even suffered a scattering of dust.

  “I want a cup of tea,” Dora announced and inviting Charlie and Gwyn across, she went inside.

  The dog came too and it was almost three o’clock before they went to their beds.

  “The police haven’t appeared, so I don’t suppose it’s anything more than a driver with too much to drink or in too much of a hurry,” Charlie said. “Sleep well, and don’t worry,” he said to his son. “He won’t be back to finish the demolition of our house, Gwyn.”

  * * *

  Basil dozed on his way to the hospital, waking occasionally and asking for Eleri, explaining in a mumbling way that she was “in the family way” and was unwell. “Our Frank came to tell me, see,” he explained, sounding like a drunk. “Where’s our Frank then? Here a minute ago, he was.”

  “Oh, he was was he?” the constable smiled. “Now that’s interesting.”

  Still drowsy, Basil laboriously explained again that his brother had called to tell him Eleri was unwell. “Don’t worry about Frank, he’ll be well looked after.”

  “Worried about my wife,” Basil slurred slowly.

  When Basil woke again, he was in a hospital bed. A constable sat beside him with his notebook open, and a pencil poised and ready in his hand. Basil was alert enough now to realise that Frank needed a good explanation for being there immediately before a robbery, so he suffered instant amnesia and feigned sleep, which soon became real.

  The inspector who took charge of the robbery, Inspector Leonard, ordered one of his men to go first to interview Ernie.

  “Dab-hands they are at inventing alibis, them Griffithses. This could be down to Frank, and if so, Ernie will be Frank’s alibi for sure, so get Ernie’s story first. And make sure they don’t have a chance to talk to each other!”

  * * *

  It was still very early when there was a knock at the Griffithses’ door. Janet had finished her first cup of tea and was about to start getting breakfast when the two uniformed men asked for Ernie. Ernie and Frank were sitting with their father, looking half asleep, listening to the news on the radio. Caroline was boiling an egg for Joseph to eat with bread soldiers. Eleri and Ronnie were still fast asleep.

  Janet was alarmed when Ernie was asked to go to the police station to answer some questions. Frank rose in his seat and sank down again slowly. If this was about the robbery, they couldn’t have anything on Ernie, but it might be a trick to make him talk.

  He reminded himself to be careful and remember he knew nothing about what happened at the factory a few hours before. He took a thick slice of bread, pressed it onto the long handled fork and held it in front of the glowing fire. Act casual, he told himself. Act casual.

  Janet’s fears grew when she was told that Basil was in hospital, and, as the policemen gradually told them what had happened, she turned to look at Hywel in alarm. Ernie’s head jerked around to stare at Frank. A movement not missed by the policemen.

  “I’ll go and wake Eleri,” Janet said, hurrying from the room.

  One of the policemen arranged for her to be taken to the hospital where Basil was sleeping off his ‘brush with death’, as he was calling his strange memory loss. “What happened must have been so frightening and dangerous I’ve shut it out of my consciousness,” he told everyone who asked. “Just like in an adventure story.”

  “But you haven’t forgotten your wife?”

  “No chance. Look at her, isn’t she lovely?” he smiled as Eleri entered the ward and ran to his bedside. “All I’ve forgotten is how I came to be sleeping against the wire.”

  * * *

  When the police gestured for Ernie to follow them to the car he was sick with anxiety. What if he said a wrong word and Frank was arrested?

  Ernie could not believe Frank was involved in such a daring robbery. He just wasn’t in the know at that level of thieving. But perhaps he’d better make sure he had his story straight just in case. He had to talk to Frank and find out what he was going to say about the previous evening. Dammit, why hadn’t they been together? If only he hadn’t been to see Helen there
would be no problem about an alibi.

  How could they get away from the police long enough to exchange a few words? He tried to tell the police he had to see to the goats and the rest of the menagerie, but they shook their heads. He was given no opportunity to speak to Frank in private. Not for a second.

  Over the past weeks he had sensed Frank was doing a deal with someone, and from his attitude guessed it was something about which he was not happy. He regretted not asking him about it. This stupid argument, due to him seeing a lot of Helen Gunner, could land them in real trouble. But surely Frank couldn’t have been involved in this? He wouldn’t have agreed to anything like breaking into a warehouse, and certainly not one where their brother, Basil worked. So why had the police come here? Had someone set them up? Again he had doubts. They were small-time and certainly hadn’t trodden on any of the big boys’ toes.

  “That sort of caper’s well out of our league,” he told the police when he was interviewed at the station. “A few pheasants, well, yes, we’d hold up our hands to that, haven’t we often done so in the past? But robbery on this scale, you must be mad to think that has the ring of the Griffithses. We wouldn’t know where to go to set up something like that, and where would we sell a lot of tools if we did? Pontypridd market? Don’t talk daft, man!”

  “And you insist that Frank was ill and had been all evening.”

  “Never left the house. He didn’t even go to The Railwayman’s that’s how bad he felt.”

  “Funny that. Basil said he went to the factory to tell him Eleri was ill.”

  “Well, damn it all!” Ernie gave them a beatific smile of wonderment. “I must have fallen asleep and missed that. Now there’s a thing!”

  “This was before you were home, while you were at the Gunner’s, playing cards,” he said to remind Ernie they had checked.

  “There you are, then.” Ernie smiled again, apparently content that the matter had been satisfactorily cleared up. The policeman sighed and wrote something on his notepad.

  * * *

  Basil was allowed home later that day, although he was warned that he would be called upon to answer further questions. That evening his boss called to see him and, after asking if he was fully recovered, told him he was sacked.

  * * *

  Frank sat and waited for Ernie to come home, unable to move from the house. His thoughts were jangled and full of dread. Eleri came to tell them Basil was home and apparently unharmed and that he had lost his job, accused of neglect.

  “He insisted someone had put something into his food or drink and attracted him to the fence. Falling as he had beside the wire, they would have found it easy to reach in and take the keys from him,” she said, her voice thickening as she was near to tears. “But Inspector Leonard wasn’t convinced. He insists Basil set up the whole thing, that he was an accomplice,” she sobbed. “Poor Basil. He’s so upset. He feels he’s let me down.”

  “Did the police say anything about me?” Frank asked as Janet soothed the distraught girl.

  “Only that they would want to talk to you later today. Did you know there’s a policeman standing at the corner of the lane? And there’s another outside the back gate,” she replied. “I think Ernie’s in the clear, so I expect they’re making sure you don’t wander off before they’ve talked to you.”

  Eleri didn’t stay. Having assured his family that Basil was relatively unharmed, she went home to comfort him. She decided not to mention to him that his brothers were being questioned, although he would probably guess.

  “I wish our Ernie was back,” Janet sighed. “Perhaps he’ll be able to tell us what’s going on.”

  “Why are they worrying us?” Frank asked. “As if we’d rob a place where our Basil works.”

  “It’s because it is the place where our Basil works I suppose,” Hywel said. “But why aren’t they looking for that van? Better if they stopped pestering us and concentrated on that, and the men in it. That can’t have vanished into thin air!” Hywel’s anxiety made him sound irritable.

  It was eight o’clock that evening when a police car arrived and took Frank in for questioning. A few minutes later another brought Ernie back. “They’re making sure you don’t have an opportunity to exchange stories.” Hywel said seriously. “They must be certain that you two know something about it.”

  “I’m tired of the interest shown by the police whenever something happens around here,” Janet said with a rare surge of anger. “It’s time we Griffithses stopped being the first thought when anything goes missing, or Booker loses a few rabbits, or a bit of off-ration meat is confiscated. Always the Griffithses. It’s time you all grew up!”

  She ran upstairs and stared out of the window, willing Frank to return quickly and safely. Frank wouldn’t have done anything as stupid as this. The police were way out this time. Her boys had always been pranksters. Forever looking for a bit of a dare, a lark spiced with danger that might make them a few shillings. But when were the Griffithses ever more than foolish young men?

  * * *

  “One of the Griffithses is in trouble again, or so I’ve heard,” Nia said as she poured coffee for Lewis that evening.

  “Which one?”

  “Frank, I think.”

  “I knew it. There’s never a moment when one of them isn’t involved with the police. Rhiannon was talking to that Frank the other day and I warned her to keep away. I don’t know what Dora’s thinking of allowing her to mix with people like Frank Griffiths and that Charlie Bevan. Very cosy those two were last Wednesday afternoon, until I made her get in the car and be driven home.”

  “Oh, Lewis, love! You didn’t embarrass her in front of Charlie, did you?”

  “I did. She ought to have more sense.”

  “D’you know, Lewis, whenever I think of our Joseph and his death at such a young age, it isn’t the things I allowed him to do that I regret, it was all the times I said no.”

  “The Griffithses are different.”

  “Are they? Joseph wanted to marry one of them, remember. And Barry did marry her.”

  “And a fine mess that is. Caroline is a lovely girl, the best of the bunch for sure, but look what she’s done to your Barry. Married him and refused to be a wife.” He was silent for a moment, aware that he had been insensitive, talking about the Griffithses, forgetting for a moment that Joseph had been in love with Caroline. “I wonder what Mrs Gunner thinks of having a Griffiths as a son-in-law?” he said later.

  “Not happy. But if she’s sensible she’ll go along with it or Helen might just choose to give allegiance to the Griffithses.”

  “She probably will anyway. I have to admit that there’s an attraction there. They seem to have more fun and happiness than most.”

  “They aren’t happier than we are, love,” she said softly, reaching out for his hand. “Even if our happiness destroyed Dora’s.” She frowned, then added, “I wish we could have gone on loving each other without her knowing. While our affair was a secret no one was hurt. I hope we don’t have to pay for our happiness in some way.”

  * * *

  Frank was away for three hours. He returned, looking pale and exhausted and complaining of being hungry, just after eleven and Janet set-to to prepare him some supper while he washed and changed and settled down to tell them what had been said.

  “I told them everything that happened,” Frank began. “I told them about Eleri being ill and me going to the warehouse to tell Frank she was staying the night with us. I went in and stayed a few minutes then I left and came home across the fields. I didn’t see a van and I didn’t meet a soul. That’s all I know about it.” He didn’t mention meeting Mair Gregory and walking her home, as she might have noted the time and that would confuse things. He had seen her later than he told the police he had returned home.

  “And there’s me telling them you were in bed sick as a poisoned pup and never moving from the house,” Ernie said sadly.

  * * *

  Frank’s thoughts went over and over
what had happened and his subsequent story. Was there anything he had forgotten? Then he remembered the flask. He should have been more careful about disposing of it. He had washed it out as thoroughly as he could but the police were clever and they might be able to find traces of the powder Percy had given him. And fingerprints, he thought in alarm. He had to go and find it and dispose of it more permanently.

  Dodging the policeman who was still watching the cottage was easy. Through the goat’s enclosure and through the hedge while Mam gave the constable a cup of tea, then through the woods to the lane.

  The lane went straight to the factory in one direction but he travelled along it in the opposite direction intending to leave it and double back. But a voice called him as he was passing the farmworker’s cottages and he stopped and walked back. It was Mair Gregory walking her dog.

  “There’s been a robbery where your Basil works, I hear. That was the time you were out and near the very spot, wasn’t it?” she said as he approached her.

  “Me? Oh, yes, I went to give our Basil a message. Much earlier though. Lucky it wasn’t any later, eh? I might have been caught up in that burglary. Could have had my head bashed in!”

  “You must have gone the long way round if you were there before the robbery,” she said, tilting her head on one side. “Midnight they say it happened. I saw you about that time, didn’t I? Wrote it in my diary I did, the time I told my boyfriend to get lost.”

  “Mistaken you are. I was home and fast asleep when thieves raided the place. My brother works there! D’you think I’d be involved in something like that?”

  “Who said you were involved, Frank? I didn’t. Getting hot and bothered about something, aren’t you?” She smiled and asked, “Guilty conscience is it?”