Lucy Lockhart: The Awakening

by Bryce THOMAS

  ‘And?’

  ‘And he has this recording studio in a spare bedroom.’

  ‘And he’s going to be famous one day?’

  ‘Eh? Oh, perhaps. But no, what I’m on my way to explaining, is that the last time I saw him he had all these weird gadgets for recording stuff; not just stuff in his studio, but, you know, stuff for making videos and sound recordings and all that.’

  Lucy’s heart sank. ‘Hmm, you’re not really thinking of trying to record Norton killing Jack, are you?’

  Loanne chuckled. ‘No! Of course not. What I’m going to do is record her making a confession!’

  ‘Oh, great!’

  Loanne looked at Lucy’s sceptical face. ‘What’s wrong with that?’

  ‘Well it strikes me, and it may be just that I’m being rather paranoid here, Loanne, but haven’t you realized that Norton has been killing people for years and getting away with it. An interview is hardly going to crack the case wide open, for goodness sake!’

  ‘Not an interview, silly!’ Loanne smiled and shook her head. ‘No, we aren’t going to interview her. We’re going to trick her into admitting that she’s going to kill Mr. Thin. See? And she won’t know we’re taping her, anyway.’

  The sinking feeling in Lucy’s stomach was already down to her knees. She sighed deeply. She could see that, whatever they did, it wasn’t going to stop the heavy goods train of events careering on out of control and straight through the buffers. ‘They are killers, Loanne. They don’t do confessions even if they don’t know they are being recorded.’

  Totally unfazed, Loanne just smiled confidently.

  ‘They will when we start asking them questions. They are going to be curious. I bet anything, they won’t do a thing until they’ve found out who you are and how you know about them. You’re the key, don’t you see? They can’t afford not to find out. If you, a thirteen year old girl, know about them, then who knows who else has found out? You said it yourself, Lucy. They are professionals. They’ll think they have made a mistake somewhere along the line and they won’t want to make another slip-up.’

  ‘And when they have all their answers, then what? They kill us all then perhaps?’ Lucy ventured. ‘I mean, isn’t there just a slight, even minute possibility, that they’ll do that?’

  Loanne pulled a disgruntled face. ‘Huh, I suppose there is that chance,’ she finally conceded. And then her face brightened once again to one of enthusiasm and excitement. ‘But it’s worth a try isn’t it? I mean, we have to get even, don’t we?’

  Lucy groaned, bowed her head and rubbed her forehead. She never got headaches but she thought there might be one coming on soon.

  CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

  They had left the house again before any sign of parenthood had emerged. Loanne had quietly gone up stairs, got them a pair of socks each from her drawer and come back down into the kitchen. They wore their coats over jumpers and jeans, and this time they wore their shoes to take a leisurely walk down to the main road, and along it and up the driveway to their neighbour’s farm. They were approaching like visitors and not like burglars this time.

  There were no cars in the driveway at Melrood. That was a good sign, but it didn’t mean they were safe. As Loanne had gone on to say, in her very persuasive manner, Norton couldn’t know that they had found and met Jack Meerland. As far as Norton knew, they were just being a pair of persistently nosy kids. And that would perhaps stop Norton or her hired hand from doing anything like killing anybody straight away. It was the “perhaps” that concerned Lucy, but Loanne was sure that they would bide their time and wait for another opportunity. On reflection, Lucy had to agree. It was more than likely that Norton and Albright would turn up, as bold as brass, as if nothing had happened and, finding Jack had returned, would try and get him to relax. But they didn’t know that Jack had seen Ackley, nor did they know he had heard Norton blaspheming her way out of the house. For all they knew, he had gone walk about and had simply turned up back at the safe house.

  They walked up the side of the house and around to the back part of the yard. A shiny motorbike was standing to one the side of the door. It looked brand new to Lucy. At each side of the rear wheel were fixed fibre glass panniers, lids open, and empty.

  Lucy’s jaw dropped. Someone had got there before them.

  ‘It’s all right,’ Loanne said, seeing the look on Lucy’s face. ‘It’s Maurice. He’s here already.’

  Lucy blew out her cheeks with relief. ‘For a moment there I thought…’

  Loanne broke into her speech with a chuckle. She knocked on the door, opened it and marched straight in.

  ‘Hello,’ she said on seeing Jack and Maurice, through the open doorway into the kitchen. Lucy followed her round into the room. The two men had their backs to them, bending over the worktop, until a young fair haired man, wearing a leather biker’s jacket, and whose face was remarkably tanned for the time of the year, straightened up and turned to face them. Lucy thought the tan must be from bike riding in all weathers. His smile welcomed

  Loanne like a co-conspirator. ‘How’s it going?’ she asked.

  ‘Okay,’ Maurice answered, ‘but I had a bit of trouble getting your friend here to open the door. I had to do like you said.’

  ‘He shouted your names out and said that you had arranged for him to come with his gear,’ Jack explained.

  ‘I knew from what he was saying that you must have sent him.’

  Lucy and Loanne nodded.

  ‘So what’s the set-up?’ Lucy asked Maurice.

  He grinned enthusiastically. ‘Just a small camera in this imitation candle here,’ he said pointing to a thick church candle in the corner where the worktop met the wall. ‘And a few radio mikes here and there. But I only have one camera so you’ll just have to keep whoever you are recording in the kitchen, otherwise it’s voices only.’

  ‘And where are the mikes?’ Lucy asked.

  ‘One in every room downstairs except the lounge,’ Maurice said with a wave of the hand. ‘That’s so that you can talk while you are waiting without recording a load of stuff that we don’t want.’

  ‘Good idea,’ Lucy said. Maurice seemed to have thought of everything. He must have done this sort of thing before, she thought. ‘And the recorder?’

  ‘Ah, that’s not inside the house. I’ve got to make sure they don’t find that, even if they spot the recording gear.’

  ‘So where is it then?’ Lucy persisted.

  ‘Under a tree root at the other side of the hedge. Jack showed me the right place.’ He frowned a little. ‘Now you do realize that this is voice and movement activated stuff, right? You won’t be expecting me to hang around will you?’

  ‘Oh no,’ Loanne confirmed. ‘We’ll take it from here.’ He nodded, put some needle nosed pliers in the pocket of his leather jacket and finished off doing what he had started. Everybody just watched as he carried out the rest of his work. ‘Right,’ he said eventually. ‘I’m going to set the recorder now. Keep talking so that I can check to see if it’s picking up the sound.’ With that, he

  turned and disappeared out of the door.

  ‘How come he knows all about this stuff then?’ Lucy asked, now totally curious. It seemed like as good a time as any to ask.

  ‘He says he is going to do surveillance work full time when he has left university,’ said Loanne.

  ‘I thought he was only eighteen or so,’ Lucy queried.

  ‘Ah, yes, but he’s already in year one at university. He must get it from his dad. They’re a pretty clever family all round really.’

  ‘And he just came here at the drop of a hat for you?’

  ‘Well, as I said, he’s a sort of friend of the family, and…’

  ‘Okay,’ Maurice said, coming back through the kitchen door. ‘Thanks for recording This is Your Life for me whilst I was out. I’ll edit it out later.’ With a brief nod and a smile, he turned and went to go. ‘Oh, by the way, I brought this for you Mr. Meerland.’

  �
��Jack. Just call me Jack.’

  He handed Jack a mobile phone. ‘It’s a cheap pay-as- you-go thing but it will suffice if you need to make a call. My number is on it under “Maurice”. ‘I suggest you use it to call the police before anything untoward happens.’

  ‘I’ve brought one, as well,’ Loanne said, delving into her coat pocket and bringing out an expensive looking cell phone. ‘It’s Daddy’s,’ she said with a care free shrug.

  ‘It won’t hurt to have a backup,’ Maurice said, pointing his finger at her authoritatively, and with that, he gave a cursory wave and turned to leave without another word.

  CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

  It was already late morning when Maurice glided majestically away down the driveway on his motorbike. Nobody knew what was to happen next. They had to just sit and wait it out. Quietly, they went out of the kitchen and into the front room where there was something comfortable to sit on and where the camera would not be activated by the movement of people in front of it.

  ‘Won’t your parents be wondering where you are?’ Jack asked, still unsure that he was doing the right thing by confronting Norton.

  ‘I left them a note and told them we’ve gone out walking,’ Loanne said rather too casually.

  ‘Wouldn’t it have been better to tell them the truth?’

  asked Jack.

  ‘Oh no! It’s best not to bother them too much for now. They can worry later,’ Loanne said quite unconcerned.

  ‘So what exactly did you tell Maurice,’ Lucy asked. Loanne smiled. ‘Oh, I said that our neighbour had

  been getting threats from some debt collectors and this morning they had left notice that they were calling to try and get what he owed. I told him it was now or never.’ She paused and then added, ‘I doubt if he believed me though.’ Lucy was sure she was right. Maurice had gone to far more trouble than she’d have expected, just to get some threatening debt collectors on film. Jack could have done that standing there with a witness holding a camcorder. She considered Loanne’s words. Now or never. Her friend was right in that respect; she probably wouldn’t get another chance to bring Norton to book. But even now, she had no idea how it was going to work out or what she was going to say.

  ‘Well, I for one am frightened to death,’ Jack proclaimed. ‘I’m surprised that, the way my heart’s beating, I haven’t already saved them the job of coming here and silencing me.’

  ‘Norton doesn’t realize that you know yet,’ Lucy said comfortingly. ‘All she knows is that you haven’t been here for a while. And if you tell them you just went for a walk instead of letting them know you have a hiding place under the floor, they might just believe you. If you weren’t here, you can’t have seen or heard anything, so they might think they are still on track.’

  ‘On track!’ Jack visible shook. ‘That sounds decidedly ominous. The trial is six days away. It is scheduled to start next Monday, so they are going to have to do something before then if you are right about them.’

  Lucy nodded. ‘Oh, I’m right about them, I can assure you. I’ve known Norton for a long time.’

  Jack scowled. ‘You know Norton? You’ve known her for a long time? Just what are you saying here?’

  They were waiting for something to happen, but none of them knew when and what, so Lucy decided she might try telling Jack just how she knew these things. Call it a dummy run, if you like, she thought. Let’s see if anybody will believe me. But she was just in the process of explaining that she had been involved in an accident and had only recently woke up in hospital when Loanne said, ‘Shh!’

  There was silence for a moment and then they all heard the ominous sound of a car door banging closed.

  Without a word, Jack got up and went out of the room. He came back almost straight away, nodding his head.

  ‘It’s Norton. And she’s alone.’ He put his hands in his pockets to stop them shaking.

  ‘Just stay calm,’ Lucy assured him, now standing by the lounge door. ‘Just say that we’ve popped over for a visit and to have a friendly cup of tea,’ she instructed, nervous now, but with the authority of someone much older as she walked through to the kitchen. The others followed. ‘Norton can’t know who else knows we’re here. As far as she’s concerned, our parents could be following on. So relax.’ She turned on the tap and began to fill the kettle with water.

  The inevitable click as the door catch was lifted, and the tell-tale squeak as the back door opened, informed them that Norton was on her way in. Lucy switched on the electric kettle and turned to see her coming into the kitchen. She was in her civilian clothes once again; a polo necked jumper, a smart jacket and tweed trousers with a rather bulky shoulder bag slung carelessly over her right shoulder. No evening dress or jewellery… no jewellery, Lucy thought. Something was tickling away at the back of her memory. Just what was it about that jewellery?

  Norton’s jaw dropped. Lucy wasn’t sure what the detective had expected, but it was certainly clear from her expression that she hadn’t been expecting Loanne and Lucy to be there under any circumstances. Norton soon controlled her surprise, however, withdrawing behind the hard mask that Lucy was beginning to hate all over again.

  Looking directly at Jack and ignoring the girls completely she said, quite cheerily, ‘Oh, you’re back! Well that’s a relief.’ It was as if the girls had suddenly disappeared.

  ‘It is after yesterday,’ Lucy said, pointedly.

  Norton’s eyes flashed to Lucy and then back to Jack.

  ‘We’ve been really worried about you,’ she said, and then, realizing that Jack was still looking at Lucy, she asked, ‘Just what have these two girls been telling you Mr. Black?’

  ‘Mr. Black?’ Lucy asked, scowling.

  ‘Oh, it was a name they gave me to change my identity,’ Jack was quick to explain. ‘Change of name, change of place, you know. But since I’ve been living totally isolated and alone, with nobody to talk to, I hardly thought it was worth adopting a new name. Not unless I was going to use it in a two way conversation with myself, that is,’ he added, with a slight smile, and now looking a little more confident.

  His smile lifted Lucy’s spirit a little too. She thought he was beginning to relax, but Norton’s reaction soon unsettled them once again.

  ‘What have they been saying?’ her voice cracked like a whip. Lucy could almost see Jack cower beneath the swing of it.

  ‘They…’

  ‘He knows you are a killer,’ Lucy broke in. ‘I’ve told him all about you.’

  Norton cackled. ‘Really? Why don’t you two interfering little kids just go off home,’ she said in a smooth, patronising tone. ‘Or even better,’ she added, now lifting her voice, ‘go and play with a passing bus or something?’ Then her tone levelled again. ‘You are going to end up in serious trouble if you stay here.’

  ‘Very droll,’ Lucy said, totally unfazed.

  ‘Are you going or do I have to make you,’ Norton snapped, her mood changing back just as suddenly as it had mellowed only a second ago.

  ‘They are going nowhere,’ Jack said suddenly, his manner firm, but his voice still slightly shaky. ‘They are my guests and they will leave when I want them to, not you.’

  Good old jack, Lucy thought. ‘Any one for tea?’ She could tell that Norton was contemplating her next move.

  ‘I’m telling you now, go or I’ll have you removed,’ Norton snapped again. She gave Jack a withering glare.

  ‘We haven’t had our cup of tea yet,’ Lucy said belligerently, and then more seriously, ‘And anyway, we can’t leave Jack alone for you to send Ackley round again?’ she added, her lips thinned and pale. She clenched her jaw. Her face showed absolute determination but her heart skipped a beat. ‘Explain for us will you, just why did he call yesterday?’

  ‘Ackley? Who the hell are you talking about?’ Norton demanded, and then looked directly at Jack. ‘Mr. Black… Jack, these girls are known trouble makers. You must let me get rid of them.’

  ‘What like you got rid of Mic
hael Colson and Dianne Derby,’ asked Lucy, through clenched teeth. ‘Like you intended Ackley should get rid of Mr. Meerland?’

  Norton’s face turned into a frozen mask of horror. Now she was really unsettled. Her voice croaked. ‘What would you know about Colson and Derby? Who’s been talking to you?’

  ‘So you don’t remember shooting Michael Colson then? Killing him with a competition pistol that belonged to Dianne Derby?’

  Lucy began to remember the dog that barked. A Jack Russell. She was listening to Norton talking to… who was it? It was the same person that held her after they had caught her. The dog’s bark had alerted them and given her position away, and they’d caught her. His face was appearing slowly in her mind as she desperately tried to remember everything that had happened.

  Norton shook her head and managed a thin lipped smile. ‘You really don’t know what you are talking about, do you?’ She looked at Jack. ‘This girl is delusional. Did you know that she’s having treatment for it?’

  ‘I knew Dianne Derby,’ Jack stated, unexpectedly.

  ‘She probably didn’t know me, but I knew of her and what happened to her. It was the talk of all the folk at the company for months.’

  Lucy reluctantly unlocked her gaze from Norton’s face, giving Jack an approving nod. She glanced at Loanne as she panned her eyes back to Norton, but Loanne was just standing there, leaning against the worktop, resting on one leg, the other bent at the knee and her foot up against the cupboard door. Her arms were folded and she was staring intently at the police woman. It was her plan to come here and do this and she hadn’t interrupted once. Lucy thought she must have been doing all right.

  ‘So they know about Dianne Derby,’ Norton responded with a shrug, her confidence returning. ‘So what? It doesn’t mean anything. They must have read about it somewhere, don’t you see? All this stuff happened before these two stupid little brats were even born.’

  They were definitely getting to her. The cracks in Norton’s armour-plated facade were beginning to appear. She was losing her cool. Apart from the scar across her nose, which seemed to be getting whiter, her face and neck were flushed and she was starting to cough as her throat dried up. She fingered her shoulder bag nervously.