‘Coming, love?’
But she’d already put on the duffle coat. ‘I don’t want to. Really, I don’t.’
‘Then wait here.’
‘I can’t. You must see that.’
I stared at her. There was nothing I could say.
We walked. Sedately, along the tow-path we walked, as though this might be a pleasant outing, Amelia clutched firmly to my arm. By the time we got there, all three were inside. ‘Get that bloody dog out of here,’ one of the men shouted.
So, after all, we served a purpose. The dog heard us, and burst out, barking still. I got a firm hold on him this time, was relieved to see he wore a collar, and managed to get my string looped through it. There was a brass plate riveted to the collar. His name was Bruce. ‘Bruce,’ I said, testing it out. The tail, which had been down, gave the faintest of movements.
Colin stood, still and white, on the tow-path. They got her out. It was a hell of a job. With the double doors open, it was wide enough for the stretcher, but the height of the sill wasn’t generous, and there was little room for the foremost attendant to back out. His foot was perilously perched, right on the prow. He cursed. ‘Easy, easy,’ said a voice from inside. I relinquished the string lead to Amelia, and Bruce began barking again, frantically. I tried to help. With hands held high, I could just manage, from the tow-path, to take one arm of the stretcher. He jumped down beside me, saw I had it, jumped back and helped to edge the rear end clear of the doorway. We lowered her.
Her face was inches from mine, but inverted. A hand clawed for my wrist.
‘It’s all right now,’ I said. ‘It’s all right, Helen. We’ll look after Bruce.’
‘Denny,’ she whispered. Her breathing was a little better. The woman attendant said, ‘Let her rest.’ I whispered, ‘I’ll see about Denny,’ not knowing what the devil she meant. You promise anything, in such circumstances. Nevertheless, it was a promise, and she knew it. She moistened swollen lips and made a wry grimace. Perhaps it’d been a smile. It must have been, because I could see a gap in her teeth beyond it.
The taller man of the team was now on the tow-path. The rest was easy. They collected themselves together, the woman packing their equipment away. I jumped down.
‘You the husband?’ His voice was empty, controlled.
‘No. I found her.’
He nodded. I couldn’t see Colin anywhere.
They set off with her at a strange lope, not a run, not a walk. It disturbed the stretcher as little as possible. I walked briskly beside the woman—girl, not much more. ‘Which hospital?’ I asked. Amelia was very silent behind us.
‘Haughton Grange. Who’s Denny?’
‘Her child, I think.’
We were nearly at the ambulance now. I ventured, ‘Is it pneumonia?’
‘Could be. We think there’s a cracked rib. It could have punctured her lung. She’s certainly in pain. She could have died.’ She was a young woman of few words. What she used, she produced in a flat tone, almost painfully, as though she really wanted to shout out in protest, but her profession demanded calmness and quiet efficiency. ‘A broken wrist,’ she added emptily.
I turned away, looking back along the tow-path. Amelia said, ‘What is it?’
‘Colin. He ran ahead, and he hasn’t come back. I’d better go and have a look.’
‘I’ll come...’
‘If you don’t mind, love...man to man.’
‘You men! But don’t be long.’
I walked back, rapidly and worriedly, unaware that I still had the string in one hand and the dog on the other end of it. I noticed him now because he hung back, looking for his mistress.
Colin was inside, standing there, just standing, but with his fingers fumbling with the poor blankets that Helen had flung aside. If he heard me enter, he didn’t look up.
I said, ‘I take it that I’ve just seen the young lady you were telling me about?’
No answer. He might not have heard me, for all the notice he took of my presence.
‘Helen. You said her name was Helen, the woman you want to marry. But you didn’t say she’d left her husband. I thought...’
He was not listening. ‘I’ll kill him,’ he said quietly, with the decisive voice of a man who has finally made an important decision. ‘Break his neck, or strangle him. Or drown him. Something. But I’ll kill him, Richard, that’s what I’m going to do.’
‘I’m not sure that would be a good idea, you know,’ I told him, assuming a casual voice. ‘I mean, the police’d recognize it as murder, and with the motive you’ve got, they’d home in on you like wasps to a jampot. No, Colin. Think calmly, and later on. In the meantime...they’ve taken her to Haughton Grange. Know it?’
‘What? Yes, of course. It’s our local hospital.’
‘That’s where she’s gone.’
‘Her name’s Helen,’ he said.
‘I know.’
‘The Helen I told you about.’
‘I guessed that.’
‘We’re going to get married.’
‘I rather gathered that was the idea. Before or after?’
By asking him a question, I had forced him to pay attention. ‘What?’
‘Do you intend to marry her before or after you kill him?’
‘Are you insane, or something?’
‘It matters. It’d be a pity to spend a lot of money on a divorce, and then kill him. Better the other way round. Cheaper, and very much quicker.’
‘I think you are insane.’
‘Kill him first,’ I advised. ‘And I’ll help.’
‘No. Myself. It’s my job, killing Pierce.’
‘All right, Colin. All right. Now...let’s get back to the house. I mean, that’s where the phone is, and we’ll need to keep in touch.’
‘Then what’re we waiting for?’ he demanded, and managed a flying leap on to the tow-path.
‘Give ’em time to get there,’ I called after him.
But he took not a bit of notice, and all I could do was walk briskly after him, the dog panting at the end of the taut string, intent on trying to rejoin his mistress. Together, we marched on to the lodge frontage, Amelia now at my shoulder, as we’d met her half-way.
The ambulance was still there. They must have had to give Helen emergency treatment. I shuddered at the thought of how close I had come to discovering her too late. As I approached, the driver of the team jumped down from the back, shut the doors, and ran round to the driver’s seat.
It was at this point that a tall, narrow and angular Rolls Royce, with a straight and uncompromising bonnet, rolled slowly round the corner of the lodge.
The driver, sitting sternly upright, viewed the ambulance with dour consideration. Gently, the Rolls backed up, sliding its bulk up the wider of the two bridges. It tilted steeply. He carefully eased it back to the exact spot over the hump at which the Rolls was level, drew on his handbrake, and got out to inspect the situation. There were three inches of clearance on each side. He was standing stiffly, about five and a half feet tall, and maybe carried around eight stone. He spoke to the ambulance driver, pointing to the toll booth. There was just room for the ambulance to back up, almost beside the toll booth. Then it was away. No siren yet. There was nobody to warn. Two minutes later, I heard it break in, distantly. And fade into silence.
When I turned round, the driver had drawn the Rolls into the exact position that he wanted, directly opposite the swing doors to the lounge.
Gerald walked out in stately welcome.
Chapter Eight
In situations such as this it is always advisable to stand back, hopefully not to be noticed, and wait to see what happens. The driver held open a rear door and two ladies emerged, neither of them above low-to-average height. Due to the generous clearance built in, and the running-board that ran all the length of the car from front mudguards to rear ones, they walked out of the Rolls rather than slid, as is necessary with modern cars. But the man following them was much taller, and found it necess
ary to back out, keeping a firm grip on both sides of the door-frame until his feet were well on the ground. Between them, these three could have notched up well-nigh on 250 years.
But they were far from senile, in spite of a certain stiffness of age, and I noticed that each took a quick look round to check that their property was in good order, and still a viable proposition. Then they smiled at each other, and nodded knowingly.
It seemed, at that stage, that greetings had to be performed with the correct degree of formality, though the two families must have met very many times, and knew each other intimately.
Gerald, of course, took it upon himself to be the chief welcomer. Colin must have dashed away to change out of his jeans and sweater, because he was suddenly there in what was for him more sombre wear, a shirt and tie, grey slacks and a hacking jacket, his face as grey as the slacks.
There was much cheek bumping and kisses planted on the air just below ears, and exclamations of delight that everybody seemed to be in good health.
‘But where is little Mellie?’ cried the old gentleman. ‘Where are you hiding the child, Gerald?’
Mellie appeared, as if on cue. She had not exactly been hiding, it seemed, but rather had had to be retrieved from a quiet corner with Ray.
I was somewhat surprised to see Ray. When I had last seen him, about half an hour before, he had been heading out into the wilds of the countryside to rescue his super. He must have done some very rapid motoring, and some quick changing from uniform to suit. That he had not done a similar change the previous evening was apparent to Gerald as a personal insult. I saw that his cheeks were flushed with indignation.
All this was taking place in the open, which seemed to me to be strange, but it carried with it a quaint suggestion that bona fides should be established before entry was gained. Yet these people owned the place. They owned it all. Everything.
Then they flowed into the bar. Mellie, reluctantly, was persuaded to go with them, so that Ray remained outside with Colin. They came over to us quickly. Amelia hooked a hand under my arm.
‘What’s the situation?’ Ray demanded anxiously. ‘I didn’t get to see much. The ambulance, and what-not.’
‘It’s Helen, Ray. Helen.’ Colin’s voice was strained, his lips set in a grim line.
I answered Ray’s question. ‘She’s seriously ill, Ray.’
‘Hell.’
Ray tugged at Colin’s sleeve. ‘I said, didn’t I! Didn’t I tell you, Colin? He oughta be put down. Like a mad dog.’
I glanced at him, surprised at his vehemence. ‘You know about this, Ray?’
‘Something.’ He shrugged. ‘What’s he done now?’
‘Who?’ I asked. ‘Who’re you talking about?’
‘That lousy husband of hers. Pierce.’
‘How bad is she?’ Colin cut in. ‘How bad?’
‘They were giving her oxygen,’ I told him, that being sufficiently expressive to cover it. ‘She’s seriously ill, Colin. It looked as though she’d been beaten up badly.’
‘Again?’ he asked hollowly. His eyes were bright and wild. ‘Fresh injuries?’
‘Yes.’
I was eyeing him cautiously. His eyes were flicking around and his arms were swinging about violently, exactly the behaviour of someone about to lose control.
‘What did you mean?’ I asked. ‘Fresh injuries, you said. Was she hurt before—when she came here?’
‘Yes...yes. That swine’d been at it again. Ray brought her, Ray and Clare—but for some reason or other they didn’t bring Denny. That swine! He’d never have traced her to the boat—I could’ve sworn that.’
‘I told you,’ put in Ray. ‘Denny wasn’t there. So we brought Helen. Colin...we tried.’
‘Couldn’t ever have traced her,’ Colin persisted.
‘But it seems that he did,’ I told him. ‘And he had another go at her with his fists, by all the indications. Most of the damage was fresh, Colin.’
‘It’s Helen,’ he said distractedly. He was unable to keep his eyes settled on one spot. ‘The woman I’m going to marry.’
‘Yes. You told me about that.’
But I hadn’t got his full attention. He was darting glances around as though he ought to be somewhere else.
‘For heaven’s sake, Colin, stop worrying about your visitors. Tell me. Quickly, if you like—how long had you had her hidden away in your boat?’
‘About a week. Ten days, perhaps.’
‘So she came to you—’
He cut in eagerly. ‘Ray it was who came. Isn’t that so, Ray? I’m sure I told you that, Richard. Clare’s her sister. Helen’s sister. And Ray works with Clare. Ray knew all about it.’
‘All there was to know,’ said Ray.
‘I’d asked Ray if he could get her away from him, and I’d have her here. Well—not in the house, of course.’
‘Why of course?’ I demanded, a little short with him.
‘It wasn’t a time for upset, with Mellie’s engagement coming up. So I used the houseboat. Richard...she’d been beaten up...’
‘When she got here?’
‘Yes.’
‘With the dog?’
‘Yes. Hell...why not?’
‘But not with Denny? Denny’s the little lad?’
‘Yes,’ he groaned. ‘Look I must—no, not with Dennis.’
He was very close to collapse and was completely disorientated. I wasn’t certain he could organize his thoughts.
‘What you must do is tell me. I’ll say it for you, and you nod. Okay? She came, knocked about, not seriously, though?’ Nod. ‘Just with the dog?’ Nod. ‘You hid her away?’ Nod. ‘And now we find her very ill and severely beaten up?’ A very weary nod.
‘Didn’t you go and see how she was doing, every day?’
‘Of course I bloody-well did.’
‘So, it follows that she must have been beaten up last night, or evening. In any event, after dark.’
‘All right. Yes, yes to everything.’
‘So...how did this Pierce creature suddenly know where to find her?’
‘I don’t know.’ He shook his head violently. ‘I don’t know!’
‘Then you get back into the fray, Colin,’ I told him. ‘Mustn’t neglect your duties. We’ll leave the boat locked up.’
If we could locate the keys, that was.
With a certain amount of relief, Colin turned and hurried back to the house. It seemed that he had no wish to have his relationship with Helen explored by his bosses, not at this time. And, as so many people do, he had completely ignored the presence of the family’s driver, who had been standing quietly just beyond my right shoulder.
I turned. The driver—no, chauffeur, they would call him smiled a bright smile, and he winked one twinkling eye.
‘A complicated life the young people live, these days, sir.’
‘Indeed they do,’ I agreed.
I thought it better to wander away from his immediate presence if we wanted to speak our private thoughts, but he took the decision from us.
‘It is my practice, sir,’ he said, ‘when we visit, to go round to the kitchen and brew myself a cup of tea. Then the master and mistresses will know where to find me. Should I be needed. I’ll leave you now, if there’s nothing I can do for you, and you can go about your own affairs. Of which, sir, I do not wish to be told.’
He was a tough, spry little man, who knew his place in life, enjoyed it, and had no wish to be involved in other people’s concerns.
‘You do that,’ I said, and he ambled away.
I turned to Ray. He was standing stiffly, uncomfortably, his eyes empty of expression. ‘I take it,’ I said, ‘that this business with Helen Pierce and the houseboat was all extra-duty stuff?’
He stared at me.
‘Not undertaken in uniform,’ I amplified. ‘Of course not. Clare, my partner, was Helen’s sister.’
‘I know that.’
‘So we helped her out. As friends, not as police officers.’
He shrugged. ‘Partly. But I liked Helen. Like her,’ he corrected quickly. ‘Always have. I’d have helped Helen and Colin, anyway, on my own, but Clare said she wanted to help, as well. Demanded, actually. A bit bossy, Clare’s always been.’
‘But she couldn’t boss you,’ I suggested.
He gave a weak grin. ‘She knew I would help Helen, with or without her at my elbow. So she kind of had to go along with it.’
‘Yes. I see.’
‘I’d better get along inside,’ said Ray. ‘Mellie’ll want to show off her brand new fiancé.’ He gave a grimace. ‘I hope they’re not frightened of coppers.’
‘They didn’t give that impression. It seemed to me that they’d treat policemen as their personal servants.’
‘Hmmph!’ he said.
He was about to move off, but I put in quickly, ‘You did a quick job with that super of yours, Ray.’
‘Yeah...well.’ He suddenly grinned. ‘You’ll laugh. He’d been driving his own Rover, and he shunted it into the back of a big trailer wagon. Nearly took the top off the car, and his head with it. But it’s outside our patch, and the local cops aren’t happy. They were asking for statements. He must’ve been travelling too fast and too close. So they kept him, frothing with fury, and promised they’d deliver him at his own office, later. So I came straight here.’ Then he winked at me, winked at Amelia, and said, ‘I’d better get inside, and see if they approve.’
‘I’m sure they will,’ said Amelia encouragingly. Then, after he had disappeared she asked, ‘What is it you intend to do, Richard?’ She linked her arm in mine as we set off back along the tow-path.
‘See if there’s anything we can feed the dog with. Give him water. God knows how long he’s been without food. And take a general look around. Tidy. And try to discover the address of this lout, Arnold Pierce.’
‘Richard!’ she said, using her warning voice.
‘Don’t worry. He’ll surely want to know how his wife is faring. Now...won’t he?’ I managed to say this blandly, lowering one eyelid at her.
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