by Anna Jacobs
‘We must make sure we’re ready for them.’
‘Yes. But I still don’t like you being involved.’
‘Who does like being involved in violence? Only fools! But I’d like it even less if we allowed that sort of person to get away without a shock or two. Hopefully it’ll frighten them into thinking twice about doing this to some helpless old lady another time.’
‘You’re not and never have been helpless, Miss Henrietta.’
‘I wish you’d stop calling me that. You and I have been friends for such a long time.’
‘It wouldn’t be proper.’
‘You always say that.’
But he stubbornly shook his head.
‘Well, it’s my home these pests will be breaking into so I’ll damn well help drive them away. I’ll not hesitate to shoot them if necessary.’
That brought a wry smile from him. ‘I never thought I’d see the day you used one of the family’s handguns for real again.’
‘Neither did I. Not in England, anyway. Now, go and tell the lads to make ready to repel boarders later on. I’ll tell Elizabeth.’
The two men spying on the house were sure now of the nightly routine and watched impatiently as the people inside made their preparations for bed.
‘Stupid old woman!’ Baz muttered. ‘She’s picked the wrong one to tangle with this time, though. The boss will get what he’s owed one way or the other.’
‘She’s ninety, probably senile. She’d better do as I tell her tonight though. I’m not having an arrogant old biddy disobeying me.’
‘You were told not to hurt her, Trev.’
‘There’s ways of hurting people without killing them or leaving marks that show. It hurts some people if you damage their ornaments or their pets, the silly fools.’
They waited a few more minutes, watched the lights go out one by one, then Baz took charge again. ‘That’s it.’
They moved forward slowly and carefully.
Inside the house a soft chime warned the occupants waiting upstairs that someone was crossing the stable yard, then another told them the kitchen door had been opened.
‘They’d better not have damaged that lock,’ Henrietta muttered. ‘It’s three hundred years old and easy enough to pick.’
The intruders moved quietly but their progress was noted by two excited young men and three older people who were not quite as excited but just as determined when it came to defending their own.
Since she was on the watch for them, Henrietta heard the faint sounds of their approach as they made their way towards her bedroom. She had made sure they knew where she slept, had deliberately stood at the window for a while before drawing the curtains the last couple of nights.
In the bedroom next door she heard Gavin sigh and guessed he’d be fiddling with that cosh he carried with him when he patrolled the grounds after dark. He’d fought against this part of the defence plan, but she had insisted on playing the lead role and he’d agreed in the end. Well, he knew how keenly she felt the physical limitations of old age. He was starting to slow down as well.
When the men crept up the stairs and entered the bedroom, she smiled. There was no one there to stop them except an old lady sitting sideways on the edge of her bed. And like them she was wearing night goggles.
‘I thought I heard something,’ she said conversationally, smiling to see them jump in shock. ‘Do come in, gentlemen.’
She flicked a switch that turned on the bedside lights and pulled off the goggles with one hand, taking care to keep the handgun pointed at them with the other.
One of the men spoke to her in a patronising tone, as if she were a complete idiot and she glared at him, hoping now that he would give her an excuse to shoot him. Just a little flesh wound to teach him to respect old ladies would be highly satisfying.
He continued in an almost genial tone, ‘No need for that gun, missus. Guns are dangerous things. You’ve no idea how easily they can go off. We’re not here to attack you, only to deliver a message and take back your reply.’
‘And that message is?’
‘You’re to pay Lance Mundy’s debts or your house will get damaged. And to make sure you understand how serious we are about this, we’re going to leave our marks on one or two of your precious pieces before we go and you’ll have to watch us do it. No shouting for help or it’ll be the last thing you say or do. Now, give me that gun.’
He started to step forward but she aimed the gun more carefully and he stopped, suddenly seeming to realise that she knew how to handle it.
She smiled as she saw the penny drop. ‘If you do damage to my possessions, it may be the last thing you say or do for a while – except for screaming in pain. And in case either of you is still not convinced I know how to use this, I was brought up knowing how to shoot and used guns during my military service.’
‘You wouldn’t do it, though. We aren’t even carrying guns.’
‘Oh, I would do it, because you’re much stronger than I am. Now, I have a reply for your boss, so listen carefully. Tell him I’ve already gifted my house to the National Trust because neither I nor anyone in my family has the money to maintain it. I certainly don’t have enough money to pay Lance’s gambling debts even if I wanted to, which I don’t.’
‘You could still pay some of his debts. Be worth it to stop my boss annoying you.’ He stretched out his hand and spoke even more softly. ‘Now, give me that gun, there’s a good girl.’
The other man suddenly feinted to one side and the one who’d been speaking hurled something at her. But he was too late to stop her firing rapidly at both him and then his companion.
The shots echoed loudly and the larger man cursed, saying in tones of shock, ‘She’s hit my arm, the bitch.’
The other man had managed to grab Henrietta. ‘She got me in the thigh.’ He gave her a shake.
She let herself go limp and clutched her chest, groaning as if in pain. ‘Oh, oh! It hurts. Need – heart tablets.’
He let go and stepped back. ‘Hellfire! She’s having a heart attack on us now. That Lance fellow went and died on the others. I’m not risking that.’
She groaned artistically, just a little, and continued to clutch her chest and groan.
‘Leave her be. This’ll be enough to frighten them into doing as they’ve been told.’
Henrietta let her head roll back and tried to look unconscious.
‘She’s stopped moving. I’m getting out of here quick.’
She lay quietly on the bed, smiling happily and listening to what was going on just outside her door. Then, when she was sure the others were playing their parts, she got up and tiptoed to the door to peep out through the hinges.
Baz and Trev had stopped dead on the landing, because the old gardener and a middle-aged woman were standing near the top of the stairs.
‘Damned if these two don’t have guns as well!’ Baz whispered.
‘There’s others as well.’ He indicated two younger men who were standing further along the landing, grinning broadly.
Elizabeth spoke first. ‘We’re not having our home damaged, so the only way you’ll get out without being shot again is by the fire escape at the end of this landing.’
They hesitated, exchanging quick glances.
‘You might be able to get away before the police arrive if you hurry. They’re on their way. You really ought to get those wounds seen to. You’re dripping blood all over our clean carpets.’
‘Do as she says but watch out for an ambush,’ Baz murmured.
Keeping a careful watch on the group of defenders, they took the alternate route indicated.
‘It’s a madhouse,’ Trev whispered. ‘I’ll be glad to get out of it.’
‘You’re telling me.’
As they moved out onto the fire escape, a transparent figure of a woman seemed to float in the air to one side of it.
Baz clutched his friend. ‘The damned place is haunted! It would be!’
‘Ghosts can’t hurt
you.’ Trev thought he heard a laugh from inside the house and turned to glance that way, but they weren’t being pursued. When he turned back he cursed because his companion was clattering recklessly down the fire escape.
Baz got to the bottom of the fire escape first and didn’t wait before starting to run along the side of the house in the moonlight. There was a high wall that turned it into a sort of passage so they didn’t have much choice about where to go.
Baz speeded up, running recklessly along the side of the house, then suddenly the ground beneath him gave way and with a yell, he disappeared down a hole.
Trev jumped to one side, yelping as this hurt his thigh wound, but managing to scramble away from the soft edge of the trap. He ran along beside the garden wall, ignoring his companion’s shouts for help.
Within a few paces he ran into something and found himself tangled up in what felt like ropes. He swore loudly and struggled but was unable to free himself as he was already being drawn up into the air inside a big net of ropes.
There was applause from behind him and as he looked up he saw the old lady standing at the top of the fire escape – fit as you like, damn her – laughing and clapping. The others who’d seen them out of the house were gathered around her.
‘It worked!’ the cracked old voice called down to him. ‘It really did. Oh, what fun that was! And did you like our tame ghost? Courtesy of a camera trick.’
Only then did she allow her escorts to take her indoors, still laughing with pleasure.
‘The police aren’t going to approve of those traps,’ Gavin said dourly. ‘They don’t like you touching criminals these days.’
‘The National Trust wanted to prove that the wartime defences still worked,’ Henrietta commented. ‘You did well putting them completely in order again, Gavin. The Trust will be delighted with it all.’
That did draw a slight smile from him.
Henrietta’s two young guards didn’t follow her into the house. They went down the fire escape and stood peering into the open hole at the man who’d fallen into the old cellar, which now lacked its original delivery chute. He was scrabbling among the chunks of coal.
‘Having a good time, are you?’ one yelled down to him. ‘You won’t get out without help. We’ve locked the inner door.’
‘Get me up, then.’
‘Nah. We’re leaving that to the police. They’ll want to see you in flagrante delicto.’
‘We’re sooo frightened of you, we daren’t release you,’ the other added in a mocking, sing-song voice.
Fern’s son nearly choked with laughter as their captive cursed him at length and scrabbled about even more frantically. ‘Did you ever see anything like it?’
‘No, never. Real slapstick, but it worked.’
‘Didn’t I tell you Aunt Henrietta was brilliant? I hope I’ve got the same family genes.’
Inside the house, Elizabeth called the police and they sent the police car that happened to have been patrolling nearby to act as first responders. She explained to a senior officer about the failed raid on the house and how a ninety-year-old woman had designed the trap to catch the burglars.
‘Now that I have to see,’ he said. ‘I’m coming to supervise the rescue operations myself. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Miss Pennerton a couple of times. She’s amazing.’
It was only five minutes before the first police car arrived, but these officers had been told to keep watch on the two captives until the inspector got there and not to attempt to rescue them unless they were in life-threatening danger.
Even when they did start to sort things out, it took longer than anyone would have expected to free them because all the police officers were laughing so hard. They were also taking photos for evidence of a man hanging in a big rope net with one leg sticking out at a ridiculous angle and the grimy face of a villain well-known locally for his arrogance glaring up at them from a coal cellar.
Henrietta came back out to the fire escape to watch the men being released then finally agreed to go back to bed. She even admitted that she might take half of one of her pills, just to relax her heart a little.
She was smiling happily as she slid down in bed. ‘My mother would be proud of us, Elizabeth.’
‘Proudest of you most of all, Henrietta. You worked out the plan.’
‘I hope she would be proud. I’ll never be as good at such trickery as she was, though.’
When the old lady eventually fell asleep, Elizabeth stayed by the side of the bed and left it to Gavin and the two lads to keep an eye on the police as they took away the two intruders.
She had been terrified this might really give Henrietta a heart attack, but it hadn’t. She wasn’t risking leaving the old lady on her own, though. Not after such an eventful night. There could still be health repercussions.
One day she would lose Henrietta for good, that was inevitable, but thank heavens it hadn’t happened tonight.
As far as she was concerned the country would lose a national treasure when her dear friend passed away. She was still helping Henrietta write her memoirs, an unexpurgated tale, and was amazed at how well someone born well before the middle of the twentieth century had coped with change after change, first overseas working secretly for the government, then here at Pennerton House, managing her inheritance.
Downstairs, after smugly explaining how they’d known the intruders would be coming tonight and why the traps were still there, Gavin was relaxing with a broadly smiling police inspector, who was enjoying a glass of single malt whisky with him.
‘Well, if those traps are going to be Grade II listed, we can’t complain about them being there, can we?’ the inspector said in the end.
Gavin nodded and raised the bottle. ‘A little more?’
‘Just a splash.’
When it was all over Gavin locked up then went to check on the old lady. Miss Henrietta had survived the night and she’d proved yet again what a good marksman she was by only dealing out slight wounds to her two attackers, as she’d boasted she would.
She was incredible.
Most of the action would have been caught on film by Russ’s two new in situ cameras, as well as being photographed later by the police. He chuckled suddenly at the memory of the intruders’ expressions when a ‘ghost’ had appeared near them as they ran down the fire escape.
Wasn’t technology marvellous? What would people invent next?
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Next morning Russ and Simone chuckled as they studied the footage of the capture of the two intruders which had been transmitted live to his computer. Then he said thoughtfully, ‘I’d love to do a separate programme featuring Henrietta, talking a bit about her background and what made her want to actively help capture two villains at her age. I think it’d go down really well with viewers.’ He turned thoughtful for a while then said suddenly, ‘Would you mind if I went over to interview her now on my own? I’d like to strike while the iron is hot. I’d better phone my agent first and explain so that she can think about selling it. This could be a very lucrative little extra episode.’
‘It’ll be lovely to see a ninety-year-old being feted as a heroine instead of being treated like a halfwit.’
‘I’ll get Henrietta to talk about ageism as well.’
Simone found the house very quiet without him for the rest of the day and wished she could have gone along. But he’d said a couple of times that you often got better interviews when there was just yourself and the person of interest.
She wondered whether to try to phone her daughters today but decided not to. She felt sad being at odds with them, but they had to learn that she had a life of her own still to live.
Life could be hard at times. You just had to get on with things and make changes to your plans if necessary.
It seemed to her that Clo’s life would be better without that huge mortgage which was like a millstone weighing down her and Bob. But you couldn’t tell other adults how to live their lives, they had to find
out, just as she’d had to find out that she could do better than acting as general dogsbody to her daughters.
Well, she made it a rule not to let herself sit around moping so she went out shopping, stocking up the freezer with things which would provide emergency food for herself, or, more enjoyably, for herself and a guest. And buying a few bottles of wine, too.
The only thing that cheered her up about her family was that she’d heard from her parents. The email had come a couple of days ago but for some strange reason had gone into the spam folder. Computers did things like that to you now and then. She had no clue why.
Her parents were glad she’d met Fern and Henrietta, and they were enjoying themselves hugely. They were going off again the following day with a couple who knew a great camping spot far from any town, with incredible views on the way.
They might or might not have access to the Internet for a couple of days, but were sure everything would continue to go well for her.
When Russ came back he was jubilant. ‘Henrietta’s brilliant. Comes through really well on camera. That must run in your family.’
‘I bet she enjoyed herself.’
‘Yes, she did. And Elizabeth isn’t bad either. Henrietta says she’s a mere youngster, only in her sixties.’
He gave Simone a sudden hug, then kissed her and they both forgot everything and everyone else for a while.
As they went downstairs again for some food, he said suddenly. ‘I nearly forgot to tell you. I had a message while I was out. Justine has had her baby and it’s a boy. He’s in a pretty good state of health, thank goodness, in spite of her neglect of good nutrition, though rather small.’
‘Is Pierre going to have to fight for custody?’
‘No. She’ll waive all rights and stay away in return for regular payments from Pierre.’
‘I could never have left my children like that.’
‘Neither could I. My wife and I lost our baby, and it was a source of great grief to both of us, even though it was also what split us up.’