Secrets on Saturday (27 page)

She turned the car around, and parked outside the Meades’ house. Gran answered the door, and said she was very sorry, but Lois was not at home. “She had a number of calls to make and won’t be back until late. Is there a message?”

“No, it’s OK, Mrs. Weedon. I’ll catch her later. Thanks.”

Gran went back into the kitchen, frowning. The child had not looked well. Very pale. She did hope she was not sickening for something. Lois was pleased wilh Floss’s work, and already counted on her as a reliable member of the team. She shook her head. Probably too many late nights with that boyfriend of hers. Still, youngsters will be youngsters. She was one herself once, a very, very long time ago.

I
T WAS QUITE DARK NOW
,
AND NO LIGHT CAME IN
through the high, barred window in Herbert Everitt’s room. He had feigned sleep when the man came in to settle him for the night. Now there was complete silence. This was broken as the distant church clock struck eleven sonorous strokes. Immediately a series of dots and scrapes came from William Cox. “ARE … YOU … READY.”

Herbert’s heart beat faster. With any luck, this would be the last message he would have to send. “YES.”

He shouldered his makeshift bag—formerly a pillowcase—containing his few pathetic belongings, and went to the door. The lock had turned out to be an old one, and not difficult to pick. Thank God for those skills his old dad had taught him, before he had disappeared from sight for three years. “Guest of His Majesty” his mother used to say, and it had taken him a while to understand what she meant. It had been a terrible disgrace in the family, and he’d never discovered exactly what his father had done.

He tip-toed along to release Cox. This lock was more difficult, but after a few agonizing minutes he managed it.

“Christ!” said the old man, peering out. “It’s outside! Where are we?”

“Never mind,” whispered Herbert. “Close the door quietly, and follow me. Don’t make a sound.”

The darkness swallowed them, and silence settled once more.

L
OIS SAT WITH
G
RAN AND
D
EREK
,
ALL OF THEM
dozing and waking and saying it was time they went to bed, but nobody made a move. The telephone rang like an alarm bell, and had them all on their feet. Lois got there first, and heard Bill’s voice, high and urgent. “Mrs. M? Thank God. Can you come over? Rebecca’s got pains, and is in a panic. I’ve rung for the doctor, and he’ll be here shortly, they said. But we—Rebecca and me—wondered if you could …”

“Give me ten minutes, and I’ll be there,” said Lois, and after five minutes was on her way to Waltonby.

“Well, I don’t know I’m sure,” Gran said, tidying up her knitting and turning off the television. “Lois is no midwife—mind you, it’s too early for that. We’d best go to bed, Derek. She might be a long time, if that girl needs to hold her hand.”

It was a dark night, and Lois concentrated on her driving. At one point, she pulled up sharply, sure that in front of her there was small dog on the side of the road, white patches showing up in the car lights. But then there was nothing there. Eyes playing tricks, she thought, and no wonder, at this time of night.

Now she remembered that she’d meant to ask Bill why he seemed so fed up. Perhaps Rebecca had had a scare previously? It was just like Bill not to mention it. But this time it sounded serious. Not much she could do, except calm the girl down. Lois expected that the doctor would
be there before her, but when she pulled up, there was no car outside the cottage.

Bill must have been watching from the window, and stood at the open door as she came up the path. “Thanks so much, Mrs. M,” he said. “She’s just drifted off to sleep, and the doctor is coming as soon as he can.” He hesitated, and then said, “I know I ought to be used to all this, what with calving and lambing an’ that, but … well, I’m scared, Mrs. M.”

“Well, that’s no help, is it?” said Lois briskly. “Now, when’s it due?”

“Not for a few weeks yet.”

“Right, well, has she lost any blood?”

Bill shook his head. “Just the contractions,” he said. “But poor old Becky, she says they’re strong.”

“Mm,” said Lois, trying to sound wise. It was such a long time since she had given birth, she had forgotten all the details. In any case, she reckoned crafty Mother Nature erased memories of most of it, especially the painful part, so women cheerfully got on with the next one. But now, looking at Bill’s anxious face, she thought that the best she could do would be to prop him up until the doctor arrived.

“Contractions do come and go, as I’m sure you know,” she said. “More of a practice for the real thing. Come on, let’s put the kettle on and talk about something else until Rebecca wakes up.”

Bill followed her obediently into the kitchen, and they talked in whispers, until suddenly a small voice called out, “Bill! Where are you?”

“Come on!” he said urgently, and ran up the narrow cottage stairs. Lois followed as calmly as she could, and was amazed to see Rebecca sitting on the bed, smiling at her.

“I thought I heard your voice, Mrs. M,” she said. “What are you doing here at this time of night? No, don’t tell me, let me guess. This dear chap rang you?” Lois nodded, and Bill sat beside Rebecca and held her hand.
“It’s fine now,” she said reassuringly. “No more contractions.”

Just then the doorbell rang, and Rebecca stared at Bill. “Who else?” she said.

“The doc, of course,” he said, and went downstairs.

“W
HERE THE HELL ARE WE
?” W
ILLIAM
C
OX LEANED
against a tree trunk, panting. “Can we rest for a minute?”

“Better keep going if you can,” Herbert said. His perambulations around the cell-like room had strengthened his muscles, and he was altogether in much better shape than William. “Here, give me your bag. You’ll do better without it.” He shouldered the two pillowcases and they both trudged on.

“Why can’t we just go home?”

“Use your loaf, William.” Herbert had the heady feeling of a liberated man. “They’re not going to let us go home and tell all to the police. That was no hospital or clinic. We were imprisoned. A crafty job, admittedly, and they had me fooled. Until I stopped taking the pills. You too, don’t forget. No, they’ll be after us, and I hate to think what they’ll do if they get us. We’ll go into hiding for as long as possible, and hope the police are on to them already. After all, it’s some time since we went missing. Come on, old lad, we’re nearly there!”

They were not nearly there, but Herbert knew that it was vital to keep William on the move. With any luck, he and William would have until breakfast-time. His brain was whirling, trying to sort out what it all meant. And who were
they
? He had stepped straight out of his room into the pitch-black night. But things around him had seemed familiar, and if his guess was accurate, he was taking William to the only safe place he could think of. It was near enough to get there, and probably the last place they would look. In any case, it was all he could think of at the moment, and he plodded on, praying he would be able to get in when they found it.

* * *

“Y
OU
’
RE SOON BACK
,” D
EREK SAID
,
AS
L
OIS CAME IN
and flopped down into a chair.

“False alarm,” she said. “Poor old Bill. She’s a bit of a silly girl. You’d think a schoolteacher would know better.”

“Dunno,” Derek said. “I do seem to remember a certain person who had me out three times taking her to the hospital before Douglas was born.”

“That’s because he was my first,” protested Lois. “I was much calmer with the other two.”

“Well, it’s Rebecca’s first, isn’t it? Anyway, time for bed. Gran’s gone up, so we might as well follow.”

“Yeah,” Lois said, not moving. “Come an’ give us a cuddle first.”

Derek looked at her properly, and saw her pale face and clenched hands. “Right,” he said. “I see you need a thera-what’s-it spot of lovin’. Come on, me duck, let’s be having you.”

Before she fell asleep, Lois stirred in Derek’s arms and kissed his check. “Derek,” she whispered.

He groaned. “In the morning, me duck,” he said, half asleep.

“No, wake up a minute! I want to tell you something important.”

Derek sighed. “Go on, then.”

Lois said, “You remember Herbert Everitt’s little dog?”

“Oh God, is that important? Of course I remember his dog.”

“Well, I think I saw it tonight. It’s a terrier, isn’t it. And I used to think what a nice one it was. Longer legs than usual. I’m sure I recognized it. But when I got up to where it was, it had gone … Derek? Are you listening to me?” His answer was a light snore.

“N
O MOON TONIGHT
,” D
EREK SAID
,
HANDING A CUP
of tea to Lois.

She sat up in bed and said, “So? We’re not planning on a midnight picnic, are we?”

“Might be romantic for a walk in the woods y’know, listening for nightingales an’ that. Take Jeems if you like.”

Lois stared at him. “What’s up with you, Derek? Are you feelin’ all right?”

He nodded, and smiled. “We could take Gran, if you’d like a chaperone.”

Lois slid out of bed. “No, not Gran, nor Jeems, nor me. It’s that quiz on the telly tonight, and I’m not missing the final. If you want to go for a walk in the pitch dark, you can go by yourself.”

“I might just do that,” said Derek, and moved swiftly into the bathroom before she could get there.

A
SECRET INQUISITION HAD BEEN SET UP
,
AND IN THE
back room of William Cox’s house, Nelson, Nelly for short, and his mate Shorty—the tall, thin one—faced a furious Reg Abthorpe. He had been told of the missing men, and his angry face had suffused with blood, but now it was an unhealthy grey and his eyes were chips of ice.

He spoke quietly at first. “Shorty,” he said, almost
whispering, “you are supposed to be the brains. Tell me exactly what you found.”

“Hey, wait a minute …” protested Nelly.

Reg turned and froze him in mid-sentence. “
Shut up
!” he barked, and Nelly subsided, shaking.

“Go on,” Reg whispered to Shorty, who was also trembling in fear. They knew Reg had a quick temper, but they’d never seen him like this before. “Well, we went to take them their early morning tea and pill, as usual, and found the birds had f-f-f-flown.”

“Flown?” hissed Reg. “
F-f-f-flown
? What d’ you think this is? A bloody Open University poetry course?” He got to his feet and stood over the pair of them, and now he had a gun in his hand. “You two will find those doddery old men within the next hour, or I shall be behind you with this.” He waved the gun at them, causing them to duck down, accidentally banging their heads together. Reg laughed, a mirthless laugh which was gone in seconds.

“W-w-w-where shall we look, boss?” Shorty rubbed his head and shrank away from the waving gun.