by V Clifford
‘No. But it’s bloody painful to put weight on it.’
He put a dressing on her knee and lashings of arnica gel on her calf and shin. ‘Let’s get a look at your head.’
‘My head’s fine . . . thank you.’ She hobbled back upstairs and returned wearing joggers and thick socks. ‘Now let’s talk about mum.’
‘We’ll get to that, but first I’d like to hear exactly what happened up that hill.’
His face told her that she wasn’t getting any info until she spilled her story.
‘Okay. Just before the bend after the steep quarter-way mark a man came up behind me and shoved me to the ground. At first I thought it was an overzealous runner trying to get past but he wasn’t. Once I was on the ground he waited until a gap in the runners and he stamped on my leg then dragged me into the wood.’ She closed her eyes, ‘Christ, it sounds so dramatic. Anyway, he managed to get my hands tethered behind my back, which made it easy for him to push, and at times drag me up through the forest. Long story short . . .’
‘No! Not short. I’d prefer the whole story.’ He was wearing his stern I’m-having-no-nonsense face.
She sighed and continued. ‘Okay. We reached the end of the wood which was pretty high up on the Braes. Probably at the same latitude as your place.’
‘Nice detail, but go on and keep on track. All this could be important if we’re going to find your mum.’
‘We had a few scuffles but he overwhelmed me with his weight.’ She flushed. Embarrassed.
‘Don’t worry about that. You managed to outsmart him, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.’
‘I didn’t. He took me to an old bunker. Massive place underground. He tied me to a rusty iron bunk. Thus the welts.’ She lifted her wrists. ‘He punched me in the side of the head. And I went out.’
Mand gasped and fought back tears. ‘I can’t cope. What if someone is doing the same thing with mum?’
Mac said, ‘Let’s hear what Viv has to say first, then we’ll get to your mum.’
Viv swallowed, then continued. ‘When I came round the place was in darkness and he had gone. But the weirdest, and I mean weirdest thing happened.’
Mac nodded to urge her on.
‘A woman, not like any woman I’ve seen before came into the bunker. She obviously uses it as her shelter, because she screamed and screamed when she saw me. She’s not well, but after a while I persuaded her to cut me free. We should find her; she needs help. She was terrified.’
‘She might well need help, but she was doing all right until you interrupted her day and will probably live to see another in the bunker.’
‘The rest you know. I got out and into the wood. I heard a truck going up the track and thought it might be him returning. I hid and that’s when Moll found me. I was worried when she barked that if it was him he might hear her and come looking. Irrational. Even if it had been him he wouldn’t necessarily have heard her bark and certainly wouldn’t have thought it was because of me. I wasn’t thinking straight.’ She covered her face with her hands, but winced when she caught the side of her head.
Moll came out from her bed and curled up on top of her feet.
‘Now what are we going to do about mum?’
‘I’ll get the local guys to search the bunker. They’re supposed to be locked up, inaccessible.’
‘So you knew it was there.’
‘All government officials know it’s there.’
‘But you’re not . . .’
He shook his head. ‘Need to know only.’
‘Don’t scare that poor woman. If that’s her only place to sleep in the cold . . .’
‘I’m on it, Viv.’ He wandered off with his mobile phone pinned to his ear.
Mand put a mug of coffee down in front of her sister. ‘Here, drink this.’
‘Thanks. How’s James?’
‘He’s finally gone off to sleep. Probably not for long though, too much excitement.’
Viv checked the clock. Then walked through to the conservatory and leafed through a magazine rack. She pulled out a local monthly publication about village news. On the back page she read the times of each of the local church services. If she was quick she’d catch the rector after Evensong. She grabbed her car key and was half way into her jacket when Mac came in from the porch and saw her getting ready to go out. ‘Where are you off to?’
‘Church. There’s an Evensong about to finish. I’ll ask the rector about mum. Can’t sit here doing nothing. Coming?’
Mand said, ‘What about me?’
‘You’ve got James to look after. I don’t expect we’ll be very long and if we are more than, say half an hour, I’ll phone you.’
Mand didn’t look happy but seemed resigned to stay put. Mac and Viv left.
Mac said, ‘I’ll drive. You save that leg while you can.’
She didn’t argue and hoisted herself into the Audi.
They drove to the small but perfectly formed church and waited. Soon the doors opened and the congregation began to spill out. When it seemed as if everyone had gone they went inside. Viv saw the rector disappear through a small heavy wooden door. She wandered up the aisle and knocked on the door, which was duly opened by the woman in the midst of her de-robing.
‘Sorry to trouble you, but we’re looking for my mum.’
The rector held the door wide open and smiled. ‘Well, she’s not in here.’
‘No, I didn’t think she would be. She was here this morning and didn’t come home.’ It occurred to her that her mum could still be in the building. ‘Is there another door?’
She pointed to a curtain and pulled it back to expose a narrow wooden door. ‘The loo is in there and it also has a door leading outside.’
Viv went through to the loo and out the other door into the garden and the car park. No sign of her mum.
The rector had followed. ‘There was a woman here who left before Eucharist.’
Viv asked, ‘Was she wearing a camel coloured coat?’
The rector shrugged, ‘I couldn’t say for sure. But she was with someone.’
Mac joined them. ‘Can you describe them?’
The rector drew herself up and breathed out a sigh. ‘Am I about to get someone into trouble?’
‘No, no, but she could be in danger.’
‘What kind of danger?’
Viv shook her head. ‘We’re not sure. There’s been someone following her.’
Mac said, ‘You never said.’
‘Who was she with? Male or female?’
‘Male. They looked as if they knew each other but I could be wrong. The only reason I noticed was they were both strangers to the congregation.’
‘Shit!’ Viv glanced at the rector who shrugged again and said, ‘I don’t think I can give you any more help.’
‘Wait, what time was the Eucharist?’
The rector glanced at her watch, a habitual gesture. ‘At ten twenty.’
‘So the last sighting of her was . . . eight hours ago. She’s been on the move for more than eight hours.’
‘Viv, she could be anywhere.’
She said, ‘This is so out of character.’
Mac said, ‘But is it? Is it out of character now that you know that she’s had a different life to the one you thought she’d had?’
‘How the hell would I know? She’s become a loose cannon. We should go home and check through her things.’
Mac stood with his hands on his hips and stared at her.
‘What?’ Viv said, irritably. ‘Basics. We’ve got to start with basics. If she’s not come home then we’ll think of plan B. But what did he look like?’ she called to the rector’s retreating back.
The rector turned. ‘Tweeds, ruddy complexion, smiling eyes.’
Viv looked at Mac and screwed up her eyes. ‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’
‘Could be Ruddy?’
‘What the hell? That would be confusing, weird even. I mean she doesn’t know him.’
Mac said
, ‘You don’t know that. You’ve no idea what connections she’s had or still has. If she wasn’t your mum you’d be thinking totally differently.’
‘You’re right. I have to try to see this as some woman with a past . . . C’mon, let’s get back and check the house.’
They drove back to be greeted by an excitable Moll twirling like a Dervish in the hallway.
Mand said, ‘I have to have a shower. Can you listen out for James?’
Viv was distracted so Mac replied, ‘Sure, go for it.’
Mand nodded gratefully.
Mac took his phone out and began texting,
Viv noticed. ‘What are you doing?’
‘I’m sending the big boss a message.’
She said, ‘D’you think he knows her?’
He shrugged, ‘Only one way to find out.’
‘She must have a phone. There’s no way that she arranged this before we came because she didn’t know she was coming until Mand persuaded her.’
Mac raised his eyebrows. ‘You think?’
‘Will you stop doing that?’
‘Well, you’ll have to do better, ’cause you’re not thinking straight. So let’s start from the beginning. Or at least from what information we’ve got.’
Viv sighed. ‘Right. She has a visitor in the shape of a window cleaner who turns out not to be a window cleaner but a petty thief. Mand sees her hiding a paper in a box with a secret compartment so we go and check it out. We discover the paper is a document marked top secret and there’s a receipt stapled to a photograph. We don’t know who the man is, but as you pointed out there was some kind of old military facility in the background. Mand was followed.’
‘What here, since she came to the village?’
Viv nodded, ‘It gets worse. The man, well we think it was the same man, then came into the garden and mum spotted him and went out to ask him what he wanted. He took off and so did she. Tried to catch him but he waded over the river. Thankfully she didn’t and I found her on her way back.’
‘Wow. So things are stacking up.’
‘Then she showed us a bag that she’d brought with her. She didn’t think it was safe at her flat. In fact it should be upstairs.’
Viv went up to find the tapestry bag. It wasn’t there. How could that be? Her mum hadn’t taken it with her to church. Had she been back to collect it? Viv checked beneath the bed, in the wardrobe, then noticed a hatch in the ceiling. No way! She started to pull the chest of drawers away from the wall.
Mac stuck his head round the door. ‘What on earth are you . . .’
‘What does it look like? I can’t find the bag and she didn’t take it with her. She pointed to the hatch and started to haul herself onto the dresser.
She said, ‘Lift me up and I’ll be able to grab it.’
Mac stepped forward, lifted her off the drawers and dumped her on the bed. ‘I don’t think so.’ He stood on the drawers and sure enough when he pushed open the hatch the bag was there. He hauled it out.
She said, ‘My God, this is like some mad country house mystery. How the hell did she get it up there?’
Mac stared at her and nodded at the chest sitting in the middle of the floor. ‘No prizes!’ He shoved it back to where it had been. ‘Let’s have a look. There’s bound to be something in there that’ll help.’
They sat side by side on the bed. It had been made with military precision; her mum would do nothing less if she were at home. They carefully pulled envelopes and papers from the bag. Mac slipped the photographs of her dad out of their envelope but didn’t say anything. She kept her eyes fixed on the documents her mother had been saving for another time. Each yellowed sheet was marked with the same ‘Top Secret’ stamp as the one they’d found in the box back in Edinburgh. ‘Interesting that she’s separated these from the one in the box at home. In fact, surely it’s here. It was well hidden so it is important to her.’
Mac glanced at Viv’s pile. ‘D’you think she’s keeping those for posterity? I mean they must be of great sentimental value. And probably not of any consequence to anyone else apart from for her.’
Viv handed each one to him after she’d glanced over it. They were all addressed to her mum but had words blacked out. Only one was addressed to her dad. ‘D’you think she was trying to hide this one? You know, place it somewhere so obvious that no one would find it?’
‘Could be. Let’s have a look.’
She passed it over. The date on it was 1989. The documents addressed to her mum were mostly dated in the late nineteen seventies, before Mand and Viv were born.
Mand stepped into the room, rubbing her hair with a towel. ‘What are you doing?’
‘As you see. We’re trying to find something that will help us to find her.’
‘But she hasn’t been away for long. She’s probably having a dinner somewhere and we’re getting totally worked up over nothing. And you’re prying into her private papers. She said she wasn’t going to show us those.’
Mac nudged Viv’s arm. ‘Look at this.’ He handed her one of the sheets of paper addressed to her mum.
It read: ‘You are summoned to attend Special Training School 24, Group A, at Arisaig in September and October where you will receive intensive instruction in fieldcraft, night and daylight navigation, weapons and demolition. Etcetera.’
The date at the top of the letter was barely visible. She thought it could be August 1971 but it was too faded.
Mac said, ‘Believe me now?’
Viv fingered the side of her head and glanced at Mand whose eyes were welling up and said, ‘Okay we’ll just put everything back for now.’
Mand’s voice was soft, ‘The damage is done. But she could walk in the door any minute and you’d have to explain what you’re up to.’
‘Look, Mand, we’re not “up to” anything other than trying to make sure she isn’t hurt. I’d love her to walk in the door right now, but my gut tells me she isn’t going to. She’s up to something and probably out of her depth.’
Viv packed everything into the bag and with Mac’s help dragged the chest of drawers back over to where he could reach the hatch. Mac jumped up and lifted the bag back into position.
Viv said firmly, ‘If she doesn’t turn up by morning we’ll go out and look for her. Someone is bound to have noticed her. She’s a stranger in a small village. Meantime I’ll contact . . .’ she glanced at Mac, ‘You haven’t heard back?’
He said, ‘No, nothing. And we don’t actually know that it was him with her. Lots of people could answer to that description, especially in the countryside. Let’s get food and discuss a strategy for tomorrow.’
They traipsed downstairs. Mand looked vulnerable with limp damp hair and no makeup. James stirred and she went to see him. Was he aware of the rising tension around him?
Mac set about preparing food. He was an exceptional cook. His Italian heritage came to the fore in the kitchen. Mand appeared with a whimpering James pinned to her hip. A sleepy wee boy caught in the middle of a family drama. They sat round the kitchen table and ate, then discussed what should happen next. Viv was all for setting out on foot but the other two protested.
Mac said, ‘Does she have a mobile phone?’
Viv shrugged. ‘I think she must have, but I’ve never seen it. She organised the meeting in the church while she was here and the only way she could do that would be on a mobile. But I’m surprised that Mand and I didn’t see or hear her using it.’
‘You might be underestimating her. If she has a plan she could be leading you two a merry dance.’
The sisters were about to protest in unison but Mac raised his hand. ‘She has had a life that you know nothing about. From that letter I showed you I think she’s been a well-trained operative and you are blind to her skills because she’s your mum. C’mon, Viv, imagine if she was anyone else. What would you do?’
‘If she was anyone else I wouldn’t be this worried. And the key word in that last sentence is “been”, past tense, a previous li
fe. She’s seventy, for God’s sake.’
‘My point exactly. Your concern is getting in the way of your reason.’
‘If you say that once more I’ll . . .’ She heaved a sigh, ‘ . . . How much CCTV do you think Doune has?’
‘Enough. And if you concentrate you’ll recall from your own training . . .’
Viv glared at him. Mand had no clue about Viv’s training. But now that he mentioned it Mand said, ‘Well? What training is that?’
‘Nothing that you need to know about.’
‘Not unless it puts me or James in danger.’
‘It won’t.’ Viv was lying; it already had once before and there were no guarantees that it wouldn’t again. Although she’d go to any lengths to prevent it. Already people, whoever these people were, had shown up not worried about being visible. They knew too much about her and her family. She reached for her laptop.
‘What are you going to do?’
‘I’m going to check the CCTV situation.’
Mac said, ‘D’you mind if I have a shower and pretend that I know nothing about what you’re up to?’
‘Go ahead. D’you know where to find a towel?’
He nodded and glanced at Mand. ‘You okay?’
‘What are my choices?’
‘Your sis is pretty switched on in the computer department.’
‘You don’t say.’
‘Oh and by the way, we can’t exclude the idea that your mum could be shacked up in a hotel room getting some action with an old flame.’ He grinned, but on watching their looks of revulsion, and both reaching for a missile, he took off upstairs.
Viv said, ‘Sod! That image once seen can never be unseen. He’s disgusting. How could he?’
Mand said, ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m not getting the hang of this. In my head, as I said earlier, our mum’s a retired secretary who settled into sheltered accommodation to be entertained in her retirement. She isn’t someone who’d go bouncing around . . . the countryside.’
‘Don’t pay any attention to him. He’s just winding me up. By the way how did you persuade her to come?’
‘I had a vague idea where Sal lived and for some reason knew the name of the house. When I told mum that seemed to clinch the deal. In the end she was quite keen to come to Perthshire. Now that I think of it she might have said she was fond of Perthshire.’
