by Anna Jacobs
Silas arrived just before Nick left on a job and alternated between chatting to Todd in the workshop, prowling round the house and occasionally strolling along the street. He came back inside at one stage and said, ‘It’s a good thing you’ve had those net curtains put up. I can watch from the window of Nick’s office without anyone out there realising.’
‘It didn’t take Todd long. They’re only threaded on poles. But they do the job.’
An hour later, he crossed the hallway to consult Jo. ‘Look, I’ve seen the same chap saunter past here several times, and why would anyone do that? I have his face firmly fixed in my mind, but I don’t know him. I’m wondering whether it’d be a good idea to follow him and see where he goes. What do you think?’
‘Excellent idea.’
‘But that would leave you alone here. I’m not sure Nick would be happy with that.’
‘I’ll be fine. We’re keeping the back door locked all the time, so no one can get in that way. And if anyone came in the front way and caused trouble, I have Tess upstairs. She’d come running to help me if I yelled. Yes, and there’s Todd working nearby as well. I have good lungs, believe me.’
He grinned at that. ‘I believe you.’
‘I don’t think there will be any trouble here, though, not in the daytime on premises where people are going past all the time and customers stopping to look at cars.’
‘That’s what I was thinking. OK. I’ll nip out next time I see that fellow go past and follow him. Be careful, though.’
‘I will.’
It felt strange to be left on her own and she enjoyed the peace. So much had happened since she came to Rivenshaw that she’d hardly had a quiet minute to herself. Nick was giving two consecutive driving lessons that morning and picking up the second client in Birch End. It seemed as if people were starting to become aware of his driving school, because they had another lesson booked for later in the afternoon as well.
He’d been reluctant to leave her, and said he wouldn’t have done without Silas. She was wondering whether that protection was actually necessary, and if it hadn’t been for the murder would have refused to spend her days so closely watched. She could usually take care of herself anyway and was on her guard now, thank you very much. She always kept something nearby that she could use as a weapon.
Only now that she didn’t have Silas with her, she began to feel uneasy. Strange how his presence had made her feel safe to relax. With a sigh she gave in to her fears and went to lock the front door. She was within earshot if someone knocked. Better to be safe than sorry, and her father had always taught her to trust her instincts.
When Todd came across to see her, he looked a bit surprised that Jo had to unlock the door for him. ‘I see you’re taking care.’
‘Yes. Silas has gone out for a few minutes. He won’t be long.’ She assumed Todd was just after a cup of tea, as usual. ‘I’ll put the kettle on, shall I? I’m getting thirsty myself.’
‘Where’s Silas gone? Surely he shouldn’t leave you on your own?’
She explained.
‘Well, as it happens, I’ve not come across to make a pot of tea but to see you about something. Can you come across to the workshop, Jo? You could follow me in a couple of minutes carrying a mug of tea as an excuse. The thing is, Deemer is there and wants to see you but he doesn’t want anyone to know that, so he’s pretending he has a problem with the car.’
‘Oh. All right. I won’t be long.’
‘Tell Tess you’re going out and remind her not to open the door to anyone, however hard they knock. Silas has a key, doesn’t he?’
‘Yes.’ Jo nipped up to tell Tess what was going on, then locked the front door behind her as she left, carrying a cup of cold tea. In case anyone was watching, she shouted, ‘I’ve brought you a drink, Todd!’ as she passed the police car parked just inside the workshop with its hood up.
At the back Deemer was waiting for her, standing behind a car that was up on the lift above the inspection pit.
‘If you like lukewarm tea, be my guest.’ She held out the cup but Deemer grimaced and shook his head.
‘I never say no to a cuppa.’ Todd took it from her then moved to one side, sipping it as he listened to them.
Deemer spoke quietly, even though there was no one close enough to hear them. ‘Jo, I need to speak to Tess. Someone’s broken into their house and searched every single drawer and cupboard. It probably happened early yesterday morning and the whole place is in a right old mess.’
She was horrified. ‘Oh, no! Something else to upset that poor girl. What did they take?’
‘Nothing, as far as we can tell. Actually, it didn’t seem like a burglary to me, because they went through every single drawer and cupboard. There was a rather nice clock standing on the mantelpiece, which had only been moved to one side, probably to check underneath it or in the back. Burglars would definitely have taken that away with them. It’d fetch a quid or two. No, I think these people were searching for something.’
‘I can take you across to see Tess now.’
‘I don’t want to be seen going in or people might guess why. I wondered if she could put your clothes on and come across to the workshop pretending to be you.’
A woman wouldn’t have made that mistake, Jo thought. ‘Tess is shorter and thinner than I am, so that wouldn’t work. My clothes would drown her. I don’t know what else to suggest, though. Whether you go in the front way or the back, you’d be seen. For all we know, someone might be watching the house right this minute.’ She told him about the man Silas had followed.
‘I’ll have to come in the back way after dark then, though I wish I could find out what she knows now.’
Todd put the mug down and came to join them. ‘I might have a solution. There used to be an old house here, as you probably know, sergeant, but it fell into ruin decades ago. Eventually someone knocked it down and built the workshop here.’
Deemer nodded. ‘I remember the old house well. My kids and their pals used to play pirates and robbers and all sort of games inside it when they were small, till one of them got injured by falling masonry. They had a den in the cellar, I remember.’
‘Well, it’s still there, right underneath this workshop. More to the point, it connects with the cellar in the house and it’s still safe to use.’ Todd pointed underneath the car he’d been working on. ‘The entrance is at the end of the inspection pit. It must have been easier not to fill in the cellar when they built this workshop, so they left it as it was and put in that little door in case it needed maintenance.’
He pointed to the door. ‘You have to crouch to get into the cellar, but that’s easy enough. I have the key to the door.’
Deemer peered into the pit. ‘Imagine that. You’d never guess it leads anywhere, would you? You’re sure it’s safe?’
‘Seems fine to me, the brick walls are still sound and the rafters are solid ash. They’ll last till the end of the century if they’re left alone. I check the cellar every now and then, just to be sure, because I don’t want the floor of the workshop caving in on me. We run some heavy vehicles across it, after all. There are a few cobwebs and some of the paving stones are cracked, that’s all. There’s nothing stored there now, of course. Too hard to get things in and out through this little entrance. I might use the cellar one day if the business expands and make an easier way in.’
‘How do you get into next door’s cellar?’
‘There’s a door at the far end. You only have to walk through it.’
Deemer slapped Todd on the back. ‘Good lad! That’ll solve the problem nicely. If you’ll help me get down into the cellar – I’m not as spry as I used to be – Miss Melling can meet me at the other end inside the house.’
Jo wished she could have gone through with Deemer. It’d have been interesting to explore a secret place. There seemed to be more cellars in England than in Western Australia. ‘I saw the door to the cellar on our side, just beyond the pantry and opened it to see wha
t it was like. But I didn’t have a torch and there was no sign of an electric light, so I didn’t go down into it.’
‘I can lend you a torch, sergeant,’ Todd offered.
‘Thanks.’
Jo moved away from them and picked up the empty mug. ‘I’ll go back to the house now and take Tess down into the kitchen to meet you, sergeant.’
Deemer shook his head. ‘Better if you leave her upstairs and I go to her. I don’t want anyone seeing her through the window, not even a glimpse.’
‘There are net curtains at the front now,’ Jo said.
‘Not in the kitchen,’ Todd pointed out. ‘There could be someone in the back laneway.’
She shivered at the idea and was about to leave when she had a sudden thought. ‘Why don’t you spread out the sergeant’s overcoat over something at the back of the workshop, Todd, so that it’ll look as if he’s taking a nap? Especially if you put the helmet at the side.’
‘Good idea. Did you enjoy plotting games with your friends as a child?’
‘Never had much chance. There weren’t many kids nearby in the country and when you lived on a farm, you had a lot of chores to do.’ She grinned and looked mischievous. ‘No, any plotting I come up with is from reading boys’ adventure books. I used to play-act them out in the paddock when I was younger, pretending to be an explorer or something like that.’
He smiled. ‘I can just imagine you doing that.’
‘Yes, well, I’d read anything I could lay my hands on in those days. The Boys’ Own Paper put out some really exciting stories, much more fun than girls’ magazines. And then there were comic books like Batman. I loved that one. I even read my dad’s newspaper as soon as I could, though I didn’t always understand what the articles were about.’
She was clearly reliving some happy memories. ‘I was definitely a tomboy. You should have seen me climb trees. I used to beat most of the boys at it – and I probably still could.’ She looked down and swished her skirt. ‘If it wasn’t for this sort of thing. I wore trousers a lot on the farm, not fashionable ones like you see on film stars, but men’s working trousers. They’re a lot easier to live with, believe me.’
Both men smiled at her indulgently. It was fairly obvious that she wasn’t a languid lily of a woman, as the sergeant thought of some females. Jo absolutely exuded energy and determination. She strode through life, not ambled.
Tess was sitting on the bed staring blankly into space, her arms round her raised knees, a book lying unheeded on the floor nearby. She looked up when Jo came into the room.
‘Sergeant Deemer will be coming to see you in a minute or two.’
‘Won’t people see him coming and guess I’m here?’ She looked terrified.
‘No, they won’t. There’s a cellar connecting our house with the workshop. He’s coming in that way and then he’ll talk to you up here, out of sight. I’ve locked the front door, so no one can get in without us knowing.’
‘Oh, thank goodness. Will you stay with me?’
‘If you want me to.’
‘Yes, please. Do you know what he wants to ask me about?’
She hesitated, then told Tess about the burglary, which brought tears to the girl’s eyes.
‘We’ll find out the details from the sergeant. I’d better go down now and bring him up to you.’
‘Can I come and see where he comes in from? It might be a place for me to hide or a way of getting out if there are any problems.’
Jo was surprised at how afraid Tess was. It must be Rathley. Well, just let the man dare try to hurt that girl. There were a few people looking out for Tess now.
She didn’t say anything except, ‘Good idea, Tess. But don’t linger downstairs.’
Leading the way, she opened the cellar door then took out the torch Nick kept in the kitchen drawer, in case they needed it for the adjoining cellar, though there was a switch and one light bulb dangling from a wire in the middle of the ceiling in this part.
Tess followed her down the steps, past a pile of coal dumped in the cellar through the coal chute. The space was large but contained little except a few empty shelves and a pile of broken boxes with a small axe nearby. Some of the boxes had already been chopped up into kindling for lighting fires.
Jo tried to get her bearings but wasn’t sure exactly where they were in relation to the house. ‘Now where is the way in from the workshop, do you think?’
Without hesitation, Tess pointed to a side wall. ‘It has to be there if it connects with the workshop.’
‘You’ve a better sense of direction than me. Let’s see if we can find the door.’
It was Tess who found a set of shelves that swung outwards and opened it to reveal the sergeant approaching, using a torch.
‘Ah, there you are, ladies.’ He frowned to see Tess.
‘I’m just showing my cousin the cellar in case she needs somewhere to hide.’
‘Or in case I need to escape,’ Tess put in.
‘Good idea. But we’d better go upstairs for our little chat, then Jo can unlock the front door and maybe even open it once we’re out of sight. It’ll look strange to have it locked in the daytime and the weather seems to be brightening up now.’
Jo waited to unlock the door till the others had gone up the stairs, but as Silas returned just then, she was able to let him in and go up to join Tess.
He’d come back from his walk looking thoughtful, but brightened when he saw the sergeant looking down over the bannisters. ‘I’ve got something to report, sarge.’
‘If it’s not urgent, let me talk to the lass first then I’ll come down and listen to what you’ve found out.’
Jo pointed to a book, ‘If anyone comes in to book a driving lesson, will you deal with them, Silas? We write down the lesson times in this. I’ve made a grid of times available.’ Then she went up to join the others.
She pinched a chair from Nick’s bedroom for the sergeant, who sat astride it facing its back, as men often did, while she sat next to Tess on the bed.
He explained about the break-in, then said firmly, ‘It’s time for you to tell me who came to see your mother the other night, lass.’
Tess looked mutely at Jo, who nodded encouragingly.
The girl began to speak in broken bursts. ‘It was Rathley. That’s why I went off to hide in the park. There isn’t usually anyone around at that time of the evening, but that night there were some lads kicking a football to and fro, so I couldn’t get to the bandstand without being seen. Your constable sent them home and – and then he found me hiding among the bushes.’
‘Rathley’s a filthy swine!’ Deemer muttered suddenly. ‘I can’t abide men who go after children. I don’t hate many people, but them sort I do.’
‘Who doesn’t? They’re disgusting.’ Jo took Tess’s hand and patted it.
‘What time was that about?’ the sergeant asked. ‘Tell me as exactly as you can.’
Tess frowned for a moment, working it out, then told him.
Deemer thought this slowly through. ‘And Hopkins found you before you had time to hide for long?’
‘Yes. I hadn’t even got down among the bushes yet.’
‘I have the exact time he found you from his notebook. There wouldn’t have been time for your mother to entertain another customer except Rathley because Hopkins took you straight back home.’
As this sank in, the two women stared at one another in shock and Deemer seemed to swell up in disgusted indignation. ‘He’s weaselled out of other charges, but I’ll nab him for this, if it’s the last thing I do. Only I have to make sure I obtain good evidence. People with money can hire lawyers and get away with things ordinary folk can’t.’
He asked a few more questions then stood up. ‘Right. Better get on with my day. Be very careful, young lady. You could be in even greater danger than I thought. I’ll go and see what Silas wants now. I hope he’s found out something useful.’
As he waited for the sergeant Silas spent the time checking out the e
ntrance to the cellar next door, then putting a couple of candles and a box of matches on a rickety old shelf just inside it. Always best to be prepared.
When Deemer came to join him, his expression made Silas ask, ‘What’s happened now?’
‘We’re putting pieces of the jigsaw together.’ The sergeant hesitated, studied Silas as if he could read his very soul, then explained.
Silas nodded once or twice. ‘Then here’s another piece of the puzzle. There’s a man keeping watch over this place. I saw him passing several times, going in both directions apparently, so I followed him. He went to the back door at Rathley’s office and was let in.’
There was dead silence, then Deemer asked, ‘What’s his name?’
‘I don’t know. But if you stand near the front window with me, you’ll probably see him pass by and you might know who he is. He won’t be able to see us.’
They had to wait nearly half an hour for the man to walk past again, and they could both see how he slowed right down and studied the place. By then Nick had returned from his second driving lesson and was watching with them.
When Todd joined them, wondering what was keeping the sergeant, he too stayed to keep watch in case he could identify the man.
‘We’ll be having a party in here next!’ Silas joked.
Finally, Jo came in as well. ‘You’re not leaving me out.’
Before she could say anything else, Silas called suddenly, ‘That’s him! The tall one with his cap pulled right down.’
The watchers all stood still and the man conveniently stopped. He seemed to be staring at Nick’s car.
‘I don’t know him, but I won’t forget what he looks like,’ Nick muttered.
‘I don’t know him either, but I’ve seen him mooching around the town centre every now and then,’ Todd said. ‘So he can’t be in regular work.’
Deemer smiled, not a nice smile, either. ‘I know him. He’s been in trouble with the law a few times, Hobbs has. Normally someone like that wouldn’t have any connection with a reputable businessman, so what’s he doing calling on Rathley? I’ll find out, believe me. When I want to speak to him, I’ll pounce, but for the moment I’ll hire someone else to keep an eye on him. The watcher watched, you might call it! I know just the chap to do it, as well.’
