Tragedies were never forgotten. Some were too horrible. Some too recent. These were the ones that returned again and again to haunt and to terrify. For the while, all innocents must be watched over. Until the day when all evil was gone, and those responsible removed forever.
The hands moved quickly. Soon, the casket was unearthed. In another moment the lid was wrenched off to reveal the stiff, used body. In its arms the smaller shroud was curled towards the hard, unyielding breast. There was no comfort there. Not now. Not before. There had been no time.
On the cold night air, the labourer’s breath eased out in a murmur of contentment; the murmur became a sound of soft laughter, betraying the unique satisfaction within. Satisfaction and soaring exhilaration on recovering that which was most coveted. Long, sinuous fingers stretched out, tracing the cold, still lines of a face that was still exquisitely beautiful. At first the touch was tender, almost reverent. Whisperings of love moved inside a sorry heart. Tears fell dropping onto that cold, silent face, spilling over the closed eyelids. In the shifting moonlight it seemed as though the corpse itself was crying. The sight was jolting. Anguish returned, with a deep, black vengeance. Now, the touch was harsh. Cruel.
With grasping fingers, the lifeless form was painstakingly eased from its resting place and wrapped into the blanket. Afterwards, it was placed roughly to one side while the labourer worked on, ensuring that the grave appeared undisturbed, as before. No one must know. No one must suspect that she was gone. Not yet. Not until she had paid in full!
8
It was November 5th. A cold, grey day when even the birds were reluctant to sing. There was a stillness in the air, a sense of impending excitement. There was no indication of the awful tragedy already brewing.
Ellie emerged from the spinney; she made an attractive figure in her long black coat, knee-length boots and cherry-red beret with matching scarf. There was a vitality about her, an exuberance that lit up her strong amber eyes and lent a radiance to her whole countenance. To the man idling close by, Ellie was a feast of loveliness; a cruel reminder of lost youth, unrequited love and misspent opportunities. Unobserved, he remained partly hidden by the edge of the spinney, slyly following Ellie’s path towards the shop, his eyes growing more bitter and resentful with her every step. When, unaware of his presence, Ellie went inside the shop, he turned away, stamping his great boots with anger as he pushed his large, ungainly body along a little-used bridleway through the thickest part of the spinney. He felt the need to be alone, to isolate himself, to curl into some dark, undiscovered corner where he might come to terms with the crippling frustration inside him. It was either that, or take out his bitterness on some poor, innocent soul who might happen across his path!
‘Fred!… Fred, where are you?’ Mrs Gregory returned from the room behind the shop, her round face bright red from all the shouting. ‘There’s no telling where he’s gone,’ she told the elderly man beside the counter. ‘He always disappears when I need him most!’ She tutted loudly, packing the last item of groceries into the old fellow’s carrier bag and handing it over the counter to him. ‘Don’t you worry, dearie,’ she told him with a flustered smile. ‘Soon as ever he comes back, I’ll get him to fetch your paraffin straight away.’ Her smile belied the anger that still bubbled inside her, since the early-morning row between her and her man. More and more these days the burden of running this shop fell heavily on her shoulders.
‘You’ll not let him forget, will you?’ the old fellow reminded her in a worried voice. ‘I ain’t got above a spoonful o’ fuel left… and the nights are getting too cold for my old bones. I can’t afford coal… besides, it stinks more than paraffin!’
‘Like I said… soon as ever he comes back.’ She took out a thick, black ledger from beneath the counter and made an entry. ‘There!… one pound three and sixpence. Pay me on pension day… same as usual?’
‘Aye.’ He nodded and began ambling his way out of the shop. Now, when he caught sight of Ellie lingering some way off, he stopped to eye her up and down. ‘You’re from the big house, ain’t you?… Armstrong?… daughter o’ the new caretaker?’
‘Yes.’ Ellie came forward, ready to make friends.
‘You must be mad! All of you!’ He backed away, inching towards the door and regarding her through suspicious eyes. ‘They’re still there… somewhere in that devilish place… I know they are. Folks don’t just disappear.’ He shook his head and cast a fearful look towards Mrs Gregory. Without another word he hurried from the shop, occasionally glancing back and muttering incoherently.
‘What did he mean?’ Ellie asked suspiciously.
‘ ’Tain’t nothing for you to worry your head about. He’s an old fool… riddled with age and confused about most things.’
‘Who was he talking about when he said… “Folks don’t just disappear”?… I want to know, Mrs Gregory.’ Ellie would not be so easily put off. Not this time.
‘It were all a long time ago.’ The round face grew concerned beneath Ellie’s determined gaze. ‘It happened long before you came… don’t really concern you… not your fault. It’s best you don’t pry too deep into things of the past… things we can’t change.’
‘What “things”?’ Ellie stood her ground. ‘I won’t be satisfied until you tell me.’
Mrs Gregory sighed. She knew a determined young woman when she saw one. ‘All right… but you’ll be none the wiser for knowing,’ she warned. ‘It were my intention not to gossip about things that might frighten you and your family because, well, to my mind some things really are best left alone.’ She peeped at Ellie, hoping to see a change of heart there. She was disappointed. ‘All right… all right! It’s a disturbing story, sure enough. Happened about the same time as that poor man’s wife was killed in a storm… as a matter of fact, if I remember rightly.’ She paused to look deeply into Ellie’s face. ‘You do understand how a tale can change out of all recognition, with the telling of it over the years?’ Ellie nodded, her expression serious. ‘And it’s a fact that some people get too excited by their own accounts… add a bit… get the facts all wrong. To my mind, that’s just what happened here.’ She shook her grey head and lowered her eyes. ‘But it were bad! There’s no denying that. First the children. Then a man of God!’ She looked to the ceiling and made a hurried sign of the cross on herself.
Ellie recalled the old man’s words. ‘Folks don’t just disappear.’ She asked now, ‘These “children”… and the “man of God”… are you saying they… they…?’
‘Murdered, some say!’ The grey head shook slowly from side to side. ‘Nobody knows… except them as had an evil hand in it.’ She shuddered. ‘The priest was a stranger to these parts. He came into this very shop… stood where you’re standing now and asked directions to Thornton Place. He didn’t say why he was going there, and it weren’t my business to ask. I recall him very well. A nice, homely soul, with that gentle, kind way a priest has. Not a young man… not old, either. Well, I sent him on his way and he thanked me generously. He had one of them little black cars that priests travel about in.’ Here, her voice trembled and her eyes grew moist. ‘They found the car some days later… down by the lake. Now, I made it quite clear that he was to turn off the track long before… dangerous. I told him! “Make sure you turn right when you come to the fork in the track, or you’ll likely end up in the lake”… them’s the very words I spoke to the priest. But, he didn’t end up in the lake, because the frogmen searched every blessed inch of it. The authorities crawled over every square yard of the grounds, the woods, the house and barns… like a creeping black blanket over everything in sight, they were. The priest was never found.’
‘Had he been to the house?… spoken to anyone?’ Ellie was both shocked and intrigued.
‘No. According to the police, he just disappeared. The only person he spoke to… was me.’ The thought had disturbed her ever since. It disturbed her now. ‘Of course, they found out who he was from the Church authorities. By all accounts, he came
from London way… ’course he weren’t married… priests ain’t allowed that, and he had no family to speak of. In fact, he was a quiet, private man on his own. Lord only knows why he was making his way to Thornton Place!’ She threw out her hands in despair. ‘It’s a sure fact that the priest ain’t telling… ’cause it’s like he’s been snatched from the face o’ the earth!’ She peered at Ellie, adding in awesome tones, ‘Just like the children.’
‘Children?’
‘Two. Boy aged what… nine, ten years old. His sister some two years older. It were on a day not unlike today. They went into the woods to collect chestnuts. Day went, night came… but not the children. The alarm was raised and every adult from every house joined in the search. Like the priest… they were never found… not to this day. Their parents went almost out of their minds… lived just round the corner here. Soon after, they moved on… couldn’t bear to stay.’ Being herself familiar with the awful events these past years, she felt curiously surprised to see the blood drain from Ellie’s face. ‘I’ve told you!’ she chided. ‘I said some things are best left alone.’ She felt no sympathy for Ellie; only irritation that her own tongue had run away with her, after she had vowed to her husband that she would never speak of the atrocities again. ‘So there you have it. A priest, and two children who ventured into the grounds of Thornton Place… to be swallowed up and never heard of again!’ She experienced a strange satisfaction in ramming home the awfulness of these happenings.
‘Have the police given up?’
‘They say not. But they ain’t been round these parts in many a while. Still… if you ask me, there’s nothing else to be done. At the time, they drafted in extra manpower. They set up an investigations office in the Club over yonder, and they followed up every lead… even the calls from bloody cranks. No! To my mind, they exhausted every avenue. Them three unfortunate souls are gone to their maker if you ask me. They’ll not be coming back no how.’
‘What makes you so sure they were… murdered?’
Mrs Gregory tapped her breast, saying quietly, ‘I just know, that’s all. In here… I just know. Oh, there’s plenty who say they heard screams on the night the children disappeared… devilish screams… shrill and terrible enough to wake the dead.’ She made a frantic sign of the cross on herself. ‘But I put that down to folk’s hysteria. All I know is… they won’t be coming back. Ever!’
Ellie had it in mind to question her further, but, at that point, another customer came into the shop, a hard-faced woman of some forty years. She barely glanced at Ellie. Instead, she busied herself in choosing the greenest cabbage with the plumpest heart from the window display. Mrs Gregory exchanged brief words with her, and afterwards proceeded to fill Ellie’s order. Her quick change of mood was astonishing. With a light-hearted smile and cheerful banter regarding current affairs – ranging from ‘the turmoil in Suez’ to… ‘this young American, Elvis Presley… sending folks wild with his music’ – she seemed desperate that the other woman should not know of the previous conversation which had taken place. In fact, when Ellie left the shop a few moments later, she could have sworn that Mrs Gregory gave a sigh of relief.
Wending her way back through the spinney, Ellie began thinking about what the little woman had told her. A priest and two children, all disappeared without trace. How? Why? Her mind reeled. Mrs Gregory had explained that no stone had been left unturned in the search to find them. The house, the woods and grounds all meticulously gone over. The lake scoured by divers. And still, not a shred of evidence as to what awful fate might have become them! Ellie turned the account over and over in her mind. Strange. So strange. What could have happened? Perhaps they were not ‘murdered’, as some had suggested. Perhaps they were not even ‘missing’. Maybe they had just gone of their own accord… run away. Children did that sometimes. So did adults. But – a priest? No. Kidnapped, then? No. There would have been ransom notes in that case, and no doubt the police had covered every possibility, however remote.
Deep in the heart of the spinney, Ellie set down her shopping bag and seated herself on a fallen tree trunk. At once, she felt at peace with herself. She had been deeply troubled by the little woman’s revelations but, here, in this private, special place, all such troubles seemed irrelevant. Above the tangled tree-top branches, the grey sky peeped in here and there, not intruding, never overwhelming, merely comforting from a distance. Against this patchwork awning, the criss-crossed and interlacing patterns appeared like dutiful sentries holding hands. Shadows played between the trees, creatures scurried on their way, and in the air was a sweet, pleasant smell of fallen leaves, decaying bracken and the last blossoms before winter. All around, the rust and golden colours of autumn made a splendid sight. As far as the eye could see, the trees ringed the heart of the spinney, upright and ageless, some naked, some clinging to the last vestige of foliage until, inevitably, they too were stripped bare.
Here, in this quiet, beautiful place, Ellie felt safe, comforted and immune to all that tormented her. Lately, she had been torn apart by so many upheavals – the loss of her mother and the awful manner of her going, the devastating grief that had threatened to tear the family apart, the terrible guilt, and, finally, in their bid for a new life, leaving everything familiar behind. Not for the first time, Ellie wondered whether they had made the right move in coming to Thornton Place. It was true that her father seemed a great deal happier, but, there were still moments, unguarded moments, when the strain showed in his face. As for Johnny, he had withdrawn into a strange little world all of his own; it was the boy she was becoming increasingly concerned for. She had already spoken to her father about the possibility of taking Johnny to see the local doctor. ‘Do as you like, Ellie… I don’t suppose it would do any harm, although I do believe the boy plays on your sympathies to a certain degree.’ It had saddened Ellie to see how little her father really cared. As for her own entanglements, she could see no satisfactory solution. Alec had stolen her heart. She had stolen Barny’s. Someone was going to get hurt. Engrossed in deep thought, Ellie was startled when he spoke out.
‘You should never linger in these woods.’ Alec Harman had come on her from behind. Now, he stood a little way off, his long, lean legs astride, the jackboots barely visible above the layers of fallen leaves and, as always, the shotgun broken over the crook of his arm. In the khaki, knee-length great-coat, with his thick, black hair falling attractively to his ears, he was strikingly handsome. Formidable. His dark, sultry eyes remained intent on her. She waited for him to speak, perhaps with a little more tenderness. When at length he moved, Ellie felt sure it was to come closer. Her heart leaped at the thought of his nearness. When, with suddenness, he cut off in another direction, she called out, her boldness surprising even herself.
‘Alec! Don’t go.’ For a second it seemed he had not heard, or had chosen to ignore her. But then, he stopped and turned, a look of satisfaction in his black eyes. He came forward, a quiet intimate smile softening his classic, angular features. Ellie rose to her feet. She could feel herself trembling. Now, he was looking down on her, his eyes caressing her face. ‘Ellie… oh, Ellie!’ It was a murmur of love, a cry from the heart. A sigh that betrayed the agony inside him.
‘Why have you deliberately avoided me?’ Her voice was barely a whisper. Tremulous, she waited for his answer.
‘I think you know why.’ His dark, enigmatic gaze melted into her. ‘You go against my better instincts. You have the power to distract me from… my work.’ Muted visions invaded his mind. Visions that created pain and regret. Visions of mayhem and wickedness. Torturous visions that haunted him, and would go on haunting him. Unless he made himself do what was required.
‘I love you.’ Ellie met his gaze with honesty. In uttering those words, she had bared her soul to him. When, without a gesture of acknowledgement, he continued to browse his black, caressing eyes on her upturned face, she felt the embarrassment sweeping into her like a red, burning tide. Quietly, she turned away, reaching down to collect
her belongings. She was suddenly afraid. She loved him, but she did not understand him.
‘I’ll walk some of the way with you,’ he offered, taking up a place alongside as she started on the homeward path. Gently, he took the bag from her hand. She did not resist. Like before, he had caused her to feel deeply unhappy yet, at the same time, exhilarated by his very closeness. She was unsure, lost for words, her emotions confounded by him.
‘Why don’t you arrange for Mr Gregory to deliver your orders?’
‘He does deliver the larger orders, but I enjoy going to the shop… occasionally meeting the people who live in Redborough.’ She suspected he knew how unsociable these people were. ‘I like walking through the spinney. It’s so peaceful, so very beautiful… especially now.’ She glanced about, not daring to look on his face.
‘Peaceful, yes… sometimes. And beautiful. But not safe. You should never come through these woods alone.’
‘Why do you say that?’ Mrs Gregory’s words still seared her mind. ‘Is it because of the children… and the priest?’ She winced when he gripped her arm, swinging her round to face him.
‘Who told you?’ His eyes glittered like black jewels.
‘Mrs Gregory. She said they had disappeared… never been found.’ Even though his fingers were hurting her, she wanted him to hold her for ever. As though he sensed what she was thinking, he abruptly released her.
‘She told you that?’
‘Yes.’
‘She had no right to frighten you in that way.’ The dark eyes clouded over. He was lost in his own, disturbing thoughts.
‘What do you know of it all? Do you think they were… murdered?’ His strange reaction had made Ellie curious.
‘It happened before my time here.’ His statement was uttered in controlled anger, yet, there was something else in his voice. Some deeper emotion that Ellie could not fathom. She was amazed when he swiftly changed the subject. ‘I expect you’re looking forward to seeing Barny Tyler. It’s today, isn’t it?’
No Mercy Page 16
