‘I’m right, yer know, we’ve got to phone the sergeant.’
Kate nodded and Pat tiptoed amongst the broken glass in the office to look up the village policeman’s number in Mr Palmer’s old address book.
The sergeant was there within ten minutes. ‘Now then, what have we here?’ He was as appalled as Pat and Kate had been.
‘Well, this is a first, and not half. I’ve been ’ere fifteen years and this has never happened before. Never. They get it in Culworth but not here. That right, Pat?’
Pat nodded. She heard the sound of children’s voices. ‘Ms Pascoe, the children are arriving, and it’s raining now. What shall we do?’
Kate visibly pulled herself together. ‘I haven’t looked in the classrooms. Are they all right, Pat?’
‘Seem to be. Shall I put the first ones in your classroom then?’
‘Yes, please.’ Pat went off to see to the children.
‘Anything missing, Miss Pascoe?’
‘Difficult to tell, but I don’t think so. It’s just pure vandalism. Children, I expect.’
‘Them crosses upside down on the window – that’s not kids. No, them’s ominous they are.’
Chapter 21
‘Just what is going on, Ms Pascoe? The welfare of these children and of the school is of the deepest concern to me. I want answers, please. Now what have you to say?’
Peter was sitting in the head teacher’s chair and Kate was perched on the edge of the washbasin. He folded his arms and waited. She hadn’t noticed before just how penetrating his eyes could be – a rich blue, not an icy Scandinavian blue, and they were looking straight into her soul, or so she felt. Kate had intended having the crosses washed off the windows before he saw them or, better still, before the news leaked out all round the village, but the pressure of keeping the children under restraint while Pat and she made everything safe had prevented her from climbing up to wipe them off. So now he’d seen them and he was utterly determined to find out what she knew.
Did she know, or was it only surmise? She knew all right. But just how little could she get away with telling him?
‘I really have no idea who’s done this. Just mindless vandalism, and it happened by chance to be our school.’
Peter looked reproachfully at her. ‘Please don’t take me for a pathetic nincompoop just because I wear a clerical collar. The two are not synonymous, believe me. It is not vandalism quite by chance at all. You know as well as I do that what has happened is significant. Crosses upside down have a special symbolic meaning, don’t they?’
‘Do they?’
‘Whoever did this has connections with black magic or witchcraft, or alternatively is trying to give that impression.’
Kate didn’t reply.
‘I am well aware you know far more than you are willing to tell me, Kate. I’m sorry, but you’ve made me very disappointed in you. As you are not willing to tell the truth, then I can only assume you are implicated in some way and I shall have to take steps. Quite what I don’t know, but something will be done about it, and don’t think I shall brush it all under the carpet and play a wait-and-see policy because I shan’t. Now get me a bucket of warm soapy water and a cloth and I’ll climb up and clean off the crosses. Being tall, I can easily do it from the top of the piano.’
Peter stripped off his cassock and, wearing only his shirt and trousers, climbed onto the piano with the bucket and cloth. The children leaving their classrooms to go out to play giggled when they saw him.
‘Give us a tune, Rector!’ Brian couldn’t resist saying.
‘Oooh, mind out, Rector. Don’t fall off!’
‘When I’m cleaning winders:’ Stacey thrummed an imaginary banjo.
Peter grinned down at them and pretended to flick water on them out of the bucket, then he grimly carried on wiping. Fortunately it was only the school water paint the vandals had used, so with only a small amount of energetic rubbing the windows quickly came clean.
Pat called up. ‘You shouldn’t be doing that, Rector. I was going to get Barry to do it in his lunch-hour.’
‘Don’t you worry about that. Have you some window-cleaning stuff, Pat, then I can give them a good polish while I’m up here?’
‘That’s not for you to do, sir. The window cleaner’s due next week.’
‘I’d like to do it.’
‘Very well then, hold on a minute.’
By the time he’d got down from the top of the piano, the children were coming back into school from the playground. Kate was standing in the hall holding a mug of coffee for him. Peter took the mug from her and just before he drank from it, he said, ‘Well?’
‘Will you give me forty-eight hours?’
‘Then you’ll have something to say to me?’
Kate nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘Very well. In the meantime I shall make my own enquiries.’
‘Thank you.’ Kate half-turned away and then turned back and said quietly, ‘Be careful.’
Peter raised his eyebrows at her but she had gone.
‘So there he is up on top of the piano cleaning the windows.’ Pat took another sip of her drink and then nudged Vera. ‘Tell yer what, he strips well. Can’t see nothing under that cassock he wears, but by jove, yer should have seen ’im! He looked great, he did. Muscles the size of cannon balls he has and such a broad back. Must be all that squash he plays.’
Willie disapproved. ‘That’s enough. It’s not decent to speak of the rector like that.’
‘Come on, Willie. He’s a man isn’t he, as he has well proved.’ Pat winked at Vera.
Vera giggled and gave Pat a dig in the ribs. ‘Shut up, Pat, show some respect!’
‘I ’ave a lot o’ respect for him. Can’t think of a worse job for a man to be doing. You ’ave to be devoted and not ’alf, to do what he has to do. He’s a wonderful chap, and I’d be the first to say so. He was lovely when Barry and me went to see him about fixing the wedding date. All I was saying was he looks great when he isn’t togged up.’
‘Tell us what happened then.’
‘Well …’ Pat launched herself on a description of the hall as she’d found it that morning. Vera and Willie were appalled. ‘But the worst was, the crosses were upside down. Before she saw that, she was all set for phoning for the sergeant, then she claps ’er eyes on them crosses and Bob’s yer uncle she changed her mind. Now why, I ask yer? Why should that be?’
Willie said, ‘I reckon she knows a thing or two and she’s protecting someone.’
Pat leaned forward across the table, pushed her glass aside and said in a low voice, ‘No, yer wrong there. Not protecting someone, frightened of someone ’d be nearer the mark.’
‘Frightened?’ Vera said loudly.
Pat gave her another sharp nudge. ‘Don’t shout. All the bar’ll know.’
‘It must mean something nasty-like, putting ’em upside down.’
Willie nodded sagely. ‘Something evil, I’ll be bound.’
They all three turned to look at the bar counter when they heard Ralph’s deep voice. ‘Good evening, Bryn. A double whisky if you please.’
‘Good evening, Sir Ralph. Still keeps cold, doesn’t it?’
‘It certainly does.’
‘Lady Templeton well?’
‘Yes, thank you, very well. She’s gone into Culworth with Celia Prior to an exhibition of quilting so I thought I’d come in here and catch up with the gossip.’
Bryn smiled and nodded his head in the direction of Pat’s table. ‘I’d sit over there then, if I were you. Pat’s in the thick of it about the vandalism at the school last night.’
Ralph paid for his drink and acknowledging Bryn’s advice, went across to join them.
‘Good evening. May I join you or would it be an intrusion?’
Willie moved along the settle and patted the seat next to him. ‘Sit ’ere, you’re more than welcome.’
‘Good evening, Vera, good evening, Pat.’ They both chorused together, ‘Good evening, Sir Ra
lph.’
His presence put rather a damper on Pat’s story and she found it difficult to carry on.
‘Your very good health.’ Ralph drank from his glass and then prompted her to expand on her story. ‘Bad news about the school today. I’m sorry.’
‘So was I. Took us two hours to clear up and all the children there and everything. All the piano music will have to go in the bin when the insurance has seen it, and most of the books in the library corner. Her on the mobile library ’ll have something say, I’ve no doubt. She swops our books over for us from time to time, yer see. It’ll have right depleted her stocks.’
‘Any idea who it was?’
‘No, none at all. The rector’s very upset. He cleaned the windows for us. Do you know what it means, Sir Ralph – crosses upside down?’
‘Work of the devil, I should think.’
Vera eagerly took him up on this. ‘Well, our Rhett said just the same. It’s upset him, it has. Thought he was going to start being all funny again, but he’s managed to master it.’
‘He thought so too, did he? Ever get to the bottom of what it was that upset him?’
‘No, all he’ll say is that it was the devil after him. He still keeps the cross round his neck that I bought him and he’s been real quiet since it all happened, not going out and that. Mind you, he’s that jiggered when he gets home after working outside and that in the gardens, he’s no energy for anything. Eating like a horse he is now. He’ll eat anything at all. Best day’s work the rector did, getting him that job. Doing him no end of good.’
‘Would Rhett talk to me?’
Vera fidgeted with her glass for a moment and then said, ‘Well, I don’t rightly know. He can be a bit odd if yer try to talk to him about it. Shuts up, like.’
‘I can be very persuasive. Is he in now?’
‘Well, yes, he is. Don’s at work and I just came across for an hour.’
‘Drink up and we’ll go across together, but you’ll have to leave us to talk. He probably wouldn’t open up if his grandmother was there.’
Vera eyed him speculatively. ‘Are you thinking he can throw some light on this trouble at the school?’
‘Yes, I am.’
‘He didn’t do it, Sir Ralph. It really wasn’t him, he’s not like that.’
‘Not for one moment was I thinking on those lines. No, no, not at all. I simply want to talk to him about his experiences. Now, will you let me?’ He smiled that famous Templeton smile, the one Muriel always found so irresistible, and it worked the same magic on Vera.
‘Well, of course. Yes, of course.’ Rapidly she ran through in her mind just how tidy she had left her living room. She hadn’t expected to be taking aristocracy home with her when she’d set out.
‘Finished then? No time like the present.’
‘Oh yes, of course, yes.’ She got up to go. Vera gave Pat a nervous smile and went ahead of Ralph who had stood waiting for her to go in front of him. He held open the door for her and she scuttled out.
*
As Vera put her key in the latch they heard footsteps behind them and, while she struggled with the door which was stiff after the rain, she heard Ralph saying, ‘Oh good evening, Peter.’ And there he was, dressed in jeans and a thick bright pullover.
‘Ah! Good evening. I’ve come hoping to see Rhett. I didn’t know you had company, Vera. I’ll come another evening, shall I?’
Ralph asked Vera if she would mind being invaded by not one but two visitors. Vera swallowed hard. ‘No, not at all. That’s quite all right, I’ll go in the kitchen and keep out of the way. Rhett’s in ’ere.’
He was laid full-length on the sofa watching television, his boots resting on one arm, his hands behind his head on the other, an empty beer can lay on its side on a table by his elbow. Vera said loudly, ‘Our Rhett, you’ve got visitors.’ Ralph blinked when he saw the picture on the screen. Rhett shot into a sitting position; his finger went straight on the video remote control and the screen went blank, for which Ralph was grateful. Never in all his days …
But Peter was speaking. ‘Quite by chance, Rhett, you’ve got two visitors and I have an idea we’re both here on the same errand. Would you have some time to spare to talk to us?’
By this time Rhett was on his feet. ‘Yes, yes of course.’
Without waiting to be asked Ralph chose a chair and sat in it. Peter went to sit on the sofa and Rhett stood on the hearth-rug.
‘As you were the first on the doorstep, Ralph, would you like to begin?’
‘Very well. I know this is a very delicate subject for you, Rhett, and you’ve been quite ill with the worry of it all, but it’s reached a time when we’ve got to talk. By the way, I should have asked you first how’s the job going.’
‘All right, thanks. I like working with Mr Stubbs. He’s good. Says I can go on a day-release course at the horticultural college if I show I’m taking an interest.’
‘And are you?’
‘What?’
‘Taking an interest.’
‘Oh yes. It’s great. Can’t wait to get going in them greenhouses. You should see what Mr Stubbs grows in there.’
‘I know, it’s quite wonderful, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, it is. Them greenhouses is over a hundred and fifty years old. Growing grapes for one hundred and fifty years – can you imagine that?’
‘Well, yes I can.’
Rhett flushed and looked embarrassed. ‘Oh, of course. I’d forgotten.’
‘That’s all right. Let’s get down to business. Now you’re feeling so much better, can you tell us why it was you were so frightened by seeing this dog Jimmy’s adopted?’
Rhett’s hand went inside the neck of his shirt and out came the cross his grandma had bought; he wrapped his fingers tightly around it. He looked at Peter, then back to Ralph. He stared at the floor, he gazed at the blank screen and then eventually muttered, ‘I thought I’d seen a ghost.’
‘There was more to it than that, wasn’t there?’
Rhett stared at Ralph. ‘The devil. I could see the devil in him.’
‘He’s a harmless, bright little dog. Got lost and happened by pure chance to turn up here.’
‘Not chance.’
‘No?’
Peter said, ‘If it wasn’t chance, then what was it?’
Rhett hesitated and then gazing anywhere but at the two of them, he said, ‘He’d been called up.’
Ralph, making military connections with the words Rhett had used, was puzzled. ‘Called up?’
‘By …’
Peter prompted him. ‘Yes?’
‘The devil.’
Wishing to clarify things and move the story on, Peter said, ‘You believe Sykes was brought back to life by the devil?’
Rhett nodded. ‘We was in the wood doing these incantation things and … they said they knew Sykes was buried there and we’d practise on him. Prove just how powerful we were. Like an experiment what wouldn’t harm nobody and we’d see if we could do it.’ Rhett had difficulty continuing. He took in a deep breath and started again. ‘Course, I thought it was daft but then it seemed to get serious and what with the dark and the fire and the candles and that, and all these strange words and them speaking like being in church kind of – I began to believe we could do it. Then next morning in daylight-like, I thought how daft can you get? He’s dead and buried like, isn’t he? Dead as a doornail. Then I saw him in Jimmy’s garden and …’ Rhett shuddered at the thought of that terrible encounter.
Peter, looking straight into Rhett’s eyes, said, ‘You mean you really believe this new Sykes is the old Sykes?’
‘Well, I did at the time. Absolutely convinced, I was. Now I’m not so sure – not after I’d talked to you. But it does make yer think, doesn’t it?’
Peter reassured him. ‘Well, it isn’t the real Sykes, I can assure you of that. You mention other people. Who leads this “meeting”? We need to know.’
Rhett shut up like a clam.
Ralph tr
ied another tack. ‘After you’d been taken ill I went to investigate for myself and I saw five people in the wood, with the altar and the black candles, but they all ran away before I could identify them. Who were they?’
Rhett began pacing up and down the room. Finally, he appeared to come to a decision and stood in front of Peter. ‘I won’t give any names,’ he blurted out. ‘Definitely daren’t give names. I’ve never been again, not since that night. I was too scared of what we were doing.’
Peter said, ‘You weren’t successful, though it must have looked like that to you at the time. It was coincidence that the dog turned up when he did.’
‘Are you sure? Just a great big coincidence?’
‘I’m sure.’
‘Thank God for that. Beg yer pardon, Rector.’
‘No need to beg my pardon, I’m glad you’ve got it sorted out once and for all. Thank you for telling us that, Rhett. All this damage at the school is connected with it, too. It’s got to be stopped.’ As an afterthought he asked, ‘You’re not being threatened, are you?’
‘No, not really.’
‘I want you to know that if you need help, you can ring me or come to see me at the rectory any time, day or night. We can’t have people like you and the sergeant’s wife,’ Rhett looked uncomfortable and cast shitty glances at Ralph and Peter, ‘scared out of their wits. These things can escalate and cause terrible trouble, which indeed they already have. If you feel one day that you are able to name names to me or to Sir Ralph, your information will be treated in the strictest confidence. We shall never and I mean never divulge who told us. You’re not a fool, Rhett, you’ve a good job with prospects and you can’t let wicked, evil people ruin your life. I forbid it. So you and I together will conquer this. Right?’
Village Secrets Page 18
