Murder is in the Air

by Frances Brody

  ‘What do you want?’

  ‘An answer to this question. How does a person who has sent a ransom note collect the money without being caught?’

  She thought for a few seconds, as she touched the bucket with her foot to judge the distance. ‘Who has the ransom note?’

  ‘William Lofthouse will open it this morning.’

  ‘Nothing would suit him better than for me to miss the contest. He’s fed up of paying out for expenses and not having a wages clerk. If I do win, I’ll share the prize with you. Let me go now and no one will know. I’ll say I came back a roundabout way, got lost and took shelter.’

  ‘Oh, you’d love that. I wouldn’t see you for the dust bouncing off your fancy new heels. Just tell me. Answer that simple question. How will I collect the money and not be caught? I know you’ll have an answer. You’re the clever one. How do you think it made George feel, when you came top of the class every year?’

  She kept her voice steady. ‘How do you think it made me feel, watching you taunt him and mock him for not trying harder, and how do you think that made Mam feel?’

  ‘You got your brains from me. He got his from your mam, thick as a barrel and just as hollow.’

  The handle clanked as she picked up the bucket, nicely full since yesterday. She had imagined tipping the bucket on his head, shoving it down on his shoulders, but that was not possible, she had to go for his chest, slam bang straight at him. He dropped the torch. She heaved the bucket. He howled as he tilted back. With the remains, she went for what she hoped was his face.

  She kicked the torch away and ran past him for the steps, sure of her footing, she had done this over and over to be sure. He had wedged the trapdoor. Even so it was heavy and took all her strength to raise it, and more effort to heave her way out. She saw a sliver of daylight and made one last push.

  He grabbed at her ankle. She might have known he could see in the dark, like a rat. She turned and kicked, hitting the mark. He cried out and she heard him falling.

  She was out in the air, and though it was a dim dawn, the brightness after the dark made her pause, like being on the edge of a different world. Her instinct was to run, but she sat on the trap door, reaching for the rocks and stones he had placed there, and then set aside.

  The trapdoor moved beneath her. She wasn’t heavy enough to hold him down.

  She picked up a rock and smashed his hand, and then she ran, and he ran after her. And when she stumbled, cursing the wrong shoes, he was there, wearing the right shoes, and dragging her back.

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  As we entered Masham, I weighed up whether we should go to the police station or Oak Cottage and decided on the cottage. We could deposit Annie’s luggage and there may be the miracle of Ruth’s return. But Annie suddenly called, ‘Wait! That’s my house.’

  We got out, leaving Annie’s flour bags of belongings in the dicky seat. Annie tapped the money belt under her clothes. She looked about her. ‘Nothing has changed, and everything has changed.’

  She stopped and took deep breaths. ‘There might be something in the air, some clue.’

  This was no time for mysticism. Before I had time to hurry her on, she went to her door.

  I looked at my watch and hurried after her. Slater would be there. I was thinking of that long knife she carried.

  Annie flung open the door. ‘He’s not here. I’d know, but I want to look. There’ll be something.’

  While she went upstairs, I looked about the kitchen. Harriet was right. He had lied about Sunday dinner. There was no cold meat in the pantry, no left-over potatoes, no greasy meat dish. I went into the cellar, to see whether he kept food in the wire press. He did. There was a piece of cheese, and half a loaf. Slater Parnaby had been too busy to think about cooking.

  Suddenly Annie was beside me. ‘It’s too early for him to be at work so where is he?’

  ‘That’s what we’ll find out. Come on.’

  It astonished me that this woman who such a short time ago had seemed incapable of stepping outside, unable to take control of her own life, was now alert to every possibility. This reminded me that I must also be alert. ‘We need something of his, so that the police dogs can track him. They tried to find Ruth, but rain got in the way.’

  She took a scarf from the back of the door.

  We got back in the car and I drove through the deserted town, along the lane, stopping at the top of the track. I heard our dog bark. A moment later, he bounded towards us, Mrs Sugden behind him, offering to take our flour sacks. I made the introductions, noticing that the wind had suddenly gone from Annie’s sails.

  I had only spoken to Mrs Sugden last night. Even the coaches she prized would not have whisked her here at this time of the day. ‘How did you get here?’

  ‘Thanks to our influential friends. Miss Merton was most sympathetic. She persuaded her brother to send his university driver. I wanted him to bring us last night, but he wouldn’t drive through the countryside in the dark of night. He drove in the dark of morning instead.’

  Harriet was at the door and brought a breath of normality to the situation. ‘Oh, Mrs Parnaby, I’ve been hoping to meet you since Ruth and I went by your bakery on the dray. Come in. I’m sure we’ll find Ruth now you’re here.’

  Annie Parnaby wanted only to talk to Harriet, and to see which was Ruth’s room.

  Harriet took Annie upstairs. When they came down, Annie held a school exercise book that belonged to Ruth.

  She passed it to me, pointing to the poem about a cottage. ‘When Slater came courting me, we went to look at the thatched cottages that were being demolished. He said they should keep just one, for us. Later, we would walk there on a Sunday. The cottages were gone, but in the last one, a hoard of gold sovereigns was found in the roof. We used to look in the grass roundabout, to see if any had been left behind. It gave the children something to do.’

  ‘And did you all go?’

  The ‘Good morning’ came from the doorway. It was Sergeant Moon.

  Annie made a dash for him and grabbed his arms. ‘Any news?’

  ‘Not yet, Annie. We’re going out with the dogs. This time we’re looking for Slater.’

  ‘So are we,’ Harriet said. ‘Mrs Parnaby brought his scarf.’

  ‘Were you saying you, Slater and the children walked on the common?’ the sergeant asked.

  ‘Occasionally.’ She looked at her feet. ‘He said one day he would bury me there.’

  * * *

  It came as no surprise that Sergeant Moon politely rejected our offer of help, but I tried. ‘Ours is a police dog, and he knows Ruth. None of these dogs do.’

  ‘They don’t need to, Mrs Shackleton. We have Ruth’s items of clothing, and now we have her father’s scarf and a pair of his discarded socks I picked up last night when I went to search the house.’

  Harriet opened her mouth to speak and I knew that she was about to share her knowledge of how to conduct a search. Realising he would not want to hear this, she thought of something else to say.

  ‘When we find Ruth, she’ll need someone she knows. I am her official companion.’

  Not for the first time, I was inclined to back Harriet. She needed to prove herself as a good companion. I spoke quietly to the sergeant. ‘She will not set a foot wrong.’

  Harriet heard me. ‘And what’s more, I know the whistle.’

  ‘What whistle?’

  ‘Ruth and George have a signal whistle, isn’t that right, Mrs Parnaby?’

  ‘It is.’

  ‘Then whistle, and I’ll copy.’ Sergeant Moon pursed his lips, ready to whistle. He was bending over backwards to be reassuring, as well as to make sure he had every bit of information he could muster.

  Harriet put on her coat. ‘Sergeant, it’s unlucky to whistle indoors. I wouldn’t dare risk it. I must come’

  Annie Parnaby folded her arms. ‘Her and her dog have to be there. They know the whistle, they know my girl. I would be there, but I’m done in. I wouldn’t k
eep up.’

  Harriet persisted. ‘I’m fit, I’ll walk fast as you like or slow as you like, and I won’t be in the way. I promise.’

  ‘Miss Armstrong, we’re without a WPC. I am enrolling you as part of the search operation, under my command.’

  ‘Yes, sir!’

  ‘This is only so that when we find Ruth, and we will, you will be there for her. You are not searching.’

  ‘No I am not.’

  Harriet can be very believable. She would have her fingers crossed behind her back, saying to herself, ‘I won’t search, but Sergeant Dog will.’

  Only I knew that Harriet had a small cloth bag in each of her coat pockets. One contained the handkerchief Slater Parnaby dropped on Sunday. The other contained Ruth’s glove.

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Two dog handlers led the way from the edge of the common. Sergeant Moon was close behind, with the four constables fanning out behind him. Harriet followed on with her dog. They had walked for what seemed an age, with the two official dogs agreeing on the route taken by Slater Parnaby.

  These two official dogs worked quietly, beginning to show increased interest in the trail they followed.

  Harriet liked to think she was the one who spotted the lone figure on the horizon. It was Ruth’s dad, she felt sure. There was something in the way he moved, his speed at spotting them. From this distance she could not be sure, but he seemed to tilt back his head and sniff the air before breaking into a run with straight forearms and elbows tucked in like the men and boys who did fell running.

  Sergeant Moon must have seen him at the same time and gave an order.

  The dogs and handlers did not divert from their path, but two of the four constables gave chase.

  ‘Is it him?’ Harriet asked the sergeant.

  The sergeant raised his binoculars. ‘It’s him. I saw him years ago, doing a cross-country run. If he’s still fit, he’ll take some catching.’ He paused. ‘There’s something up. He’s turning. I don’t know which way he’ll go.’

  Terrible thoughts came into Harriet’s mind, but she refused to entertain them. What had Ruth’s dad done to her? It would be time for him to go to work. Perhaps he had done nothing. He was setting off back for Masham and the brewery, so that he would clock in on time. Well that would not happen now. Let’s find her, she said to herself. Don’t give up, Ruth. We’re on our way.

  The official bloodhounds wanted to follow the way Ruth’s dad had gone. The handlers needed time to persuade the animals that they should follow the scent of where he had come from.

  While this exchange between men and dogs took place, Harriet took Slater Parnaby’s hanky from her pocket and let Sergeant Dog take his best whiff. This led him to move back and forth sniffing the ground to Harriet’s left and right. He decided on a course and stuck to it. This put Harriet at a distance from the dog handlers, about the length of three trams.

  There was no definite path to wherever the dog handlers were going. Harriet continued on her way. A path emerged, and she was on it. Her heart beat faster. She knew where she was now. They were coming to the cottage that wasn’t there, where Ruth had brought her. There was an oak tree that had grown to a great height by a dry stone wall.

  Harriet whistled, startling the dogs, the sergeant, the dog handlers and the remaining two constables fanning out behind.

  ‘We’re here. At the cottage.’

  The dog handlers, who had now fallen behind, stopped so abruptly, they almost bumped into her.

  Sergeant Moon, who knew the area best, having grown up close by, said, ‘There was a cottage here, years ago.’

  They looked down and saw the evidence of it. Sergeant Dog stopped. He barked. He would not budge. Harriet brought out Ruth’s glove. The dog sniffed the glove and sniffed the ground. He wagged his tail and whined.

  Harriet felt sick. There was nothing here but ground, grass and stone.

  Sergeant Moon put a hand on her shoulder. ‘There’s been no digging. Don’t go to pieces now.’

  Sergeant Dog barked.

  ‘Whistle,’ Harriet said. ‘Everybody whistle!’ She whistled.

  They copied her whistle, the sergeant, the handlers, the constables. ‘Once more!’

  This time, very faintly, an echoing whistle came from somewhere just beyond their feet.

  The two men bringing up the rear dashed forward on the sergeant’s signal and began to move a branch, and another, and to push away stones. They lifted a trap door, and out popped Ruth’s head, like a jack-in-the-box.

  Sergeant Dog almost pulled Harriet over to get to Ruth, but Sergeant Moon and one of the constables were already helping her out.

  Harriet let go of the lead, ran to Ruth and hugged her. Ruth swayed a little, blinking against the light.

  Sergeant Moon blew his nose. The dog handlers let go of their dogs’ leads, freeing their hands so that they could applaud the rescue.

  Sergeant Moon turned to the dog handlers. ‘Stay on Parnaby’s trail. He knows this area inside out and might give them the slip.’

  One of the constables said to Ruth, ‘Do you need a piggyback, miss?’ He came closer. ‘I can do a fireman’s lift, until you get your legs back.’

  ‘Thank you, but I want to walk. I’m leaning on you, Harriet. For the first few steps.’

  Sergeant Moon took Sergeant Dog’s lead.

  Ruth’s first few steps became the entire way back, with Harriet and Ruth walking arm in arm.

  Harriet saw that a small crowd had gathered at the end of the path. She saw her auntie and Mrs Sugden, with Annie Parnaby standing between them.

  Harriet let go of Ruth and watched her run towards her mother, who ran to her. They grabbed each other as if they would never let go.

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Harriet was upstairs, working out sleeping arrangements.

  Ruth lounged in the steamer chair, covered with a blanket. Annie sat beside Ruth, holding her hand. William and Eleanor seated at the kitchen table, wearing their Aquascutum coats, waiting quietly until Mrs Sugden’s fussing over making tea and locating the egg timer subsided.

  ‘Come back with us, Ruth,’ Eleanor said firmly. ‘You can have a proper bath and a rest.’

  ‘That sounds lovely, Mrs Lofthouse, but if it’s all the same to you, I’ll stay put for now. I’ve lost track of time. How long is it to the Northern Finals?’

  Eleanor said, ‘It’s next Sunday, but no one will blame you if you want to withdraw.’

  William’s face fell. ‘She’s come this far, Eleanor. She’ll want to go on.’

  We all waited. Under the blanket, Ruth hugged herself and gave a little shake.

  William said, ‘Of course, Eleanor’s right. If you’ve had enough, you’ve had enough. Your job is waiting. Mr Beckwith misses you in the wages office.’

  Ruth shook her head. ‘I will not give up now. I know I look a wreck and I may be beaten by other girls on the night, but I won’t let the old man knock me into a cocked hat.’

  Eleanor beamed. ‘Good for you. We have two first class carriages booked to take us to Manchester. It will be a night to remember. We’ll crack open the champagne.’

  At that moment, Ruth did not look like a winner, but I admired Eleanor’s optimism and determination.

  William stood. ‘Come on, Eleanor, let’s leave these ladies to get on. Mrs Shackleton, if there is anything that you need, just send word.’

  ‘I will.’ I got up to walk them to the door.

  Eleanor was not to be rushed away. ‘Ruth, Harriet, I am taking you both to Harrogate for a few days, and I won’t accept no for an answer. We will go to the Turkish Baths, a beauty salon and the hairdressers. We will stay in a delightful boarding house, run by a charming widow. There is an adequate bathroom and long mirrors. The hotels are too impersonal, trying to outdo each other in grandeur. We will have home-cooked food and privacy, and we will shop for clothes.’

  Ruth looked to her mother. ‘Will you come?’

  ‘Wild horses wouldn’t
drag me there. You and Harriet go with Mrs Lofthouse and enjoy yourselves. I’ll stop here, if that’s all right?’ She looked to me.

  ‘I may need to go back to Leeds, but Mrs Sugden will stay.’

  ‘I will that. We’ll tick over nicely, Mrs—’

  ‘Call me Annie.’

  The burst of brave energy that led Annie to run to her daughter seemed now to have evaporated. It would take time for her to get better, but I now felt sure she would. The police would find Slater Parnaby. If there was any justice, he would be put away for a very long time.

  The rest of that day and the next went by without any news about Slater Parnaby. A police constable patrolled the track. He had given Ruth the key to the Parnaby house which now stood empty. Neither Mrs Parnaby nor Ruth wanted to live there again.

  On the third day, when Eleanor was to take Harriet and Ruth to Harrogate, and I knew I ought to be going back to Leeds, I woke just before dawn. Our sleeping arrangements were now that I shared the back room with Harriet, Mrs Parnaby and Ruth had my bed and Mrs Sugden had the middle room.

  Harriet was still sleeping. Mrs Sugden is an early riser, but the tread on the stairs was not hers. She has heavy footsteps, and so does Annie Parnaby. I heard the back door open. It was Ruth, probably going up the back garden to the outhouse, but I felt a stab of anxiety and went downstairs.

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Ruth had closed the backdoor. I opened it, looked out and saw that she was dressed, carrying a small knapsack, and wheeling her bike along the path. ‘Where are you going, Ruth? You know the constable’s on duty. He’s watching out in case—’

  ‘In case my father comes looking for us.’ She leaned the bike against the wall. ‘They haven’t found him.’

  ‘They will.’

  She shook her head. ‘I got out of the cellar once by hitting him with a bucket of slops. He came after me and dragged me back. I nearly got out the day I was rescued. I hit him with an old brass candlestick that was on the corner of the slab. I cut his head. There was a lot of blood. If the police haven’t found him by now, it’s because he has crawled somewhere to die, or to survive.’