The Forgotten Village

by Lorna Cook

  ‘Then I’ll do it,’ Veronica straightened. ‘You get Anna away, Freddie. Go. Now.’

  ‘No.’ His voice was hard. ‘I won’t allow that. I should have stopped my brother years ago. I should have stopped him tonight. This is all my fault. I’ll go to the police.’

  Veronica rushed to him, but dizziness prevented her from walking straight. ‘No,’ she said. ‘What if they don’t believe you? What if they don’t believe it was an accident?’

  As she ran into his arms, her foot made contact with something small but solid. Freddie’s lost cigarette lighter flew across the floor and landed against the wood panelling. Veronica picked it up. It was spattered with blood and she turned it over in her hands and instinctively wiped it clean. Was it Bertie’s or was it Freddie’s? Identical cigarette lighters for identical twin brothers. Only the engraved names highlighted the difference.

  She looked down at the lighter in her hand and at the wedding ring on Bertie’s finger. She realised what she had to do. Bertie had put them all through hell for years. His final act would not be to condemn one or all of them to death. The requisition order would take effect in a matter of hours. There was very little time. She felt sick at what she was about to suggest, but Veronica was sure this was the only way they would finally be free of Albert. And the only way they would all be saved.

  CHAPTER 43

  Dorset, July 2018

  Freddie’s cigarette lighter looked dull in Guy’s hands, the shine long since gone.

  ‘But …?’ Melissa trailed off, wondering how Freddie’s lighter had come to be on the body, wondering how it was that Sir Albert was in the newspaper cutting from a New Year’s Eve Party a few weeks later, wondering how he’d come to resign from parliament if he was already dead.

  Guy shook his head. ‘This makes no sense.’

  ‘I know. Punishment was different back then. I would have hung, of that I’m sure. Neither Freddie nor Veronica would let me confess to the police.’

  ‘But,’ Melissa spluttered, ‘it was self-defence, or defence of Veronica and Freddie. Something like that.’

  ‘Nowadays we’d call it something like that,’ Anna said. ‘But back then, I’m not sure it really existed. If I’d confessed, Freddie said he was going to come forward to confess too and so did Veronica. But if we had, well, one of us would have hung, if not all of us.’

  Melissa gulped and put her hand to her throat.

  ‘We stood, discussing who would confess for so long that we were in danger of being found out. The requisition deadline loomed. The army was preparing to fence off the house and village. As the landowner, Sir Albert was expected to say a few words to the villagers. We had to move fast. We were all in shock. It wasn’t what any of us wanted, a man’s death and a body to hide. I’m not at all proud of what happened. I wanted to tell the truth.’

  ‘So Freddie—?’ Melissa asked as realisation dawned.

  ‘Freddie pretended to be Bertie.’ Anna looked down in her lap. ‘He swapped his lighter and cigarette case for Bertie’s and he removed Bertie’s wedding ring and wore it. It’s not what he wanted for the rest of his life, but he did it. He said that no one would miss good-for-nothing Freddie Standish. But if Bertie suddenly went missing, an MP no less, then questions would be asked and a hunt would begin. It was easier this way.

  ‘None of the villagers had seen Freddie there on that last night. No one even noticed when Freddie wasn’t there, ostensibly, that last morning. It wasn’t even mentioned. People were too wrapped up in being evicted. But “Bertie” was there. “Bertie” gave the final address to the villagers. “Bertie” and Veronica left. No one ever mentioned Freddie again,’ Anna finished.

  ‘I can’t believe it’s so neat and tidy,’ Guy said. ‘For something so mind-bogglingly awful.’ He looked at Anna and his elderly, frail grandmother looked back at him.

  ‘I killed a man when I was seventeen, Guy,’ Anna said between rasping breaths. ‘He was the devil. But it was an accident. I’ve had to live with it ever since. And I’ve kept Veronica and Freddie’s escape a secret too. I never told anyone. Not even your grandfather.’ Anna nodded to Guy.

  ‘But why were you expected to go back? Why was it you who took the key? Why not them?’ Melissa asked. ‘Why not Veronica and Freddie?’

  ‘I volunteered. It was all my fault. My mother and father were only moving a few miles away and even though I was signing up to do my bit in the war I’d be closest to Tyneham when the war was over, when we were told we’d be able to move back. My brother William had plans to return home and continue farming after the war had ended. He knew what Sir Albert was like. And I knew I could trust him to help me when the time came to move the body. Veronica and Freddie left the area. They had to. They tried to live a normal life, but they couldn’t do it around people they knew. The picture you showed me of them at the New Year’s Eve ball in 1944 amazed me. Such a risk. I think they must have realised that soon after,’ Anna said. ‘Tough for Freddie to play the role of Albert in public. It must have been hard for them both.’

  ‘So a few weeks later Albert stood down as an MP. I mean, Freddie stood down.’ Guy blinked, clearly still getting his head around it all.

  ‘And then they were never seen again,’ Melissa said.

  Anna nodded. ‘I assume they were scared. I assume they changed their names if you couldn’t find any records of them. Easy to do in the war. Paperwork was atrocious. They moved around a bit, judging by the locations of the postcards, which I received periodically from various locations. They were presumably just to let me know she was fine. I knew they were from her, even though there were never any words. Other than just one.’

  ‘Thank you — For everything,’ Guy recalled Veronica’s words on the postcard.

  ‘Yes, that one. That was the only one she risked with any writing. I think they must have suffered, long after. People accused Freddie of being the reprobate brother for most of his life, but he was the best of men. He moved his brother’s body. They’d never had a good relationship. Bertie had bullied him since childhood from what I could gather. But I would imagine hiding his own twin brother’s body would have had some sort of lasting effect on poor Freddie. And then they were permanently running, keeping away from anyone, wondering if anyone might ever notice the swap.’

  ‘Well I never.’ Guy shook his head.

  ‘So if anyone ever did find the body, they’d think it was Freddie?’ Melissa clarified. She thought she just about understood all of this.

  ‘As we did,’ Guy confirmed.

  Anna coughed hard and reached for her mask. Eventually she said, ‘Bertie, as an MP and gentry, could have bought himself out of any situation that arose. The body of Freddie Standish would have been discreetly forgotten about.’

  ‘Their being identical twins explains why the guide Reg and his brother swore blind that Veronica was in the beach hut with her husband,’ Guy said.

  ‘And why they were so confused as to how Sir Albert was in their house at the same time. Frightening their mother. It was his twin brother, Freddie, down at the hut the whole time.’

  ‘Very few of us knew Freddie before, remember. He’d left years ago. It was easy for the villagers to forget a man who was of no real significance anymore. He just faded from memory. My brother William knew him. But they were a different class and didn’t communicate often after Freddie left the village originally, as men often don’t. They grow up and move on. And confidences between William and his friends weren’t shared between he and I. Although he did try his hardest to help get Veronica out when I asked him to.’

  ‘Sir Albert never mentioned his brother?’ Guy asked. ‘Never talked about his twin?’

  Anna nodded. ‘Not to me. I was just a servant. And Sir Albert categorically did not socialise with the villagers. Always thought he was better. The older ones would have remembered Freddie, I’m sure. But he was never mentioned in everyday conversation in Tyneham House. The hate ran that deep with Sir Albert. There were never fam
ily photographs out. Just old family portraits of generations of long-forgotten Standishes. Freddie had been removed. I never knew about him until he arrived before the requisition.’

  ‘Come on now. Let Mrs Cameron rest.’ A nurse wandered over and put her hand gently on Melissa’s shoulder. ‘You know it’s not visiting time yet and you can see she’s tired.’

  Guy stood and looked down at Anna. ‘I’m sorry, Gran,’ he said when the nurse had left.

  ‘Why are you sorry?’ she asked. ‘I should have told you when you started asking questions, but I wanted to protect Veronica and Freddie, as much as myself. I don’t know if they are alive now or not. They were much older than me, so I think probably not. The postcards stopped in the seventies, so maybe one or both of them passed away as old age encroached. And if they changed their names, well, I like to think they were all right until the end. Happy together and finally free from Bertie.’

  ‘Me too,’ Melissa said. ‘She managed to be with the man she really loved. And who loved her. That was all I wanted for her – the woman in the photograph who looked so frightened.’

  Anna smiled at Melissa. A moment of understanding passed between them before Melissa excused herself to attend her X-ray appointment.

  ‘I’m sorry that I’ve upset you,’ Guy said to his gran once Melissa had left. ‘Because I kept on. Because you did something to save someone.’

  ‘And it resulted in rather a mess,’ Anna said. ‘Guy, what are you going to do?’ Anna spoke quietly.

  ‘Do?’

  ‘About what you’ve found. About what I’ve told you.’ Her voice was calm.

  Guy rubbed his mouth with his hand. He thought of all the things he should do. All the right things to do. And he knew what path he would take.

  ‘Nothing. I’m not going to do anything. What good would it do?’ He shrugged. Guy reached down to take Anna’s hand. ‘Gran, I love you. I’m so sorry all this has come out now. I’m so sorry I forced all this out. I’m sorry I wouldn’t let it rest.’

  ‘Darling, I’m glad, really,’ she said. ‘It was time. I’ve never felt so light.’

  ‘We’ll work out a plan, Melissa and I. Maybe we’ll go back, sneak in, and bury him properly. Hide Bertie’s body forever.’

  Anna winced. ‘Don’t do anything. It’s not your burden. It was always mine.’ She squeezed Guy’s hand. He was aware how fragile her hand felt against his. ‘Guy, I’m very proud of you. Everything you’ve achieved. The man you’ve become. You do know that don’t you?’

  A tear struck the very corner of his eye and he brushed it away and swallowed. ‘Of course.’ Guy gave his grandmother a gentle hug and kissed her on her forehead. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ he said. ‘And Gran? Don’t worry, will you? We’ll sort this.’

  Anna nodded. ‘Now run after that lovely girl.’

  When Guy had left, the nurse returned and gave Anna a smile. ‘He’s a lovely chap, your grandson.’

  ‘He is.’ Anna gave the nurse a determined look. ‘Do you still have those payphones on wheels?’

  The nurse gave her a curious glance and nodded.

  ‘Would you fetch me one please, I should like to make a telephone call.’

  CHAPTER 44

  ‘Melissa Turner?’ the radiographer called and Melissa withdrew her head from where it had been resting on Guy’s shoulder. She gave him a look that she hoped conveyed love and sympathy for the dilemma he was now in and stood up to follow the clinician. Guy gave her a thin smile and then closed his eyes, resting his head back on the wall.

  Melissa’s head was spinning. What on earth were they going to do about Bertie’s body? Guy was right. Leaving it there wasn’t really an option. Guy had explained the conversation he’d just had with Anna. Melissa had agreed with him. They needed to work out how best to move forward while still protecting Anna.

  ‘You’re a very lucky woman.’ The radiographer’s voice snapped Melissa from her thoughts. ‘The nurse who triaged you was under the impression you’d broken almost all of your ribs on one side, but actually you’ve only broken two of them and nothing appears out of place or moving dangerously towards your organs.’

  The radiographer was matter-of-fact and it was just what Melissa needed. Along with some more painkillers.

  ‘How did you hurt yourself?’ the radiographer asked as Melissa moved to leave.

  ‘I fell down some stairs.’ It wasn’t strictly a lie.

  Guy looked like death as he drove them back to the hotel. His face was ashen and his hair a mess. They were both still covered in dust and there was a cobweb in Guy’s hair. What must the hospital staff have thought?

  Neither of them spoke on the return journey and the desolate silence continued as they walked through the hotel, attracting raised eyebrows from the girl behind the reception desk as they passed her. She had a copy of this morning’s newspaper open at the story about Guy and she gave Melissa a dirty look.

  When they were both clean and freshly dressed, Melissa opened a window and breathed in the fresh smell of grass. There was something about a rainstorm that she loved. It made everything clean and new again.

  Guy poured them both a stiff drink from the minibar and when they’d finished they stared into the distance, holding each other on the sofa in his suite until they eventually drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms.

  Guy’s phone rang on the coffee table in front of the sofa and they woke with a start. The sun was already up, but in the height of summer that could mean it was anytime from 5 a.m. onwards. Melissa moved as fast as her sore ribs made possible to allow Guy to lean forward. As she blinked into the sunlight, she glanced around for the painkillers.

  Guy coughed, his voice gravelly as he answered, ‘Hi, Mum. What time is it?’ He glanced at his watch and, obviously seeing the earliness of the hour, sat up straight. ‘What’s wrong?’

  Melissa rubbed her eyes and looked on. The phone call didn’t sound good.

  ‘Shit. No.’ Guy ran his hand through his hair and was silent while he waited for his mum to speak. ‘Oh God.’ His voice was strained. ‘Okay. Don’t worry. I’ll be there as soon as I can.’ He said goodbye and hung up. His face was worry-stricken.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Melissa asked.

  ‘It’s Gran.’ Guy stood up. ‘She’s taken a turn for the worse. Mum’s been called in to the hospital. My dad’s on his way down from London.’

  Melissa stood and reached out to touch his arm. ‘Oh no. Oh, Guy. You should go. Quickly.’

  Guy looked around the room as if he’d lost something, then put his hand to his forehead. His eyes were wide and he looked as if he was descending into shock.

  Melissa grabbed Guy’s car keys from the side table by the hotel room door. ‘Come on,’ she said.

  Guy and Melissa walked at speed through the hospital corridors. He was holding Melissa’s hand tightly and her other one was clutching her ribs.

  Guy caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye and slowed down. ‘I’m dragging you. I’m sorry. Are you okay?’

  ‘I’m fine.’ She gave his hand a squeeze.

  When they stepped out of the lift and turned towards the entrance doors to the ward, there were two uniformed police officers chatting outside, waiting to be admitted.

  ‘The nurse said this Mrs Cameron’s some relative of that posh historian off the telly. That Guy Cameron,’ the first officer said. Melissa stopped dead when she heard the words.

  ‘Oh, my wife loves him. Remind me to get a picture with him if he’s here and if this all turns out to be a wind-up.’

  They looked up and spotted Guy and Melissa standing still about ten feet away. Melissa wasn’t sure why, but her first instinct was to run and to pull Guy back safely with her.

  ‘Keep going,’ Guy hissed to Melissa and she started up again towards the doors. ‘Excuse me,’ Guy said as he reached past the officers and pushed the buzzer to the ward. It was only 7 a.m. and the doors were usually open by now.

  Guy gave the officers a t
hin smile and turned back towards Melissa. He clenched his jaw as he looked at her with a worried expression.

  ‘It’ll be okay,’ Melissa mouthed, although even she wasn’t sure at this point if any of this would be okay. What were the police doing here?

  ‘Er, Guy Cameron, isn’t it?’ the first police officer asked. ‘Recognise you off the telly.’

  Guy turned around, jaw still clenched, and nodded.

  The officers introduced themselves. Guy didn’t introduce Melissa and she felt as if he was almost trying to push her protectively behind him, but she stood her ground.

  ‘Well, this is a strange one, I’ll admit,’ the second officer ventured. ‘Not had anything quite like this before, I don’t mind saying.’

  ‘Like what?’ Melissa asked.

  ‘And you are?’

  Melissa introduced herself and Guy moved forward to push the buzzer again, pointedly ignoring the officers.

  ‘They just asked us over the intercom to wait outside for a while. Some kind of emergency inside,’ the first officer said. ‘Shouldn’t be too long.’

  ‘Right.’ Guy gave his thin smile again and stood near the door, beckoning Melissa over by holding out his hand for her.

  ‘I think we’re actually here to see someone related to you.’

  Shit. Melissa looked up at Guy and he exhaled loudly.

  ‘Okay,’ Guy said. ‘What about?’

  ‘Well, I think we’ll speak to her privately first and then I’m sure she’ll tell you,’ the first officer said.

  ‘If it’s not a massive wind-up,’ the second officer said under his breath.

  A harassed-looking nurse opened the door. ‘Gentlemen, I’m sorry to say there’s no point …’ She trailed off when her eyes flicked from the uniformed officers towards Guy and Melissa. ‘Mr Cameron. Please, step inside. I’m afraid I need to talk to you.’

  The officers looked uncomfortable and drifted into the ward’s entrance to await further information. They raised their eyes to the nurse, who gave them a very small shake of her head that Guy missed, but Melissa caught.