Cinnamon Gardens

by Anna Jacobs

  ‘An invitation to tea would please her, even if she couldn’t come. It must be dreadful not to have met your own grandchild.’ She cast a fond glance in Millie’s direction.

  ‘I’ll think about it a while longer. I have some tests coming up at tech, so I need to concentrate on those for the moment.’

  But she was making excuses, Janey admitted to herself later, anything to delay phoning her mother.

  Who knew where getting together again would lead? Or not lead? Which might be worse.

  The next day when she was walking home from tech, Janey began to feel uneasy, as if someone was staring at her. She stopped, pretending to adjust Millie’s clothing and sneaking a glance or two round, but couldn’t see anyone obvious.

  She stopped again just before she turned into Peppercorn Street, but couldn’t see anything. There was no one in the cars parked along the street, and other vehicles driving past didn’t reappear. So she turned into the street.

  The feeling of being followed grew so strong she didn’t dare continue up the hill to her new home, because there was no one about. She hesitated, then turned into the car park of the building where she had lived before and rang her landlord’s doorbell. She thought Kieran and Nicole were back from their honeymoon but wasn’t sure.

  It was Nicole’s son Paul who answered.

  ‘Is Kieran around?’

  ‘They’re not back yet, won’t be till the weekend. There’s just me at the moment.’

  ‘Oh. Well I won’t bother you, then.’ But she couldn’t help glancing over her shoulder.

  ‘You look worried about something. Can I help?’

  She hesitated, then explained the feeling she had.

  ‘Why don’t you come inside for a few moments? We can keep an eye on the street from the living room.’

  She glanced at her watch. ‘I need to get home so that I can put stuff in the freezer, not to mention feeding her little ladyship.’

  ‘Well, how about I follow you and see if I can spot anyone?’

  ‘I couldn’t ask you to do that.’

  ‘You didn’t ask; I suggested it. Do you have any idea who it might be?’

  ‘The only person I can think of is my father, only he has a court order saying not to come near me.’

  Paul’s expression was suddenly very sympathetic. ‘Hard luck, isn’t it, having a dodgy relative?’

  He’d understand better than anyone because of his brother. ‘Well … if you don’t mind, perhaps you could follow me. But don’t take any chances. My father can get violent. If you come to my house, I’ll reward you with a piece of Auntie Winnie’s cake. She makes the best cakes in town.’

  ‘You’re on. You’re at number 5 now, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yes.’ She set off again, and sure enough, she had a prickling sensation in her neck as soon as she turned onto the street again. That was so strange. How could you sense you were being followed? It was more than that: she felt threatened, as if whoever was following her didn’t mean well, she really did.

  She was sure it wasn’t her imagination. Could her father really be coming after her again? Oh, she prayed not! He was so big and violent, and apart from being afraid for herself, she didn’t want to draw the attention of a man like him to Auntie Winnie’s house. Did he know exactly where she’d moved to? She hoped not.

  If she had any sort of proof that he was following her, she’d report him to the police straight away.

  She walked on up the street, moving slowly, as Paul had suggested, pushing the buggy, which held not only her daughter but some shopping.

  When she got near the house, she slowed down, and since she still felt uneasy, she decided to turn down the narrow pedestrian passageway beside it. That led to the next street but she was able to stop where the path curved and look back at Peppercorn Street through the foliage of a bush that was about to come into flower.

  She could see most of the turning circle at the top of the street and recognised the cars that were parked there. A woman she knew by sight passed the end of the passage. She’d be going into the house two doors away.

  Was it safe to go back home or not?

  Then Janey heard a car start up further down the street and she leant forward a little, keeping the buggy behind her. But she couldn’t see anything and once it had driven away everything was silent again, except for the noise of distant traffic.

  Millie made a fretful noise.

  Janey knew she couldn’t stay here all day: she had a baby to feed, but she still waited a few minutes before going back to the street. She stopped at the end of the path to stare round. There were only a few cars and commercial vehicles parked nearby at this time of day and none of them had people sitting in them. What’s more, she no longer had that uneasy feeling.

  Could you really tell if someone was following you and wanting to do you harm? Or was she imagining things?

  Sighing, she went into the house.

  She didn’t say anything to Auntie Winnie about being followed, but started putting the shopping away, expecting Paul to knock on the door at any moment. Only he didn’t.

  Had he gone back home? Was he still following someone? She should have given him her mobile phone number.

  It was nearly half an hour before the doorbell rang. ‘I’ll get that,’ she called.

  The minute she looked at Paul’s face, she knew he’d seen something. ‘Come in.’

  She introduced him to Auntie Winnie, who produced the current cake and then winked at Janey and said she was going out to sit out in the garden, since it was such a lovely sunny evening.

  The minute the old lady had left them alone, Paul said, ‘There did seem to be someone following you. In a pale-blue van. What kind of car does your father have?’

  ‘Not a van, an old red Ford.’

  ‘There were two men inside this one. Do you have a photo of your father?’

  ‘Yes. It’ll take me a minute to find it, though. It’s not something I keep on show. I’d have thrown it away but my granddad is in the photo too.’

  ‘You go and look for it. I’ll keep an eye on Miss Millie here.’

  When Janey came back with the photo, she held it out to him and pointed out her father, standing with his belly hanging over his trousers as usual and his face unsmiling. Ugh, he was such an ugly man, as well as cruel.

  How could she and her lovely Millie be descended from him? She hated the thought.

  She couldn’t imagine what her meek little mother could have done to make him violent towards his wife. And if he had been, he’d thumped her mother when Janey wasn’t around. She knew from her own experience there was nothing you could do to stop him once he started to hit you or threaten you.

  Something inside Janey eased at that realisation about her mother’s situation. She had, she decided, been looking at the situation with a hurt child’s eyes. Now, she too had experienced abuse and she could, she hoped, be more understanding. She looked at her companion. Had he seen her father or not?

  Paul studied the photo, frowning. ‘Your father could have been one of the men in the car, but I couldn’t see them well enough to be certain. They kept the sun visors lowered and they were wearing baseball caps with the peaks pulled down. It’s a definite possibility, though. The smaller guy took his cap off once to wipe his forehead so I saw him more clearly. He was a big man, bald with a little fringe of straggly grey hair and spectacles.’

  ‘That could be my father’s cousin. Only I don’t have a photo of him.’

  ‘The reason I was late was that they stopped down the street outside our block of flats and didn’t move on for ages. I stayed further up the street watching them. I think they must have been waiting for you to come back. Perhaps they don’t know you’ve moved. I certainly won’t tell anyone where you live.’

  Her stomach lurched as this information sank in. Surely it wasn’t going to start all over again? Surely her father wasn’t going to stalk her as his friend once had?

  ‘I got the number on their
licence plate and took a photo of the car, but I didn’t dare get close enough to take a good photo of the men inside it, unfortunately.’

  ‘I wouldn’t have wanted you to risk anything. Thank you for helping me today.’ She cut him a big slice of cake. ‘Shall I make you some coffee? How do you like it?’

  ‘White, no sugar, please. Why don’t you phone me when you next start walking up the street? If I’m at home, I can let you into the flats and you can go out through the backyard and up the next street. So they’ll still think you live there. I might even be able to get a photo of them, if it’s the same two guys.’

  ‘I can’t ask you to do that.’

  Paul grinned at her. ‘Again, you didn’t ask; I offered. I think Kieran and Mum will be happy to help you too, once they get back. You won’t mind if I tell them?’

  ‘No, of course not.’

  He chewed his lip for a moment, then added, ‘I do understand what it’s like, Janey. We had trouble with my brother and he kept following my mother. He damaged the house and her car, and attacked other people too. He was on massive doses of steroids because he wanted big muscles, but the drugs made him go strange in the head as well as giving him bigger muscles. In the end he burned our house down and he’s in a psychiatric hospital now.’

  ‘I knew about that vaguely, but I was too wrapped up in my own troubles at the time to take in details of anyone else’s problems.’

  ‘And now your troubles have come back again.’ His voice was warmly sympathetic. ‘It’s not fair, is it?’

  ‘Or I could be mistaken.’

  ‘Unfortunately I do think they were looking for you.’

  She sighed, then changed the subject and they chatted for a while. Though Paul was a little younger than her, he seemed very mature for his age and he was easy to talk to. When he invited her to come down for a coffee one evening, she was tempted to say yes.

  ‘I’d have liked to, but I have Millie to look after and … well, I don’t like going out on my own at night. You could come round here again, though. I have my own sitting room. I don’t have many friends nearby.’

  ‘I don’t, either. And some of the people from school stay clear of me since my brother was locked away. I’m not at all like him, but how do you prove it?’

  ‘You just keep going as best you can.’

  He smiled sympathetically. ‘Like you did with Millie?’

  ‘Yes. As I said before, one step at a time.’

  When he left, she stood at the door for a few moments, enjoying the evening sunlight on her face, then took Millie out into the back garden. She didn’t know what she’d do without this buggy. It was so manoeuvrable. It was quite old and a bit battered, but she was hoping it would last through her daughter’s toddler years.

  She parked it on the garden path and sat on the grass next to Auntie Winnie for a few minutes, discussing the garden-sharing project, a sure way of bringing a smile to the old lady’s face.

  ‘Dan phoned while you were out, Janey. He’s booked a room at the senior citizens’ centre for a meeting and put up notices. And the local newspaper ran a story on it. I’m going to take a taxi to the meeting and talk to the people who turn up wanting to share, see if I like them.’

  ‘It’s such a good idea. And just think: you’ll get a share of whatever they grow. Didn’t Dawn say you’d get a quarter?’

  ‘She did. And our family gardener used to say we had good soil. But we will use the vegetables, you and I, not just me.’ She looked round at the untidy bushes and weed-filled garden beds. ‘I must say, I’d be very glad to have this place tidied up. It’s far too big for me, or for anyone in these busy modern times.’

  ‘All the houses at this end of the street have bigger than average gardens, especially Mr Denning’s.’

  ‘Angus has about two acres, I think. He’s let most of it get overgrown. His family used to have a full-time gardener when old Mr Jordan was there. Strange how the house has come back to a Denning, isn’t it? They were the first family to live there.’

  ‘It must be lovely to know about your ancestors. My parents wouldn’t ever talk about theirs.’

  ‘And when Mr Jordan’s niece inherited Dennings, she had part-time help with the garden. The other side of the house always looked truly beautiful, with a fountain and statuary.’

  ‘You can’t see it from the road. I’ve walked past the perimeter wall a few times with this young lady and wondered what was on the other side of the wall.’

  ‘I’ll ask Angus if I can take you round the garden one day, if you like.’

  ‘I can’t poke my nose in like that!’

  Winifred gave her a smug smile. ‘One of the benefits of being very old is that you can do all sorts of things you’d not have dared to before. I’ll ask him, of course, but I’m sure he won’t mind.’ She studied the bare earth area where the summer house had stood. ‘The man Dan found me did a good job of clearing up the mess, didn’t he?’

  ‘Yes. You must miss the summer house.’

  ‘I do. It had fond memories for me. But I’ve still got the memories, haven’t I?’ She tapped her forehead, then sighed. ‘I do hope whoever it was won’t try anything else nasty. I’m not going to sell this house, whatever they offer me. I want to stay here till I die.’

  Janey shivered. ‘Don’t talk about dying.’

  Winifred patted her hand. ‘It’s part of the cycle of life, dear. No one can avoid it, but your generation tries to pretend it doesn’t exist. When I die, which I hope won’t be for years, you must accept that this happens to everyone. I’ve already lived longer than my parents did, so I haven’t done badly in the lottery of life, have I?’

  Janey gave the old lady a hug. ‘Don’t die yet! I’ve only just found you. Now, I must get tea started. I hope you like my cooking.’

  ‘My turn tomorrow. I enjoy cooking and it’s wonderful to look forward to sharing a meal. What with you, and my friends Hazel and Dan, I’m never short of company for long these days.’

  Cooking and eating tea was something to look forward to? Janey shook her head as she took Millie back into the house. How many years had poor Auntie Winnie been so achingly lonely? She’d had a few months of that herself and had missed having people to talk to. Even her mother had sometimes chatted when her father was out.

  When she went into the house Janey saw something white on the hall floor. Someone must have pushed an envelope through the door. She picked it up and saw that it was addressed to ‘Miss Parfitt’. She put it on the kitchen table.

  When Auntie Winnie came in, she opened the envelope and sighed. ‘They won’t let up.’

  ‘Who won’t?’

  ‘These people who want to buy my house. Look. It’s from an estate agency.’

  Janey took the letter and read it. ‘It doesn’t look like a mass mailing. It’s addressed to you specifically and it mentions “other letters” and “sorry to hear you’ve been targeted by vandals, hope this doesn’t go on”. I think we should keep it. Perhaps show it to the police.’

  Winifred took it from her and read it again. ‘There’s nothing one could object to.’

  ‘No. But how do these people know what you’re doing? It won’t hurt to show it to the police, will it?’

  ‘If you think it best.’

  ‘I do. We can’t be too careful after the scares you’ve had.’

  Winifred looked at her in dismay. ‘Do you think they’ll come back and do something else?’

  ‘I don’t know. But we may as well take precautions.’

  ‘I suppose so.’

  Unfortunately the letter, innocuous as it seemed, had worried the old lady and it was a while before Janey managed to cheer her up.

  Chapter Twelve

  When Nell woke up, she couldn’t for a moment think where she was, then it all came rushing back to her. She’d spent the night with Angus. He wasn’t in the bed with her, but the pillow still held the indent of his head.

  She got up and peered into the next room, which w
as his living room. He wasn’t there, either.

  Hearing sounds from beyond it, she followed them into his office. She had to call his name to get his attention, then he held up one hand, entered something on the computer and swung his chair round to smile at her.

  ‘Hello, sleepyhead. Awake at last.’

  ‘I’ve not slept so soundly since I arrived in England.’

  He came across to give her a kiss on either cheek. ‘Go and have a shower and I’ll join you in about ten minutes. I just need to finish this bit.’ He was back at work before she’d even left the room.

  She took a quick shower, then went to make some coffee. He came into the kitchen just as she was sipping a beaker of instant and she couldn’t help smiling at him. ‘Nice coffee, for instant. My eldest son is a coffee aficionado and makes a big fuss about brewing his morning cup.’

  ‘I couldn’t be bothered with all that fuss.’

  ‘Me neither. There’s some hot water in the kettle if you’re ready for a drink.’

  She was surprised that she didn’t feel at all awkward with him, kept being surprised by how easy he was to get on with. ‘Perhaps I should go home and leave you to work. I have to arrange for that estate agent to come round.’

  ‘I’d like to be there when he does to keep an eye on him.’

  ‘Yes, please.’

  He held out his mobile phone. ‘Give him a ring now. His number’s programmed in.’

  She let him make the connection, then took over the call and arranged for Grant Jeffries to come round to see her that afternoon. ‘Two o’clock?’ She looked at Angus and he nodded.

  When she’d ended the call, he said, ‘I’m glad you’re letting me help you. It’s always good to have a witness to important transactions. And few things are more important than selling a house.’

  ‘Yes. But we have another important transaction to conduct first.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘Yes. We need to go and look at cars. You know you can’t manage without one.’

  He gave her a resigned look. ‘No. I suppose not.’ Then he brightened up. ‘But if you’re moving in with me, you could lend me your car occasionally.’