‘We should do it in a public place. He won’t try anything then. But he needs to be told, Charlotte. You have to break it off with him. Don’t humiliate him, but do it quietly, in a public place.’
‘And if he gets difficult? What then?’
‘We’ll have to report it then. To the holiday camp management and to the police if we have to. But you can’t carry on like this. You should be free to leave a relationship at the time of your choosing. Nobody has a right to force you to stay.’
They sat in silence for a few minutes, both thinking over the strategy they were about to commit to. It seemed brave and audacious, an easy plan to sign up to in the comfort of a tearoom like Julian’s Pantry. They both played it out in their minds, thinking through all the ways in which Bruce might react.
‘I think these toasties have seen better days,’ Will said. ‘Shall we order some more or grab a burger further along the promenade?’
‘I don’t fancy mine any more, it looks a bit rubbery now. Shall we drink up our tea and move on?’
‘Are you going to do it, Charlotte? Are we going to try to free you from Bruce?’
Charlotte blew on her hot tea and took a gulp before answering.
‘I think I have to. It makes me feel sick just thinking about it, but I’m going to have to bite the bullet sometime. He must know it’s coming. I’ve been distant and cold, trying to send signals for days now, but he just doesn’t get the message.’
‘He gets the message alright,’ Will said. ‘He just refuses to accept it. So we’re on, yes? When we get back to the camp tonight, you’ll tell him. I’ll come with you; I’ll stand nearby so he knows I’m there. That way he can’t hurt you or threaten you. And we’ll do it in one of the bars too. Yes?’
Charlotte looked at him and saw his defiance. It gave her courage, a courage which she’d lacked so far. She had an ally now - Will made her feel stronger, made it sound as if their strategy might actually work.
It seemed so simple in that tearoom, forging a battle plan over two cold toasties and a weak pot of tea. But it was there that Charlotte resolved to be rid of Bruce Craven. Forever.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Present Day - Morecambe
Charlotte looked into Will’s face. She couldn’t believe what he was telling her.
‘That can’t be true. It’s ridiculous. Why are you saying that?’
‘It’s true, Charlotte. I’ve lived with it all these years. I can’t even begin to explain what happened. But Bruce was gone and nobody was looking for him. I just kept my mouth shut. You didn’t say anything and the police never came. I’ve lived in this no man’s land for so many years. It’s become a dull sensation now, but it’s always there, it never leaves me.
Charlotte could see from his face that he was telling the truth. But none of it made sense. Why had he never spoken about it in all those years that had passed?
‘How can that have possibly happened? I mean, I thought I’d killed him that night. Where were you? Why didn’t you help me?’
‘It’s so long ago now, but I remember every detail. Do you remember after you left the pub? It was last orders and you were cross with me and Abi. Bruce had been much quieter, so we thought it was over, even though he was playing pool in the next room at the time. I’ll always regret letting you walk back to your chalet on your own. It was such a stupid row to have.’
Charlotte was getting cold now. She zipped up her jacket. The sea front tended to catch the wind whatever the weather. But she didn’t want to move on just yet. She needed to hear everything that Will had to tell her about that night.
‘Well, we were much younger then and we’d only just started going out together. How long had we been a couple, two weeks? It can’t have been more than three.’
‘I was always convinced Abi was after you. She seemed so predatory and sexually confident. She wouldn’t leave you alone.’
‘It was only because I was helping her with her maths. And she was feeling more confident with her singing. I think she wasn’t used to men helping her without any expectation of sexual favours in return. She couldn’t compute it; I think she almost expected to have sex with me just because I was trying to help her. She had low self-esteem, I think. I wonder what happened to her. I hope she got that ‘O’ level. And I hope she did something with her singing; she was amazing.’
‘So what happened after Bruce followed me out? Did you see him?’
‘Well, it was all a bit emotionally charged that night, wasn’t it? We’d all had too much to drink. When you and I had our row, I stewed for a couple of minutes after you left the pub. And I had to sort out Abi, who was a bit worse for wear. I felt terrible letting you walk back on your own like that. But I was cross with you - you were really pissing me off with your constant accusations about Abi…’
‘They weren’t unfounded though.’
‘No, but you should have trusted me. It’s water under the bridge anyway. I was sitting in the bar, simmering in my own juices, when I caught a glimpse of Bruce moving towards the exit. At first I just assumed he’d finished his game of pool and his drink and he was calling it a night like everybody else. But after a short time I got a bad feeling. It seemed like a coincidence that you’d just left the pub and he’d followed shortly after. It didn’t seem right to me.’
A phone rang.
‘It’s not me,’ Charlotte said. ‘I lost my mobile earlier today. Well, I didn’t lose it. I know where it is, I just haven’t got it right now.’
Will felt in his pocket, took out his phone and activated the keypad.
‘It’s Olli. He says Lucia isn’t home yet and he can’t raise her on her phone. Do you think we need to call the police?’
‘What time is it?’
‘Five past six,’ Will replied. ‘School finished quite some time ago, that’s two over hours…’
‘She was really fed up with me at the school gates. She’s done this before, going off in a huff. Granted, not in Morecambe. She’s probably just gone to a Costa coffee shop to calm down a bit. Shall we leave it until seven? She’s sixteen now, I don’t want her to think we’re breathing down her neck.’
Will texted Olli.
Let us know the moment you hear from her, thx, dad x
He moved his fingers over the keyboard, opening up his messages and sending a second text, this time to Lucia.
Where are you? Let us know you’re ok pls, dad x
‘We should start to walk back,’ he said. ‘I might need to go out in the car looking for her. What have we told her about checking in with us? I thought she’d have got the hang of that by now.’
Charlotte stood up, and Will followed her lead. They began to walk slowly, back towards the guest house. Charlotte didn’t want to arrive too soon; she was desperate to hear Will’s story.
‘So what happened after Bruce left?’
‘Well, he had a head start on me. I assumed you’d gone back to your room, so I ran back there first of all. I knocked on your door, but you weren’t there and neither was Jenna. So I ran back to my chalet to see if you’d let yourself in there, but you hadn’t. And that’s when I started to panic.’
‘He’d followed me out. He headed me off before I got to the chalets and I stupidly took a turn to avoid him. It meant I was heading for the beach. When I think back to it, I reckon that’s why he moved to that area of the holiday camp. He knew I’d have to head towards the beach to avoid him. He was isolating me.’
Will squeezed Charlotte’s hand.
‘You know, Julian’s Pantry must have been around here somewhere? I can’t recall exactly where it was, but it was around here somewhere, on the other side of the road. I remember us having a rather long conversation about Bruce Craven in there, many years ago. And here we are - what is it, thirty-five years later? And we’re still discussing him.’
They walked in silence for a while, looking out over the bay at the lights shining from the Cumbrian side. The sea was rough, but nowhere near as ferocious
as it could get in a high wind.
‘As I said, I think I know what happened.’ Will said, out of the blue.
‘What?’ Charlotte asked, but she knew what he was talking about.
‘I saw Bruce lying on the beach, out cold. He came round when I walked up to him.’
‘Then you knew all about it? And you never told me?’
‘I didn’t know what to do,’ Will replied. ‘Remember, we were both just kids then.
‘I didn’t see you that night, not after I stormed out of the bar,’ Charlotte continued. ‘I was still angry with you in spite of what happened with Bruce. But I know that when I was walking through the camp, I thought that someone else was there. I was by the gas canister storage area; do you remember that? We always used to joke about it exploding and improving the look of the place.’
‘That wasn’t me,’ Will said. ‘I took the other route.’
‘You don’t think there was someone else out there that night, do you?’ A fourth person who saw what happened?’
Will stopped walking, turned and looked at her.
‘Maybe,’ he said, ‘Maybe. If there was somebody else out there, then they might have seen what happened.’
‘What did happen, Will? What did you do that night?’
‘I got there too late. I didn’t see you again. By the time I got to the beach, Bruce was out cold on the shingle.’
They walked in silence, recalling the events of that night. She felt better for having someone to share it with, after all that time. It had been agonising holding on to that terrible secret, yet Will had known all long.
‘So what happened when you checked on Bruce?’ Charlotte asked.
‘He was lying completely still,’ Will continued, ‘and the tide was getting too close for my liking. I checked that he was breathing, but I couldn’t tell.’
‘So what did you do?’ Charlotte asked. They were directly in front of the guest house now. They’d just need to cross the road and they’d be home. She didn’t want to leave it like that - she wasn’t ready to enter the house yet.
‘I didn’t want to leave him close to the water like that. I didn’t even know how he’d got there at the time. As I was checking on him, he just jumped up and started attacking me…’
‘So you saw him alive after I hit him?’
Charlotte felt an immediate gush of relief as she was released from a burden that had tormented her for more than three decades.
‘Yes, he was alive after you hit him. He was only unconscious. But he was trying to kill me, accusing me of destroying your relationship. He was so strong and I couldn’t do anything to protect myself. I was terrified.’
‘So what did you do?’
‘I did everything I could to stop him from killing me. What else could I do?’
Chapter Twenty-Three
Present Day - Morecambe
The guest house was full of activity when they walked through the door into the hallway. George was there, standing in the kitchen with Isla and Olli, all three of them laughing at something or other. And in the lounge was the gentle hubbub of happy guests. They’d found the board games that Charlotte had suggested placing in there. Two couples had paired up to play Scrabble, and the other single guest was reading quietly with her child.
‘Any sign of Lucia?’ Will asked.
‘Nothing yet,’ Olli replied. ‘But she’s alive, at least. She’s read her Facebook messages; she just isn’t answering.’
‘I brought your phone over,’ George interjected, holding it up for Charlotte. ‘You dropped it earlier. You’ve got yourself a fine young man here. I always liked you two - I hoped you’d stay together. You’ve done well; Olli here is a lovely lad.’
Olli’s face reddened. He could withstand anything but a well-meant compliment.
Charlotte took the phone and activated the screen.
‘You want to get yourself a PIN number put on that,’ George suggested. ‘A less honest person might have been tempted to pry. I didn’t of course,’ he reassured her.
‘Have you been back to the holiday camp?’ Will asked.
‘Yes,’ Charlotte replied. She wasn’t ready to go into the details yet. They still had a lot to talk about. They’d curtailed their conversation, but only in the interests of finding Lucia.
‘Well, thanks for coming round, George,’ Charlotte said, moving the conversation to safer ground. ‘I take it you got the address from the newspaper article?’
‘I certainly did!’ George smiled. ‘It’s a good little local paper you know. Nobody seems to buy it, but everybody knows what’s in it. I still buy my weekly copy, have done for years.’
‘Can I get you a cup of tea?’ Isla asked.
‘That would be delightful,’ George replied.
Bearing in mind how they’d abandoned Isla to take care of everything at the guest house, and the fact that she’d done it so ably, it seemed the least they could do to encourage a bit of age-appropriate male company for her.
‘Go through to the lounge with the guests,’ Charlotte suggested. ‘I’ll make the tea, you relax. You deserve it!’
‘What are we going to do about Lucia?’ Will asked when the others had moved out of the kitchen. Olli had made his exit, keen to get back to his homework.
‘Of all the days she has to storm off in a huff, she chooses to do it today,’ Charlotte grumbled.
‘Well, she’s not the only one to spring surprises today, is she?’ Will replied. ‘I mean, let’s face it, we’ve done a pretty good job of it on our own, haven’t we?’
‘It’s nearly seven o’clock. We said we’d call the police at seven…’
‘I can go in the car and look for her. She’s probably just walking it off.’
‘About the car. I had to leave it at the school gates. It’s why I was so late. I got wedged in by a white van man.’
Will checked his phone again, as Charlotte finished making the tea.
‘Olli’s right,’ said Will, ‘She’s reading her Facebook messages but she’s not replying. Little devil, she’s getting a punishment for this.’
‘And how are we going to punish her?’ Charlotte asked. ‘Any more than tearing her away from her school friends in Bristol, moving her to the other end of the country and dropping her into a school she doesn’t like very much? With a head teacher who’s a bit of a dick, if truth be told.’
‘Yeah, maybe we should cut her some slack on that, you’re right. I think perhaps one of us had better try for a day out with her somewhere. Find out how she’s doing. We’ve been a bit caught up with the guest house - it’s not been fair on her.’
Charlotte took the teas through to the lounge and apologised to the guests for her absence, blaming it on new business teething problems. None of them appeared to care. They were comfortable, well-fed and settled in for the evening.
‘Isla is a godsend,’ Charlotte whispered to Will as she rejoined him in the kitchen. ‘I also reckon she and George have taken a bit of a shine to each other. It’d be nice for both of them if they hit it off. It must get a bit lonely if you’ve been married for all those years and your partner dies.’
‘What are we going to do about Lucia?’ Will asked. ‘Tell me where you left the car, and I’ll go and look for her. Should we call the police?’
‘Do you think we should yet?’ Charlotte asked. ‘I mean, until we’ve finished our conversation?’ She dropped her voice further. ‘It turns out I thought I’d murdered a man, and now I discover my husband thought he’d done the same thing. Do you really think we should be getting the police round here before we’ve had a chance to think things through?’
‘But Bruce Craven left the holiday camp the following morning. He was alive, even if I couldn’t understand it – I thought I’d killed him!’ Will protested, louder than he’d meant to. There was a brief lull in the conversation in the lounge, but it picked up again soon after.
He lowered his voice.
‘Bruce Craven left the holiday camp, and nobody
was looking for him. You thought you’d killed him. I thought I’d killed him. But we both found out the next day that he walked out of that place and nobody even cared. But nobody saw him, did they? He just left a note saying he’d quit.’
‘Look at my phone,’ Charlotte said. She held it up with the Facebook message on the screen. Will took it from her and studied it closely.
‘That’s your necklace,’ he said after some time. ‘Or, at least, one that looks exactly like it. Who do you think sent this?’
‘I don’t know!’ Charlotte replied, exasperated. ‘I just don’t know, Will. But if you want to know why I’ve been so scatty this week and why I did what I did at the school gate, that’s why. It’s driving me slowly mad. It’s just like Bruce is back. He’s got his arms around me and he’s squeezing the life out of me.’
Will thought for a moment. ‘One of us should talk to Nigel Davies.’
‘What on earth about?’
‘He’s a journalist - he’ll know how to trace Bruce Craven. He was from Newcastle, wasn’t he? He should be easy enough to find, what with the internet and all that now. We’d never have found him back in the eighties. But it should be easy enough now.’
‘You know, that’s not a bad idea,’ Charlotte said. ‘At least we’d be closer to knowing who’s sending us all these messages. Maybe I can do it while you’re at work. Somebody knows what happened that night. You’re sure you never saw my necklace on the beach?’
‘I don’t remember seeing it. After our fight, I did the same as you, I panicked, went back to my room and waited for a knock at the door. The next day, I was going to hand myself in, but I didn’t have to. Bruce had gone. I thought I’d killed him that day, but I can’t have. Not if he resigned and left the holiday camp.’
Charlotte made a start on wiping down the kitchen, thinking it was about time she made some effort towards the upkeep of the guest house. After a moment, she turned to Will and took the car key out of her pocket.
‘It’s parked just to the side of the White Swan pub, opposite the school gates - just walk along a bit. You’ll see it. Hopefully that van has gone by now; you’ll never get it out if it hasn’t. I’ll call you if I hear from her. But we’ll contact the police at nine o’clock, if she hasn’t got in touch by then - yes? Are we agreed?’
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