Payment Due

by Penny Jordan

  ‘He doesn’t like me,’ Tania told her stiffly, fiddling with an empty box and refusing to look directly at Ann. ‘I expect he considers me an outsider…a trouble-maker.’

  Ann looked unhappily at her.

  ‘No, I’m sure you’re wrong. Once Nicholas has talked to him…’

  ‘It hasn’t made any difference. He still believes that Nicholas is my lover.’ She took a shaky breath and disclosed flatly, ‘He even made a snide remark about Lucy, about her birth and the fact that I wasn’t married. I was eighteen when she was born,’ she told Ann fiercely. ‘Eighteen, that’s all.’

  To her chagrin, she discovered that her throat was clogged with tears.

  ‘Don’t let it upset you,’ Ann comforted her. ‘I’m sure he didn’t mean it, and as for him threatening you… I’m sure he just spoke in the heat of the moment—’

  She broke off as a customer walked into the shop, quickly followed by two more, glancing at her watch and saying she must leave.

  Thanking her for her support, Tania turned to serve the newcomers.

  Ann might think that James Warren was the best thing since sliced bread, but she didn’t share her view. Without him to support her, she suspected that Clarissa would very quickly have accepted Nicholas’s admission that they were not lovers.

  Stop thinking about it, she chided herself firmly. You’ve got work to do.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  TANIA certainly had plenty to keep her busy, and it was six o’clock before she finally managed to close the door behind her last customer.

  Wearily picking up the discarded stock and returning it to its boxes, she decided that she’d better go round to the Fieldings’ and collect Lucy before she fell asleep standing up.

  She had never felt so tired in her life, but it was a grateful exhaustion that came from the realisation that her sales for the day were going to far exceed her expectations.

  She could not hope for business to continue like this, of course, but it was a good start, and with another week to go before all the children were finally back at school she could at least hope for a certain amount of continuing sales.

  Once they were back at school there would be a lull, of course, but hopefully only a short one, with Christmas not so very far away.

  She thought of all the bright, shiny wellingtons she had ordered, the snow boots and waterproofs, the pretty dancing shoes and the sturdy outdoor wear, and as she locked the shop door and hurried down towards the Fieldings’ shop she found she was mentally planning her pre-Christmas window display.

  On the way home she tried to concentrate on Lucy’s bright chatter but discovered that her thoughts were returning time and time again to the altercation in the shop and the cold, biting look James had given her.

  Ridiculous to feel so apprehensive. What, after all, could he do? Publicly denounce her as a husband-stealer? Who in this day and age would care? All that would achieve would be to give rise to a good deal of speculation and gossip of a type which would surely be as painful and unwelcome to Clarissa as it would be to her.

  So what else could he do? Damage her business? She shivered, and hugged her jacket more firmly around her. She must tell Nicholas that he had to find a way of convincing not only Clarissa but James as well that he had lied, but would he do so? He had promised her once already that he would put things right but so far…

  Because she had known that she would have to spend most of the evening engaged in doing her accounts, she had hired a video of one of Lucy’s favourite films, and as soon as supper was over Ann brought Susan round to share the treat, firmly announcing that she wasn’t stopping since she knew that Tania had work to do.

  ‘If you’re still worrying about James, don’t,’ she advised Tania before she left. ‘He’ll soon come to realise that you aren’t the type to become involved with someone else’s man. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman who is so scrupulously uninterested in the male sex,’ she added thoughtfully. ‘I’m not trying to pry, Tania, but if you could perhaps approach James yourself and explain…’

  ‘No,’ Tania told her fiercely. ‘It’s no good. He wouldn’t believe me. Anyway, I don’t even know where he lives or—’

  ‘That’s easy. He has a beautiful house just outside town. It overlooks the river, and it’s one of the most serene houses I’ve ever seen. You’ll probably have passed it.’

  When she described where it was, Tania realised that it was the house she had seen on their walk. She had envied its owners then without knowing their identity. It seemed so unfair, she reflected acidly now, that when both Clarissa and James had so much they should not be content, more than content. Clarissa on her own she could probably have handled, but James… He intimidated her, she recognised, but not exactly on a personal level. She still couldn’t entirely banish that traitorous knowledge that she had looked at him, if only for a second, and wondered about him as a man, but she was afraid of his power; of his ability to destroy her business and with it the new life she wanted so much for Lucy. It seemed so unfair, so…so stupid. He was apparently an intelligent man. Surely he could see that Nicholas adored Clarissa?

  ‘It was only a thought,’ Ann told her gently. ‘I’ll come back for Susie about nine, if that’s OK with you?’

  By nine o’clock, her body tense with concentration, Tania knew that financially the day had been an outstanding success. She would need to reorder certain very popular lines and it would be several weeks before she was able to assess which lines she needed to carry on a permanent basis and which could be discarded, but she was pleased to be able to cautiously note that her own instincts on which shoes would most appeal to her customers had been proved right.

  An hour later, having said goodbye to Ann and put Lucy to bed, she acknowledged that she could do with an early night herself. Physically she was exhausted, but mentally…

  Mentally she was far too unpleasantly alert, as she discovered once she was actually in bed, but it wasn’t a happy alertness. Over and over again, her thoughts kept returning to Clarissa Forbes…and not just to Clarissa but to James as well.

  Nicholas had no right, no right at all to involve her in his marital problems, and added to her irritation against him was a growing sense of injustice, of having been used without any thought being given to the possible consequences of his actions.

  She was, she discovered, fast going from a lukewarm liking of him to a growing feeling that he was essentially a rather weak character, who had probably contributed as much to his own marital problems as had his wife.

  He claimed that Clarissa always put her brother first, that he as her husband was always pushed into second place, but Clarissa obviously loved him. Otherwise, why should she be so determined to hang on to him? The pair of them wanted their heads banging together, she thought tiredly as she tried to court sleep. Thank goodness tomorrow was Sunday and she could have a relaxing day.

  She was drifting off to sleep when she heard the sharp, splintering sound of breaking glass, followed by the shrill wail of her newly installed alarm. Immediately she was out of bed, rushing over to the window, just in time to see someone running away.

  Too angry to think of caution, she pulled on her dressing-gown and ran downstairs, unlocking the door through into the shop area and switching on the lights.

  The front of the shop was covered in shards of glass; the alarm was still wailing frantically, and she could see a gaping hole right in the front of her window, where not only was the glass smashed but the actual frame had been damaged as well.

  Shock had now caught hold of her, and she stood dizzily staring at the window, pushing one hand into her hair as she tried to get her brain to work. The sound of the alarm was jangling her already over-stretched nerves, destroying her ability to think logically.

  The alarm was connected directly with the police station. Did that mean that they would come out or ought she to telephone? And what if the noise of the alarm woke Lucy and frightened her? She ought to go upstairs and
check but, if she left the shop, might not whoever had broken the window come back? The sound of the alarm had obviously frightened them off. She had no idea yet if any stock was actually missing from the window, but she remembered nervously that her takings for the day were upstairs in her living-room, albeit locked away in a secure cash-box, but even so… In future she would make sure she banked every day’s takings in her local bank’s night safe. She dreaded to think what might have happened if she hadn’t had that alarm…if the thieves had broken in upstairs…

  She was shivering, she discovered, trembling with reaction and weakness.

  She heard a car driving down the road and instinctively tensed, only to relax as she recognised the familiar colour and insignia of a police patrol car.

  As the driver got out, frowning as he surveyed the damage, she stepped forward automatically, but he saw her and waved her back.

  ‘You haven’t got any shoes on,’ he reminded her through the broken window, ‘and the floor’s covered in glass. Is there another way I can come in?’

  Shakily Tania directed him to the back door and went to open it for him.

  ‘What happened?’ he asked her once he was inside.

  Briefly she told him how she had been woken up by the sound of breaking glass and had only managed to see someone running away.

  ‘It was probably just vandals,’ she commented, sighing a little as she remembered the iron grilles that had been such a familiar feature of the small parade of shops near her old flat. She had come here to escape from that kind of thing. To live more freely, more safely, more healthily.

  ‘Mm…could be, although it isn’t the kind of thing we normally get happening round here. Pub brawls, teenage scuffles now and again, the odd bit of trouble here and there…but smashing shop windows… Just as well you’d got that alarm.’

  ‘Yes. My insurance company insisted on it. As you say, just as well.’

  ‘Mm…Well, you won’t have had time to see if anything’s missing yet… Only just opened, haven’t you?’

  ‘Yes.’ Tania told him. She was beginning to feel extraordinarily light-headed and rather peculiar.

  ‘Yes. The wife said she was going to call in and see if she could get our two fixed up with something they couldn’t destroy in under two months.’ He gave a faint sigh. ‘Boots are what you play football in, she tells them, but do they pay any attention? Kids! They think money grows on trees. You feeling OK?’ he asked her, frowning as he noticed her growing pallor. ‘Bit of a shock, something like this. Is your husband…?’

  ‘I… I’m not married,’ Tania told him quickly. ‘I…would it be all right if I went upstairs to check on my little girl? If she’s woken up she might be feeling frightened.’

  ‘Yes, you go ahead. We can’t do much down here, other than make the window secure. You’ll want your insurance people to see it. Is there anyone local who could come over and spend the rest of the night with you?’

  Tania looked alarmed and he assured her, ‘I doubt that whoever did it will come back, but you’re bound to feel a bit apprehensive. Could ask for a WPC to come along for a while, but we’re short-staffed and on a Saturday night…’

  ‘It’s kind of you,’ Tania said quickly. ‘But I’ll be fine.’

  She had switched off the alarm when she went to let him in the back door, and now, in his solid, reassuring presence, she was beginning to feel her shock easing slightly.

  When she went upstairs she discovered that Lucy was fast asleep. She offered the policeman a cup of tea and then with his help checked the window and discovered that nothing was actually missing.

  ‘Made a mess of it though, haven’t they?’ he mused as he helped her. ‘Pity, because a nice shop window always attracts customers, and I doubt you’ll have this one back to rights for a couple of weeks.’

  It was a point that had not yet occurred to Tania, but she recognised that he was right. Who would be tempted to buy children’s shoes from a shop with its window boarded up while it awaited repair? She went cold as she remembered how busy the shop-front fitters had been and how long she had had to wait for the original window to be fitted. This break-in, although it hadn’t resulted in the loss of any stock, could seriously affect her sales.

  Numbly she recollected James Warren’s threat. It hadn’t been him she had seen running away, of course, but could it be possible that he was behind this attack on her shop, on her business, on her security? She shivered and the policeman gave her a concerned look.

  ‘You sure you’re all right?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ she lied. Oh, God, what if this was the start of a campaign of intimidation against her? What if…? Stop it, she warned herself as her thoughts threatened to go wildly out of control. Stop it. Even if he is responsible you’re not going to give in…you’re not going to let him frighten you. You haven’t done anything.

  It was over an hour before the policeman finally left, having told her that he suspected that they would probably never find the culprit and warning her to lock the doors behind him.

  After that, of course, although she went back to bed, it was impossible for her to sleep. It would be Monday before she could get in touch with her insurance broker…before she could do anything at all, really.

  When she finally went to sleep she felt as though a huge black cloud had engulfed her whole world. Even in her darkest moments of the past, even when she had known she was pregnant with Lucy…even when she had faced the reality that she and Lucy would always have to face the world on their own, she had not felt as vulnerable and afraid as she did now.

  Had James Warren been responsible? What kind of man could do a thing like this? He must have known how much it would terrify her. He must have known. But then why should he show any compassion, any pity for her? He wanted to terrify her, he wanted to frighten her… He wanted to hurt her.

  * * *

  The next morning she felt no better. Ann, who had called after she had seen the broken window on her way to the Post Office to collect her Sunday papers, was full of briskly firm optimism.

  Tom, it seemed, knew Tania’s insurance broker very well, and would, she was sure, give him a ring and ask him if it was possible for him to come straight round.

  ‘And as for repairing the window, well, I don’t think it’s as bad as it looks. I’m sure we’ll be able to do something. You must have been scared out of your wits when you heard the noise. Who on earth would do such a thing? Nothing like this has ever happened here before.’

  Tania almost told her her suspicions, but then she remembered Ann’s enthusiastic praise of James Warren and held her tongue. Ann would probably think she was becoming paranoid. She wasn’t sure if she wasn’t herself. After all, she had no proof that James was involved.

  But he had threatened her. She shivered, and Ann suggested warmly,

  ‘Look, why don’t both of you come back with me? I’ll get Tom to give Larry Barnes a ring straight away.’

  ‘Oh, Ann, I always seem to be bringing you my problems. Your family will be sick of the sight of me and Lucy.’

  ‘Nonsense, and besides, what else are friends for?’

  If Larry Barnes, her insurance broker, resented having his Sunday peace disturbed, he didn’t show it. He was a man in his mid-fifties, with a calm, reassuring manner.

  No, she wouldn’t have any problems with her insurance claim, he assured Tania, and yes, she could go ahead and get the window repaired just as soon as she liked. In fact, he thought he knew someone who would be able to do the job for her almost immediately, and, of course, he reminded her, there was a loss-of-business clause in her policy which meant that if the lack of a window did affect her sales then she could potentially claim on her policy.

  Nevertheless, Tania discovered that the whole incident had left her feeling nervous and on edge.

  Late on Sunday evening, when she should have been in bed, she discovered that she was still prowling round her living-room, unable to settle, afraid to go to bed in case there was a
recurrence of the previous night’s attempted break-in.

  Eventually, at one o’clock, she managed to persuade herself that if she didn’t at least try to get some sleep she’d be too exhausted to work, but even so her sleep was fitful and disturbed, full of intimidating images and imagined fears, so that she woke up more than once with her heart pounding and her mouth dry with tension.

  It was halfway through Monday morning when the men were busy at work refitting the shop window, and she had closeted herself upstairs in her sitting-room to do some paperwork, when someone knocked on her sitting-room door and she opened it to discover Nicholas standing outside.

  ‘I heard this morning about the attempted breakin,’ he told her. ‘What happened? Are you OK?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ Tania assured him, noting how strained and drawn he looked, and, as she offered him a cup of coffee, she wondered if he, like her, suspected that James might have been behind the attack on her shop.

  Lucy, who had been playing in her room, came through into the sitting room when she heard Nicholas’s voice. She gave him a shy smile, responding with cautious friendliness to his questions.

  Tania explained that it would be a couple of days yet before Lucy started at her new school.

  ‘I didn’t just come round because of the breakin,’ Nicholas told her in a low voice when she handed him his mug of coffee.

  ‘Alec let slip about the scene that Clarissa created here on Saturday. I wanted to apologise to you.’

  Her consciousness of Lucy’s presence in the room with them, even though she appeared to be engrossed in the book she was reading, restrained Tania from being as frank with him as she would have liked. Instead she had to content herself with saying meaningfully, ‘I’m sure that once she realises and accepts the truth it won’t happen again.’