Unforgettable Fifth at Trebizon

by Anne Digby

  ***

  Not only had the weather been fine for the past two weeks but it looked set to continue. It was warm that morning. Miss Welbeck, gazing out over the parkland at deer distantly grazing in the sunshine, noted the fact.

  'It's a nice day for his visit, Evelyn. That's something.'

  'Seems rather close to me. You're not escorting him round the cove yourself then, Madeleine?' enquired the senior mistress.

  'No, I don't wish to embarrass him. Mara has put him up to this and I hold out no great hope. Luckily she's not taking the top maths paper this afternoon. Nor is Rebecca Mason. They will do the honours.'

  'I don't call that lucky!' grunted Miss Gates, who was head of the mathematics staff.

  'But afterwards Mr Leonodis is going to be my guest for tea,' continued the principal. 'I've invited the Willoughbys over. They're bringing some old prints of the castle, which show the cove as it was two hundred years ago. And some splendid old photographs of the island.'

  The senior mistress nodded approvingly and said:

  'I think he may have seen the island already.'

  'Oh?'

  'Two of the Sixth formers saw a luxury yacht cruising round it early this morning.'

  'It couldn't have been his. He's not due until this afternoon. A flying visit, I gather. Short of time.'

  'Well, perhaps he's made time. Nobody likes to be rushed into a decision. Perhaps he's decided to take a little more time.'

  'All things are possible,' agreed Miss Welbeck.

  'Looks a little more hopeful?' suggested Miss Gates.

  'Leave some of the cake for us!' giggled Elf.

  She'd made it specially for Mr Leonodis's visit, a light sponge with jam and cream filling. It stood on the big table now, alongside the floor's three best coffee mugs.

  'My father will only eat a little piece!' laughed Mara. 'He's having tea with Miss Welbeck afterwards.'

  Rebecca and Mara had emerged from the biology exam that morning, eaten lunch with the others, then showered and changed into smart clothes. Rebecca had put on her soft cream shirt and matching skirt and was wearing her favourite green necklace. Mara was in a dress that she hated but her father loved.

  'You two look beautiful!' exclaimed Margot. 'Oh, you lucky things, going to the island!'

  Rebecca nodded eagerly. 'Just a quick look!' It was all arranged. Harry, the school's lifeguard, was taking them in his motorboat.

  They wished the other four good luck as they went off to the maths exam. Less than half an hour later, a hired car scrunched to a halt at the front of Court House.

  'Daddy!' cried Mara, hanging out of Sue's window. Then, with a squeal of excitement, she raced off downstairs to welcome him.

  'It's close,' complained Mr Leonodis, as he stepped out of the car and embraced his daughter with great fondness. He mopped his brow with a large white linen handkerchief. 'It was cool in London but for the past two hours I have sweltered! I think there is going to be a storm. We must get this over with quickly.'

  'You are wearing your ridiculous coat, Daddy! Hours and hours in a hot car. That is why!' protested Mara. 'Why do you always come to England dressed for bad weather? You must not be in such a rush. You must come upstairs and see how I have my cubie, and Elf has made a cake, and Rebecca is brewing up your favourite coffee. We bought it at the deli in town, just for you!'

  'Yes, yes.' He smiled indulgently. 'Now tell the driver how to find your head teacher's house. He must collect me from there no later than half past five. I have to catch a flight back to Athens tonight! I shall leave my case in the boot.'

  After Mr Leonodis had sent the car away, Mara took her father's hand and tugged him into Court House, first to say hello to Mrs Barry and then to see where she lived, on the top floor.

  'Come on, Daddy, upstairs. I can smell the coffee from here! We have plenty of time. Of course there is not going to be a storm!'

  But she was wrong.

  By the time the three of them let themselves out through the little gate into Trebizon bay, huge black storm clouds had suddenly come rolling up over the sea.

  There was a worried expression on Harry's face as he came to greet them.

  'The boat's all ready but I don't think I can take you out, sir,' said the school lifeguard. 'Not to the island. Very rough weather brewing up.'

  'I can see that,' said Mara's father, with a nod. He'd already insisted that Rebecca and Mara bring their umbrellas. He gave Harry a generous tip. 'I'm sorry you have had to get the boat out for nothing.'

  Rebecca's heart sank with disappointment. Not go to the island! But all the time they'd been indoors, telling Mr Leonodis about their GCSEs and hearing about Anestis's graduation and drinking coffee, it had looked so bright and sunny outside...

  'Come on, Daddy,' said Mara, suddenly anxious herself for the first time. The sun had gone! The sky looked so threatening! 'If we hurry, we still have time to show you the headland, and the caves and the lovely little field above the cove. It's all included in the sale! As well as the island! And you will have a fine view of the island from the top of the headland!'

  It was too late.

  As they reached the brow of the headland. the force of the wind almost blew them over. The black clouds were gathering ever more threateningly.

  'Look, there is the island!' shouted Mara against the wind.

  But the island, Rebecca suddenly realized with foreboding, was almost invisible beneath a blanket of rain, rapidly driving this way. Today it was just a dark little splodge against a black sky and an angry grey sea. That didn't look like a place you'd ever want to go to!

  The cove below them looked equally bleak.

  In the new barbed wire fence they found the gate that had been left unlocked for them. The barbed wire everywhere somehow made the scene bleaker than ever. It was obvious from the expression on Mr Leonodis's face that he was not impressed.

  'Through here,' called Rebecca. struggling to hold it open against the wind. She felt some huge drops of rain on her face.

  As they descended into the cove, the rain became torrential. They had to fight their way down, the wind and rain driving straight at them, Rebecca and Mara trying to shield themselves by holding their opened umbrellas in front of them. Mr Leonodis, well clad in his long flapping waterproof coat, strode behind them –

  'The caves. Hurry. I must get you into shelter!'

  He shepherded them to the back of the cove, Rebecca and Mara hardly able to keep hold of the umbrellas, their thin clothes drenched. And into the nearest cave.

  'Ah. That is better,' he said in relief.

  They sat on boulders inside the gloomy cave, glad at first to have found shelter, to be out of the weather. Beyond the mouth of the cave they could see the driving rain and the angry white-topped waves crashing into the shore. The island was still just a dark little blur in the distance.

  'You must not take any notice of the weather, Daddy,' Mara kept saying. 'It is so beautiful here. The island is so beautiful, too.'

  But as time passed, they became silent and dejected. Mr Leonodis was starting to glance at his watch. He'd soon be due at Miss Welbeck's house. He was looking forward to discussing Mara's progress, her prospects for the Sixth Form. But he mustn't miss his plane tonight! He had meetings all the next day. Important ones.

  At last the rain began to ease. Mara gave a nervous start as some stones rattled down past the mouth of the cave, from the hillside above.

  'What was that?'

  'Just a few stones, Mara,' said Rebecca. 'The storm must have loosened them...'

  'Come. We must go,' said Mr Leonodis, kindly.

  Rebecca led the way to the mouth of the cave

  CRASH!

  She leapt backwards. Mara screamed. Loose rocks and stones came slithering down helter-skelter from the hill above, to land in front of the cave's entrance, just a few steps ahead of them.

  'A landslip!' exclaimed Mara's father, pulling both girls back.

  They stood inside the cave,
staring at the pile of rocks and stones on the ground outside. It had all happened so suddenly. Now there was only silence. Mr Leonodis looked appalled.

  'This place is dangerous!' he said.

  As soon as it was safe to do so, he led them outside, over the little pile of debris half-blocking their path, into the safety of the open cove. Then, face set rather grimly, he marched towards the headland, Mara running along beside him.

  Rebecca hung back for a few moments, standing out in the cove, staring up at the steep grassy slope above the mouth of the cave. She was still shocked. But added to that was a sense of bewilderment. She wondered what to do.

  Halfway up the steep track that led back over the headland she dropped her umbrella in the long grass.

  When she reached the gate at the top, Mara was saying: 'Look, Daddy, it has stopped raining! There's a rainbow over the island now! Look Rebecca. Isn't it lovely.'

  'I'm not looking at anything!' replied her father. 'I'm going straight to Miss Welbeck's house and you and Rebecca must then go straight back to your boarding house for hot baths and dry clothes!'

  Rebecca wasn't looking either. She was gazing back down towards that distant pile of rocks, the apparent landslip. Her eyes scanned the field above.

  'Oh, silly me!' she exclaimed. 'I've dropped my umbrella, right down at the bottom there! I'll have to go back!'

  'Rebecca - ' began Mr Leonodis.

  'The tide will get it if I don't!' said Rebecca firmly, turning away. 'You two go on ahead! Please don't wait for me. Don't pinch all the hot water, Mara!'

  She was already scrambling back down the path they'd just climbed.

  'She will get pneumonia,' Mr Leonodis complained to his daughter. 'The English are crazy. Come along then, Mara. Show me how to find the principal's house. I am late.'

  When Rebecca glanced back, they'd disappeared over the top of the headland.

  Which was just as well because as soon as she'd gathered up the umbrella, she just carried on walking, eyes firmly fixed on the steep slope above the cave. It was all grassed over. There weren't any stones or rocks there, never had been! How could there have been a landslip? Where had that sudden rush of debris come from?

  Whenever the six of them had a mystery to solve, they called themselves the Action Committee. Well this time, Rebecca realized, with the other four taking an exam and Mara tied up with her father, action committee was down to a membership of one.

  Because she certainly knew a mystery when she saw one.

  For there now to be the faintest hope of Mara's father helping the school, it needed to be solved quickly.

  SEVEN

  ...MORE MYSTERY TO COME

  Rebecca stared at the footprints in disbelief. She'd walked round into the field and was now standing on the steep muddy slope above the cave where they'd been sheltering. Just as she thought! There were no rocks and stones up here, nothing to slide down in bad weather conditions, making Mulberry Cove dangerous. Just grass and lots of mud.

  And here in the mud, the heavily patterned prints of men's rubber soles. Two different kinds.

  She hadn't known quite what she might find here, but she hadn't expected this. And there were scuff marks in the mud, too, as though something heavy had been dragged here.

  She looked around, shivering slightly, her thin cream shirt and skirt clinging damply to her body.

  Who had done this? How had they got the rubble here?

  'Of course! They could have dragged it to the edge on a tarpaulin or something!' she realized.

  She'd suddenly spotted a heap of rubble, further up the field, under the hedge bordering a track. The track, which ran right up to the five-barred gate at the top of the field, was badly potholed. Mr Ruggles must have been planning to repair it before he died.

  As she cut into the field and ran to the pile of hardcore, she saw that the grass was flattened along the way. She was now quite convinced. With the tip of her umbrella she prodded some of the little rocks in the pile. They were the same as those that had showered down. And there were cigarette butts! It was sheltered here; there was a big tree. They must have been caught out by the storm, too, and taken shelter, waiting. Knowing there were people taking shelter in the cave below...

  They'd used a tarpaulin or groundsheet to drag rubble to the edge of the slope and tip it over. Whoosh!

  That's how the 'landslip' had happened. What a vicious trick!

  Pale with anger, Rebecca raced up the track to the top of the field. She stayed in the lee of the hedge, keeping her head down. The five-barred gate had barbed wire along the top but like the one on the headland was unlocked today. She went through it and slowed to a walk, recovering her breath.

  Mulberry Castle lay above. It directly overlooked the field and the cove. Were the Willoughbys at home? Had they seen anything? She walked up to the castle's boundary wall, staring at the windows. There was no sign of life there.

  Then, on the far side of the castle, she found herself in the country lane that wended its way down into Trebizon town. She turned the first corner to where the lane dipped down sharply in front of her and stopped.

  Two figures were climbing up out of the dip, walking at a leisurely pace with their backs to her. One of them, the red-headed one, had a rucksack on his back.

  The red-headed one - Ginge!

  They were disappearing round the next bend now but Rebecca would have recognized that brilliant yellow scarf anywhere! The Trebizon Tech scarf!

  That day at the music competition she'd joked about it. She'd told him it clashed with his hair.

  'Ginge!' she shrieked, in excitement.

  They'd vanished but she started running pell-mell in pursuit.

  What a bit of luck! Been out for a ramble! Must have been up to the castle. Must have seen who was lurking around in the field!

  'GINGE!' she screamed out as she rounded the next bend in the lane. She waved her furled umbrella. 'WAIT FOR ME!'

  They were well ahead but his friend heard and glanced back.

  They didn't wait for her. They broke into a run.

  Rebecca chased them all the way back to the town. They were running fast but she could run faster, hair flying, damp clothes sticking to her, waving the umbrella and crying Ginge! Wait! until she hadn't the breath to shout any more. Did they think she was some cranky person or what?

  She finally caught up with them at the top of Cheap Street, at the front door of a large house that opened directly on to the pavement. They tried to get inside before she could speak to them but as the red-headed one turned -

  She saw his face for the first time. And then the groundsheet, sticking out of the rucksack.

  'You're not Ginge!' she gulped.

  The same red hair! The same mistake she'd made that day in Jubilee Gardens. He even went to the Tech, then. Same as Ginge. But such a different face!

  'You're Matthew Tarkus!' she exclaimed, as they slammed the door on her.

  Rebecca leaned against it for a few moments, realising how stupid she'd been. Now she knew who the culprit was and why.

  Then, anger boiling over, she bent down and squinted through the letter box. She could see the silhouettes of the two youths, standing cowering in the darkened hall.

  'You haven't a hope!' she shouted at them through the letter box. 'Your tracks are all over the field. And, anyway,' - with sudden inspiration -' the Willoughbys saw you. They were up in the castle and saw everything! Miss Welbeck's reporting you to the police!'

  A passer-by turned and stared in surprise at her bedraggled figure. 'Can I help you?'

  'No, thanks!'

  She bolted.

  She wouldn't go back the way she'd come. She'd go back to school by way of the top road.

  She couldn't phone without any money. But if she went by the top road, she'd catch Mr Leonodis in his car as he left. Presuming he hadn't already gone.

  Mulberry Castle's tenants, far from being witnesses, had been over at Trebizon having tea with Miss Welbeck, of course. Howe
ver, the Willoughbys didn't stay long. When they left, Mr Leonodis was about to start a private discussion with the principal.

  They were under no illusions that he'd offer her a large sum of money for the Appeal. Over tea he'd already made it obvious that he had little sympathy with the project. So much so that the Willoughbys had decided against showing him their old prints and photographs. That would simply have embarrassed him.

  It was all very disappointing.

  Now, his car had arrived and Mara's father was himself about to leave.

  'Your coat's completely dry!' Miss Welbeck told him, as the maid brought it through. 'Isn't my Aga stove efficient?'

  'I am most grateful.'

  'I am most grateful to you, Mr Leonodis.' Miss Welbeck gazed at him with her clear blue eyes and smiled. 'The donation towards the new science laboratories is quite marvellous for us.'

  'You have a wonderful school. Mara has blossomed here.' As Miss Welbeck helped him into his coat he added: 'I'm sorry about the land. That is why Mara brought me here. But it is not essential. I could not justify it to my trustees. The school has very large grounds already which afford it much protection.' He was a forthright man.

  'I'm only sorry that Mara decided to involve you,' came the tactful reply. 'As for the landslip, I'm quite baffled. In all the years we've used the cove, nothing like that's happened before. I will certainly want to have it made safe if...' She broke off. She gave a sad, ironic little shrug. 'But that won't be our problem, I'm afraid. It will be Mr Tarkus's.'

  'That's just as well, I feel, Miss Welbeck.'

  The telephone rang.

  'Mr Tarkus?' said Miss Welbeck in surprise, as she took the call.

  Mara's father hovered in the doorway, puzzled that the rival bidder should be phoning her. He noticed the astonished look on Miss Welbeck's face as she listened to the man speak. Then he heard her say in an angry, trembly way:

  'I can't answer your question at present. This matter may be reported to the police, Mr Tarkus, or it may not. I shall consider the situation when I have all the facts.'

  As she put the phone down, Mr Leonodis came over to her side.

  'You look pale.'

  'I've just had a shock. It wasn't a landslip at all,' she told him. 'The rocks were tipped over by Mr Tarkus's son and a friend. Just for a lark, meaning no harm, is how he describes it,' she added drily. 'But apparently they were seen and now expect to be reported to the police. I wonder who saw them?'