by K Leitch
‘Um excuse me but I am sitting right here,’ Helen put in indignantly. ‘And I can speak for myself Tracy, and I would have got around to asking Carla myself, there was no need for you to interfere …’
‘Who is it you need to find Helen?’ Carla asked hastily before things got too nasty.
Tracy opened her mouth to answer but stopped when Helen glared at her. ‘Well it’s the young boy that wrote the play,’ she said turning to Carla, ‘the one we’re putting on for this year’s Brampton Hall festival. His name is Mark Stevens and I know he was fifteen when he wrote the play because he’s put that on the front cover, “Murder at Mildew Manor by Mark Stevens aged Fifteen” so I guess he must be in his late forties by now. Imogen Wiseman thinks it would be a lovely idea if we could find him and get him to come to the festival or at least let him know that his play will be performed.’
‘Oh yes she’s right,’ Maggie said enthusiastically, ‘it would make the whole thing really special…what do you think Carla, can he be traced?’
Carla raised her eyebrows. ‘Well of course he can be traced, but I really don’t have the time to do it myself. As it happens though I do know who can, Olivia Bray, she’s an old friend of mine, we trained together in Birmingham. She left the force a few years back and has been doing P.I. work ever since. I’ll dig out her number for you Helen, if anyone can find this guy it’s Livy.’
‘Oh that’s great Carla…ooh how exciting. I must admit it would be so great to meet this guy and find out if he did indeed go on to become a writer or something, I hope he did, the play’s brilliant. Did you get your scripts?’ Helen said looking eagerly round at each girl.
‘Yes but I haven’t had time to read it yet I’m sorry,’ Maggie said guiltily. ‘What with Jed and Jools wedding plans and then the baby news I feel like my feet haven’t touched the ground.’ Jed was Maggie’s youngest son and Jools, his girlfriend, had just announced that she was pregnant.
‘Oh God I can’t believe that we have been sat here over an hour and I haven’t asked you about Jools yet,’ exclaimed Tracy. ‘How far gone is she, are they pleased, has she had a scan yet?’
Maggie beamed. ‘Yes they are thrilled, as we all are. Um… she’s about four and a half months I think and yes they did show me a black and white picture of something that looked like the cross between Gollum and Harry Hill, but I’m not letting that depress me. I know this baby is going to be the most beautiful thing in the world. But I’m telling you now if Duncan says that I’m the first granny he’s ever had one more time, I swear he’s going to be singing soprano.’
The girls all laughed. ‘Well I may not have read the script myself Helen,’ said Carla returning to the previous subject, ‘but I feel as if I know it off by heart already…’
‘Rosie?’ asked Helen with a smile.
‘Rosie,’ said Carla with a resigned look. Rosie was Carla’s eleven year old, who had been a member of the Redbank Players for a couple of years and lived and breathed the theatre. ‘She knows all the parts…word perfect, just in case she’s asked to play a role she’s not prepared for. I did say to her it was unlikely that she would be asked to play Inspector Frank Johnstone, but she just smiled at me and said that anything was possible with good lighting and a bit of makeup.’
They all fell about laughing at that and the evening progressed as usual, with all the girls talking at once and the laughter getting louder and louder, until Duncan threw them out. All except Maggie of course, who had been giving him the glad eye and flashing her stocking tops at him every opportunity for the last hour before closing time.
CHAPTER 8
The woman sat at the corner table in the rather dingy café and stared at the newspaper article and the covering letter in disbelief. All these years and she’d never known that they were here, right under her nose, less than a mile away. She fought with herself as a surge of emotion built up in her chest and almost brought tears to her eyes. ‘Not here,’ she thought looking round self consciously at her fellow diners. Luckily nobody seemed to have noticed her lapse of control; no one was interested in the rather dowdy woman sitting by herself in a corner. She took a deep breath and the moment passed. She had spent most of her adult life keeping her feelings locked deep within her. There had only ever one person that she had trusted enough to reveal her secrets and the demons that lived inside her.
He was what she must focus on now, making things right for him. That was the only thing that mattered, the only thing that had ever mattered from the moment she had clapped eyes on him, that tiny little scrap wrapped up tight in a rough old blanket. Her eyes softened at the memory, from that moment it seemed she’d been protecting him and caring for him, even taking beatings meant for him so great was her love…and she wasn’t going to let him down now…not when they were so near to finishing it.
She guessed that many people around her thought she was a bit strange…cold, emotionless, hard even, but she knew that if she let her emotions have their way, they would be the death of her.
Only rarely had she allowed the full force of her boiling rage and hatred to control her actions, and when she had, it had scared her to the core. She had become its creature; it had empowered her with shocking cruelty and determination and had literally taken over, until those that had witnessed it inevitably lay dead in the ground.
So now she kept it under control…oh she knew she would use it again when the time was right, and that time was coming, she could feel it…she was so close, all these years of searching…not long now.
The café door opened to let in a new customer, who, after looking round, spotted her sitting in the corner and, acknowledging her wave, came over and sat down opposite her.
‘You got my letter then,’ her companion said, looking round for the waitress.
‘Thank you I did, you did a good job, have you found the other one yet?’ the woman asked eagerly.
‘I should have some more news for you by next week,’ was the short reply.
The woman nodded with satisfaction, ‘Good…good, you’ve done so well, your mum would be proud.’
CHAPTER 9 - MAGGIE
Maggie snuggled deeper under the warm duvet. Sated and content she thought about the night before with an extremely satisfied smile on her face. Things just got better and better with Duncan, he seemed to know instinctively what she needed at any given time. Sometimes he would ravish her, holding her down firmly under him, dominating her completely until she was gasping for release. Other times, like last night he would bring her slowly and surely to a shattering climax before making love to her slowly and gently, until fully sated she would drift off on a warm sea of languor with his strong arms cradling her next to his chest.
Maggie sighed a contented sigh once more and then reluctantly edged away from Duncan, who was still snoring gently in the bed beside her. She needed to get home really; she’d stayed at the pub last night after the Cauldron meeting and she had a hundred and one things to do at home. Jools was due to come to lunch a bit later to talk weddings and babies, Maggie could hardly wait, and she had said that she would take Jukie, Maylee’s son, to his nursery this morning. Maylee, a mobile hairdresser, had an early appointment and Dom was away at a meeting, so she really needed to get her skates on.
‘Oh I see,’ a deep voice rumbled behind her, ‘you use me and abuse me till I’m a dried out husk and then you run away,’ Duncan said pulling her back down next to him.
Maggie giggled kissing his nose before pulling herself up again, ‘Mmm ‘fraid so sweetheart, they don’t call me “Fuck ‘em and chuck’em Maggie” for nothing you know.’
Duncan sat up, ‘Where are you off to this early anyway?’ he asked sleepily.
‘Home,’ Maggie said hunting around for her knickers which had somehow ended up on the light shade in the centre of the centre of the room. She dragged them down giving Duncan an accusatory look as she did so.
‘Don’t look at me sweetheart,’ Duncan said with a smile, ‘I wasn’t the one doing
the striptease, um…if you’re looking for your stockings, I think they may still be tied to the bedstead.’
Maggie threw him another look and retrieved her stockings, shoving them in her coat pocket. Once dressed, she crawled onto the bed over to him and gave him a kiss goodbye.
‘Mmm…I’m sorry I’ve got to go honey, but I promised Maylee I’d take Jukie in today, and I can just imagine the state of my kitchen…’
‘You still haven’t told me what you intend to do about the other thing Maggs,’ Duncan said interrupting her, ‘you can’t just ignore it sweetheart.’
‘Well I can actually,’ Maggie said defiantly shaking her head.
‘Well let me rephrase that,’ Duncan said stroking her cheek, ‘you shouldn’t just ignore it darling, if not for her sake… then for yours.’
‘Oh I know you’re right,’ Maggie said resignedly, ‘and I will take care of it.’ Duncan gave her a look, ‘I will…I’ll do it today, OK?’
‘Good girl,’ Duncan said kissing her. ‘Now, I don’t mean to be rude but hasn’t anybody told you about outstaying your welcome…come on love it was fun, but don’t get all clingy on me…I’m a man, I need my space… oooff.’ Whatever he was going to say next, was cut short by a large pillow round his face before Maggie, giggling ran out of the room.
‘Bloody know-it-all Duncan’s right again,’ Maggie thought shaking her head, as she drove her big car out of the pub car park a few minutes later, she really did need to deal with it but Maggie was really struggling with what she should do. A few days earlier she had received a letter from her mum. Maggie hadn’t had any contact with her mum since she’d had to throw her out of her house the year before, after finding her in bed with Maggie’s then fiancé Thomas. Now Fiona was writing to try and make up, she wanted them to try and put their differences behind them it seemed. The one thing missing from her mother’s letter though had been any sort of apology and Maggie found that she still felt desperately hurt, despite the fact that nearly a year had past since it had happened and she had moved on and found her soul mate in Duncan. She decided to put it out of her mind for the moment, she might Skype her sister, Ruth who lived in New Zealand, later and see what she had to say. Maggie always felt better after talking to Ruth, she was so sensible and level headed she’d know what to do.
Putting all thoughts of her mum out of her head, Maggie switched on her car stereo on and appreciated the beauty of the early morning sunshine as she drove home. Maybe she’d make Jukie some dinosaur shaped sandwiches for his lunch today…he’d love that she thought as she sang along loudly with James Brown ‘I Feel Good’.
CHAPTER 10 - HELEN
‘You didn’t mind coming with me today did you love?’ Helen asked Tracy as they found a table at the back of the small café on the green.
‘Don’t be silly,’ said Tracy, ‘I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, and as luck would have it Simon is working from home all this week so he was able to have Tilly for a couple of hours.’
‘I just thought that you may be able to give Olivia some extra info, seeing as you actually knew the family…’
‘Well I wouldn’t say I knew them really love, they were all a bit older than me. The closest to my age was Mark’s sister Kitty and she was in the top class while I was still only just in class one so…’
‘Oh I know, but you might be able to give her some descriptions maybe.’ Helen stopped as the waitress came over to take their order, ‘I’ll have a skinny latte please…Tracy?’
‘Oh just a pot of tea for me thanks…oh and maybe one of those gorgeous looking strawberry tart thingies. Aren’t you going to have a cake Helen, you’re making me look bad here.’
‘Oh OK I’ll have…um…oh those swirly Danish pastries look nice, I’ll have one of those,’ Helen said with an abstracted smile. Her attention had been drawn to a rather striking woman that had just come into the café and was scanning the tables. ‘Hang on, I think this must be her,’ she said to Tracy as she stood up to get the woman’s attention.
Olivia Bray was not at all what Helen had been expecting. In her mid to late thirties, she was quite short and curvy with a mass of dark curls which she had tucked into a colourful scarf worn like a bandana. Her light brown eyes were like headlights which shone out against her skin which was the colour of milky coffee, and she had full red lips. She smiled at the girls as she approached their table, revealing brilliant white teeth.
‘Hi you must be Helen,’ she said shaking Helen’s hand. ‘Carla described you perfectly…and let’s face it I’m not a private detective for nothing,’ she finished with a laugh, and looked enquiringly at Tracy.
‘Hi nice to meet you, I’m Tracy Burton another of Carla’s friends,’ Tracy said shaking her hand.
‘Oh I know… the famous witches,’ laughed Olivia. The waitress came over with their drinks and Olivia ordered a latte for herself and then turned to Helen.
‘So what can I help you with Helen? Carla said you were trying to track somebody down…’
‘Yes that’s right,’ Helen began. ‘A few months back I found…well actually strictly speaking it was Duncan that found it when they were clearing out the old outbuildings behind the pub, but he said I could have it so…’
‘Helen found a script…a script for a play. Written by a boy called Mark Stevens, he was fifteen when he wrote it and I actually remember him a bit…’ Tracy butted in.
‘Yes well anyway,’ Helen carried on pointedly talking over Tracy. ‘The play is good, really good actually and so I managed to persuade Imogen, that’s Imogen Wiseman who owns the Hall…um Brampton Hall that is, to use it in this year’s Brampton Hall festival…’
‘Every year the posh folk in the manor house put on a play for us commoners,’ Tracy laughingly interrupted. ‘It’s quite good fun actually, they provide a buffet and drinks. Last year…oh do you remember Helen, Maggs and I got totally off our heads on the rum punch. Oh it was so funny, she threw up in amongst Imogen’s prized orchids and I laughed so much I wet my knickers…’
‘Yes well that’s beside the point Tracy,’ Helen said hastily. ‘Olivia doesn’t need to know about that.’
Olivia was in fact trying not to laugh. ‘Okay, so I take it that this year the play’s going to be the one you found by this boy and you want him to be there?’ she asked straightening her face.
Helen and Tracy just nodded.
‘How long have I got to find him?’ Olivia said rummaging around in her huge handbag before pulling out a notebook and pencil.
‘Well the festival is the first week of July, so two and a bit months,’ Helen said. ‘And although it would be lovely if he could come, it would just be great if he knew that his play was going to be used after all these years.’
Olivia nodded wrote something in her book and then turned to Tracy. ‘So do you have any idea where the family were moving to after they sold the pub?’ she asked.
Tracy shook her head. ‘No not a clue… sorry, they seemed to leave in a bit of a hurry though, before they’d even sold the pub. It stood empty for ages before Giles and Vanessa bought it, but as I said I can’t say that I knew them properly. Kitty, Mark’s younger sister, was in the same school as me but she was a few years older, Nora might know I suppose…’ she broke off looking at Helen.
‘Yes…or Reverend Sinclair, maybe even Hester Binworthy…’ Helen began.
‘If you could give me a list of people that might have known the family that should get me started…’
They spent the next hour or so going through names with Olivia, who asked them to call her Livy. She was a lovely girl with a ready sense of humour and so much of the afternoon was spent laughing especially when she began telling a few stories involving her and Carla…’
‘I promise you she had no idea…as innocent as a babe that one,’ Livy said laughing. ‘So she begins processing this “woman” who by the way is six foot four and had an Adam’s apple the size of a grapefruit. Until eventually the duty sergeant, who is in
on the joke, asks Carla to take her down to do a strip search…’
Helen and Tracy screamed with laughter. ‘No…don’t tell me she did it…’ said Tracy.
‘Oh yes, she marched the not so gorgeous “Foxy” down to the interview room and I presume she started searching. We were just killing ourselves, waiting to see how long it would be before she found out…and then she comes marching back up to us, face as red as a beetroot, calling us all the names under the sun, oh God it was so funny.’ Livy wiped her eyes, ‘Oh I miss those days I really do,’ she finished shaking her head.
‘What made you leave the force Livy, if you don’t mind me asking?’ Helen said.
Livy’s smile faded and she stared into her coffee for a few minutes before answering, ‘Oh I had a bit of personal trauma which began to affect my work; so I thought it would be better to get out while I was young enough to do something else.’
There was a bit of an awkward silence after that and a few moments later Livy began to gather up all her notes. ‘Well I think I’ve got enough to get started on…um I’ll let you know if I find out anything significant…’
The girls all stood, ‘It’s been lovely meeting you Livy,’ Tracy said. ‘Are you staying round here…we should meet up for a drink, all of us I mean… Carla and Maggie as well…’
‘Yes that would be great,’ Livy said smiling her wide smile. ‘I’m staying with my brother in Godstone actually; about five miles away…so that would be good, I’ll give you a call.’
And with that she smiled her goodbyes and left the café.
‘She seems nice,’ Helen said as she called the waitress over to order another coffee.
‘Oh lovely,’ said Tracy. ‘And so funny, it’ll be great if she comes out with us one night, Maggie would love her…and we could wind Carla up something rotten!’
