Shiver

by Andrea Frazer

  ‘Andrew, perhaps we should get the doctor,’ said another familiar-looking man. ‘Just to be sure and to put her mind at rest. It’s clear she’s still confused.’

  Andrew ignored him, all his attention on Anne.

  ‘How do I know you?’ She asked Andrew, staring hard at him. ‘Why was I attacked, who attacked me?’

  ‘We’ve been together years, Anne, we’ve sailed all over the world with our shipmates.’ He told her looking round at all the men watching them. ‘These are our friends. I’m sure you’ll remember everything soon.’ They all nodded in agreement. ‘Then we can try to find and punish your attacker.’

  ‘Sailing? On a boat?’ She was trying to think, something was beginning to form at the back of her mind but it was too vague to provide any answers. ‘Why?’

  ‘We’re all adventurers, Anne, we love the freedom of the oceans. We sail because it’s what we know, what we love.’ Everyone nodded. ‘But now we’re retiring from the sea and you and I are going to our farm, Anne, in Devon. You must remember?’

  ‘I don’t. I don’t understand what you’re saying.’ She cried desperate to understand. ‘Why was I in the churchyard? Do you know who attacked me and why?’

  ‘We think it was someone after our loot. You’d gone to check on it and Matt,’ he nodded to a young lad at the bar, ‘found you unconscious beside the crypt where it’s always hidden. He disturbed whoever it was before they could harm you further.’

  ‘You call me Anne, Anne who?’ she asked. ‘What’s the boat called? What loot? I don’t understand any of this.’

  ‘You’re Anne Chambers. We both have our own vessels. That’s how we met, years ago when we both weighed anchor in Penzance and we got chatting about sailing and craving adventure,’ Andrew told her. ‘You and I had a lot in common and we’d meet whenever we came into the same ports to unload our cargoes.’ He looked at her hopefully. ‘Some of our adventures involved the same prize.’ He laughed at the memory of those golden days.

  ‘I have a boat of my own? I sail it, alone?’ She was trying hard to put her finger on something niggling at the back of her mind. ‘And I have cargo? I win prizes?’

  ‘Yes, Anne. You’re master of The Clew Castle, and you have a full crew.’ He pointed out some of the men standing round the bar, ‘and I’m master of The Southern Cross; we’re in the same trade, with the same cargo.’ There was a hoot of laughter from the men in the room. ‘Yes, we’re traders if you like.’

  ‘What do we trade in?’ She really couldn’t fathom their clothes; something was very odd about them. ‘Your clothes are strange, you look foreign.’

  More laughter filled the room and Andrew patted her shoulder, ‘You really are the most fascinating woman, Anne.’ He grinned at the others. ‘Are you sure you can’t recall our cargo?’ He was highly amused. He was relishing seeing the look on her wide-eyed innocent face when she recalled everything. ‘Anne, we only land one cargo here. But we won’t mention it out loud, I’m sure you know what I mean.’ He tapped his nose knowingly.

  ‘Silk or slaves?’ Seeing their confused expressions she hurriedly said, ‘No, perhaps not.’ She felt rather than knew it was some sort of contraband. ‘Silver or brandy?’

  The room erupted into raucous laughter. She was nonplussed. It suddenly occurred to her that they might be Revenue men and this was a trick. Revenue men? That’s it, she was recalling things; I’m a privateer. But what was she doing here with these strange yet familiar men? Were they Revenue?

  Suddenly she felt afraid of them. Revenue or not, they were very unusual, and something about the whole place made her uncomfortable. Her vague memories didn’t fit with the people in front of her, although they seemed familiar. It was all too confusing.

  ‘I think I need to lie down for a while, I feel really unwell. Please, can someone ask the doctor to call upon me at his convenience?’ She turned and walked through the door back to the stairwell. Her blood pounded in her head as she started back up the stairs, the air cold and damp about her.

  ‘I will, Anne,’ the lad at the bar shouted after her. ‘I’ll send him up when he comes.’

  The men looked thoughtful for a while, then Bill said, ‘What about her, then? Can we trust her? She seems all over the show, not herself at all.’

  ‘I’m not sure, but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt for now; that bang on the head has really messed her up.’

  ‘Well, she’s your woman and it’s up to you, but we don’t want any loose ends. We’ll be out of here tomorrow and we cannot risk anything going wrong.’ The landlord had almost completed clearing away all the evidence of his trade and that of his friends. ‘Everything is set for our departure and when we’ve gone, that’s it. We’re never coming back and no-one will find us.’ He looked at the men around him. ‘She proves to be trouble, we cut her loose.’ They nodded solemnly.

  ‘She looked different, don’t you think?’ Said the young man at the bar. ‘Did you see her shoes?’ He’d never seen anything like them, and certainly not on Anne, whom he’d known since joining Andrew’s vessel two years before.

  ‘Her shoes? No, why? What was wrong with them?’ Andrew hadn’t noticed her shoes. Matt was always the one to notice such things.

  ‘They looked old, I mean, really old.’ Matt said. ‘I don’t know, I’ve just got a feeling about her shoes.’

  The men laughed again. The lad spent far too much time below deck, enjoying the spoils of their labours, and it was affecting his head.

  ‘Better get the doctor, just in case. Anyway, he needs paying off, so now is as good a time as any to deal with him.’ Andrew ordered. ‘Get him here as soon as you can.’

  The landlord left to carry out his instructions. The music started up again and the men continued to drink. The lights flicked on the ceiling, creating lots of coloured spirals.

  Anne closed the bedroom door behind her and locked it. Her head was aching and she really did need to lie down. She closed the curtains and sat on the bed, taking her boots off. She examined her clothes more closely. They were curious, she’d never seen anything like them before, she was sure. Am I really a privateer? She wondered, with my own vessel and crew; how can that be? She lay on the bed and shut her eyes.

  A face was leaning close to hers, she sensed, and cold breath flitted across her cheeks. She forced her eyes open and looked into the face of an old man, white ruffles at his throat and rimless spectacles on his nose.

  ‘Mistress Chambers, I came as soon as I heard. Remember me? I’m Dr Straw. You were found in the churchyard; no, don’t move, mistress,’ he added as Anne tried to sit up. ‘You’ve suffered several blows to your head. Master Andrew’s cabin boy found you lying beside one of the crypts. He said you’d been attacked by someone he saw running away when he came to find you.’ The doctor placed a wet cloth across her forehead and placed some powder in a silver tankard which he said held water. ‘Drink this.’ He offered the tankard to her.

  Anne was reluctant to accept it. ‘Are you drugging me again?’ She asked. ‘I won’t be drugged.’ She looked hard at the doctor. ‘I recall you, you tended me when I was stabbed by the Frenchman.’ She said, suddenly recalling the event. ‘We had a skirmish off Mevagissey, and I was injured.’

  ‘It’s not a drug to hurt you, mistress, it will calm you and take the pain away,’ the doctor soothed. ‘Yes, I tended you then, and many others.’

  ‘Those men downstairs, who called you to me,’ she said, ‘do we know them? They look peculiar, don’t you agree?’

  ‘No-one summoned me other than the boy. He sent one of his friends to get me. Apparently they’d been waiting to take your chests down to The Southern Cross.’ He told her. ‘You sent the lad to fetch Master Andrew, but he couldn’t find him on the road. After looking in Penzance and visiting Mr Geoffrey he decided to return to you. He saw your light as you were walking by the crypt and he came to ask you what he should do. Before he could reach you he saw a man attack you, and the man ran off when he shouted.’<
br />
  ‘Then where is Andrew? Is he downstairs now? Why is he so late, has something happened?’ Anne asked, her memory slowly returning. ‘Didn’t you see the men?’

  ‘No-one is left at the inn, my dear, other than you and the boy, who has been in the kitchen awaiting orders since finding you. He summoned me immediately when he found you wandering on the landing, muttering about strange men and lights and music.’

  ‘How can they be gone? Andrew has gone to see Mr Geoffrey, I remember now, and upon his return we are to sail to Helston, then travel on to Bodmin. We’ve sold our vessels, Doctor, and we are retiring to a small farm. You are mistaken, check the village again, they are to leave with us.’ Andrew would never go without her, she was sure.

  ‘Mistress, the lad says that he went after the master as instructed and finding no sign of him upon the road to Penzance, went to Mr. Geoffrey’s home to seek him there. Mr Geoffrey assured the lad that Master Andrew never arrived.’ The doctor was puzzled. He lived outside the village and it did indeed appear deserted to him also. ‘I cannot say where Master Andrew or the villagers have gone.’

  ‘Send the lad to me,’ demanded Anne, ‘I need to speak with him.’ She lay back on the pillows, thinking.

  ‘Mistress, I did as you asked but I was unable to find the master. I cannot say if Mr Geoffrey was truthful or not, but he insisted that he hadn’t seen the master.’ The cabin boy was nervous, he’d been unable to find his friends when he returned from his errand, and the village was deserted. ‘Have we offended Neptune, mistress? Has he taken every soul in the village to the deep and we’re next?’

  ‘I have no idea, Matt, this is all very strange. I cannot understand what has happened to everyone. The Revenue haven’t driven them away, have they, Doctor?’ She asked.

  ‘No, mistress. I sent the lad to check on everyone after he found you and first called me out. I wondered if Master Andrew and the others had gone down to get some pickings from a floundering ship, but the lad said all was well down there.’

  ‘Do you wish to come back with me and the lad, Mistress Anne?’ The doctor packed his little wooden box of medicines into his leather satchel. ‘My housekeeper will be happy for you to stay a while and recover, I’m sure. The lad can help my groom about the place until we find him employment on another vessel.’ He waited watching her decide. ‘I don’t think anyone is going to return to the village Mistress, and you cannot remain here.’

  ‘Thank you, Doctor, but I must stay here for when Andrew returns. I know he wouldn’t leave me alone without good reason. But do take Matt. Perhaps he will find work with Captain Jago in the meantime, and I am sure that Captain Tatum will be hiring for The Southern Cross as soon as he takes delivery. We can always summon Matt to Devon once we eventually get there. Perhaps you would send word to Tatum on behalf of the lad?’

  ‘I will indeed, mistress.’ The doctor opened the bedroom door. ‘I’ve left you some powders in case the pain returns, take care. I am not convinced you are out of harm’s way just yet. Rest. I don’t like leaving you alone in case you worsen, so I will send the lad back to check on you and to bring you food, tomorrow.’

  ‘Thank you kindly, Doctor. Please send word to Mr Geoffrey once more and enquire if Master Andrew has arrived after-all, or if there is any word of him.’ Her anxiety showed in her voice and face.

  ‘I shall. Good evening, I hope all will be well tomorrow.’ The doctor smiled and disappeared into the gloom of the corridor.

  ‘Did you see that, Andrew?’ Bill was standing in the open doorway on his way to the kitchen when someone brushed past him going through the front door into the cold night air.

  ‘See what?’ Andrew came into the hallway where the landlord was peering out into the dark night.

  ‘I could’ve sworn a man just passed me going through the front door.’ He said. ‘There was something definitely odd about him.’

  ‘Like what?’ Andrew went outside and looked around. ‘No-one’s out here.’

  ‘He seemed, I don’t know, sort of out of place.’ The landlord said scratching his head. ‘Come to think of it, Andrew, I’m not sure anyone was there. I must be seeing things.’

  ‘I think I’ll check on Anne, she seemed so strange this evening. I don’t want anything to hold us up tomorrow. We need to sail on time.’ He started up the stairs. ‘Where’s the doctor got to? Perhaps it was him you saw?’

  ‘No, it wasn’t him, he’d have come in and spoken with us before seeing Anne.’ Bill felt uneasy. ‘The sooner we get out of here, the better. Suddenly this place is giving me goosebumps.’ He shivered and went into the kitchen.

  ‘Where’s the doctor?’ Andrew shouted as he reached the top of the stairs. ‘Find out what’s keeping him.’

  ‘Will do,’ Bill replied. ‘I’m sure he’s on his way.’

  Anne was asleep, her face peaceful. Andrew went over to her and felt her forehead. It felt cool to his touch. He went to close the window and noticed a man standing beside a horse outside the old stables. He was dressed in black with a white shirt and wore glasses. The moonlight picked out his pure white hair. He turned and looked up at Andrew and waved. Who are you? Andrew wondered. Not the doctor, that’s for sure.

  Andrew turned to see Anne opening the bedroom door about to go downstairs. ‘Anne, wait.’ He called to her but she ignored him.

  Andrew went to follow her, but something made him glance at the bed where to his amazement, he saw Anne; sleeping. He closed his eyes and looked again. Anne was in the bed. Confused, Andrew went into the corridor just in time to see Anne descending the stairs. ‘Anne.’ He shouted again but she ignored him. He ran back to the bed. Staring at the sleeping woman he reached out brushing her cheek lightly with his fingers, only to find it was freezing to the touch. ‘Anne.’ The woman didn’t wake. He moved to the door, his mind in turmoil, when Matt walked past him and into the room. Andrew stared after him, bemused. Matt looked different. His clothes and hair were different.

  ‘Matt, what’re you doing up here? Is the doctor on his way?’ Andrew watched the lad go to the bed and lean over Anne as if he hadn’t heard. She opened her eyes and they seemed to be conversing but he couldn’t hear a word. Andrew was torn between staying or running downstairs. He went to the door and yelled, ‘Bill, anyone, is Anne with you?’ None of this made sense.

  He turned, watching Anne and the Matt look-alike apparently chatting like old friends. Andrew noticed the room, their room, with fresh eyes. Something was different about the room, he realised suddenly. He’d never seen the two wooden chests before, or the oak furniture. Last time he was in the room, two nights ago when Anne had been attacked, the room was as he recalled it; there were fitted white wooden cupboards and a matching chest of drawers with a mirror, an easy chair, and a writing desk. Because of Anne’s concussion, he’d shared Bill’s room in the extension behind the kitchen, and hadn’t been back to their room for some time, as the doctor didn’t want Andrew exciting her or worrying her too much. Andrew’s men had taken it in turns to keep an eye on her but for the most she had been left to sleep.

  What on earth is going on?

  Andrew ran downstairs and almost fell over Dr Singh as he came through the door. ‘Thank goodness you’re here.’ Andrew was breathless, ‘I’m not sure where she is.’ He pushed past the elderly man and rushed into the bar. ‘Anne?’ Everyone looked at him, ‘Is she here?’ Yet as he asked he wondered why he thought she might be here and upstairs at the same time. It was insane.

  ‘Yes, she’s in the kitchen with Bill getting something to eat and drink.’ Matt said ‘She seems much better.’

  Andrew gaped at Matt. ‘Did you just come down from upstairs?’ He asked afraid of the answer.

  ‘No,’ Matt said. ‘I’ve been keeping an eye out for the doctor. I popped in for a sandwich as I couldn’t see him coming yet. Was that him with you in the hall?’

  ‘Yes.’ Andrew shook his head, trying to get his thoughts ordered. ‘Who is that upstairs?’

 
Matt and the others looked at Andrew and then from one to each other. ‘Who do you mean?’ said the cook. ‘No one went upstairs that we know of.’ The others nodded agreement. We’ve been keeping watch and no one’s gone upstairs.’

  Dr Singh poked his head into the room. ‘Where is my patient?’ He looked around, a slightly bewildered expression on his face. ‘She appears to have left her room. I understood she was still unwell.’

  ‘She was up there just now, with Matt, but I saw her come down here as well, but she can’t have …’ Andrew rushed past the doctor into the kitchen, where he pulled up sharp at the sight of Anne sitting with a cup in her hand and a plate of toast in front of her. ‘What …?’

  ‘Andrew, there you are.’ She smiled at him. ‘I feel so much better. The sleep did me good.’ She seemed her old self.

  Andrew reached out and touched her hair. She was real. ‘Good, I’m glad.’ He couldn’t figure out what was going on. ‘I thought you were still in bed.’ He sat opposite her and accepted a cup of tea from Bill.

  The doctor took her temperature and looked at her eyes with a light, he took her blood pressure and asked her a few questions about her headache and vision. ‘I think you’re OK enough now, just don’t overdo things, and if you feel unwell at all you must ensure you see a doctor as soon as you get to wherever it is you’re going.’ He felt really uncomfortable around these people; perhaps they were criminals, he wondered if he should report them. But he wasn’t sure what he would report; His second visit confirmed his suspicions that there was something fishy going on, everyone was behaving strangely and the whole inn felt peculiar. Dr Singh couldn’t wait to leave.

  ‘Thank you, Doctor.’ Andrew nodded to the cook. ‘See to the doctor.’ The cook gave Andrew the thumbs up. They couldn’t afford any loose ends and, unfortunately, Dr Singh had seen and heard too much. Andrew was sure that the doctor would meet with an accident on the road out of Paul.

  ‘I wanted to get up.’ Anne said when the doctor had gone. ‘I’ve been having really weird dreams and felt unsettled up there on my own, so I decided to get dressed and come down for a while. I couldn’t stay up there all day.’ Andrew noticed she was wearing her usual clothes and glancing at her feet saw she had her favourite shoes on. The boots had gone, and so had the peculiar outfit she’d worn last time he’d seen her.