Little Eden

by KT King

  “How do you know the difference between a real saint and a fake saint?” Joshua asked.

  “A real saint doesn’t mind what religion you follow or even if you don’t go to any church at all,” Elijah told him. “They will still support you and comfort you, no matter who you are or where you come from.”

  “I want to be a saint when I am older!” Joshua said emphatically.

  “You can’t be a saint until you are dead!” Elijah laughed.

  “Well then. I will be one when I am dead!” Joshua replied, with absolute certainty.

  Tambo smiled and started to play: Oh when the saints, go marching in…oh when the saints go marching in…I wanna be in that number…oh when the saints go marching in!...* and they all marched around the room singing, until it descended into silly walks, jazz hands and fits of laughter!

  “What about calling ourselves The Saints?” Joshua suggested.

  “I think that’s been done,” Tambo replied.

  “What about Otherworld?” Elijah said. “You know, ‘cos we are guided from the other world all the time!”

  “That’s awesome!” Alice exclaimed.

  “Righteous,” Joshua nodded.

  “Otherworld it is!” Tambo agreed.

  Tambo came home to find his mother lying on the sofa upstairs looking rather pale. “I’m okay, Tambo!” Lucy reassured him. “Just make me a cup of tea and get me a ginger snap cookie and I’ll be fine! I just feel a bit queasy!” Lucy listened to him talk about the name for their new band and the song they were going to play at the concert. She began to feel a little better, but then suddenly, there was an almighty commotion! Linnet burst through the conservatory doors and flew into the room in a total panic!

  “Alice is missing!” Linnet cried. “She hasn’t come home! Where is she Tambo? Where is she?”

  Tambo stood up and looked amazed at the question. He stared at Linnet, whose eyes were flashing like a wild woman’s.

  “She’s at the library,” Tambo said calmly. “She went there about half an hour ago.”

  “She should have come home by now!” Linnet screamed. She ran over to the window in the hope of seeing Alice down in the square.

  “She is probably engrossed in a book and has lost track of time. She usually stays there a while anyway,” Lucy reassured her.

  “You shouldn’t have let her go alone! You should have stayed with her, Tambo!” Linnet wailed and began to wring her hands. “I have a bad feeling! Go and find her Tambo! Bring her home! Now!”

  Lucy felt a sudden rush of fear through her heart. She had a flashback of her dream about Alice in the coffin and she felt even more sick to her stomach than she had before. “Tambo, go and see if Alice is on her way home from the library,” Lucy urged him.

  Tambo nodded and went out straight away. It was dark and freezing cold. He was glad of the soft yellow lights flooding the pavements from behind the shop windows. It had begun to spit with rain and he ran as fast as he could down Rose Walk and along Castle Street, and seeing no sign of Alice, he crossed over the road and ran towards the Quaker House Library. He found the place deserted for the evening. He called his mum, and then within minutes, Johnathon Grail arrived, to find Tambo, standing on tip-toe, peering through a small window near the entrance.

  The Quaker House was locked and there was no way inside. Johnathon took out his set of master keys and quickly, but quietly, opened the front door. He beckoned to Tambo and put his finger to his lips to indicate that Tambo must stay silent. In trepidation, Tambo followed Johnathon into the vestibule. The floor was laid with slightly shabby linoleum tiles, fortunately, their sneakers made no sound. The musty smell that accompanies public buildings pervaded the air. Blue plastic chairs were stacked in the corner below a notice board, which dangled with public notices, leaflets and cards. Johnathon looked through the thin strips of glass in the double doors which led into the library. He couldn’t see any signs of life. The lights were turned out and it was as silent as the grave.

  Johnathon slowly opened the door and waved his hand to stop Tambo from following him inside. But Tambo was not to be put off. He followed Johnathon into the library proper and they scanned the room, but they saw nothing and heard no one. It was too dark to see to the back of the hall or through the stacks, but Johnathon was reluctant to turn on the lights. He took out his torch and shone the beam over towards the desk. He sent the light around into the kitchenette which lay behind it, but again they saw nothing.

  He was about to turn his attention to the stacks, when Tambo suddenly heard something! He grabbed Johnathon’s arm in alarm, and put his hand to his ear to indicate for Johnathon to listen. They stood motionless for a few moments, straining to hear something, and then they both heard the same sound again! It was a low moan coming from behind the desk. Johnathon cautiously made his way around the side of the large wooden counter top and nearly stood on a human hand! He noticed the fingers just in time to avert stamping on them, then he sent the light of the torch along the wrist and was relieved to find it was attached to an arm, which was attached to a shoulder, which was attached to a body. Johnathon swiftly knelt down to see that the body belonged to Iris Sprott, and to find that the moaning was coming from her. At least she was still alive!

  “Turn on the lights!” Johnathon told Tambo, “And call an ambulance, quick!”

  Chapter 20

  ~ * ~

  Marcus Finch lay down under a blanket, in the back of Peony Bow’s Mini Cooper. It was rather a squeeze for a man of six foot two with long legs and a big ego! She drove him into Little Eden, beneath the CCTV cameras, under the cover of darkness. Her love for him had overcome all rationality. Although she knew she was breaking the law, she felt a thrill of rebellious excitement, and most of all, the thrill of being in love. Peony smuggled Marcus into her apartment, on the third floor above her shop, and they spent the rest of the evening and all that night in bed together. Marcus was as passionate and as romantic as Peony had described him to be. She was completely under his thrall by morning. She knew in her heart that the Law of Attraction had brought her everything she had asked for. He was perfect!

  After rustling up a brunch of eggs Benedict, Marcus began to tell Peony the sad tale of how Linnet had left him for no good reason, and how she had cooked up the story about domestic abuse, so convincingly, that the police, judge and jury had been completely taken in, and he had subsequently ended up in jail: an innocent man. Justice now needed to be served, and he had to get his precious daughter, Alice, away from Linnet, before she too was poisoned by evil. He relayed to Peony all the poisonous lies Linnet had told about him, but he also explained how he was also able to forgive Linnet. “Jesus found me in prison,” he told Peony. “I have been blessed by His grace. There is nothing I cannot forgive with His guidance.”

  He took a letter from his coat pocket and showed it to Peony, it read:

  Dear Marcus

  The Lord compels me to write to you my friend. Here in Wisconsin the Lord has seen fit to grant me a humble ministry. Lately I have been called to reach a greater congregation. I have a media deal with NTBC worth millions of dollars. Your abilities and showmanship must be employed to do the work of the Lord. I enclose the documents you will need. Fly into Sawyer Airport and call me from there on the old number.

  May the Light of the Lord go with you and God bless you.

  Pastor Tilton Swagman

  “You’re moving to America?” Peony asked him in surprise.

  Marcus nodded and smiled. “I want to take Alice with me and you must help me.” He saw the disappointment on her face and smiled again. “I will send for you later, my dove.”

  Peony shook her head. “How can I help you? Besides, you would be recognised on television. The police would find you!”

  “Haven’t you heard of plastic surgery?” Marcus laughed. “In a few weeks no one will recognise me, or Alice. We h
ave new identities already!” He showed Peony the fake passports that the Pastor had sent them. “When enough time has passed, I will send for you and you can join us.”

  “I don’t know. That sounds impossible!” Peony replied, aghast. “I don’t think it sounds like a good idea.”

  “If it is the Lord’s will - nothing is impossible.” Marcus replied. “You must always follow the Lord and believe.”

  “Why not set up a ministry here in London?” Peony asked him.

  Marcus took her into his arms, and kissing her, he explained how, due to his stay in prison, no court was likely to grant him full custody of Alice. The only way to take her from Linnet was illegally.

  I have to tell you here, dear readers, that whilst Peony maybe prone to being blinded by love-karma (as we all are), she did have a moral compass, albeit deep inside her, which kicked in when kidnapping was on the cards!

  Peony protested and refused to go along with such an abominable plan. Marcus took his time to persuade her, and for the rest of the day he used his diplomatic and charming approach. The next day, over breakfast, he changed tack again and using emotional blackmail, he nearly persuaded Peony to change her mind; but not quite! So, in the end, he resorted to a finale of anger and recrimination finished off with a flourish of apologies and kisses. He punched her verbally and emotionally with one hand, and then offered her sweet words and hugs with the other. Over the next two days, whilst he lay low at Peony’s, she was on the verge of being convinced by his controlling methods, which wove a stronger and stronger spell as time went on. She was almost convinced that Alice would be safer with him, in America, than with Linnet, whose seemingly good character she highly doubted now.

  But when Peony still refused to help him, Marcus lost his self-control and turned grizzly. He started shouting and snarling like a wild beast. The more Peony protested, the more ferocious he became! He lashed out at her. His fist narrowly missed hitting her in the face.

  Petrified, Peony tried to escape through the kitchen door onto the roof, but Marcus quickly intercepted her, brandishing the long serrated-edged bread knife that had been left on the worktop. Peony squashed herself up against the fridge to try and avoid the crazy slashing of the blade, crying out in terror as he lurched towards her like a madman. He would have stabbed her straight through the stomach had she not remembered the self-defence moves that Minnie had showed her, and without really thinking about what she was doing, she blocked his arm with hers, stamped heavily on the bridge of his foot and swiftly kneed him in the balls!

  Marcus reeled backwards and downwards in pain, which gave Peony time to dodge sideways around the island worktop, and then her survival instinct really kicked in! She grabbed the pasta pan from the night before, still full of water and gloopy pasta, and she threw it at him! He managed to catch it, but the contents flew out, covering him in sticky starched water and strings of stray spaghetti from head to toe. She then picked up the wooden spoon, still coated in tomato sauce, and began beating him around the head with it, but Marcus grabbed her wrist and then, as quickly as he had transformed into ‘mad Marcus’, he transformed back into ‘loving Marcus’. He began apologising profusely. He gently put his arm around her. She began to shake and then burst into tears. Marcus softly caressed Peony’s cheek and held her close to him like a child. His tone became soothing. “You shouldn’t provoke me by disagreeing with me,” he told her and kissed her on the forehead. “We must be in love each other. That was our first ‘lovers tiff’. Let’s go and make up!”

  Peony felt herself calming down a little, but her heart was still racing ten to the dozen and she felt hot and cold at the same time. She shivered as she prised herself, slowly and carefully, from Marcus’s embrace and delicately picked some of the pasta strands from his chest and dried his face with a tea towel. Marcus took off his wet shirt and led Peony by the hand into the shower. They stepped under the gushing warm water together. An hour later Marcus lay in her bed, planning his next move, whilst Peony slept in his arms.

  Marcus quietly got up, leaving Peony half asleep, and pulled on his jeans and jumper. He had hoped to leave without waking her, but Peony stirred from her doze just in time to see him leaving the bedroom. Peony, afraid he might try to take Alice from Linnet straight away, tried desperately to think how she could stop him from leaving the apartment without setting off his anger. In the end, she thought that agreeing with him was the best idea, and figured that she could warn Linnet somehow, before it was too late. Peony tried her best to convince Marcus that she had changed her mind and would do as he asked. She kissed him as passionately as she could. “Bring Alice here,” she suggested. “Then, I will drive you both to the airport tomorrow. That way, they won’t see you leave Little Eden.”

  Marcus smiled, but he was not entirely convinced that she had had a change of heart. Peony wished him good luck as he left via the roof terrace. As soon as he was out of sight, she picked up the phone from its holster and headed off, as fast as she could, down the stairs into Vincent’s barbers shop, to see if he was there.

  What she didn’t know was that Marcus had doubled back and had followed her down the stairs. Before she could reach the bottom, he grabbed her from behind, ripping the phone out of her hand. He threw the phone, and her, through the door and they both shot across the barber’s room floor. The shop was deserted, it being a Monday, and there was no sign of Vincent. Marcus picked Peony up off the floor by her hair. Holding her arms tightly behind her back, he manoeuvred her into one of the barber’s chairs.

  Marcus tied Peony to the leather arm rests using the only thing to hand - hairdryer flexes - and forced a face cloth into her mouth to gag her. She tried to struggle but she could not break free. He was too strong for her, although she did manage to kick him rather hard in the shin! “Bitch!” Marcus exclaimed. “You’ll pay for that!” He growled and reached over to the rack of Victorian-style razors, which were hanging beside the chair. He picked up the biggest one he could find. Seeing him brandishing the razor, Peony tried to scream but she could not. She was petrified, paralysed and powerless. Her eyes wide with terror she could feel warm pee trickling down her legs. She thought she was going to vomit and pass out at the same time.

  With her eyes blurry with tears, Peony hardly saw Vincent, who had come silently up behind Marcus, brandishing a pair of ceramic hair straighteners.

  Vincent had been in the dressing room looking for a new shirt and tie to wear that evening when he had heard Peony come down the stairs. He had been about to come out of the cupboard to greet her, but then had seen Marcus grab her from behind and throw her across the floor. Scared and unsure what to do, Vincent had cowered behind the doors and watched as Marcus tied Peony up. He felt in his pockets for his own phone but realised he had left it on the counter, and Peony’s phone was too far away for him to reach without coming out of his hiding place. When Marcus reached for the razor he realised he had to act faster than making a phone call! Vincent knew he had to do something to save Peony - but what? He looked around the small room for a something to hit Marcus with, but there were only expensive shirts and handmade brogues. He picked up one shoe and wondered if it was hard enough to cosh someone with, but the leather was too soft and the shoe far too comfortable to make it a deadly weapon. Looking at the silk ties he wondered if he could strangle Marcus from behind, but hand-to-hand combat did not appeal to him at all. He thought about stabbing Marcus in the back of the heart with a pair of scissors. The only scissors in the cupboard were in a man’s shaving kit; he ripped open one of the bags, but then remembering they were nail scissors, and far too small, he dropped them in despair! Even if he had had a larger pair to hand, his stomach churned at the thought of ripping flesh and gushing blood! In the end, he caught sight of a pair of diamond-encrusted, ceramic hair straighteners (worth several thousand pounds), which were hanging up on the wall. In a flash he grabbed them and hoped a good crack to the back of Marcus’s head would be enoug
h!

  Through her tears, Peony saw Vincent do just that! He whacked Marcus on the back of the head! Or, at least, that was what he was aiming for, but he was a little shy of his mark and hit him mainly on the ear instead. Marcus yelped with pain and surprise! He swung around so quickly, that he almost cut Vincent across the cheek with the razor as he did so! To Peony it looked as if it were all happening in slow motion. She saw the razor blade graze Vincent’s beard, taking off the very ends of some of his whiskers in the process, but luckily leaving his face intact, and she saw Vincent move like a ninja and then hit Marcus with the straighteners again, this time, very hard on his left temple. Marcus doubled up to hold his head and with the other hand, he violently pushed Vincent in the chest, which made Vincent lose his footing and he headed for the floor, thudding down onto his back like an upside down turtle. Vincent was too shocked to roll over. Marcus raised his foot and was about to stamp it down on Vincent’s face, but the slow-motion action scene paused as they all heard a loud, cheery voice from the lower staircase. It was Mrs B coming up from the perfumery, calling for Peony.

  Marcus realised he couldn’t take on three people at once, and as quick as lightening he dragged Vincent into the dressing room and locked the doors on him. Then, without a thought for Peony, he scuttled up the stairs and back into her apartment. He headed straight out of the kitchen door and escaped over the roof terraces to Castle Street. As Mrs B entered the barber’s she saw no sign of Marcus but let out an almighty scream at the sight of poor Peony, who was still tied to a chair, with soggy wet flannel sticking out of her mouth!

  ~ * ~

  Marcus made it down onto Castle Street. He looked at the clock on Heroes Tower and realised he only had a few minutes to catch Alice alone. He had been stalking her for a few weeks now, and had realised that Alice’s most vulnerable time was when she went to the library alone. Alice always took her library books back to the Quaker House on a Monday at four o’clock, and she would spend about half an hour amongst the stacks, choosing another one or two books to read during the week. This was one of the few times she was ever on her own. The library which was for children’s books only was open two days a week. Very few people used it these days and Alice liked the peace and quiet. There was a lovely window seat at the back on which Alice liked to sit and flick through the books. Apart from the librarian, Iris Sprott, there was hardly ever anyone else there, especially now, it being school holidays.