’What about a wee dram of whisky to help you tell me, love? That will open up your throat chakra,’ Wee Renee said kindly, putting her hand on his shoulder.
’No, no. I just wanted to get it out and then get back to Suzanne,’ Tommy said. ‘We found a doll and, in the fog, and in the dark, well I don’t know what I saw, but I think a hand was underneath it. A small hand. A human one.’ Wee Renee put her hand over her mouth. Tommy nodded with his eyes closed. It was as bad as Wee Renee thought.
‘We were so startled by that, … I didn’t see it at first. There was something the other side of the fence in the fog. I think that Suzanne got a clearer look than me, but it was massive and black. And its eyes, they were pure evil, Wee Renee. It slipped back into the fog, it knew we could see it, and it was behind the swirls of mist, just out of sight. I kept getting glimpses,’ Tommy confided.
All the time he said this, Wee Renee was getting out her biscuit barrel. She fiddled in the bottom until she came out with an arrowroot biscuit, which she gave to Bella. A sudden thought occurred to her. She knew where they were going with this now. These kinds of matters she could deal with. Wee Renee had a sudden thought.
’Did it glow?’ Wee Renee asked excitedly.
’No not at all,’ Tommy said. ‘It was the opposite Wee Renee. It seemed to suck the darkness out of the night. It was oppressing, black and brooding.’
‘On the subject of the droppings. What would you say they were?’ Wee Renee asked.
’Human, I said to Suzanne. Which seemed amusing at the time, but now, unfortunately, it isn’t,’ Tommy informed her.
’Come into my living room, I think you might have a bit of a shock,’ Wee Renee said.
For a split second, Tommy thought that the creature might be sitting there, as friendly as could be, on Wee Renee’s sofa. Probably with its legs crossed, drinking a hot chocolate and watching ‘Footloose’ or something like that. However, what Tommy found was entirely different.
Wee Renee’s living room walls were now fully papered with clippings, sightings, strange happenings, notes from books and a large map with a red tinsel triangle pinned onto it.
‘Welcome to weird happenings central,’ Wee Renee said, with a little laugh. ‘You see, you really did come to the right person.’
Tommy looked around the room amazed. He wondered if Wee Renee was actually sane because this was like something you saw on the walls of a psycho’s house. He felt like he was in a movie. A horror movie. Had he just jumped from the frying pan into the fire?
’Come on, look at this map,’ Wee Renee said, as she pointed to the tinsel triangle. ‘This is the Melden Triangle. A focus for evil and the supernatural. That part is not important now. You see these pins stuck in here, inside the triangle?’
‘Yes,’ Tommy answered, a little flabbergasted. He took a closer look at the number of pins in the triangle. This was a pretty large map, but there were so many pins in it that he could hardly see any place names.
’Each coloured pin represents a different type of occurrence. Red for murders, yellow for disappearances, green for any strange happenings and blue for macabre finds,’ Wee Renee informed him. Tommy swallowed. ‘Now point to where you saw these things happen.’
Tommy pointed just inside the triangle. It was near three blue pins, two yellow pins and five green pins. Happily, Tommy noticed, at the moment nowhere near any red pins.
’Ah, I see. I know where you mean,’ she said. ‘I will have to come and investigate that with you. Survey the site. Tell me, when can we go up next?’ Wee Renee asked.
’I don’t think we would be happy going up there in the dark again, Wee Renee,’ Tommy said, ‘What time are you up in the morning?’
’I’m up before the cock every morning,’ Wee Renee informed him.
’What if we say as soon as it is light in the morning, we go and have a little look, and then me and Suze can get off to work, and you can start your investigations?’ Tommy said.
’Oh, I’ll be starting my investigations tonight. I’ve got plenty of clippings that aren’t up on these walls. I’ll start to go through them. There may be something in that area that wasn’t enough to justify a pin but may give us some evidence towards the matter.’
’Thanks, Wee Renee, I should get back to Suzanne. She’ll be anxious,’ Tommy said.
’You tell her that I am on the case and it’ll get solved, poor wee love. And don’t you worry either,’ Wee Renee said.
Tommy left Wee Renee’s house a little happier than he had arrived. He did have to wonder about Wee Renee’s strange happenings command centre and if he had just opened a can of worms.
Looking at the map with the pins, he wondered if with all this happening on the Moors, his and Suzanne’s experience was just small fry. It seemed to him that this was the least of their worries. And what the hell was The Melden Triangle? He and Suzanne certainly had something to talk about in the bedroom now, over their last cuppa.
Before she went to bed, Wee Renee went through her clippings. She did find a couple of other items about unusual droppings and also strange human-like bones that had been found. However, they were not really in that area, but Wee Renee had to admit, they were not too far away.
She pulled them out and put them to one side. Tomorrow she would begin to make a case file. She was very excited and forced herself to sleep. Happily, Wee Renee was going to be busy again from tomorrow.
The next morning was foggy and drizzly again. Wee Renee dressed early in thick cords and a polo neck sweater. She tied her long white hair back and plaited it.
She put a coat over the kitchen chair and her boots at the side of it, while she waited for Tommy and Suzanne to call. Wee Renee decided that she might wait for breakfast, as she didn’t know what terrible sights she might have to witness. She put her porridge ready in a saucepan on the stove, to just put a light under, when she came back.
Tommy and Suzanne arrived about ten minutes after it was light. Suzanne had bags under her eyes and a pale, sickly expression. Whatever she had seen had terrified her and obviously prevented her from getting a wink of sleep.
’Morning love how are you?’ Wee Renee asked, compassionately.
’I’m not going to go into work today, Wee Renee. I am not safe to drive to work or sit there all day,’ Suzanne said.
’It’s a shock when we come across stuff like this, but you do get over it, I can assure you. All you need is a little time,’ Wee Renee said. ‘Come on, let’s get it over with.’
They walked up the bank towards the Moors, in comparative silence.
The only bright spark was Bella, who cheerily seemed to be walking, without a care in the world. When they got off the main road onto the Moors, Bella’s happy mood immediately changed. She was reluctant to go even fifty feet towards the site and kept reversing. Tommy thought at one point, she was going to pull out of her collar and bolt for home.
‘I think you will have to wait here with her, Suze,’ Tommy said. Suzanne nodded, she was in no rush to go back and see anything up there.
‘Aye, she doesn’t want to go, does she? Dogs have a perfect sense for extreme danger. Perhaps the beast isn’t nocturnal after all,’ Wee Renee said, squinting towards the Moors.
‘Don’t say that,’ Suzanne said, reversing a couple more steps. Tommy took a deep breath.
‘Onwards and upwards,’ Wee Renee said brightly.
Wee Renee and Tommy forged ahead on the path against the barbed wire fence. Wee Renee had bought a couple of carrier bags in her pocket in case she had evidence to pick up, and some food bags for small items. She could see the first item quite a way away, as it was plonked right in the centre of the path.
’Is this the droppings you were on about Tommy?’ Wee Renee asked. Tommy nodded. Wee Renee walked towards them and squatted down. She tried to smell it as much as she could, flaring her nostrils. Finally, she stood up, looking at Tommy.
‘Definitely human or humanoid should I say. It could be the beasts. It’s
not anything else I can think of,’ Wee Renee said. ‘Let’s go further, show me first the bone, then the pelvis.’ Tommy did this. Wee Renee examined them both.
‘I think they could be both human, Tommy. You were right to contact me. Now tell me where you think the beast was?’
‘This is exactly where we saw it, just the other side of the fence,’ Tommy said. Wee Renee wandered over the fence and looked over. It didn’t take her long to see that there were huge footprints here. They looked like a human’s feet, but bigger. Maybe a size fifteen would fit it, but perhaps not.
‘Tommy come here,’ Wee Renee said, showing him the footprint and winking. ‘Confirmation again. Now, where is this hand?’ Before they got to the hand, they found the carcass of a fox.
’Was this here last night?’ Wee Renee asked.
’Definitely not, I would’ve seen it,’ Tommy said.
‘Right where is this hand?’ Wee Renee asked.
’Do you know what, Wee Renee, I’m actually thinking now that I don’t know which direction it was in. We were there, and Bella was pulling on her lead,’ Tommy said, looking thoroughly around him.
‘We had already seen the thing, you know the monster, and then it was moving alongside us. It was a bit of a panic really. Let’s just go a bit further, I think it’s up here,’ Tommy said a little confused.
They looked around in the wet marshy grass for a while and at one point, Tommy thought that they were never going to find it, or it had gone. Then Wee Renee walked forward and to the right a little before shouting him.
’Tommy!’ Wee Renee shouted. Tommy walked slowly to join her. He looked down. The doll was there but now facing downwards and no sign of a hand. Maybe it had been taken by the fox or perhaps Tommy and Suzanne’s stalker. Wee Renee looked right into Tommy’s eyes.
’I’ve got another mystery to solve, haven’t I?’ Wee Renee said.
’Do you think, instead of doing this, that we should contact the police?’ Tommy asked.
‘If we had had the hand to show them or some real evidence of a crime then we could try. With what we have here, definitely not. Half the time the Police don’t believe you, even if you tell them. Especially if it is something strange. No, we’ll investigate this and get some more proof,’ Wee Renee said.
‘Are you going to take any of this as evidence?’ Tommy asked. Wee Renee thought for a moment, considering each item.
‘No,’ she said, ‘it looks like it has been rolling around on the Moors for ages, there will be nothing of any use on here, I’m sure,’ Wee Renee said regretfully.
They both started walking back down. It had been raining for a while, and the footpath was quite slippery. Wee Renee was holding on carefully to the posts on the barbed wire in between the prongs when she came across something.
‘Look at this Tommy,’ Wee Renee said, her eyes shining, pointing at the fence. He could see a clump of fur caught on the wire.
‘This could be useful,’ she told him. She got a sandwich bag out of her pocket, put it around the fur inside out and fastened it. She looked at it closely and then showed Tommy. The fur was blackish-brown. It was quite long, about two inches and coarse.
’Could be a dog,’ Tommy said.
’That’s a possibility,’ Wee Renee said. ‘But I don’t know what else it could be if it isn’t. It’s not a deer or fox. Or any other creature from around here. Certainly, I would rule out badger, squirrel, rat. I can’t think what else it could be.’
’I suppose there is a chance that it could be a cat as well,’ Tommy offered.
‘Yes, that is a possibility I suppose. Sue’s Bramble is this colour, a dark tabby, but his fur isn’t a fraction of this length. I will take this back to see what I can do with it,’ Wee Renee said. ‘I’ve been buying bits of equipment. This will give me a chance to try it out.’
’That sounds very interesting. You are seriously into it, aren’t you?’ Tommy commented.
’Aye, I am. But it’s a case that I’ve had to be. Someone has got to be around here, or else we would all be dead!’ Wee Renee said matter-of-factly. Tommy swallowed.
‘The good thing is, I don’t do all this investigating on my own. I do it with a group of other people from the Band. That’s how we did, you know, the other thing,’ Wee Renee said.
Tommy knew precisely what she meant, he had been on holiday when it all began, and then they couldn’t get back home, because of the flights. When they finally got back into England, they couldn’t get back to Friarmere. In desperation, they had had to stay with Suzanne’s sister in Bury. Even spending the whole of Christmas with her.
However, Tommy knew all about it. Everyone in Friarmere knew all about what had gone on, whether they had been in the Village or not. They were all trying hard to forget about it
’Do they all have a living room like yours?’ Tommy asked. Wee Renee laughed at that.
’No, love. You have discovered the central hub.’ Wee Renee paused, ‘Tommy, I wonder if it would be possible that you could tell your story to these people. They may have other questions that haven’t immediately come to mind. Would you be happy to do that, if I can get them together?’ Wee Renee asked.
’I had better ask the boss first,’ Tommy said. The two of them could see Suzanne now waiting anxiously at the bottom. Bella was sitting down wagging her tail at the sight of her Master returning.
‘Suze, would you meet up with some of Wee Renee friends? We can tell them everything that has gone on and answer any questions they might have,’ Tommy asked.
’Of course, I will,’ Suzanne said. ‘I want this sorted as much as anyone else. These are the only people that I’m happy to trust will do it. We should tell them everything we know.’
They began walking back down to their houses.
‘What if I say I will try and get everyone together tonight if possible. Are you free?’ Wee Renee said.
’Yes, we can do tonight,’ Tommy said.
’I’ll try and get the gang together. Then we meet up at The Grange. I’ll let you know the time when I have spoken to everyone later, around teatime. Is that alright?’ Wee Renee asked.
’Yes, it will be interesting,’ Suzanne said. ‘We will be there.’
‘Er … The Grange? Isn’t that where the main … you know …used to live?’ Tommy asked.
‘Aye! Exciting isn’t it!’ Wee Renee said.
4. A Reconvening
After making her breakfast of porridge and a cup of tea, Wee Renee decided to go on a walk to ask all of the people if they would like to attend the meeting at The Grange tonight. Walking helped her think. By the time she got out, it was 10 o’clock.
Sue, Bob, Adam, and Tony’s house was empty, apart from the cats. Sue and Tony were at work. The boys were at School today. They would have to be contacted later.
Ernie was in. He asked Wee Renee in for a drink. He put the kettle on and brought out some ginger cake. Wee Renee told Ernie that they had another supernatural mystery to solve and that all the facts would be given out to any interested parties later. Ernie rubbed his hands together.
’Is it dangerous?’ Ernie asked.
’Would that stop you?’ Wee Renee asked. ‘Because I think it is!’
’No probably not. Not after last time. I’ve realised I’m quite a capable fellow, Renee. What time were you thinking?’ Ernie asked.
‘Maybe about seven. What do you think?’ Wee Renee asked.
‘Yes. Where else are you going?’ He asked.
‘Quite a few people’s houses,’ she said, ‘don’t worry about that.’
‘Should I bring something for us to eat?’ Ernie asked.
‘That would be grand,’ Wee Renee said. They got onto other matters. The Band, the new players, etc. and then Wee Renee said her goodbyes and went on to her next stop.
Ernie shut the door slowly as she left. He was hoping this didn’t mean that he would get captured or transformed again into some other being. How often did that happen? It certainly was a change fr
om the drudgery of life, and even though he missed Lynn, it was good that he didn’t have to ask anyone else’s opinion on whether he should join the mystery gang.
Gary’s Land Rover had been absent. He must be doing some work, so Wee Renee had to leave him until later. She had a paper and a pen in her pocket. Wee Renee added a tick next to Ernie and drew a line under Gary’s name.
The next place to stop was Pat’s. She had been a little worried about Wee Renee after last night so was very happy to see her. Pat invited her in, and Jackie said she would put the kettle on.
’I don’t mind if I do,’ Wee Renee said ‘but I will just have to use the little girl’s room if you don’t mind? This could be quite a tea-filled day.’
When Wee Renee got back from the toilet, Jackie was making herself comfortable around the kitchen table, while Pat was making the drinks. Pat’s black kitten was trying to make friends with his Auntie Jackie.
’Pick him up, Jackie,’ Pat said. Jackie picked up the black kitten and put him on her knee. She would have preferred to pick up Hank, the ginger one, but he seemed to only like being with Pat.
After the tea and the fig biscuits were on the table, Wee Renee told Pat and Jackie the same tale she had told Ernie. Just enough to tempt them and to make sure that they knew it was dangerous. She knew without hesitation what Pat would say but was unsure about what Jackie would think.
Jackie was extremely excited about not only being trusted enough to join this select little group, but also the actual mystery itself. She was delighted to say that she would be in attendance tonight too.
’I didn’t know that something would happen again,’ Jackie said. ‘Or I thought it would be ages if it did. But then I thought you wouldn’t ask me to come, and I wouldn’t get the chance to sniff around into something weird.’
’You can wash my bed socks later if that is what excites you!’ Pat said loudly, laughing.
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