Thursday September 11
Gary was over the moon to have his daughter back again. In no
time at all Charlie had conquered his revolving office chair and was whizzing
around on it. Gary was, however, sad that the secret of her return had not been
revealed immediately.
After bai g reakfast with Charlie helping PeggySue with her cereal
and wishing she was her sister, Cleo drove the exited little girl to meet up
with her father, who had no idea that she was on the way.
“Why didn’t you tell me last night or even before you went to
collect her?” Gary wanted to know. “I would have dropped everything to be
there.”
“Didn’t you go to Morlin Bay?”
“No. I want you with me when go anywhere,” said Gary.
“Robert arranged it all and you had such a lot to do. I
wanted to talk to the uy about our
gailed marriage. I hoped to talk with him about a friendly divorce, but we
hardly spoke a word because he was using his avoidance tactics. Facing facts is
not his thing when it comes to personal relationships, Gary. On the way back, I
wanted to avoid a confrontation in front of Charlie. But Charlie is here for
ever, Gary, and she’s already in my heart!”
“So you will make her your daughter one day?”
“Sooner than later, Gary.”
“Are you sure she’s not just on a visit?”
“Quite sure. Her mother talked to Robert and he got the
impression that she could not be bothered with her any longer,” Cleo explained
in a whisper.
“Typical. I expect it was that lover-boy.”
Gary did not whisper quietly enough.
“What’s a lover-boy, Daddy?” Charlie called.
“Someone you don’t need to know,” he replied.
“Do you mean like Sandro?”
“That’s exactly who I mean,” said Gary.
“Sandro told me to call him Daddy, but I told him I already
had a Daddy and didn’t need a second one.”
“Quite right, Charlie,” said Cleo.
“I’d like you to be my second Mummy,” said Charlie. But only
if you promise to love my Daddy.”
“I already do, Charlie.”
“What about that man who bought me the chips and hamburgers?”
“He’s nice, too,” said Cleo, not knowing quite what to say.
“But I already have a daddy and I’m thirsty,” Charlie said.
***
Nigel came into the office at that moment. Cleo was amazed.
Wasn’t Gary going to replace him with Brass?
“I thought you were dry cleaning Cornwall, Nigel,” she said.
“No, Cleo. My parents are retiring and I did not want to go
it alone.”
“Nigel, can you take my daughter down to the canteen and get
her whatever she wants – within reason?” said Gary.
Charlie was quite happy to go along with Nigel, who looked smart
in his once despised uniform and had already given Charlie big smiles because
she reminded him of his sister.
Nigel sensed that Gary and Cleo wanted to be alone. He winked
charmingly at Cleo and told her they had his blessing and he would look after
Charlie. After that he went to the canteen with the little girl, who asked him
difficult questions about issuing blessings and why wasn’t he he a priest.
When Charlie and Nigel had gone, Cleo could not contain her
curiosity.
“Isn’t Brass coming? Won’t it be a little crowded here?”
“Roger’s taking Brass on. I’ve more or less arranged that.
Nigel just arrived and behaved as though he had never been away.”
“You have to hand it to him, Gary. He has a nerve!”
***
As chief of the whole crime setup at Headquarters in Middlethumpton,
Roger Stone taking Breass on was an ideal solution, not just because Gary
preferred Nigel, but because he knew the ropes and that would save stress.
Gary got on well with the extremely camp Nigel, who was ten
years or so younger, but had a knack of doing the right thing at the right time
without having to be told. Gary appreciated Nigel’s sense of timing and to be
honest, he was not quite sure about Brass’s ability to keep up with him. A
period spent with Roger bossing him around would do him good. In contrast to
Sergeant Llewellyn, Roger was fair and awarded credit to those who earned it. Brass
would benefit from working for the father figure provided by the older officer
rather than Gary’s mercurial and sometimes unpredictable methods.
***
It took quite a while to get through the effusive greetings
issued by Romano, over the phone, though the room had to be cancelled for
obvious reasons. Eventually, Romano got round to asking if there was a problem.
“Sorry, Romano, I told you an untruth. I don’t just love one
woman. I love two.”
“You scoundrel,” Cleo heard. There was no need for a
loudspeaker. Romano was now screaming.
“Hold your horses, Romano. I’m talking about my daughter.
She’s just arrived from Spain.”
Romano calmed down immediately.
“You have made me happy again.”
“I’ll introduce you at lunchtime.”
“Wonderful,” said Romano.
“See you then. I think you’ll agree when you meet Charlie.”
“You also have a boyfriend, Gary? What about Cleo? I never
would have thought… “
“My daughter Charlotte is Charlie, Romano. See you then.”
***
“An apoplectic restauranteur is all I need,” said Gary.
“That guy nearly had a heart attack,” said Cleo. “I could
hear every word without a loudspeaker.”
“I didn’t want him to get excited, but he’s a Italian. He
lives out all his friends’ affairs. Amore amore amore, Cleo.”
“I’ll go with the amore, but not with the apoplexy, Gary!”
“We need to talk seriously about the future, Cleo.”
“Let the future take care of itself,” said Cleo. “It’s nearer
than you think!”
“Does that mean…?”
Then Gary’s desk-phone interrupted.
***
It was Brass. Ivy Frobisher had been found dead in one of her
beachhuts at the skating rink end.
Gary switched on the speaker so that Cleo could hear the conversation.
“Say that again, Brass. Cleo Hartley is here and I want her
to hear the news at first hand.”
Brass obligingly repeated his statement.
“Who found her?”
“Someone out with his dog, Gary.”
“Did you get his name and address?”
“Of course.”
“You don’t think he did it, then.”
“No. He wasn’t the only one on the promenade. There seems to
be a whole lot of old men taking their dogs out in the mornings. The others
vouched for the man having just followed his dog into the open hut. Someone
phoned for an ambulance and me. The corpse was taken to the pathology lab and I
sealed the place off.”
“I don’t suppose you know how long she has been dead, do
you?”
“She was stone cold, Gary, so it won’t have been a dog-lover
this morning.”
“That does not completely rule them out. Any obvious clues?”
“I couldn’t see any. I phoned forensics and they told me they
would come as soon as possible”
“Did you get photos, Brass?”
“Yes, of course. I’m used to dealing with these matters by
myself.”
“You’d think a murder would have precedence for the forensic
team,” said Gary cynically.
“Not if there’s already been one at one of the Bed &
Breakfasts.”
“Good God!”
“I’ve put a secure lock in the key-hole of the beachhut, Gary.
No one can get in without the key.”
“Are you still there?”
“No. Someone has to run the station.”
“Does that mean the sergeant has not yet turned up?”
“It’s too early for him.”
“Get help, Brass,” Gary instructed. “I intended to come
anyway. We’ll be there tomorrow.”
“We?”
“I’ll bring Miss Hartley along if she has time.”
“OK.”
“Let me know if there’s any development.”
“They’ll come from Headquarters eventually and then it’ll be
out of my hands,” said Brass.
“That doesn’t matter. When they arrive, just let them get on
with it and don’t tell them anything they don’t need to know.”
“Meaning about Sergeant Loo and the brothel?”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
“If you think so, Sir.”
“I do think so and it’s still Gary.”
“I’ll be getting on then, Gary,” said Brass, and rang off.
***
“That’s a pretty kettle of fish, and no mistake,” Gary said. “Hardly
have I set eyes on Charlie than I have to leave her.”
“I’ll take care of her,” said Cleo.
“You can’t. You’re coming with me.”
“I wasn’t thinking of going on another trip so soon, Gary.”
Cleo did not reveal to Gary that she had been making
contingency plans for the children. As it transpired, they would be needed.
“Well think again. I need you.”
“OK. I’ll organize
things.”
“That’s more like it.”
“When Charlie gets back from the canteen, you will explain
the situation to her, won’t you?”
“No problem.”
“To be honest, I don’t think Charlie will mind. I have to
confess that I’ve already arranged for her to spend time at the vicarage. I
thought you would rather she went there than hang around with Robert. PeggieSue
will go to Edith too. Charlie said it was like having a sister.“
“Then I’ll get to see her at last, won’t I?”
“It’s high time you did!”
“So you had planned to come with me, I take it,” said Gary.
“I wanted you to want me to, Gary.”
“There is not a moment in my life when I do not want to the
two dames I love most, with a third lined up.”
“Charlie already feels like my daughter.”
“She will be soon.”
When we are married I’ll adopt her if she wants me to. I already love her just like I love her
daddy, Gary. Do you have time to get her
organized now?”
“Of course.”
“Can you ring the Comprehensive school and register her from
Monday? She can take the bus with the older Parsnip boys.”
“Great, Cleo. Thanks for thinking of that.”
“It was really Robert’s idea. I could collect Charlie here
round about four and take her to Milton’s to get her school uniform.”
“Thanks. You are brilliant, Cleo!”
“That’s what mothers are actually for, Gary. Not for
kidnapping kids and taking them away from their fathers to live with some
querky mother’s boyfriend just out of spite.”
***
Charlie was impressed that her Daddy had already organized a
school for her, and Cleo told her that she could get to know some classmates
next day.
After coping with Romano’s effusive greetings and eating
lunch together, Gary took Charlie to the bookshop find out what books she would
need for school and to buy them if they were available.
Cleo drove reluctantly back to Upper Grumpsfield to catch up
with jobs in her office until it was time to go back to Middlethumpton to collect
Charlie. Charlie said it felt like Christmas, since Gary had bought Charlie
some interesting books with titles like “Veronica goes to school” and “Veronica
has a midnight feast”.
“No computer, Charlie?”
“Next week, Cleo. I have to see what the others In my class
use.”
***
Later, Milton’s store was fortunately able to supply Charlie
with her school uniform. Then she and Cleo ate an ice and went back to Upper
Grumpsfield, callingan in at the vicarage to meet the Parsnip boys she would be
going to school with and arrange for Charlie and PeggieSue to stay at the
vicarage while Cleo went to Frint-on-Sea the following day.
Edith was delighted. Charlie was delighted. Even the Parsnip boys
were delighted
“It’s like having Anna here,” the Parsnip boys enthused.
***
It was excitedly explained to Charlie that Anna had been
orphaned a year or two previously. After spending months at the vicarage she
had gone to live with Auntie Beatrice, who didn’t have any kids of her own.
Frederick Parsnip, fervently evangelical vicar and Beatrice’s
younger brother, said she was an unlikely candidate for the care of a girl aged
about 9, but the arrangement worked well, much to his surprise. Beatrice had
always been bossy and a know-all, and was resented by her younger brother even
now,decades later, but having a child to look after proved to be
character-forming, as the vicar had to admit. It had not formed his, Edith
Parsnip regretter.
Beatrice was now quite charming to everyone and no longer
bossed her brother around, which was the main reason the vicar could approve
nobly of the situation. Anna loved everything about her new home, her new
school, and not least the new piano Beatrice bought for her when she discovered
that the girl was musical. Beatrice’s husband Oscar was a solemn, wordless sort
of person, but even he came to life in Anna’s presence.
***
Thursday evening at the cottage was difficult for Cleo once
Charlie and PeggySue were tucked up in bed. Robert was still baffled and
confused by Cleo’s confession . He was upset about herevident partiality to
Gary and his own sudden resignation after he had sworn to fight for her.
Robert was insecure. He did not know how he could hang on to
Cleo if she decided to move on. The worst part of the situation was that they
could not find words to talk it through.
Cleo announced that she would have to continue working on the
Susan Smart murder case and look for the guy who tried to rape Angie. That
meant she would have to go back to Frint-on-Sea. A second murder had taken
place in one of the beachhuts and a third in a bedroom at one of the B & B
establishments. She hoped to find out if they were connected in any way.
“That town is a den of iniquity, Cleo. I don’t want you to go.”
“It’s my job, Robert. I’ve arranged everything.The girls will
go to the vicarage until I get back. You’ll manage perfectly without me.”
“Will I?” said Robert miserably. “What about the shop?”
“Normal service. That’s why I want Edith to look after the
girls.”
“That’s why having children is a bad bad idea,” said Robert.
“ That’s your problem. You wanted me to keep the Hartley
Agency going and I can’t do that if I don’t work on cases. And it’s your
problem if you resent my having a child.”
Robert knew that was the blunt truth. They drank more coffee
and went to bed. Cleo feigned sleep immediately. She could not have dealt with
any attempt at sexuality from Robert, should there be any forthcoming, which
was ecoming increasingly unlikely and unwanted. Very soon the faked sleep
turned into the real thing.
Robert got out of bed and paced up and down for two hours before taking
his duvet and pillow to the guestroom for the rest of the night.He was making tentative
plans for what he would do if his marriage were to break down. What’s sauce for
the goose….he murmured as he fell into a fitful sleep. He was as yet unable to
explain the image of the gentle, humble viar’s wife, Edith Parsnip, that dominated
his dream that night.
No comments:
Post a Comment