Alice Parker & the Curse of Fate (12 page)

‘
Have a nice
evening,’ called Ingrid over the shouts and screams. Then she
drove back towards the farmhouse.

‘
At least
you’ve got something to keep you warm!’ sniggered Thomas,
ignoring Isabella’s pleas. They turned their backs and he put
his arm around Alice as they headed back across the fields.

‘
This is all
our fault,’ said Alice woefully. ‘But it doesn’t
make sense. I was certain no one followed us here. I was watching
all the time.’

‘
Since when
does anything make sense for us?’ replied Thomas. ‘I
thought you’d realised that a long time ago.’

*

The fire fighters
battled with the blaze for several hours before it was finally
brought under control. Ingrid barely moved and simply gazed at the
scene as if saying a prolonged goodbye to her home. And yet she was
not as upset as Alice had imagined. There were no more tears. As
long as her dogs and horses were safe, Ingrid was content. Thomas
draped an extra coat around her shoulders as a few flakes of snow
began to fall.

Alice, Thomas,
Grandma and Brigitte were driven down to Heinrich’s house,
along with Maxi and Morritz. He had returned from taking his family
to the cinema to discover the devastating scene, and rushed over to
help. Relieved to see that everyone was all right, he led Ingrid’s
anxious horses out of the stables and in to a field a safe distance
away from the farmhouse. Then he stayed with Ingrid until the fire
crew left in the early hours of the morning.

Sipping hot tea
around the table in Heinrich’s kitchen, everyone looked at each
other in silence. For once even Brigitte had nothing to say.

‘
So ... what
now?’ asked Alice eventually, glancing at Grandma. ‘Where
will poor Ingrid live?’

‘
Here, for
now. Heinrich wants her to stay with them for as long as it takes to
get back to normal.’

‘
I’m
afraid that could be a very long time,’ said Thomas gloomily.
‘Do you think that house will ever be habitable again?’

‘
Of course,’
replied Brigitte. ‘In Germany we can fix anything.’

As Alice raised an
eyebrow at that comment, she noticed that Brigitte was smiling.
Perhaps she did have a sense of humour after all. Funny time to show
it, though.

Heinrich’s
wife and son rushed around preparing beds and sofas for their guests,
and would not hear of Brigitte and the Parkers leaving that evening.
Thomas would sleep on a camp-bed in their son’s room, Grandma
and Alice share the double bed in the spare bedroom, and Ingrid and
Brigitte would have a sofa each in the living room.

Finally Heinrich
persuaded Ingrid to leave the smoking remains of her house and come
home with him. Brigitte was attempting to cover herself with a
blanket on the sofa and was fighting off Maxi and Morritz when they
ran to the back door barking. A dazed Ingrid, reeking of smoke,
wandered in to the kitchen. At the sight of her friends around the
table she put on a brave face, but underneath it she looked
shell-shocked. Alice felt desperately sorry for her but had no idea
what to say. What could anyone say in these circumstances?

Fortunately
Heinrich’s wife suggested that she had a hot bath while she
found some fresh clothes for her. Ingrid nodded gratefully. Before
she left the room, she spoke to Grandma in a low voice. When she
trudged up the stairs, Grandma rested her head in her hands in
despair.

‘
What’s
wrong? What did she just say?’ asked Alice.

‘
She said ...
she said she’s not stupid. There was only a light breeze this
evening, so wind was not responsible for moving her shed. And her
truck key was in the pocket of her trousers all along – not in
the ignition.’

Chapter 10

Interrogations
and Revelations

Alice hardly slept
for horrific images of the fire flashing through her mind, and though
she hated to admit it, concern for Isabella and Lukas out in the
cold. Early the next morning she and Thomas crept out of the house
and headed across the fields to check on them. Ingrid had beaten
them to it and was waiting for them, sitting on the fallen elm.
Parked nearby was her tractor, towing a large trailer full of earth.
Alice and Thomas hesitated before approaching her.

Staring in to space,
Ingrid began to speak with her back to them. ‘I do not
understand what is happened last night. Or why. But I know
something is not normal here.’

Alice sat down next
to her, waving Ingrid’s cigarette smoke away from her face. ‘I
thought you didn’t smoke.’

Ingrid pulled a
face.

Hearing voices,
Isabella called out in a hoarse voice. ‘Get us out! Please!
We’re sorry. Thomas! Are you there?’

‘
We’re
sorry too, Ingrid,’ said Alice quietly. ‘We should never
have come here. It’s not safe to be around us. Wherever we go
we bring chaos, lately.’

‘
Das stimmt,’
agreed Ingrid. ‘You two are not normal. I saw that easy
before the fire.’

‘
Really?’
asked Thomas, wondering how they had slipped up.

Ingrid smiled to
herself and stubbed out her cigarette in the frosty soil. ‘You
are like my husband. He was one also. You are Vingel. I see it in
your eyes.’

Alice gulped. She
wasn’t expecting that. She looked at Thomas for help but he
shrugged his shoulders. ‘Um ... well, yes. We are. Finwips
in English.’

‘
Sooo,’
replied Ingrid slowly. ‘On this ground I help you. My husband
would wish that.’ She stood up, climbed on to the tractor and
reversed the trailer to the edge of the hole.

‘
She’s
going to tip the load!’ screeched Alice. ‘She’ll
bury them alive!’

‘
Wait!’
called Thomas, running over to the tractor. ‘One minute,
please!’

Ingrid tutted in
annoyance as he called to Isabella.

‘
I trust you
slept well?’

In the chilly air
steam was rising from the pit. Isabella didn’t answer. She
had kept herself and her companion warm by heating up the manure to
an even higher temperature and using it as a radiator. They were
still sitting down in the dirt, their backs resting against the
steaming pile.

‘
What now,
then?’ she asked, looking up at him. ‘You can’t
just leave us down here.’

‘
Can’t
I?’ replied Thomas. ‘You tell me once and for all what
your problem is, then I’ll decide your fate.’

Alice snorted.
‘You’ll be lucky. If only it was that simple!’

‘
It’s
perfectly simple,’ said Thomas coldly. ‘If Isabella
doesn’t come clean, this hole will be filled in and no one will
be any the wiser.’

Ingrid revved the
engine of the tractor and tipped the trailer just enough for a few
clods of earth to tumble down – just enough to scare Isabella.

She wasn’t the
only one beginning to feel afraid. ‘You’re actually
serious, aren’t you?’ yelled Alice. ‘Both of
you!’

Perfectly calm and
composed, Ingrid nodded, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel
impatiently.

‘
Listen to me,
Isabella!’ ordered Alice. ‘For goodness sake, just tell
him the truth! I can’t be responsible for his actions
otherwise. It’s out of my hands.’

Once again Ingrid
jolted the trailer, sending more earth tumbling down. Lukas grabbed
Isabella and shook her roughly, shouting in temper.

‘
All right,
all right!’ she sulked, pushing him away and attempting to
brush some manure from her coat. ‘I’ll tell them.’

‘
Wise
decision,’ said Thomas. ‘Now, why are you still hunting
us down after all this time?’

‘
Someone
kindly refreshed my recent memories after my stupid, interfering
cousin erased them.’

‘
I assume
that
someone was a statue called Lionel.’

Isabella nodded.
‘Partly. Lionel wants you dead, Thomas. He wants revenge for
what you did to him. You’re a murderer, Thomas Parker.’

‘
You will be
too, if you carry out his orders.’

‘
Ah, but I’m
being paid well for my services.’

‘
Oh, that’s
priceless! How does he pay you? Does he nip to the bank or write
you a cheque with his stone fingers?’

‘
Lionel had
some unfinished business,’ said Isabella smugly. ‘Several
stashes of cash and valuables needed to be distributed to his
colleagues. He tells me where to find them, then I get my cut. It
seems he’d had a successful few months before his life ended
unexpectedly thanks to you.’

‘
Pff! A
successful few months of crime, you mean, with the help of his
cronies!’ scoffed Thomas.

‘
He must have
been a
very
busy man,’ emphasised Isabella.

‘
He wasn’t
a man,’ snarled Alice. ‘He was part Sinwip, part
Aquatrox.’

‘
All the best
people are! You’re just jealous!’

‘
Actually I
wouldn’t want to stink or have scaly skin. And I’m told
you leave a slimy residue in the water when you swim. It sounds
disgusting.’

Throughout this
peculiar exchange Ingrid had been listening with a bemused
expression. Now she was losing her patience and revved the engine
again.

‘
So what’s
the price on our heads?’ demanded Thomas. ‘And how does
Lionel know he can trust you?’

Isabella smirked.
‘The price on
your
head
is over a quarter of a million. You made things very difficult,
Thomas. As far as the police and Lionel’s solicitor are
concerned, he’s not dead because no corpse has been found.
He’s a missing person. Lionel never made a will, but if I
carry out all of his wishes, including removing you from society,
he’ll tell me where I can find a particularly large sum of
cash. Plus a set of keys to his house in Arcanum Cove. At least I
can enjoy it as a holiday home until someone claims it.’

Thomas’s jaw
dropped. That was some reward. ‘Have you seen that cottage?
It’s painted pink! I think the ‘farmyard brown’
you’re wearing now is more your colour.’

‘
The fragrance
suits you perfectly,’ added Alice.

‘
Very funny,’
remarked Isabella. ‘But before you plan a career as a
comedian, you should know that the price on
your
head
is even greater.’

‘
How ... why
am I worth more to Lionel?’

‘
Oh, it’s
nothing to do with Lionel,’ replied Isabella with a sly grin.
‘The motivation for me is personal satisfaction. But don’t
worry. We can still have these nice little chats when you’re
dead, can’t we? It was so kind of Fabian to remind me of your
little faux-pas in the future, Alice. Especially considering I only
dropped by to kill him. Lionel was really upset, you know, when
Fabian sold him to the British Museum.’

Full of rage, Alice
looked around for a stone to hurl at her, but found nothing suitable.
Thomas put his hand on her shoulder for reassurance.

‘
Talking of
personal satisfaction,’ he said in a loud voice, ‘tip the
load please, Ingrid! Goodbye, Isabella. Nice to have met you,
Lukas.’

Delighted to oblige,
Ingrid held her finger on the button to tip the trailer. This time
Alice didn’t argue. Instead she ran a short distance away and
held her hands over her ears to drown out the shouting. Nothing
Isabella could say would change her mind. She’d had enough.
Trembling she waited for the screaming to stop – until one word
from Isabella penetrated her muffled ears.

‘
RALPH!’

Stunned, Alice
stumbled over to the edge of the pit to find Isabella desperately
trying to clamber out of knee-deep soil. Lukas was groping around in
it, searching for his glasses.

‘
WHAT DID YOU
SAY?’ she bellowed.

Isabella looked up
at her, wiping her face with a filthy hand. ‘What about Ralph?
Whatever will he think of you? Nice boys don’t date
murderers.’

Instantly Alice felt
sick. How did she know about Ralph? What if he and his family were
in danger? Aargh! Now she was thinking about him again and he would
know. Thank goodness he couldn’t see what she was doing at
that moment – even if he could tell where she was.