Lewi's Legacy (22 page)

‘Do you think it’s possible we could go up to see him?’ Edmund asked them both.

‘Let’s all go up and see him Eddy, shall we?’ Harry changed from disconsolate to suddenly cheerful. ‘I feel only good can come from seeing you my boy.’

They all filed up into the tiny bedroom including Zowie, who was on her lead. Louis could not hold back the tears when he looked inside. The still, white faced young man was lying in his bed as if he was already dead, and sitting alongside the bed with her head on the cover near his hand was Sally, another border collie. She didn’t move her head. She just averted her eyes to them and then closed them again. Louis looked closely and he could detect a small rising and falling of the bedcover near his chest, but that was the only sign of life that he could see.

Edmund looked at Harry and the older man nodded his approval as he unleashed Zowie who submissively crept around the bed to Sally, and they all watched as she sat down beside her and placed her head on the bedcover. Sally lifted her head and licked Zowie’s face as if to say ‘Hello’ and then they just sat together in the same position. Louis could hear Fay sob out loud, it was a beautiful moment.

Edmund looked again to Harry and his host nodded his approval again, and waved his hand as if to tell him to carry on with what he intended to do. Edmund asked Louis to stand alongside him as he pulled something out of his trouser pocket. His friend looked down at Edmund’s hand, and nestling in his palm was a small smooth stone. Edmund picked it out of his hand and gave it to Louis, who then looked at it more closely. It seemed to be glowing right in the centre of it, or maybe it was a trick of the light? Edmund asked Louis to place it in the young man’s hand and close it over the stone, which he did.

Edmund then pulled out a little brown dropper bottle similar in shape to the oil bottle people often used for their ear drops.

‘I bought this last week from a renowned herbalist in Southbourne. He says that it will do the boy no harm. Is it ok if I try something Harry?’ Louis asked.

The two parents looked at each other and nodded for him to go ahead. Louis instinctively knew what Edmund wanted him to do. He slid his arm underneath Victor’s neck and gently pulled his head away from the pillow. Edmund then squeezed open the young man’s mouth and placed a few evil smelling drops of the liquid into the opening. He nodded to Louis who lowered the head back onto the pillow.

Louis looked at the hand that had the stone in it and pointed it out to the others. There was a distinct change of colour of the whole hand and it seemed to be creeping up his arm.

‘I think we all ought to go downstairs and have a cup of tea. What do you say, Fay?’ Edmund asked in a sort of jolly tone. They all left the young man in the care of the two dogs.

‘What do you think will happen to him, Edmund?’ asked Louis as they sat in the lounge.

‘I must tell you, I have no idea what will happen, but if something does, it will be a thousand times better that what their doctor could drum up, don’t you agree?’  His new friend answered with a smile. The day before, Fay had walked into the village and she had purchased some of the famous Burley fudge. She placed the delicious cubes on a china plate and handed them around. There must have been eight different varieties on that plate. Fruit, chocolate and mint varieties, they soon disappeared. Harry showed Louis some of his paintings and his new visitor remarked on the fine detail, but he was drawn, as Edmund was, to the magical painting of the figures in the misty moor.

Harry was about to tell him the story of the painting when there was a chorus of barking coming from upstairs, and it seemed to be getting louder. They all rushed up allowing Harry and Fay to go into the bedroom first.

‘Victor, Victor! Fay shouted, ‘You’ve come back my darling boy!’ The young man, looking very dazed, was sitting up in bed eyes wide open, but very much better. Harry hugged Edmund, and went to other side of Victor’s bed and Louis shook Edmund’s hand enough to almost break it.

‘Can you speak, my son?’ His father finally spoke.

‘Who’s been eating fudge? I can smell it from here!’ Victor said a little shakily. They all laughed and the dogs barked as loud as they could.

Harry noticed the stone that had been in Victor’s hand had fallen onto the carpet, so he retrieved it and gave it to Edmund. ‘Thank you, my dear friend.’ Harry said, and went back to his son.

The two men and the collie quietly left the house with the happy little family still in the bedroom, and as they stood opposite the cottage, Louis could hear Sally still barking, and he was still reeling from what he had just witnessed.

‘Do you think that that is the same Victor that you talked about Louis?’ Edmund asked.

‘I should like to find out for sure. Do you think we could go back in a couple of days please old friend?’ Louis asked. They agreed to meet at that place on the Saturday, and Edmund reminded him that it was very busy with tourists at the weekend; even though Pound Lane was a little quieter than the centre of the village.

22
Sew it up

Bargates Southampton

Louis had two days free to explore places he had never seen, or had time to spend in them. Edmund had suggested he go to the coast at Southbourne, so the next morning after breakfast he made that his first destination. The morning was a cold one however, and as he walked towards the beach, he was facing a cutting wind coming off the sea. Not prepared for extreme weather he only had a lightweight coat on and town shoes, but he had got here, so nothing was going to change his mind. The gusting wind was whipping up the waves that were crashing onto the sand causing the water to foam, which covered his shoes. Pushing his way through the wind felt like he was pushing against all the negative things in his life, trying to find a way through.

As he struggled to get forward along the beach, with the noise of the battering waves he felt a sort of calm inside, and at the same time he recalled his father’s words ‘I don’t want to go your funeral son.’ He then thought of Harry in Burley. He reminded him again of his own father; they both displayed a grace and patience that he would like to aspire to. As he faced the sea, the spray of the water seemed to clean his face and strip away all the bad thoughts clouding his mind at that time, replacing them with a hope of better things. He turned again at the shrouded shape of Hengistbury and further out, a vague grey outline of the Needles. It reminded him of the awakening of the young man Victor the day before, and the self assured character of Edmund. There was something evident in the man, simple and yet deep. Had he suffered any pain? Surely not, and yet why had he become a recluse in that cottage deep in the New Forest? As he turned for home, he decided that he wanted to know more about his new-found friend, and he trudged up the Zig Zag at Fishermans walk and headed to the café on the cliff top.

As he walked into the café, he suddenly felt wet through. He was soaked right to the skin. There were only a couple of tables in use so his self consciousness soon subsided. After a warming hot chocolate, he decided to take the route through Lyndhurst on his way back to Southampton. A few miles past the town he noticed a sign for Hythe, turned off and headed there for a while. There were several benches for visitors to admire the view over the Solent, to look at the great ocean liners filling up with the next cruise passengers. Louis sat next to a very old man who gave him a smile as he sat down. They were soon talking, and the old man told his visitor that he used to work in one of the great hangars looming close to where they sat.

He said that he had worked on the design team that built the Supermarine flying boat that held many speed records, under the famous aircraft designer R.J. Mitchell. That became the forerunner of the legendary Spitfire fighter. Louis left the gentleman full of admiration for one of Britain’s unsung heroes, just sitting on an anonymous bench looking out to sea.

The following free day he went to the ancient city of Salisbury and walked around the inspiring cathedral, following one of the guides. ‘The 1215 Magna Carta has four copies, and they are housed in London, The British Library, Lincoln Castle and Salisbury Cathedral. The finest copy is housed here at Salisbury.’ Louis found that information from the guide most interesting. He broke away from the crowd and went into the Refectory Café for some tea. It was famous for its glass roof which had a view of the spectacular four hundred foot spire, the tallest in England. Driving south on the A338 he noticed the pub, the Bat and Ball, where he and his Aunt Ruth had gone for a vegetarian lunch, so many years ago. He joined the A31 to Southampton, parked at the hotel and took a walk around the city shops and malls to unwind.

‘You look different somehow, Louis, more relaxed. What happened?’ Edmund asked.

‘I think that I’ve got my life back, Eddy, I took your advice and went to the coast on Thursday and to Salisbury on Friday. It felt really good to be a tourist, and it made me look at my life with a new perspective. Louis answered him with a broad smile.

He followed Edmund and Zowie across the road to Fay and Harry’s cottage, apprehensive about what they might find. What a difference a couple of days make! Edmund knocked on the front door and almost immediately Fay opened the door and flung her arms around Edmund.

‘Thank you, thank you very much Eddy. Words can’t express how we feel right now.’ She said and led them into the lounge. Zowie barked once, and Edmund let her off the lead and she went straight outside the back door. He could see someone sitting at the back door in the sunshine, and Sally was at his feet. Zowie ran around his other side and sat close to him.

Harry came out of the kitchen to greet the two visitors. ‘I’m so glad that you are both here, Victor is dying to meet you, to thank you himself’. And he pointed to the back door. The sun was shining on the little patio and Fay managed to squeeze four plastic chairs around her seated son and, of course, the two dogs. Louis came out of the door first and noticed the vista of the dark moor, and beyond the gently sloping hills, typical of the open forest landscape.

‘Isn’t this the same landscape on the picture?’ he asked, and turned to look at the wall opposite. ‘Wasn’t it just there on the wall?’ he asked.

Harry just pointed to a brown paper parcel wrapped in string leaning against the small welsh dresser in the kitchen. ‘I’ve just finished wrapping it Louis.’ He waited for everyone to get seated outside and then handed the parcel to Victor. Louis helped Victor to his feet.

‘Eddy, it gives me great pleasure in presenting this to you as my personal appreciation for saving my life.’ Victor handed it to Edmund, who, encouraged by Harry and Fay, pulled the string and ripped off the brown paper.

‘I know we said that we would never part with the painting as it represented our son leaving the house, but he’s back, thanks to you and well, we don’t need it anymore, do we Victor?’ They all applauded him and Victor shook his hand warmly.

‘Well done Eddy. You really did a great job mate.’ Louis smile broadly and nodded to him.

They helped Victor back to his chair and Edmund leaned over to the young man and said that Louis would like to speak to him about something, and then asked if he could speak to Fay and Harry in their living room. Fay made them some tea and the three of them left Victor and Louis with the dogs on the patio.

Gently Louis broke the news to his companion about Leah-May. He said that the police were baffled as to how it happened. He stopped and looked at Louis for his reaction, as he was concerned that having only just recovered somewhat from his own near-death experience, whether the news might do some more damage. Victor was visibly shocked with Louis’s news, and he sat back on his wicker chair breathing heavily, so Louis just sat there and held his hand encouragingly.

Meanwhile in the front room, Edmund asked if the doctor had been to see Victor. Fay told him that she had visited the day before after her surgery. When she walked in expecting to go to his bedroom, she saw Victor sitting at the kitchen table eating his tea. She nearly fainted with the shock of it. After he had eaten, she gave him a full examination and declared their son fit but not yet fully recovered pleading for caution and to take things slowly to start with.

Edmund looked seriously at Harry, who read his mind by telling him that they did not mention his visit to the doctor, or what he did, knowing that would have caused more problems than it would have solved. He thanked them for that wisdom and said that it still could have been a coincidence anyway, but they just smiled at his remark.

Outside, Victor had come around from the shock and pulled his hand away. ‘I think that her death was caused by me Louis.’ He had tears in his eyes.

‘How could that possibly be, my boy?’ Louis asked.

Victor told him all he could remember about the abduction by Mikhail and his two henchmen on the fateful morning as he walked Sally on the moor. He told him all the detail, even describing how Mikhail injected him in the hand, and from that point he remembered nothing. It was his strong belief that it was how they had extracted the information from him.

Victor then told Leah’s father that before leaving Paris; she had told him about Louis’s quest to find his great grandfather’s treasure. She also told him that she had rung her father to tell him about the artefacts in the warehouse and had put two and two together and realised that it was her father who had stolen them. He told Louis that at that time he hated him for doing such a thing putting his daughter in danger.

It was now Louis’s turn to be shocked, and he needed some time to take it all in. He thanked Victor for his honesty and asked whether he could return and talk some more to him. This Victor agreed to, seeing how broken Louis looked. He said he would arrange it with his parents and the young man just nodded and closed his eyes.

‘I think he has had enough for now,’ he said as he walked into the living room. ‘If it’s ok with you Harry, could I come back next week and continue my chat with Victor?’ Harry nodded and he gave Louis his number to ring before he came. Edmund went to the back door and brought Zowie back saying that it looked like Victor was having a nap.

Louis asked Edmund if he could accompany him back to his cottage as he wanted to ask him something.

In an hour they were seated on the bench, by the pond and Louis recounted to Edmund the harrowing conversation that he had just had with Victor, especially the implications around the powerful Russian the boy had accused of being a major part in his daughter’s death. Having now got Edmund’s attention he asked if he would give him the benefit of his advice, what to do next.

Edmund did not answer him, but asked him to meet him and Zowie at the beach in Southbourne the next day and he would think about it and give him his views then. Louis thanked his new friend and made his way back to his hotel. He knew also that quick responses for such important questions were never the right ones.

Before checking into his hotel he extended the car hire, found an outdoor shop and purchased a sensible coat and shoes, as he didn’t want the repeat drowning he had had there, the last time he had ventured along the coast.

They had agreed to meet at ten the next day and Edmund was impressed with Louis’s choice of clothes, as it was still blowing a bit of a gale, but at least it wasn’t raining. The adverse weather had put off the more casual walker, and most of the serious dog walkers were early risers, and had probably already taken their walks and gone home.

Louis was pleased with the way Edmund had taken his problem seriously, as he had three comments for him. The first was that he didn’t think any sort of confrontation with such a high Russian political figure would do any good at all. In fact, there could only one outcome. Secondly, at the moment there was no tangible evidence to support his claim of their involvement in the murder. Thirdly he advised strongly that he should consult a good trustworthy lawyer if he had one. If not, Edmund had a very good one whom he could recommend.

Louis agreed wholeheartedly with his friend’s suggestions and after the completion of their walk he suggested a slap up meal at the cliff top café for lunch, which rounded off their meeting well. He promised to keep in touch with Edmund and let him know any developments and they went their separate ways. At the hotel in Southampton, Louis called Mark to make an appointment with him, and was able to see him the following Tuesday.

He decided to give Mark a better understanding of what was happening in his search for answers to the tragic death of his daughter, particularly in relation to the discussion he had with Victor, and where the young man fitted in the puzzle. Mark had to apologise to his client that criminal law was not really his strength and it would be advisable to seek advice from one that specialised. He suggested that his brother Stephen fitted the bill and told Louis that he was well equipped to help in that case, as he worked for a big firm in London called Vizards. As it happened, Mark and his brother were about to meet in Highcliffe near Christchurch to celebrate their father’s seventieth birthday on the coming Friday. Mark offered to call his brother and arrange a meeting, if necessary Stephen would be able to use Mark’s office in Southampton for a preliminary chat.

Louis asked Mark if he would help him choose a mobile phone so that Stephen could make contact with him. Mark immediately took him to a phone shop near his office and recommended a ‘pay as you go’ phone, and took a note of the number to pass on to his brother. For his first call on his new phone, he rang Harry in Burley to speak to Victor.

‘Hello, is that Fay?’ He asked, and she answered inquisitively so he put her mind at rest when he identified himself and then asked to speak to Victor. When he came to the phone Louis asked if it was ok to call the following day. Victor suggested ten, as he was seeing the doctor in the afternoon. He passed his new number to him just in case the young man had a problem.