Talk of the Village (13 page)

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be in this house. 'Knock again Cooper,' he growled impatiently. 'I haven't all day. God what a dump."

There was still no reply. 'Right. Down the back and see what you can find. I'll have a dekko through the window, that's if I can make anything out through the filth.'

The Constable went off round to the side gate while Inspector Proctor shaded his eyes with his hand and peered through the dirty glass. He recoiled, startled to find himself staring straight into a pair of brown venemous eyeballs as close to the glass as his own. He jumped back and then knocked on the window and pointed to the front door shouting, 'Open up please!'

He waited for the sound of footsteps coming to the door but there were none. Cooper came round the corner and said, 'No reply, guv. Not a sausage. We could find all sorts 'ere. The garden's like a jungle; wouldn't surprise me if Tarzan didn't come swinging through it shortly.'

'Good, we might be needing him. They are in, I'vejust seen one of'em looking at me through the window. Not a pretty sight. They're a queer lot. We're definitely not going without seeing them. Go round the back again and make a pretence of searching the garden. That might flush 'em out.'

'Right guv.'

'Cooper we're not filming
The Bill;
drop the guv bit. It's either sir, or Inspector.'

Cooper thrashed about with the broom that Gwen had used on Sir Ronald. He waved it this way and that, pushing the grass aside as he went. He glanced once or twice at the kitchen window to see if they were watching him, but he didn't catch them looking. Inspector Proctor came through the side gate. He banged on the back door and shouted, 'It's the police. Open the door or I shall have to break it down. Come along now, please, we only

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want to ask you some questions.' A small crowd of villagers had gathered by the front garden of the house. Amongst the crowd was Sheila Bissett.

'They are mad you know. I bet it's them have got her. You wait and see. I just hope she's still all right.'

'Come on, Lady Bissett. What harm could they have done her? We know they's crackers but they won't murder no one would they?"

'Wouldn't they? Don't you be too sure.' The crowd watched the police officers standing outside the back door. The Detective Constable and the Inspector had a whispered conversation and then they said, 'One, two, three!' and barged at the door with their shoulders. Their combined weight and force broke the latch and the door burst open. Inspector Proctor was unmoved by the condition of the kitchen. There wasn't much that could surprise him about people.

'Hello there, it's the police. Can we have a word?'

Gwen appeared. 'Just you keep well away from me. We don't want you here.'

'Believe me madam, we wouldn't be here at all if it wasn't for the fact that we have a little girl missing. Yours is the only house we haven't been able to check, and check it we must.'

'Where is your warrant?'

'We haven't time to waste getting a warrant. Everyone else has co-operated willingly. We need to make sure she hasn't been shut in somewhere by mistake.'

'What are you accusing us of?'

'Nothing, madam. It is simply a case of looking to make sure she hasn't been taken ill somewhere and can't get help or has locked herself in an outhouse and can't make herself heard.'

'You can search the shed if you want. You'll find nothing in there. It's always locked.'

'Give me the key and my Constable will look.'

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Gwen put her hand in the pocket of her apron and handed him the key. While Cooper searched the shed, the Inspector questioned Gwen, 'Did you go to church this morning?'

'Certainly not.'

'Where's your sister?'

'Having a nap.'

'Could you get her to come down to see me?'

'No. She's not at all well.'

'Then in that case I shall go upstairs to see her if you ·will accompany me.'

'You won't.'

'If you won't go with me then I shall have to go alone.' He made to brush past her into the hall. Gwen stood aside, then changed her mind and went up the stairs in front of him.

Beryl lay huddled in the big double bed they shared, apparently asleep.

'Wake your sister for me.'

Beryl stirred at the sound of his voice.

'Good afternoon Miss Baxter. I'm making inquiries about a little girl who's gone missing. Felicity Charter-Plackett. I understand she's always called Flick. Have you seen her today?'

Beryl's eyes slid from his face to Gwen's and then back again. 'No.'

'Would you recognise her if you did?'

'Yes.'

'Have you been out today?'

'No.'

'Has your sister been out today?'

'No.'

He looked at Gwen and said, 'There's a Sunday newspaper in the kitchen. Mr Charter-Plackett doesn't deliver newspapers, so how have you got it into the house?'

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'Well, that's all I've done. I didn't think you meant popping out for two minutes for a paper.'

'What else do you think I hadn't meant?' He heard Cooper return to the house. Cooper shouted up the stairs. 'It's full of old clothes, guv . . . sir. I haven't moved everything, we'd have to clear the whole shed out to do that.'

'Do it, Cooper.'

'Yes, guv.'

Gwen glared at him. 'You'll have it all to put back again.'

'We will.'

The Inspector went back downstairs again but not before he'd opened the big bedroom door and looked in. He estimated that the piles of newspapers hadn't been disturbed, though he could be wrong. He opened the sitting room door next, looked in and then returned to the kitchen. Moving a pile of papers from a kitchen chair he sat down to wait for Cooper to empty the shed. He looked round the kitchen hoping to unnerve Gwen and make her say something. She stood watching him. He picked up the Sunday newspaper and began reading.

'Nothing better to do with your time than sit there? What about repairing that door?'

'We'll send someone round.'

Jimbo came to the back door to report that they had had no success in the school.

'We're being invaded. Get out, go on, get out.'

Cooper came back from the shed sweating and dirty. 'Nothing in there guv.'

'Thanks, Cooper. Put it all back.'

'Back?'

'Yes, back.'

Jimbo, by now almost incoherent with anxiety, asked Gwen if she knew where Flick was.

'Please Miss Baxter we need to know.'

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'I don't know.'

'Are you absolutely sure you haven't seen her going past the house? I know you like to watch people going by. Perhaps you happened to see her after church. Or you saw someone stop to speak to her. Think Miss Baxter, think.'

'No, I didn't.'

'We'll search the garden now, Miss Baxter.' The Inspector stood and turned to go out. Jimbo followed him and they went to the far end of the garden and began looking section by section. They unearthed an ancient mangle, a roll of rotting carpet, and various old boxes and an old mower, but of Flick they found nothing. It was Jimbo who came upon the lid of the disused well.

'Oh my God. I didn't know they had a well. Inspector, come here.'

'That's recently been disturbed.' Jimbo went deathly white. The Inspector looked at him. 'Go and find the village Sergeant for me, will you, Mr Charter-Plackett, and ask him for his torch. He'll have one with a powerful beam.'Jimbo hurried off, glad to be of use.

'Now we've got him out of the way, we can get the lid off and look down.'

Between them they managed to lift it off. The Inspector threw a stone down. 'It's very deep. Go and get the torch from the car, Cooper.'

Willie arrived to offer his help. 'You don't think she's down there do you, Inspector?'

'We have to look at every possibility. My instincts tell me there's something odd here. I can feel it in my bones as they say. Good lad, Cooper.'

He shone the torch down the well. The surface of the water gleamed greenly back at him. He moved the beam of light slowly up and down the walls of the well. There were no signs of anything having rubbed against the brickwork as it was pushed down. He decided to have

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another go inside the house. They heaved the lid back on again.

Jimbo arrived with the Sergeant's torch.

'Oh thanks sir, my constable remembered we had one in the car. I'm glad to say there's no sign of your little girl down there.'

Gwen and Beryl were both in the kitchen when he returned to it.

'You're feeling better are you Miss Baxter?'

'Yes.'

'Right, Cooper. Upstairs. And search properly, every drawer, every cupboard, don't miss a thing. Both bedrooms.'

This upset Gwen and Beryl. They both rushed to block the door.

'You've already searched. You can't search again. We won't let you.'

'I'm afraid I can. Move to one side please.' He noticed Beryl's eyes stray momentarily towards a chest of drawers, which was standing in front of what was obviously the understairs cupboard. When he looked at the floor he saw marks which showed that the chest had been dragged across to its present position. How had he missed that?

'Cooper, move this chest.'

Cooper pushed and strained but couldn't budge it, so Willie went to give him a hand. At this the two women became more and more agitated. Suddenly Gwen snapped. She went straight for Cooper and lunged at him and beat him with her fists.

'This is our house. Stop it, stop it! You've no right!'

Inspector Proctor took hold of her and forcibly restrained her from attacking his constable. She kicked and struggled to get free, shouting at Willie and Cooper to stop. The two men pulled open the door of the cupboard and Cooper shone the torch inside.

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'Here we are sir. She's here.'

He knelt down, reached inside and came out backwards on his knees, holding Flick in his arms. She had been bound and gagged and lay limply. Constable Cooper bent his head and listened for her breathing.

'She's OK. She's breathing.' He laid her down on the kitchen floor. Jimbo undid the gag, unbound her arms and ankles and then held her to him and forced back the sobs which, despite his strenuous efforts to retain self control, would keep coming into his throat.

Til go tell her mother, Mr Charter-Plackett,' offered Willie and he ran from the house shouting. 'She's all right, we've found her.'

The crowd outside cheered. They caught snatches of Inspector Proctor saying, 'I arrest you both . . . and anything you might say ... I must ask you to accompany me to the station.'

The procession to the police car was followed by dozens of pairs of eyes. Pat Duckett shouted, 'Yer nasty pair of old baggages. Yer deserve all yer get. What did yer want to harm a poor little girl for?"

The Sergeant, who had arrived too late to help, importantly cleared the way. 'Move along please, move along.'

'Harriet are you awake?'

'Yes, I've not been to sleep yet.'

'Neither have I, and what's more I don't think I shall. God what a day. Never again.'

'I'm going to check if she's all right.' Harriet went across the landing to Flick's bedroom and stood looking down at her. Flick was curled on her side, her hand tucked under the pillow in its usual position. Harriet gently stroked the hair from her cheeks and pulled the duvet a little closer around her shoulders. She went back to bed and lay staring at the ceiling.

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'She's fine, sleeping like a baby. Never
ever
do I want to go through a day like today again.'

Jimbo lay on his back staring at the ceiling. 'I've been thinking: it's my fault this happened.'

'Your fault? How could that be?'

'I've put everything into making a success of this business . . . mostly for my own satisfaction but also as one in the eye of those City people who said I'd be back there inside six months. It's made me ignore my own children.'

'You haven't.'

'Yes I have. I don't mean I ever stopped caring about them. How could I? They're our own flesh and blood, for God's sake. But today, when I thought we'd lost Flick I realised that under pressure from me we've let that bond between ourselves and the children grow weak. That's why she feels free to just wander off as she likes. Because we don't put restraints on her. We're always busy and, to be honest, we've been quite glad if she's not bothering us.'

'But we take such care of them. The boys don't go off and they're older.'

'They don't seem to feel the need. You see, there's two of them so they always have someone to share games with. It makes Flick quite an outsider, you know.'

'So what's the remedy?'

'From now on, I don't care what it costs, but whenever Flick and the boys aren't at school I want you home there for them. I know it means employing people in the shop and the kitchens when you're not there. But no matter what it costs, that's what we're doing. We came within a hair's breadth of her being dead. I can't imagine what hell that must be but I know it would be double hell if we had ourselves to blame. I just can't take a chance of that happening.'