Tragedy at Two (20 page)

“You did exactly the right thing,” Lois said.

“And Gran told me about him, too,” Josie said. Lois nodded approvingly.

“Right!” Derek said. “Just as well I didn’t go with the other blokes to the football. If he comes back, you can leave him to me.”

“It just might be true,” Josie said mildly.

“Maybe so,” Lois agreed. “But we’ll need proof of some sort. Anybody could come claiming to be Rob’s brother, probably hoping for any money that might be going begging. We all thought he was an orphan with no relatives, didn’t we?”

“He never mentioned a brother to me,” Josie said. “Still, families do have feuds and cut off from each other for ever.” She was thinking it might be rather comforting if the man really was Rob’s brother. Something left of him, in a funny sort of way. On the other hand, she was fully aware that it might be trouble in the making.

“More cake?” Gran said to Derek, and as he was holding out his plate, they all heard the front doorbell ring.

“Ah,” Lois said. “Are you going, Derek?”

He looked longingly at the slice of cake held out towards him, but stood up and said that of course he, as head of the family, should go and tackle the likely impostor.

He went to the door, and the others listened.

“That’s him!” Gran said. “I recognise the voice. Oh, Lord, I hope Derek doesn’t ask him in.”

Josie said nothing, but stared at the door and continued to listen. When she heard two sets of footsteps coming down the tiled hallway, she retreated to the other side of the table, next to her mother.

“Sorry to interrupt,” the stranger said. “Mrs. Weedon said to come back, and I am really grateful to Mr. Meade for asking me in. I won’t take up too much of your time, but I am pretty desperate to find out what happened to my brother. My name is Greg, by the way.”

“You weren’t that desperate to find him up to now,” Josie said in an icy voice.

He turned and stared at her. “You must be Josie,” he said.

IT WAS EARLY EVENING BY THE TIME LOIS SET OFF FOR ALF’S farm. She had Jeems on a lead, and the little dog pulled from sniff to sniff, slowing up progress and giving time for Lois to decide exactly what she wanted to know from Alf.

So far, the new things to think about were the appearance of Rob’s possible brother, the likelihood of Mark Brown’s handwriting on the threatening card, and the identity of the caller who had lured her to a nonexistent rendezvous on the Tresham road. Was there a connection here? But for now, her reason for talking to Alf was to find out about the gypsies. She really needed to know where most of them had gone and what had happened to the two men and their dog.

Edwina opened the door and looked pleased to see Lois. From what she had heard from Sam, Lois was a good employer and a hard worker. Edwina knew folk said she did a bit of snooping on the side, but this was only gossip.

“Come in, Lois,” she said. “Can I offer you a glass of something? Your Derek is very fond of my primrose wine!”

“Thanks,” Lois said. “I really came to have a word with Alf. Is he around?”

“You’re in luck. He’s just come in, an’ll be down in a minute. Cleaning up a bit! I reckon when you have beasts on the farm you never really get rid of the smell. Good job I’m used to it!” She thought of Sam, and how he never had Alf’s aura of muck. A nice piney smell, that was Sam. Then the thought struck her that it was probably Sheila who kept him clean and fresh. Oh God, what a muddle.

Alf came in, smiling and saying how nice to see Lois. “It’s usually your Derek who comes to call on parish council business,” he said. “Still, my gypsies have gone now, so that’s sorted.”

“I’m afraid it
is
the gypsies I came to see you about,” Lois said apologetically.

“What’s happened, then,” Alf said.

“Come and sit down, Lois,” Edwina said. “We can have a chat, if you’ve got time. Here, would you like one of my scones? Made this afternoon. Get the raspberry jam out, Alf.”

Edwina was curious. She was sure Lois would not want to see Alf about Sam—if she had discovered something about them, surely she wouldn’t go straight to Alf? And certainly not when they all sat companionably round the kitchen table. No, Lois had said it was the gypsies. She’d come about the gypsies. In that case, there were several things Edwina would like to say on the subject, though she had decided to keep that blackmailing one to herself. Those two had gone, thank God, and taken their killer dog with them. She hoped that was the last she would see of them.

“Nothing’s happened, s’far as I know,” Lois said. “I just wondered if I could ask you a few questions. We’re no nearer finding out who attacked Josie’s Rob, and the police are still pointing the finger at the gypsies.”

“Bloody idiots!” Alf said fiercely. “They can’t see further than their noses. Them gypsies have been coming here for years and years, generations of ’em. There’s never been any trouble, an’ I would trust them a lot more’n I’d trust several so-called respectable people in this village. Anyway,” he continued, calming down, “what did you want to know?”

“Where they went. I talked to Athalia and George while they were here, and they were so nice. I thought if I could get in touch with them and maybe have another chat, they might remember something useful.”

“O’ course I know where they went,” Alf said. “But if I tell you, the police’ll be on to them at once. All I can tell you is that they’re on their way to the Appleby horse fair. Might be going up meself.”

“When is it?” Edwina said quickly. The thought of having the house to herself was exciting.

“Early June,” Alf said. “Though even if you went, you’d be hard put to find them. Hundreds and hundreds of gypsies and horses turn up, and it’d be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“But
you’d
know where to look?” Lois said.

“Might do,” Alf said. “What else did you want to know?”

Lois could feel him clamming up. He would know about her contact with Cowgill and be suspicious.

“There were a couple of them. They looked like brothers, with a pit bull terrier,” she said. Might as well come straight to the point. “I saw them, and so did Derek. So did Sam Stratford’s son, Alan, when he was out for a walk. But nobody’s seen them since the fire, and they weren’t with the other lot when they left. To be honest, Alf, they were not how you described your friends. They threatened violence, kept an illegal dog, and camped in the thicket in an ancient old van away from the others. What d’you know about them?”

Alf was silent, and Edwina stared fixedly at him. Her heart beat faster, and she wondered what was coming out now. Should she tell all? It would probably be a good time, when Lois was here to soften Alf’s anger with her.

Alf cleared his throat. “Yeah, well,” he began, “I never saw them two before. I asked Athalia about them, and she said they’d just tagged along. They weren’t travelling with the rest. Just turned up and asked if they could stop here. I didn’t like it, and told them to go.” He didn’t mention that they had still been hidden in the thicket after the fire. The police might think he had withheld evidence, or whatever it was they called it.

“So where did they go?” Lois said.

Alf shook his head. “Don’t know, me duck,” he said. “They’re the sort that give the Roma people a bad name. Somebody said they’d seen them selling things in Tresham market. Fly-b’nights, they are. Picking up a living in any way that comes handy, and not all of it the right side of the law. You want to keep well clear of them.”

Lois took a deep breath. “D’you reckon they were the ones who attacked Rob?” she said.

“I doubt it,” Alf said. “A couple of cowards, both of ’em. That sort always are. They let that dog do their fighting. Unless, o’ course, they were drunk. Like your Rob. Anything could’ve happened then, couldn’t it?”

Lois was silent. She realised that Alf had not told her anything she did not know already. She finished her tea and began to get up.

“Just a minute, Lois,” Edwina said. “I can tell you a bit more about them two.”

Alf stared at her. “What d’you mean, gel?” he said. “Did they threaten you?”

Edwina slowly stuttered out the story of the money paid over to keep them quiet. She did not mention Sam, the reason for their blackmail. She said she had caught them stealing chickens, and they had said they’d set the dog on her if she said anything to Alf.

“I was scared,” she said. “I know I should’ve told you, but he was really scary. Anyway, it was only the twice. Then they were gone.”

Lois and Alf stared at her. “You poor thing,” Lois said. But Alf said nothing. He frowned, looked down at his clenched hands, and got up from his seat, shoving the chair back behind him so that it fell over with a crash.

“Alf!” Edwina said. “Where’re you going?”

“Out!” Alf said in a hoarse voice, and he was gone, banging the kitchen door behind him.

Edwina was pale, and turned to Lois. Her hands were shaking. “What shall I do?” she said.

“You’d better tell me the real reason he blackmailed you,” Lois said. “Then we might know better what’s to be done.”

But Edwina shook her head and composed herself. “Best leave it to me,” she said. “Alf’ll calm down. He always does. He’ll be fine when he comes back. Sorry he went out like that, Lois, but it’s his way of dealing with it. Better than losing his temper with me, anyway.”

Lois shrugged. If she did not want to tell her the truth, that was her affair. But she was sure Edwina was hiding something, and guessed the blackmail was about something much worse than stealing chickens.

HAVE YOU TOLD THE POLICE ABOUT YOUR BUNCH OF FLOWERS, Mum?” Josie faced her mother over the shop counter next morning. There were no other customers and Josie meant to persist. Lois had evaded the question once before and now said nothing.

“Mum?”

“Well, no, not yet,” Lois finally admitted. “I was waiting until I’d seen Alf.”

“
Why
Alf Smith? What’s he got to do with Mark Brown?”

“Nothing, really. But one of the gypsies—one of the ones who did the pub quiz that night—was set on by a gang of lads as they went home. Alf was a real friend to the gypsies, and I wondered if he’d heard anything more from George. That was the one who did the quiz.”

“Like if Mark Brown was one of the lads?”

“Yep. Exactly.”

“And?”

“Alf was a bit suspicious of me,” Lois said. “I asked him about the two roughnecks with the pit bull terrier, and he told me a bit about them. But something Edwina said upset him and he stormed out.”

“So now you’ll tell your friend Cowgill. Promise, Mum. That message on the flowers was very nasty.”

“Could be teenage spite, trying to frighten me off,” said Lois. “It don’t necessarily mean I’m in danger.”

“Mum!”

“All right, Josie. I’ll have a word with Cowgill. But you know what the cops are like. They’ll want to take the card, analyse the writing, drag Mark Brown into the cop shop again, an’ that’ll be more trouble for his parents.”

“And a good thing, too!” Josie was fast becoming angry with her mother, and decided to play a last card. “Perhaps I should tell Dad,” she said. “Maybe he could do something.”

“Good try, m’love,” Lois said, and, picking up her groceries, she left the shop.

When she had gone, Josie turned over in her mind what had been said. Something lurked in the back of her mind, something that she hadn’t taken up with her mother. Oh, yes, it was something about Edwina upsetting Alf. What had she said? Josie remembered the spat between Alf and Sam Stratford in the shop, and frowned. Edwina, Alf . . . and
Sam
? Could it have been? No, that was quite ridiculous. They were too old for that sort of thing.

The shop door opened and Josie was surprised to see her brother Douglas arrive. He was carrying an empty gas cylinder and looked thunderous.