Beneath the Shadows (20 page)

After Ben had gone, Grace didn't even bother contacting the police, knowing Ken Barton was away. Instead she called Niall again.

‘It's Grace Lockwood,' she said in a rush as he answered. ‘I've found the thousand pounds that Adam took out of the bank. It was hidden under a floorboard – I came across it this afternoon while I was looking for a mouse. He must have put it there for safekeeping, and he just didn't get a chance to tell me.' She hesitated, then ploughed on. ‘It seems highly unlikely that Adam would suddenly decide to leave without any money on him … there's got to be more to it. So how do I get the police interested?'

She waited for his answer, her heart thumping hard.

‘Look, you really need to have a word with someone at the station. I'm not back there until Monday, but if you haven't got anywhere by then, come down while I'm on
duty, and I'll make sure you get some attention.'

Grace knew he was trying to help, but the lack of urgency in Niall's tone was dispiriting. For the next few days it looked like all she could do was sit on her hands.

Niall sensed her disappointment. ‘I know the waiting's hard, but although you've made some discoveries, I'm not sure there's much that'll give us any new leads.' He thought for a moment. ‘Look, I might be in Ockton later today. I'll see if I can do a bit of digging about Jonny Templeton.'

‘Thank you. His sister is called Josephine, if that helps – I don't know her married name, but I think she still lives in Ockton.'

‘All right then,' Niall said. ‘I'll be in touch if I find anything.'

Grace hung up and went over to Millie, picking her up. ‘So what shall we do now?' she asked her daughter. In reply, Millie screeched and pushed hard against her, struggling until Grace put her down. Grace sat and watched as Millie crawled over to a pile of books, picked them up one by one and riffled briefly through the pages before flinging them aside. Her daughter seemed increasingly unsettled of late. Grace wished Millie could tell her what she had seen on the day Adam had disappeared. That little mind might hold all the answers, if only Grace could access it.

She leaned deeper into the chair cushions, thinking. Adam couldn't have met with an accident, or Millie would have been found with him. So either he'd run away and chosen to leave his baby behind, or he had been an unwitting victim of some sort. Everyone seemed to think that the first option was more likely, but what if something sinister had
happened? In that case, Millie had been left on the doorstep by someone else. Which meant they had known where Grace and Adam lived. And they were probably aware that Grace was back here now.

Her thoughts flashed back to the word LEAVE, its spectral appearance on her car windscreen. Her throat constricted and her lungs began to heave, struggling to draw in oxygen. She looked at her car keys on the table, then towards Millie. Why wasn't she going? She could make the decision right now; and it would all be over.

It will never be over while you have so many questions, she reminded herself. She just had to keep listening to the calm, rational part of herself and ignore the shrieking voice in her head issuing a stream of dire warnings. After all, she had been living here for a month, and nothing much had actually happened. Only that word written on her car windscreen, which might have been a twisted prank. The rest of it could be put down to chance, or paranoia.

Meanwhile, she was getting closer to uncovering some answers, she knew it. She could at least stay until Monday, and go to the station. In the meantime she would pack up the rest of the cottage; organise it so she was ready to leave whenever she wanted to.

She felt better after running things through in her mind. When Millie went for her lunchtime nap, Grace made herself a sandwich and brought the rest of the papers down from her bedroom to read at the small dining table. There were more letters in Rachel's handwriting, and she leafed through them. They looked to be newsy – no mention of Jonny, though some lovely references to Adam as a baby which made her
nostalgic for Millie's early days back in London. She bundled all of them up together. She would take them with her as keepsakes for Millie.

As she picked up the final envelope, she found a stack of notes underneath, in handwriting she hadn't seen before. They were written on identical sheets of white notepad paper, folded in half.

She picked up the first one.

Grace was stunned. Quickly, she found the next one.

Grace put it down and picked up another.

Then another.

And the last one.

Grace frowned. In the accounts she had heard so far, it was always Jonny who had abandoned Rachel – but these notes told a totally different story. One with an unsettling undertone.

She wished now that she hadn't jumbled up the contents in the boxes from the cellar by tipping them onto her bed together. If she'd gone through them one at a time, she would have known exactly which box these had come from, and what else had been in there. She was curious as to whether Adam knew about these notes. Surely if he'd read them he would reconsider what he knew of his father – and want to find him in order to learn the full story.

She fervently hoped Niall could uncover more information about Jonny. She was convinced that he was somehow important.

She couldn't settle to looking through the more mundane papers after this. Instead, she went upstairs and grabbed the dog-eared copy of
Rebecca
, then lay down on the bed and tried to immerse herself in it. Soon she was engrossed, and she was just reaching the end of a chapter when Millie woke and began to call out to her. Maxim de Winter had faced his wife with the truth, and as Grace got up and hurried to her daughter, his final question still rang in her ears.

‘
Will you look into my eyes, and tell me that you love me now?'

Grace had expected to spend the whole of New Year's Eve with only Millie for company, but in the afternoon Emma called around with a request. ‘My sister's having a church jumble sale tomorrow, and she's tearing her hair out trying to get enough donations. All the money goes to the homeless. You don't have anything she can sell, do you?'

‘Are you kidding?' Grace replied, stepping back so Emma could see the boxes stacked up in the hallway behind her.

They filled Emma's car with as much as it could hold, and Emma looked longingly at what was left behind.

‘It's such a shame to leave it, but we're staying over in Ockton tonight for New Year, and I'm helping her set up the sale first thing. I should have thought about this earlier.' Her shoulders slumped regretfully.

‘Well, I could bring these to Ockton for you, if you like,' Grace offered.

‘Oh, don't you worry,' Emma said hastily. ‘There's no need to go to any bother.'

But Grace was thinking of Jonny. She had a burgeoning desire to see the farm at Gilldale for herself, and Ockton was only a few miles further. ‘I'd be happy to,' she insisted. ‘Just give me directions.'

Emma's face brightened. ‘Well, that's ever so kind of you! My sister will be thrilled. If you've got a paper and pen handy, I'll draw you a map.'

As they finished and Grace closed the door, she surveyed the half-empty hallway. This had been a stroke of luck for her as well as for Emma's sister. Tomorrow this area would be clear again. It was amazing how the knowledge made her mind feel so much lighter.

As she walked into the lounge and looked around, she felt a fresh impetus to clear out as much as she could today. Most of the contents of the china cabinet could go to tomorrow's sale, not to mention the extra table linen. She grabbed a few empty boxes from the hall and began to pull things out of drawers and pack them up. It was satisfying work, and she was stacking yet another full box in the hallway when she heard someone crunching down the garden path.

She opened the door to see Claire standing there. ‘Ben told me that your guests have gone, so I decided to pop round and see how you are.'

Grace was touched by Claire's thoughtfulness. ‘Come in. Would you like a hot drink?'

‘A tea would be great, thanks.'

They went through to the lounge. Claire took a seat and began talking to Millie while Grace boiled the kettle.

When their mugs were on the table, Claire asked, ‘So, what are you doing for New Year tonight?'

‘Not a lot,' Grace admitted. She had been half-hoping that Ben would come and find her to suggest they spent it together. Since he hadn't, there weren't many other options.

‘Would you like to come up to the schoolhouse? All my sisters will be there, we usually have a bit of a get-together. It isn't right to see it in alone …'

Grace wasn't keen to spend an evening outnumbered by Meredith and her family. However, she realised that it might give her the opportunity to speak to Liza again, and persuade her to talk to the police.

Before she could reply, Claire leaned forward.

‘Actually, I have to confess, I'm hoping that Ben might come too if he knows you'll be there …'

Grace coughed as a large gulp of hot tea hit her throat unexpectedly fast. ‘What makes you say that?'

‘Well, he seems to think a lot of you. And I'm willing to try anything, to be honest. I am so sick of him skulking up there in that house, and Mum sitting in her castle … and never the twain shall meet. It's ridiculous, they're as bad as each other. If I'd known how this was going to pan out I wouldn't have suggested he came back …'

Grace put down her mug. ‘I don't know much about it. He's only said that he had a big falling out with your parents and they've been estranged for years.'

‘Well, I bet he didn't mention how much grief he caused Mum and Dad when he was younger – he was quite the tear-away for a while … Perhaps he was sick of being stuck out here with a load of teenage girls – it can't have been easy. He
crashed Dad's car into the pub one night after he'd had too much to drink … lost control and it skidded right down the hill.'

‘So is that why he's still barred?' Grace asked. ‘I saw him getting thrown out.'

Claire smiled. ‘Len and Joyce think “
yance a bad egg, allas a bad egg
” – as do most people round here. They probably don't realise how much time has passed. Once Ben got his reputation it was always going to be difficult for him to shake it off. Moving away was probably his only option – but then he set our house on fire …'

‘What!'

‘Oh, he didn't mean to. He fell asleep in our old lounge room and left a candle burning. Woke up to find the room ablaze. Mum and Dad were out at the time, but all us girls were home. Ben came flying up the stairs to warn us, but we couldn't get down past the fire, so we ended up climbing out of Veronica's window and over the schoolhouse roof. It took the fire engine nearly an hour to get here, and half the house had burned down by the time they got it under control. We were lucky not to lose everything, but Mum and Dad never really forgave him. They pretty much kicked him out – or should I say they made his life hell from then on, until he'd had enough.'

Grace pictured the elegant room at the back of the house. ‘So the huge dining room with the picture window is part of the refurbishment?'

‘Yes.'

‘And how did you keep in touch with Ben, after he left?'

‘He would write to us. Mum and Dad never mentioned
him, but we would tell them bits and pieces about what he was doing. The rift appeared to come from both sides, though I thought Mum might back down now Dad has gone. At least it has jolted Ben into making an effort, even if it is too late with Dad. But I don't know why he's come all this way and now seems stuck at the last hurdle, even if Mum should be meeting him halfway. Perhaps he's just too proud to beg …'

‘Well, I hope they can sort it out.'

Claire finished her tea and stood up. ‘So will you come tonight?'

Grace hedged. ‘It's a really kind offer, but it's difficult with Millie …'

‘She can sleep in the lounge, if you like – it's right next door to the dining room, and we have a baby monitor we can put in there as well. That's what we did when Veronica's boys were babies.'

Grace couldn't think of another reason not to go, and so found herself reluctantly acquiescing. ‘Okay, I'll come. Thanks.'

‘Great.' Claire began to pull on her gloves. ‘Come around eight.'

They walked to the door. ‘Good luck with Ben,' Grace said as she showed Claire out.

‘Thanks.' Claire paused. ‘He's fond of you – you and Millie. You're doing him good. When he talks about you, he smiles – and it makes a change. It's almost like we have the old Ben back.'

And she walked down the path towards the garden gate without waiting for a reply.