Deep Water, Thin Ice (28 page)

Theo took the time to stare at Mick one minute longer, raised his eyebrows meaningfully, and then slowly turned and walked away.

Mick watched him go and then stared after him long after he’d moved out of sight. He’d heard about Theo Hellyon - he’d made a point of listening out for anything he could pick up about the man – and what he’d heard had been mixed. The man was smooth, he’d gathered, charming even and always generous, quick to buy a drink or lend a hand. Someone had warily described him as sometimes devious and a bit of a bully. Andy Turner usually kept his own counsel but was thought to dislike him. Mick had wondered what to believe but now he’d seen for himself. Did Alex have any idea what the man was really like?

Susie still growled, long and low like background thunder, but Mick barely heard her. It started to rain and the dog finally began to whine. She twisted her head in the collar which Mick still held and managed to touch her tongue across his hand. He came out of his reverie and let go of her.

As he walked back to the shed with the handle of the scythe now sticking in his clammy hand, he bellowed at the sky in frustration and then kicked out at the leafless stalks of a young willow, swearing. He’d been waiting for the right moment to tell Alex all about his past himself. Now he knew he’d left it too late. Theo Hellyon hadn’t come to warn him, he’d come to score points and scare him off. There was no doubt he’d tell Alex the whole sordid story…and then the rest of the village too. So much for a fresh start.

*

‘Darling.’ Theo hugged Alex hard, then kissed her long and tenderly. He pushed her away from him and scrutinised her. ‘Hell, I’ve missed you. And you look lovelier than ever.’ He hugged her again. ‘I’d have come round last night but…well…you know mothers.’

He raised an eyebrow in a comical expression and she laughed and leant in against the reassuring warmth and bulk of his body.

‘It’s wonderful to see you too.’

‘Good.’ He stroked her back fondly. ‘Have you seen Mother?’ he added.

‘No.’ She frowned and pushed away from him to look at his face. ‘I thought I saw her from a distance at the shops the other day, that’s all. Why? Isn’t she all right?’

‘No, she’s fine. Fine. I just thought you might have seen her.’

He took her to dinner at The Black Goose. He was relaxed and funny, full of anecdotes from his trip.

‘I’ve had an offer on the house,’ she told him as two bowls of soup were put in front of them.

‘Really? A good one?’ Theo took the pepper mill and ground black pepper over his soup.

‘Not bad. But I refused it. The agent said she thought they’d offer more yet. And I was glad to have an excuse to put the decision off really. Well…you know…there’s no rush.’

Theo gave her a sympathetic smile as he picked up his spoon.

‘Of course. You’re bound to feel odd about it. But it’ll all work out, you’ll see.’

While they ate she prompted him to tell her more about the Caribbean; and she told him about the new bathroom she’d ordered and the plumber whom she’d been unable to pin down as to when he might fit it. She wanted to bring the conversation round to the delicate subject of Julian’s accident but wasn’t sure how to start. The soup dishes were removed and there was a sticky silence.

‘Theo?’

‘Mm.?’

‘Liz Franklin gave me some notebooks…’

‘Who’s Liz Franklin?’

The waitress appeared again with sirloin steak for Theo and Dover sole for Alex. Theo shook salt and vinegar liberally over his chips, glancing up at her expectantly as he did so.

‘The lady from Captain’s Cottage…the B and B?’

‘Oh yes, I know.’

‘Her husband was a local historian and kept notes.’

Theo had started chewing a large mouthful of steak and nodded, watching her face.

‘There’s a reference in one of them to your brother’s accident.’

Theo finished his mouthful, swallowed and picked up his wine glass.

‘So?’

‘It said that Simon was there. That all three of you were together, playing on the stones. Is that true?’

He sipped some wine and put the glass down.

‘Yes. Why?’

‘You never told me.’

Theo lightly shrugged. ‘It wasn’t relevant.’

‘Simon never mentioned it either.’

‘Hardly surprising is it?’

He picked up his knife and fork and took another mouthful of steak. Alex started on her fish, frustrated but not sure what else to say. Usually Theo was so easy to talk to; at the moment she felt he was stone-walling her.

‘You mean because he wanted to block it out?’ she prompted.

‘Maybe.’

A couple of minutes later, Theo laid his cutlery down against his plate, picked up his wine again and cradled it thoughtfully.

‘You know, Simon and Julian didn’t really get on.’

Alex looked up in surprise.

‘I never had that impression from you.’

‘I wasn’t sure you’d want to know. But they used to argue and fight. Maybe Simon just didn’t think about Julian any more. It’s not as if they were close.’

Alex frowned but let the subject drop. They ate on in silence.

Theo finished first, leaned back in the chair, picked up his glass of wine and drank the last of it with evident satisfaction.

‘I hope you didn’t mind me staying over in London?’ he said. ‘I bumped into James at the airport. He asked me over to dinner at his house and insisted I stayed on there a couple of nights. We were big friends at Cambridge.’

Alex finished her fish and pushed the plate away.

‘Yes, you said on the phone.’

‘You didn’t mind then?’

‘Of course not. Why should I?’

Theo looked at her quizzically but she couldn’t read his expression.

‘He’s married with two kids,’ Theo continued. ‘Seems really happy. He’s a lawyer. He came from Lancashire originally but he works in London now.’

‘Oh?’ Theo’s tone was light but a prickle of apprehension suddenly ran over Alex’s skin. She had the sensation that the speech had been rehearsed, that there was a more serious point to this apparently casual conversation.

‘He used to live near a big nature reserve though and he misses the wildlife. It was a bit of a hobby with him. I was telling him about the reserve down here and the chap who looks after it.’

Alex said nothing but kept her eyes fixed intently on Theo’s face.

‘Well, when I told him what you’d said about this Mick Fenby guy, James said he thought the fellow rang a bell, he wasn’t sure why.’

‘In what way?’

‘I’m telling you: he didn’t know. Not then. But he remembered what it was the next day and looked it up to check. It had been a big story back where he used to live. There was a chap just like this man except that his name wasn’t Mick Fenby, it was Martin Foster, and there was a good reason why he might have changed his name.’

‘Go on.’

‘He’s an ex-con. A paedophile.’

‘A what?’ She shook her head. ‘No,’ she mouthed, though she made no sound at all.

‘I know. Shocking isn’t it? I stayed on a bit to look into it. I thought it was important to know but I didn’t want to say anything to you until I was sure. It seems he was a secondary school teacher originally – taught biology. Then he went to work as the education officer on this reserve near James. Among other things he took school parties round, things like that. Anyway the next thing a sixteen year old claimed he sexually abused him at the school when he was eleven. He’d been the boy’s form teacher in the first year and had befriended him and kept him behind sometimes to ‘give him extra help’. You can imagine. He’d threatened the boy that, if he said anything, he’d suffer for it and the kid was too scared and ashamed to say anything at the time.’ Theo’s expression suggested distaste. ‘Then another boy came forward and said the same thing had happened to him. So Martin Foster was arrested, tried and sent to prison. I suppose when he got out he wanted to move a long way away and ended up here, God help us.’ Theo reached for the wine bottle and then let his hand drop. ‘Wait a minute, I’ve got a picture of him here so you can tell me if it is the same guy.’ He patted the pocket of his jacket hanging on the back of the chair, withdrew a folded piece of paper and handed it to Alex. ‘Is that him?’

Alex slowly unfolded the paper. It was a copy of a newspaper article with a photograph at its head. A clean-shaven young man, wiry and dark-haired, glared at the camera, his arms apparently pulled behind his back, his expression angry and accusing. She stared at it. Even given the passage of time, there was no mistaking that it was Mick Fenby.

She nodded and carefully folded the paper up and laid it on the table, repeatedly smoothing it over with her hand as if she could obliterate the information it contained in the action.

Theo watched her closely.

‘Thought so,’ he said. ‘So I was obviously right to be worried about you going down to that place by yourself. The bloke’s a pervert.’

Alex picked up her glass and took a large mouthful of wine. Her face was white and her hand shook slightly so the glass bounced a little on her lips. She emptied the glass and put it down, catching the edge of the plate as she did so. Theo reached across and took her hand.

‘Are you all right? Is it that much of a shock?’

‘Yes. I’m…’ She shook her head. ‘I keep thinking of Ben. I took him there didn’t I? And to think what might have happened. I’m…’ She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. ‘But then I can’t quite believe it either. Mick’s so gentle really. Difficult certainly, a loner, yes but there’s nothing about him that would make me think…’ Images of Mick flitted across her mind and she shook her head again.

‘Loners,’ remarked Theo mildly. ‘They’re always the ones you have to look out for. And these people often seem quite harmless, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to get away with it.’ He shrugged and raised his eyebrows, expressive of the unpredictability of human behaviour.

The waitress reappeared to ask if they’d finished and began to clear the plates.

‘So now we know why he’s hiding away in a railway carriage in the wilderness,’ Theo continued. ‘Shall I top you up?’ he asked, picking up the wine bottle. She nodded. ‘Don’t be too upset will you? I mean… you didn’t know him that well did you?’

‘No, no, of course not. Obviously not.’ She frowned, unable to stop shaking her head. ‘I’m disgusted…but I just can’t believe…’

‘No…well. People can be amazing. I certainly don’t think you should go there any more.’

‘No…absolutely not. God.’

‘Good. I’ll feel better.’ He reached over and squeezed her hand again. ‘Now, how do you fancy one of their delicious desserts?’

*

For three days after Theo’s return dinner, Alex moped round the house or wandered round the grounds and garden. Confused, disgusted, cross; her mind flitted at random from one emotion to the other leaving her drained and heart weary. She was angry with herself. It was ridiculous to let someone she knew so little upset her so much. But she
had
thought she knew Mick, if not in details at least in essence, and she had considered him a friend. She’d liked him. When Theo rang and spoke of coming round after work, Alex put him off, pleading illness. ‘I’m fighting something off,’ she said. ‘Just sleeping all the time. I’m better left alone.’ She didn’t analyse why she felt unable or unwilling to talk to Theo about it or to seek his comfort, blaming her own embarrassment at the half truths she had told about her visits to the reserve and therefore her inability to explain properly to him why she should be so upset.

She thought of ringing Erica to talk it through but knew that Erica, more like her mother than she cared to think and more naturally suspicious by nature, would say how she’d expected it all along.
You’re such a soft touch to these ne’er do wells
, she’d say.
You’re the only person I know who regularly gives a fiver to street beggars. They see you coming
. It was a conversation they’d had in one form or another many times over the years.

Despite telling Theo she wouldn’t go, she even toyed with stalking down to the reserve and challenging Mick about his past and then felt a rush of distaste and a crush of confused guilt for even considering it. Her feelings of anger towards him were always followed by an awareness of her own gullibility for not guessing the truth and a sense of humiliation. But what would the signs be of such a perversion and how would she have known? He had steadfastly refused to tell her anything much about his past; that alone should have rung warning bells for her. But then she’d remember the way he’d sat and patiently explained the birds to her, how he’d prepared coffee and food for her, how gently he treated Susie and how they’d laughed. But, of course, all that was meaningless, held against the nature of his crimes. She was just fooling herself, trying to find an excuse not to believe something that there was no reason to doubt - she’d seen it in black and white.

On the Friday evening, Theo turned up at the door. When she opened up to him he stood there with a huge bunch of flowers in one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other.

‘I’ve come to rescue a damsel in distress,’ he said, with his infectious grin. ‘I
have
come to the right house haven’t I?’