The Beachcomber (48 page)

Tom was both relieved and worried. “Right! I’m on my way. Thanks.” Replacing the receiver, he hurried out to the street and hailed a taxi. When one slewed over from the main run of traffic, he climbed in and gave the address. “There’s an extra five bob in it if you can put your foot down.”

Five bob was the only incentive the driver needed.

In a matter of seconds, he was screeching in and out of traffic with no thought for life or limb.

At the same time a frantic Alice was arriving back at the office and trying to work out what on earth she could or should tell her boss. She could only guess at where Lilian had got to, and feared she might somehow get the blame for letting her out of her sight.

From the sitting room couch, where Dougie had thoughtfully tended her arm and made her as comfortable as he knew how, Lilian stretched her neck to hear what he was saying.

She suspected he had gone into the hall to make a telephone call, and now she was proved right. “Who are you calling?” Struggling up, she felt dizzy and unwell, but fear proved stronger than pain. She made her way into the hall just as Dougie was replacing the receiver. “You called the doctor, didn’t you?” Her eyes were wild. “I told you not to call the doctor! I said to call Tom …
that’s
what I said.”

When he reached out to calm her, she jerked away from him, her back to the front door and her arms jutting out, warding him off. “You knew I wanted to see him, but you’ve tricked me!”

Desperate to reassure her, Dougie spoke softly. “No, Lilian … please, listen to me. I
didn’t
call the doctor; I called John Martin … I thought he might be able to help. Only Tom was there. He was at the office, looking for you. He’s on his way now, Lilian … he’ll be here any minute!”

“LIAR! You rang the doctor. Well, you wasted your time because I won’t be here when he comes.”

Before he could stop her, she had opened the front door and was on her way into the street, careering and stumbling as she went. “LILIAN, COME BACK!”

Running out of the front door, he went in pursuit, afraid for her safety as she ran across the road, with traffic coming at her from all quarters. “I WAS TELLING YOU THE TRUTH!”

The driver of Tom’s taxi was well pleased with himself. “Here we are, guv. I reckon I’ve earned that five bob.” Turning into the road, he saw Lilian dodging the traffic. “Christ Almighty! What the hell does she think she’s doing?” As she ran onto the pavement, he slowed down. “Look at that!” In her desperate effort to get away, Lilian skidded into a woman with a pram; the pram was overturned and the child left screaming in fright.

“Stop the cab!” Tom was amazed to see that it was Lilian. “Stop here!” Digging into his pocket, he threw a handful of money onto the passenger seat.

Even before the wheels had stopped turning, he was out of the cab and after Lilian, who by this time was causing havoc as she swerved and stumbled, crashing into passersby and shouting abuse when they confronted her. When one irate man gave her a shove, she laid into him; a police officer who had been patrolling the area in his car saw the fracas, screeched to a halt and, running across the road, came between them.

Pushing the man away with a caution, he began lecturing Lilian on the trouble she was causing.

Seeming to find her second wind, Lilian began kicking and fighting. While he tried hard to control her, she went for him like a wildcat, scoring his face with her nails and lashing out with fists and feet.

“Right, young lady!” Managing to take a firm hold, he promptly arrested her for being “drunk and disorderly, and causing an affray in a public place.” But still she fought. It was only the sight of Tom jumping from his taxi that calmed her. Instantly, she became passive and quiet.

With both Dougie and Tom on the scene now, the police officer felt order returning. Inundated with protests, he conceded that, yes, she did need a doctor, and, no, he would not turn her loose. “She’s a menace to herself and others. But she’ll get a doctor once we’re at the station.”

As they went across to the car, Lilian kept glancing at Tom. When she was being bundled into the car, Dougie climbed in on the other side; the police officer made no protest at that. His thinking was that, if she ran off again, he would have to run after her, and he was not as slim and quick as he used to be.

“Make sure she gets a doctor,” Tom advised Dougie. “I’ll see you later.”

He took it on himself to close the door on her; it was at that moment she looked up at him. In the softest of whispers that only he heard, she told him, “I’m sorry, Tom. I didn’t mean to do it.”

The door shut, and the car was soon away, Lilian looking back at him with stricken eyes.

For a long time, Tom stood there, her words echoing in his mind. “
I’m sorry … I didn’t mean to do it
.”

He couldn’t believe what she had implied. That day? Surely to God, it couldn’t have been Lilian.
Could it?

His instincts were to go after her, to ask her outright what she meant just now when she said she was sorry … that she “didn’t mean to do it.”

Dejected and unsure, he made his way back to his hotel; even now he was reluctant to convey his suspicions to the inspector.

Back in his hotel room, he took a small drink to steady his nerves.

Never far from his thoughts, Kathy preyed on his mind. “Oh, Kathy, what am I supposed to think?”

Just to talk to her, to know she was there, waiting for him, might settle his mind.

With that in mind he picked up the receiver and asked the operator to put him through to the caravan site; with luck he should catch her there, he thought.

It was Rosie who answered. “No, she isn’t here,” she said. “She’s just popped out to one of the caravans, but I’ll tell her you called.”

“Thank you, Rosie. Is she all right?” he asked. He was bitterly disappointed, but it wasn’t the end of the world.

“She’s fine,” she lied.

“Oh good,” Tom said. “I’ll ring later. Tell her that, will you?”

“I’ll tell her the minute she comes in, so I will,” Rosie promised.

Putting the phone down, she made the sign of the cross over her chest. “God forgive me!” she muttered. Lying was not one of her usual traits, but she knew that, however much Kathy needed him here, she did not want him rushing back on her account.

Later, during her break, she made her way around to Barden House, not surprised to see Jasper there. “Hello, Jasper. How are you doing?”

“Not so bad, lass.” He shook his head. “Terrible business, ain’t it?”

Rosie nodded but made no comment. Instead she glanced at Kathy. “What you got there, me darling?”

Until Jasper came to see how she was, Kathy had been looking through old photographs of her and Samantha as children. “I keep looking at these photographs,” she said, showing one to Rosie.

Rosie glanced at the tiny black-and-white photograph of the two little girls, all dressed up and sitting on a bench. Even then you could see how different they were, with Samantha neat and tidy, her hair in ribbons, and the smaller girl, hair blowing in the wind, and a huge grin on her face. “Sure, I could tell you anywhere,” she said, handing back the photograph.

Sliding them back into the envelope, Kathy told them, “We were close as children, and then somehow it all went wrong.” She glanced at Jasper, who for the past half-hour had sat with her, quietly listening while she opened her heart to him. “And now it’s all too late.”

She choked back a sigh. “I still can’t believe what’s happened. I can’t sleep. I keep thinking about it. Why Samantha?”

“I’m sure I don’t know why, me darling,” Rosie answered. “I think it was just a terrible accident.”

Jasper had thought about that. Since he’d learned how Samantha was wearing Kathy’s coat that night, he couldn’t help but wonder.

If for whatever reason it had not been a terrible accident, it could so easily have been Kathy.

Rosie’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Tom rang.”

Kathy’s eyes lit up. “What did he say? How is he? Does he knew yet when he’ll be coming home?”

Rosie replied, “He didn’t say anything much, except that he would call later.”

“You didn’t tell him, did you, Rosie … about Samantha?”

“Not a word passed my lips.”

Kathy thanked her. “You’re a good friend.” She smiled at Jasper, who winked back at her. “You’re
both
good friends.”

Jasper was of the same mind as Rosie. “He would want you to tell him. You know that, don’t yer?”

“Yes, but I won’t do it.” Kathy had not changed her mind on that score. “Tom’s got enough to be worrying about,” she said. “There’ll be time enough to tell him when he comes home.”

Though Rosie was all for bringing him back to be with Kathy, Jasper could see her reasoning. Tom had confided in him, and he knew how hard it had been for Tom to gather the strength of mind and purpose to tear himself away and go back to what had been his own personal nightmare. Jasper believed that Kathy was right; besides, there was nothing anyone could do to change things. He and Rosie would look after Kathy, while Tom got on with his business in London.

He got out of his chair. “Right, you two, who’s for a brew?”

Ambling into the kitchen, he put the kettle on.

In his room, pacing the floor, Tom continued thinking and wondering, his mind in a whirl.

He went over everything that happened on that day, trying to imagine it might have been Lilian in that car, ramming and pushing them nearer and nearer to that cliff-edge.

Somehow he still could not bring himself to believe it was her.

Then he recalled his wife’s face as she glanced back: he had seen the recognition in her eyes, and the horror of realization.
She knew whoever it was!
And yet in that split second, when she might have cried out Lilian’s name, she didn’t.
Why not?

Was it because, like him, she couldn’t believe it? Or didn’t want to?

Was it for the same reason he had not gone after Lilian just now … reluctant to implicate her? Trying to delay the inevitable?

Or was it because, in the goodness of her heart and with only moments before they went over that cliff-edge, she saw Lilian as the friend she had been. Did her instincts – the goodness in her – make her hold back?

Or was she merely silenced by the shock of it all?

These were only more questions to be added to the ones already troubling him.

“There’s only one way to find out!” He would have to go and speak with her, ask her what she meant just now.

With his heart in his mouth, he made for the door, but as he was about to open it and leave, the ringing of the telephone startled him. Going back, he snatched up the receiver. “Yes?”

A moment, then, “Oh, it’s you, Inspector. Any news?”

“Yes, finally,” the inspector said. “We think we’ve had a bit of a breakthrough!” The inspector cautioned, “Nothing is certain yet; I need to see for myself … ask a few questions before I get too carried away. But it sounds hopeful. My sergeant had a hunch and it seems to have paid off. Look, I’m on my way to him now. Stay where you are. I’ll pick you up as I go.”

At the station Lilian was signed in as being drunk and disorderly on a public highway.

The doctor was sent for and she was made to wait in the cubicle. Dougie had stayed with her throughout it all.

It wasn’t long before the doctor arrived. gray-haired and gray-faced, he looked as if the world weighed heavy on his shoulders. “And what have you been up to, young lady?” He had one of those soothing voices that made a body feel calm. “Apart from the gash on your arm, is there anything else I should check out? Have you broken anything, do you think?”

“No, I don’t think I’ve broken anything.”

“Well, we had better give you a thorough check all the same. We don’t want to send you away with a broken leg or a dislocated vertebra or goodness knows what else, or we’d have to answer for it afterward, wouldn’t we, eh?” He frowned. “Now then, young lady. From what I’ve been told, you’ve been on quite an adventure.”

First rolling up her sleeve so the doctor could get to the gash on her arm, Lilian asked Dougie, “Could you give me a minute, please, Dougie?” Calm and rational now, she smiled appreciatively. “I’m glad you’re here though.”

Satisfied to leave her in safe hands, Dougie agreed. “I’ll see if I can scrounge a drink of sorts,” he said. “But I won’t be far away if you need me.”

As he made his way along the corridor, he was amazed at his own feelings. “You’ve fallen for her, haven’t you?” He gave a soft, cynical laugh. “You promised yourself you’d never get trapped again, and now here you are … caught, hook, line and sinker!”

Finding a friendly young officer who brought him a “nice cup of tea,” he sat on the bench by the window and watched the traffic go by. “Who would have thought it?” he wondered with a smile. “Me and Lilian.” He supped his tea and settled back. Life wasn’t so bad after all.

Behind him, with the curtains closed and the two of them alone in the cubicle, Lilian beckoned the doctor closer. “Is everything all right?”

“What? Apart from the wound, you mean?”

“Yes.”