Guardians Of The Haunted Moor (22 page)

Typically, it was Darren Prowse who broke the moment. He
ducked away from the police officer holding him and darted over the
road. From somewhere he’d retrieved Gideon’s cap. He came to a
panting halt in front of him and thrust it out in a propitiatory
gesture. “Here!”

Gideon
handed Tamsyn to Lee and reached out to take the cap. “You’ve
missed something, Daz,” he said grimly. “The badge is still
attached.”

“
It wasn’t me! I never did it. I never—”

His
arresting constable caught up with him. “Come back here, you.” She
grabbed him by the scruff. “Oh, Gideon! Are you all
right?”

Gideon
smiled. Jenny Spargo seemed to have a knack for witnessing all his
worst moments. “Fine, somehow or other. It’s all right—let him
talk.”

Darren
promptly fell as silent as a clam. Jenny gave him a shake. “You’d
better explain yourself, young man, if Sergeant Frayne is prepared
to listen to you.”

“
I never blew the house up! It were that nutter from the farm.”
Darren choked with the effort of telling the truth. “I saw him go
over your garden wall at the back. He broke a pane in your kitchen
door and he went in. So I waited—to see, you know,
if...”

“
If he came out carrying anything worth blackmailing him for,”
Gideon supplied. “Do go on.”

“
He didn’t take nothing, as far as I could see. He just ran off
and started shouting at the minister in the street. But there was
still that broken pane, and I thought...”

“
You thought it was a shame to leave a perfectly good house
un-robbed, when someone had already broken into it for
you.”

Darren
nodded fervently. “’Zackly.” He was clearly relieved to be
understood. “Then that old busybody in the upstairs flat opposite
yours got her eye on me, so I started pretending to be doing a bit
of gardening, like you asked. She must’ve sat there for nigh on
half an hour! Then she finally buggered off, and I went in the same
way, and I nearly fucking choked to death. All the hobs on your gas
cooker were turned up full. And I heard your crappy old boiler
start its ignition, and I thought, if there’s a
spark...”

“
My God, Daz. You tried to stop me going in.”

“
Well, I thought about it, didn’t I? I remembered stuff. Like
when you came to our house that time, and you were the only one who
believed me about the Beast. And when I lost my gloves in the snow,
and how you always look after people around here even if they don’t
deserve it. Even if that does make you a bloody fool.”

Gideon
regarded him seriously. Beside him, Lee was trying desperately hard
not to laugh. “You probably saved my life,” he said. “Having said
that, you really are a little shit, Darren Prowse.”

***

The big
farmhouse kitchen at Drift was utterly peaceful. The back door was
propped open, Isolde trotting in and out as the fancy took her.
Jago and Mrs Ivey were sunning themselves in matching striped
deckchairs on the lawn. Gideon set down the last of the carrier
bags from the car. It had taken a week, but he and Lee had finally
gathered together the basics for family life. Some things they’d
bought, a very few they’d salvaged from the ruins of the flat, and
Jago had made room for it all with delighted welcome, proud of his
ability to offer a temporary home. He’d thrown the whole farmhouse
open to them, but his shellshocked guests had been only too happy
to move into Lee’s old room, with the bathroom over the corridor
and a little dressing room—whose door stood open all the time—for
Tamsyn’s cot.

Gideon’s
insurers were still wrangling over the wreckage in Moor Lane. A
rebuild wasn’t yet off the cards, but a demolition more likely,
given the structural damage. Either way, he knew they would move
back to Dark. That was his place in the world, guarding and
protecting and forgiving. Even if that did make him a bloody
fool.

He
leaned on the counter top and took in the wholly satisfactory sight
of Lee pacing the kitchen with the baby against his shoulder. “How
has she been?”

Lee
stopped and beamed at him. “She just had the biggest feed of her
life. I thought she was never gonna stop. Tell me you’ve got more
of her goop in that bag.”

“
Cheesy veg, beef-and-liver, giblets in jelly with tripe. A bit
preoccupied now, is she?”

“
That’s why you didn’t get your usual rapturous
greeting.”

“
Uh-oh.”

“
Don’t worry. I’ll just keep walking and patting. I’m certain
the blockage will clear.”

“
You know what? I think I should record one of these for
posterity.”

“
Hurry up and get your camera running, then. She’s about to
blow.”

Chuckling, Gideon got his phone out and started a new video.
He fell into step behind Lee. His daughter watched him gravely over
Lee’s shoulder. Lee had a towel ready in case of accidents, but she
liked her food too much to let go of it easily. It was just the
sound effects. She opened her rosy mouth, rode out another couple
of Lee’s gently jiggling strides, and unleashed a deep, stately
burp.

Gideon
creased up. “Oh, my God. That is phenomenal.”

“
The windows rattled, I swear. How does she do it?”

“
Takes after her dad, I reckon.”

“
Oh, charming. That’ll be the dad who likes raw red onions with
his curry, right?” Relieved of her digestive problems, the baby
caught their laughter like a dose of measles and began to crow in
her turn, and like them fell suddenly silent when the doorbell
rang. Lee, who’d failed to repress a nervous twitch, held her
close. “Who’s that?”

“
It’s a bit soon for our dinner guests. I’ll go and have a
look.”

Gideon
ran up the kitchen steps. The hall’s inner doorway was open. Beyond
the stained glass of the porch, he could make out a pale, solemn
face. “Deep breath, Mr Tiger. It’s Elowen.”

“
Why is she ringing the bell of her own home?”

“
Maybe she doesn’t feel like it is anymore. There’s a guy with
her—not Michel. Jago’s going round to let her in.”

“
Tell me she’s carrying a big fat envelope.”

“
I can’t see from here. But the guy’s got a briefcase, and he
looks like a lawyer. This might be it.”

“
Oh, Jesus.”

Gideon
went back to him. “Do you want to see her? Mrs Ivey will look after
Tamsyn.”

“
It probably sounds horrible of me, but—no, I don’t want to see
her yet. She’s my sister, and I’m scared of saying something
unforgivable to her. I let your ma handle all the negotiations in
Liskeard. I just grabbed Tamsyn out of her carrycot and ran back to
the car with her.”

Gideon
could imagine the scene. He kissed Lee’s eyelids and the corners of
his mouth. “All right. Why don’t you put her down for her nap and
go join the others in the sun?”

“
Like I’d leave her alone for a second while that
child-snatching monster’s in the house.” Lee said it lightly, but
his eyes filled suddenly with shadows, and he leaned his brow on
Gideon’s shoulder. Tamsyn, mildly crushed between them, emitted a
raspberry noise and a sound like a hen settling down on its eggs.
“I couldn’t go through that again, premonitions or no premonitions.
I’d fucking kill anyone who laid another hand on her
now.”

“
I know.” Gideon rocked them both. “Let’s wait another twenty
years or so for some unsuitable lover to come and snatch her away.
You’re gonna make a lovely laid-back father-in-law, I can
tell.”

“
I might buy a shotgun.”

They
were still laughing when Jago leaned into the kitchen and tapped
lightly on the door. “Elowen’s here, gentlemen.”

“
Yes. Thanks, Jago—I’m on my way.”

“
She’s my niece,” Jago added, “and I love her very
much.”

Gideon
wasn’t about to argue family bonds. “I know that. Of
course.”

“
But don’t you let her take away that little girl again. All
right?”

“
All right. Lee’s gonna take her upstairs for a while. You
don’t have to worry about anything now.”

“
I should bloody hope not. In that case, I’ll make everyone a
cup of tea.”

Gideon
entered the living room cautiously. Elowen and her companion were
already there, looking awkward among the family photos. The lawyer
wasn’t from Baragwathen’s office. The Bodmin fracking scandal was
exploding in fantastic slow motion over the town council, local
authority, AONB management and planning department. Poor old lawyer
Keast’s would be the least of the heads to roll. So far he faced
only disbarment, and Gideon wasn’t keen to press charges against a
man already made so desolate by his grab for wealth. This gentleman
looked a lot more sleek and successful. He stood up to shake
Gideon’s hand. “Saul Welkin of Prynne, Welkin and Co, Falmouth.
Miss Tyack thought she wouldn’t put you and your husband to the
inconvenience of coming into town, not when you’ve both been
through so much.”

“
Thanks,” Gideon said uncertainly. “I’m Gideon Tyack-Frayne.
Lee’s busy with the baby, Elowen—can we manage without
him?”

“
I’m not going to get to see her, am I?”

Welkin
gave her a repressing glance. “Yes, that’s no problem. Miss Tyack
has signed all the paperwork you requested. We’ve brought it along
for you to look over, if we could all perhaps sit
down...?”

The
lawyer spread the papers out on the coffee table. Before Gideon
could turn the first sheet, Elowen reached out to touch his wrist.
“I don’t suppose for a moment you want to hear me
explain.”

Gideon
didn’t. But he couldn’t help noting that she’d lost weight, and had
shadows under her eyes to rival Lee’s. “Whatever you want to say,
I’ll listen.”

“
Good old Gideon. Always so bloody fair. I wonder if my brother
realises what a sodding treasure he’s got in you.”

He
sighed. “Would you rather I kicked your arse, Elowen?”

“
Almost.” She knotted her hands together in a gesture just like
Lee’s, knucklebones stretching the skin. “Michel and I were arguing
before we got out of Cornwall. We argued all the way across the
Channel to Carnac. He wouldn’t come right out and say it, but I
think he was more inclined to take your side and Lee’s than mine.
So that was great, and then the house he said he’d rented in Auray
turned out to be a one-room flat. And Tamsie might have been a baby
angel for you two, but for me she turned into a howling demon, and
she screamed the place down in that one bloody room for forty eight
hours straight.”

“
She was probably just unsettled, Elowen.”

“
Oh, right. That’s why she started crooning and making that
clucking sound of hers the minute—the
minute
—I gave up and started packing
her things to bring her home.” She held up a hand, although Gideon
hadn’t been about to interrupt. “I know—women have brought up
babies in much worse circumstances than mine. I don’t have any
excuses, though it didn’t help that Michel suddenly found the
excavation site a whole lot more interesting than me and his kid
and a pile of dirty nappies, and announced he wasn’t coming home
for a week.”

“
I’m sorry. That must have been hard.”

“
Not if I’d loved her.” She read Gideon’s shift of expression,
paled a bit and quickly amended, “You know what I mean. The way a
mother—a parent—
should
love a child, where the nappies and the crying and the
absentee husband might drive you crazy, but underneath it all
there’s this... thing, this bond, that makes it all worthwhile. I
didn’t have that. I didn’t even have a proper home for her, and all
I can say to excuse myself for taking her away from you was that I
had—God, I dunno, some kind of hormone surge at the prospect of
leaving her behind. Can you understand?”

“
Yes,” Gideon said shortly, and turned the pages until he found
the crucial clauses, managing not to add,
Just in case you have another one
.
“Thank you for signing these. Has Mr Welkin been through them with
you properly?”

“
Yes. In painful detail. They’re belt-and-braces adoption
papers, awarding full custody of Tamsyn to my brother and to
you.”

“
Yes. If they seem a bit... watertight, I’m sure you’ll
understand.”

“
Oh, Gideon. I know I’ve been a dick. You don’t have to rub my
nose in it.”

Now she
really did sound like Lee. Gideon drew a deep breath and let it go.
“I didn’t mean to do that,” he said kindly, reaching across the
table to take her chilly hand. “We both know you’re not signing
these for your own benefit, or for mine, or even for your
brother’s. It’s for Tamsyn, isn’t it? She needs to know where home
is. Who her parents are.”

Elowen
gave a sob. “Will you let me see her at all?”

“
What kind of question is that? Did you make things up with
Michel?”

“
Kind of. We’re working on it.”

“
Did he come through on the fancy hot-shot job?”

She
found a watery smile. “I should bloody think so.”