River of Destiny (36 page)

‘I see.’ Henry looked thoughtful. ‘I am sure you did right, Sam. I would never challenge your judgement. I assume you sent Zeph off without a reference? Do you know where he has gone?’

‘Back to Ipswich, I would guess, sir. He’ll find work on the barges easily enough. I don’t care what he does as long as he never works with animals again.’

‘Indeed.’ Henry Crosby paused for several seconds. ‘All right. You may go, Sam. Thank you.’

Sam hesitated, changed his mind about whatever he was going to say and turned to the door. Outside he rammed his cap back on his head and headed for the kitchen.

Molly was down at the forge cottage with her sister. Susan was pale and uncomfortable as she walked up and down the small parlour floor. ‘Why won’t it come?’ She put her hands to her back again and groaned. ‘I can’t bear it!’

Molly shook her head. ‘Have you asked Betsy? There must be something you can take to bring the baby on.’

‘She suggested raspberry leaf tea. I’ve taken it. I’ve drunk pitchers full of it.’

‘Where’s Dan? The forge was empty when I came past.’

Susan bit her lip. ‘He’s been acting peculiar these last few days. Something has upset him.’

‘Of course it has.’ Molly glanced at her sideways. ‘You do know they killed that mare, Bella? Had the knacker to her. Said she broke a leg. That must have upset him after he had worked so hard on her. He was fond of her, wasn’t he?’ She shook her head.

Susan stared at her. ‘I didn’t know they killed Bella! Why didn’t Dan tell me?’

‘Probably trying to save you any more upset.’

‘Was it that woman?’

Molly laughed. ‘Oh, yes. ‘Course it was. I reckon she did it to pay Dan back. You know word is, in the servants’ hall, that Dan refused her when she came back to him. She was spitting nails. He loves you, Susan. He’s not going to let her get her claws into him again.’

‘Then where is he?’ Susan’s eyes filled with tears.

‘Maybe he’s up the fields with George. They’re busy this time of year.’ Molly glanced at the window where the sun was shining through the dusty pane. Normally Susan would rather have died than allow a speck of dust in her precious parlour. ‘Do you want to go for a small walk outside in the fresh air?’ she asked tentatively. ‘I have to be going back soon. I only managed to get away because Mrs Field wanted me to drop some things in on Jessie Turtill. I need to get back before her ladyship finds out I’m overdue back at the hall, but I could spare a few minutes.’

Susan shook her head. ‘You go, Moll. I don’t want you getting in trouble. I’ll be all right here. Dan will turn up soon enough.’

‘What is it? What can you see?’ Ken whispered. He could feel the uneasiness in the air; the tension which was almost like an electrical charge, but he couldn’t see anything.

‘There,’ Zoë whispered. ‘There is a man standing there.’

‘Where?’ Ken was paralysed with terror suddenly. His eyes darted back and forth as he tried to pinpoint whatever it was she was seeing. ‘What sort of man?’

‘He’s shadowy; tall, working clothes. I can’t really see his face. He’s there, where the floor section is exposed. It’s the floor from his time.’

Silently and very slowly she stood up, then with an exclamation of annoyance she shook her head. ‘No, he’s gone.’

Ken stared at her. ‘Aren’t you scared?’

She gave a small self-conscious smile. ‘I am usually when I sense things, but do you know, I wasn’t. Not this time. He was too wispy and shadowy. And he was just standing there. I didn’t sense any danger from him. He didn’t know we were here. It was just as though the light was suddenly shining through a crack in the old barn walls and catching him as he went about his business. Why should he be frightening?’

‘Most people would be terrified.’

‘I’m not most people.’

‘No.’ He paused. ‘No, you’re not.’

‘We should be pleased about the things that make us special, Ken,’ she said gently.

‘And this is Leo’s philosophy, is it?’ Ken couldn’t keep a sudden bitterness out of his tone. Zoë stared at him. For a moment neither of them said anything.

‘I don’t know what Leo’s philosophy, as you call it, has to do with any of this,’ she said at last.

She walked towards the stairs.

Ken sighed. He swept all the samples and books and catalogues into a pile. Not for the first time he wished he hadn’t given up smoking. Now would be the perfect moment to go outside and have a cigarette under the stars. Anything to get out of the house.

Jackson was in his father’s den. He had spent a fruitful morning with the photoprinter and had a bulging envelope full of incriminating pictures to show for it. He grinned to himself and glanced at his watch. Mike would be over in a minute; he was going to enjoy looking at the fruits of Jackson’s labours while they decided the best use they could make of their evidence. That was a bonus. The real purpose of Mike’s visit was to plan the next step in their war against Rosemary Formby.

It only occurred to him for a brief second to wonder where his sister was. She wasn’t there, getting in his hair, which was the main thing.

Jade was watching The Old Barn. Zoë was still inside, but Ken had gone out early again. She had watched him open the door and stand there, taking deep breaths of the cold morning air, then he had banged the door shut, unnecessarily loudly, in her opinion, and walked off to find his car. She had crept after him to make sure he was actually off the property and seen him stand for a long time deep in thought in front of Leo’s old muddy Land Rover. She smiled. So he did know. Pity. She would have liked to break the news to him herself. But then there was still plenty she could do to spoil Zoë’s life.

She heard the distant sound of a motorbike and drew back out of sight behind the cart shed as Mike Turtill appeared down the drive. Her face darkened. She didn’t like Mike, and if he was going to see Jackson, it meant she would have to stay away.

Leo was home, but did she want to go and see Leo? Her visits to him were spoiled now. And anyway, no doubt he would soon be joining up with Zoë.

She was right. Within half an hour she saw them both walking down the path towards the river. Once they were on the
Curlew
they would be out of her reach. Her skills had not proceeded as far as electronic bugging though for a moment the idea appealed to her. It never occurred to her that her brother might be on the same quest and that for future reference he would probably be quite capable of thinking of a way to organise surveillance of the boat.

Leo grinned as he helped Zoë on board. ‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking? The woods are full of busy little eyes, watching.’

Zoë nodded. ‘Wretched girl.’

‘We’ll cast off and drift down river a little way. I don’t know how far she is prepared to follow, but she can’t drive yet, thank God, and I trust she isn’t going to leap into one of the family boats and row after us.’ He gestured towards the two large dinghies upturned on the mud of the foreshore a little further down river. ‘Are you up for a bit of a sail?’

Zoë nodded gamely. ‘The wind isn’t too strong; and I trust you.’

He smiled. ‘You sit still in the corner there and leave it to me.
Curlew
and I know each other well. We’ll give you a nice gentle ride.’

As the sail filled and the boat drew away down river Leo glanced back at the landing stage. Jade was standing there in full sight. The expression on her face was one of total devastation. He was standing, the tiller in one hand, the main sheet in the other, one bare foot on the seat. Zoë was staring ahead, her hair blowing round her face. She hadn’t looked back and so hadn’t seen the small figure behind them, for which he was glad. Once again he was troubled by his own sense of guilt that somehow he was betraying Jade, though why, he wasn’t sure. He felt no guilt at all about Ken. Zoë was a free agent. It was up to her what she did or didn’t do with her husband and with her neighbours.

They lowered the sails and dropped anchor a while later off a small wooded bay. There was no sign of any houses or roads nearby and one or two buoys, which showed it must be an anchorage of sorts, were vacant. The breeze was gentle and the sun was warm as they slid into the bottom of the cockpit out of sight.

Later, when they were eating their picnic of French bread and cheese and sipping white wine from the glasses that Leo had tucked into the top of his backpack she told him about the ghostly appearance the night before. ‘It was nothing to do with Jade. I could see him clearly. Well, not clearly, but enough to know that there was someone there.’ She shivered and reached for her jacket. ‘It’s weird. I don’t think he is trying to contact me; I don’t think he is aware of anything. He is just there, like the walls and the floor.’

‘Trapped in time and space.’ Leo was leaning back, his bare feet on the seat opposite. ‘Don’t some people say that ghosts are nothing but visual echoes? There is nothing there to be scared of.’

‘I wasn’t scared this time.’ She leaned across and cut herself another piece of cheese. ‘It all fits together. We can hear horses sometimes, and the clanking of harness. It’s a kind of window into the past of the barn. I would love to know who they were; what their names were; what their story was.’

‘You should ask Bill Turtill. His family have lived here for generations. He was telling me the other day. His great-great-grandfather, I think it was, was farm manager when the Crosbys at the Hall owned all the land, and his father and grandfather before him had worked for the family, probably going back years.’

Zoë nodded. ‘I went to the library and looked it up. The whole set-up came to an end I think around the First World War.’

‘That’s right. Then Bill’s grandfather bought the farm in the twenties or thirties. It was the Depression and I suspect land prices were at an all-time low and nobody wanted it so he probably got it for a song. They have worked very hard to make a go of it. Penny is going to start doing bed and breakfasts next year so they are doing up the farmhouse as well.’

‘And has Bill got a son to come after him?’

‘Do I hear a hint of sexism there?’ Leo laughed. ‘What about a daughter? Actually he’s got one of each, but I don’t think either is showing any interest at the moment. It must be heartbreaking when generations of links to the soil come to an end.’

‘Going back to my ghost,’ Zoë said after a moment. ‘He must have worked for one of the Turtills. Isn’t that strange? And he must have worked with horses.’

‘Which were shod in my cottage. Or at least the forge part of it.’ Leo stretched lazily. ‘I like that sense of continuity. It is something that is being lost everywhere. One more generation and it will be gone for good.’ He glanced up at the pennant at the mast head as the halyards and stays rattled in a sudden change of wind. ‘So,’ he went on after a moment. ‘You don’t know where Ken is going on these day-long forays of his?’

Zoë shook her head.

‘And you’re not even remotely interested?’

She gave a wry laugh. ‘I suppose I should be, but if it allows me to do this, then no, I’m not.’

‘You don’t think he has a fancy woman?’

‘I had begun to wonder. But if he has, good luck to him. I’m pretty sure he’s had them before.’

Leo sat up and looked at her. ‘You are a remarkable woman.’

‘I’ve been bewitched by my pirate smith.’

He put his head on one side. ‘That’s how you think of me?’

She nodded. ‘Seriously, Leo, something has happened to me. I was in danger of becoming a middle-aged boring housewife. That was how you saw me, wasn’t it, when we first met? You said so. And you have turned me into someone quite different.’

‘A sexy sea gypsy!’ He grinned.

‘I wish!’

‘It’s true.’ He looked her up and down lazily. ‘I think the next thing is to get rid of some of your respectable clothes and kit you out with bright colours and plunging necklines.’

‘That would shock Ken.’

‘You’re going to have to leave him, you know.’

Zoë froze. ‘That’s not part of the deal, Leo.’

‘Why not?’

She shook her head again. ‘It’s too soon. I am having enough trouble getting my head round what is happening now, today, yesterday. I hardly know you, Leo. Not really.’

‘I don’t think you know yourself,’ he said gently. When she didn’t reply he went on, ‘I wasn’t suggesting you move in with me, Zoë. I am not in the market for any kind of lasting relationship at the moment. I still have too many commitments I can’t sort out yet in my own head. You and me, it’s fun and it’s daring and it’s exciting, but it can’t be for ever. I am sorry if I misled you.’

She was looking out towards the far bank of the river and seemed lost in thought. ‘No,’ she said after a pause. ‘You haven’t misled me.’

‘You will still have to leave him. He is stifling you.’

‘So, what do you suggest I should I do?’

‘Pack a bag, buy a ticket. Head for distant climes. Adventure. You haven’t any kids, have you, so you’ve no ties.’

She bit her lip, suddenly terrified she was going to cry. ‘Supposing I want ties? I would have loved to have kids.’ She gave a small half laugh. ‘I only realised it very recently. Perhaps I could have your kid. A pirate’s baby. No ties, no claims, a wild child who will travel with me.’