Dorothy spent Sunday afternoon showing Jessie how
to use a computer and thinking what it pity it was that the girl had had such a
troubled childhood and youth. Jessie gradually forgot to be the nitwit she
pretended to be. Dorothy was astonished how fast Jessie grasped the basics, and
even more impressed when the word game she opened to show Jessie how to play
games proved that her grasp of difficult words and tasks was normal.
“Why do you pretend to be stupid, Jessie?” Dorothy
could not resist asking.
“Everyone said I was stupid, so I was,” she
explained. “People left me alone.”
“But your father didn’t, Jessie.”
“I just played dead with ‘im, Miss.”
***
Dorothy phoned Cleo after Jessie had one to bed
early on Sunday evening, taking with her Dorothy’s new tablet because she
wanted to do some Sudokus, having been shown how.
***
“I wonder if Coppins ran away with that barmaid
because he was taking a risk continuing to abuse Jessie,” she suggested. “It is
possible that Mrs Coppins had threatened to report him.”
“We could ask her,” said Cleo, “but in the end, she
threw him out, didn’t she?”
“And we don’t know the exact reason why. Did she already
know about that barmaid?”
“Meaning that abusing her daughter was more
acceptable than him seducing an under-aged outsider,” said Cleo. “How cynical
is that?”
“Coppins will need to find a way to stop Jessie
talking, won’t he?” said Cleo. “I’d better phone Gary and get security for the
girl.”
“I’ll go and se how Jessie is getting on with her
Sudokus,” said Dorothy.
“Her what?”
“Sudokus. Jessie has a high IQ, Cleo. As we
thought, she plays dumb. I think she sees it as a form of defence.”
“I’ll bear that in mind, Dorothy.”
***
“I hoped you’d phone,” said Gary, “though it’s very late. Is your spouse already asleep.”
I don’t know where he is. I rather hope he’s in
Edith’s bed, but I doubt it,” said Cleo.
“Thoughts are not always things, my love.”
“But this is not about us, Sweetheart. It’s about
Jessie and that bastard of a father.”
“Do you think she’s she covering up some other big
secret?”
“I have that feeling, but I could not ask her. I
did not want to put her newly found trust in me at risk.”
“You did a brilliant questioning, Cleo. No
criticism of that.”
“Dorothy thinks Coppins is out to get Jessie
because she could talk, but whatever reason he has for getting at her, the girl
is in danger and needs protection.”
“You’re probably right,” said Gary.
“She’s actually safer at home with her mother,
isn’t she?” said Cleo. “I gather that’s one place Mr Coppins will avoid like
the plague.”
“Always assuming Mrs Coppins is safe with Jessie,”
said Gary. “Jessie did threaten to kill her, after all.”
***
“Can you try and trace the girl Coppins went off
with, Gary?”
“You know I’ll help out where I can,” said Gary,
wishing he had had that idea first.
“All I know is that the girl Coppins went off with
is named Polly Spencer and was 15 years old at the time. Her family lives in
Huddlecourt Minor,” said Cleo. “You’ll need her as evidence that he absconded
with a 15 year-old. She was pregnant at the time.”
“That guy should be behind bars, Cleo.”
“Just one more question.”
“I’m listening.”
“What did you tell Dorothy?” she asked. “Something has
changed her attitude.”
“Attitude?”
“To you and me.”
“She asked me if we slept together and I told her
we did.”
“Wow!”
“Then she told me to fight for you with her
blessing, and I’m going to, Cleo.”
“You’ll win in the end, Gary, but I don’t want to
hurt Robert. I’m waiting for him to find another partner.”
“Do you have someone in mind?”
“Edith Parsnip, but it’s early days yet.”
“She’s a timid little church mouse. Why pick on
her?”
“I’ve watched her looking at Robert.”
“Then get them together, for heaven’s sake.”
“Match-make? You must be kidding. Robert’s as thick
as a brush on romantic, Gary.”
“Tell her she’ll have to seduce him,” said Gary.
“I love you, Gary, and that is never going to
change, but I can’t play cupid to Edith.”
“You know how I feel about us, Miss Hartley. We’ll
have to find a way to bring them together.”
“Start looking, Mr Hurley.”
“The conquering hero comes,” said Cleo. “I’d better
ring off.”
***
Gary and Cleo turned up at Dorothy’s cottage on
Monday morning to partake of Jessie’s scrambled eggs.
Now Dorothy had discovered the real Jessie, she
told Cleo and Gary that they had played computer games and enjoyed their time
together.
“Wow!” said Cleo.
Jessie looked at Gary appreciatively.
“You are free to go,” he said, slightly unnerved
after Dorothy telling him the girl had all her wits about her.
Jessie was to go home to her family. Mrs Coppins would
make sure that Coppins did not get anywhere near. Cleo would accompany the girl
and explain the situation.
“Thank you....Mr,” said Jessie.
Cleo and the girl made their way out.
“Thanks you for having me, .Dorothy,” Jessie said.
“It’s been a pleasure, Jessie. Come again,” said
Dorothy.
“I will.”
Astonishing, thought Gary.
“Don’t you want me to drive you there?” he said.
“We need the exercise, don’t we, Jessie?”
Jessie nodded.
Gary left for HQ. He thought he was leading a
strange life, dashing to Upper Grumpsfield for five minutes with Cleo and a surfeit
of scrambled eggs from Jessie.
***
“He loves you,” Jessie told Cleo. “I wouldn’t want
a man who loves someone else.”
“I love him, Jessie, and I would not let you have
him,” said Cleo.
***
“We’ll get my car, Jessie. You should go to work,
now. We can drive to your mother’s and tell her where you are and that you are
going to work.”.
“What shall I do if my father comes after me?”
“Phone me when you finish work and I’ll collect you
and take you home, Jessie.”
“Thank you Miss. I need the wages.”
“Why don’t you just call me Cleo, Jessie? I noticed
that you called Dorothy by her first name.”
“She said I should, Miss erm Cleo.”
“I’m sure Mrs Baines will be glad to see you,
Jessie.”
“Even if that foreign guy is cooking?”
“He’s only helping out, Jessie. You could not
manage on your own.”
“That’s true, Cleo. I’m not quite a cook yet, you
see.”
That was the understatement of the year, Cleo
decided, not merely on the basis of Dorothy’s description of the strange
hamburgers that the girl had concocted that had tasted as awful as they looked.
The students had sent back the hamburger meal and penned a communal letter
pleading with Mrs Baines not to let Jessie do any more cooking.
That had forced Mrs Baines’s hand. It was fortunate
that she was on good terms with Molly Moss and fortunate that Molly was willing
to improvise pub lunches for a few days by lending the school her top chef, as
she called him.
***
A few minutes later, sitting in her little car with
Jessie at her side, Cleo wondered if she could risk saying what was eating at
her, and risked it.
“You wanted Mrs Oldfield’s job, didn’t you?”
“Oh yes. I’d have done anything to get it.”
“And did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Do anything?”
The girl went on the defensive as quick as
lightning. Was the friendship already at an end?
“Watcha bloody mean?”
“I don’t know. It’s just that....”
“Mrs Oldfield took a dislike to me. She stopped
helping me to be a better cook.”
“But why?”
“Dunno.”
The girl bit her lip and put on a facial expression
that said ‘I’m closed for business’. That meant that any talk of Tom Crowe
would also be hampered by a stone wall that had sprung up between Cleo and the
girl. Cleo wondered if Dorothy had got it right with Jessie’s IQ.
“But now Mrs Oldfield has gone, the way is clear
for you to get the job, Jessie,” said Cleo, persevering.
“I don’t bloody want it anymore,” Jessie growled.
“We’ll definitely pop in at your mother’s, Jessie.
It’s still early.”
“I should be in the kitchen now,” said Jessie.
“I’ll phone Mrs Baines,” said Cleo, and did.
***
At the Coppins’ house, Betty Coppins made an effort
to turn over a new leaf in her relationship with her daughter.
“Let’s have a drink to celebrate,” Mrs Coppins
proposed.
“Sorry Mrs Coppins. My husband will expect me home
to make lunch. I just wanted to check that Jessie will be safe here. I’ll drive
her to the school now.”
“Safe from what?”
“Your husband, Mrs Coppins.”
“I can deal with him, the bastard. But he won’t come here. He wouldn’t dare.”
“That’s what we think, Mrs Coppins, but you’ll have
to make sure that Jessie is safe until we catch him.”
“Well, another time then.”
“Yes. Another time, Mrs Coppins. I’ll wait in the
car while you change, Jessie.”
***
As Cleo walked down the path to the gate, she heard
Mrs Coppins shout “What’s all this about, young lady?”. She was tempted to run
back and intercede, but thought better of it. Mother and daughter would have to
come to terms with the situation in their own way.
***
“Is Dorothy at home this evening, Cleo?” Robert
asked when Cleo got home in time for elevenses.
“I think so.”
“I’ll ask her to supper,” he said, picking up the
phone to do so.
“Have you got plans for this evening, Dorothy?” he
said.
“I’ll feed the cat and then feed me,” was the
reply.
“Will the cat starve if you come to supper?”
“Goodness me, no. Cats can go for ages without
food. Am I being invited, Robert?”
“Is that a yes, Dorothy?”
“It’s nice of you to ask me. Will Cleo be at home?
I don’t want people to talk, Robert.”
Robert was used to Dorothy sending him up. In
retaliation he asked her if he should drive over and collect her to drive her
the hundred yards from her cottage to Cleo’s.
Dorothy assured him that she could still manage that
distance with her walking frame and armed with her father old pistol. Should
she bring some ice-cream, assuming she could fasten it to the frame?
***
At the dinner table, Robert satisfied the two
sleuths’ curiosity.
“I have an ulterior motive, Ladies. I don’t seem to
be up to date with all your investigations and I want to hear all about what is
happening.”
“Which bit do you want to hear first?” Dorothy
asked, hoping that bit would not be questions about Gary.
“The bit you were most shocked about,” said Robert.
“I’ll have to think about that,” said Dorothy.
Robert stored Dorothy’s promised ice-cream in the
freezer and then ransacked the fridge to make a big fry-up while the Ladies
(Gary’s terminology) laid the table. Very soon they were tucking into mounds of
fried food and Cleo was counting the calories, an action that by no means
influenced the amount she ate. The only reason she was not as round as a keg
was that she was constantly on the go and therefore burning up calories at a
rate of knots. Dorothy was sinewy and had the appetite of an Irish navvy, Robert
maintained. Her metabolism di not leave room for spare tyres.
***
“So you think Joseph Coppins is hiding out
somewhere near, do you?” Robert said.
“I can’t think of another explanation. He has a
hold over Jessie,” said Cleo.
“I thought that, too,” said Dorothy. “What could it
be, apart from his sexual aberrations, and it would then be Jessie who has a
hold on him, wouldn’t it?”
“Let’s wait for the forensic reports before making
judgments,” said Cleo.
“I’m sure that’s a good idea,” said Robert, who was
far from sure and had not liked to ask what an aberration is. “Whatever has
happened can’t be undone. Keeping a low profile might help to solve some of the
problems,” he added.
“Do you mean waiting for something else to happen,
Robert?” said Cleo.
“I don’t really know what I mean, but if Coppins
has done something illegal, he’ll want to get rid of anyone who knows about it.”
said Robert. “The man is on the loose and he wouldn’t be if he had nothing to
hide.”
“I’m impressed, Robert,” said Cleo. “I almost
thought it was Gary talking.”
“And he came back to this district for a reason,”
said Dorothy, jumping in because she thought that was a slip of the tongue from
Cleo. “It might be a good idea to find out why.”
“Can we have a Gary-free evening, Ladies?” said
Robert.
***
The evening passed without further speculation. At
10 p.m. Dorothy announced that it was time to leave and Robert volunteered to
escort her home.
“Well, spit it out!” said Dorothy, who was astute
enough to realise that the whole point of inviting her to supper had been to
talk to her rather than just feed her and the escort home was where he always
asked question.
“It’s about Gary Hurley,” he said finally.
“I thought as much.”
“I think he’s keen on Cleo.”
“You might be right,” said Dorothy, and had a
feeling she was about to say something untrue to comfort Robert. “But she is
not keen on him, Robert,” she fibbed.
“Are you sure?”
Dorothy found it hard to lie to Robert, but it had
to be done.
“Cleo finds Gary rather irritating, especially as
he is putting on an act of indifference to the case we are trying to solve at
the moment.”
“Meaning Jessie?”
“And Mrs Oldfield’s death. He’s relying entirely on
Chris Marlow’s forensic report to tell him who did it. He thinks it’s a common
or garden killing.”
“Is there such a thing?”
“There is if you don’t look for the motive.”
“So what about that young man, Tom Crowe? Why did
he have to die?”
“Gary has decided that Crowe was killed in a fight
by thugs looking for thrills.”
“And you don’t agree, do you?”
“Certainly not. In fact I have hunch about who did
it.”
“Want to tell me?”
“All in good time. Gary does not approve of the
Hartley Agency finding things out before he does, so we’ll keep a low profile
until we are certain who the murderer is.”
“Gary doesn’t approve of the agency, does he? Why?”
“We are too successful, Robert. Recent cases in
which we have been involved have ended in the Hartley Agency finding the
wrongdoers. Gary needs successes and isn’t getting any.”
“If he isn’t bothering about his job, it’s no
wonder.”
“He lacks empathy with the victims. Even his
colleagues have noticed that.”
Robert was no sure that Dorothy basically
disapproved of Gary.
“Their reactions are revealing, Robert. I’ve never
heard Gary say he was sorry about someone’s death. He even laughed at Nigel
yesterday for being afraid to go down in the crypt. It’s as if he limits
feelings to those he has himself.”
“That also means that if he’s decided to get Cleo
from me, he’ll go ahead and not take me into account or even whether Cleo
really wants him.”
“You said it, Robert, though I doubt whether Cleo
can be persuaded to do something she does not want to do. Thanks for walking me
home. Tomorrow will probably be dramatic for the Hartley Agency if Chris’s lab
results come through.”
“Assuming Gary tells you about them,” said Robert.
“Chris phones Cleo
directly,” said Dorothy. “No nonsense about Gary forgetting to relay the
findings.”
“Sleep well, Dorothy,” said Robert, satisfied with
his chat with Dorothy.
***
Robert watched her go into her cottage and close
the front door before walking around for a bit and wondering if Coppins was
anywhere near. Back at the cottage he went all the way round the grounds. Cleo
was safe with him, but were they safe from Coppins?
***
