Folly (28 page)

Tony met his father's eyes. ‘Alex got a call from St Mary's Hospital in London. Supposedly Reverend Restrick is asking for her and Mrs Restrick had a nurse make a call to Alex. She's on her way there now.'

By the time O'Reilly was on his feet he had car keys in one hand. ‘Do you know exactly what route she'd take?' he asked Tony.

‘Yes.' The shortest was obvious.

‘Do we have solid coordinates for her mobile yet?' Lamb roared. ‘They've had long enough.'

‘Should do anytime now, Sarg,' one of the line-drawers at the boards said.

Tony looked at the man over his shoulder. They were in crisis mode here and seriously searching for Alex.

‘Reverend Restrick is still in a coma,' O'Reilly said, jogging for the door with Lamb behind him. ‘Absolutely no visitors. He's had two surgeries to relieve the pressure on his brain. His wife can stand by his bed for five minutes at a time. If there had been any change in his condition, I'd know. There's round-the-clock security on him. No one would call Alex and tell her to visit – no one who didn't have another reason for wanting her on her own and away from here.'

They dashed down the steps outside.

‘You should have told us about the call Alex got right off,' Lamb said through his teeth. ‘We've wasted time.'

‘I'm coming,' Tony's father said. ‘There are things you've got to know but we can't hang around talking. I've been a fool. I didn't think … Will … I just didn't think it of him.'

‘We're both coming,' Tony said. He opened the back door of O'Reilly's Volvo and got in. ‘Why not have me call her when you think the time's right? If there's someone with her who shouldn't be, a call from the police could be dangerous.'

‘Why do you think we're working on her location?' Lamb said. ‘You don't have to ring a mobile to find out where it is – if you're lucky.'

They were triangulating or whatever they did. Using phone towers to try to find Alex. ‘You really think Will could be with her, don't you?'

‘He might be,' O'Reilly said, starting the car and swinging it in a tight circle before spitting snow and gravel from beneath racing wheels. ‘Now he's our number one suspect for planting that obituary at Alex's, it's likely.'

‘Would he kill Edward because he blamed him for the accident that killed little Graham Cummings?' Tony said. ‘If Edward went to the pub the night he died, Will might have recognized him and flipped out. Then, when Brother Percy showed up, he could have been afraid he'd let the cat out of the bag about Edward's identity and the game would be over. I'm very sure he didn't want that – I just can't work out why. Not definitely.'

‘Cathy probably called Will after she was at the Derwinters' this morning,' Lamb said. ‘He's already on the edge – make that over the edge. Hearing his boy's death had been dismissed like that would be enough to finish it. I think he's been trying to frighten Alex into leaving the village. Cathy backed that one up, sure.'

‘Leaving the pub he thinks should still be his, you mean,' James Harrison said.

‘T
here's an extra mug in the cubby,' Alex told Will. ‘Flask is by your feet. It's pretty good coffee. My mother made it.' She took a now tepid sip from her own cup. It was strong and wet and that was all. She didn't care much.

‘Not for me,' Will said. He'd unhitched the shoulder harness from his seatbelt and leaned forward, staring through the window as if he could make the journey go faster. ‘Bloody road works don't help anything,' he muttered. ‘These sods'll still be leaning on the same shovels in the same spots come next Christmas. Lazy bastards.' His demeanor had flipped.

‘You're in a nice mood,' she said, hoping to calm him down. She didn't fancy the drive to London in the company of an angry man. ‘We're all tired of the bad weather and inconvenience. Winter gets to be too long, doesn't it?'

‘A lot of things get to be too long.' He turned sideways in his seat, facing away from her. ‘You must have had enough of everything in Folly by now. I'm surprised you haven't already gone back to your art permanently. I thought you'd be gone long ago. You moved on to get away from the village when you went off to school.'

‘And I came back because it's home and there was nothing tying me anywhere else – not any more.'

His foul temper bothered her. She felt trapped but there was nothing she could do to change his mood until he was ready to relax.

‘Underhill was your home, not Folly,' he said. ‘You and Lil. That's where you're from.'

She thought about what he'd said. ‘Could you top up my coffee, please, Will?' she said, buying time while she tried to work out what was bothering him.

‘Your wish is my command,' Will said, and at least he was careful not to slop hot coffee from the flask. ‘You like giving the orders. Fell right into being the boss lady like a pig sliding in shit.'

‘If you don't want to pour it, I'll pull off and do it myself. I'm used to being on my own.'

He'd already dealt with the coffee and was tightening down the lid on the flask. ‘Ah, you're no different from anyone else. You like being a big fish in a little pond.'

She accepted the cup and took a slow, considering sip, screwing up her eyes against the steam. ‘Are you trying to make a point, Will? It's not like you to say nasty things. Are you trying to goad me, or what?'

He leaned against the back of the seat and crossed his arms. ‘You don't think much about how other people feel, do you?'

‘Yes, I do,' she snapped back, tempted to pull over. But she couldn't bring herself to tell him to get out in awful weather, with no transportation and the traffic works barriers and signs lining the verge leaving nowhere safe to walk. ‘Tell me what put a bee in your bonnet, Will. You know I care a lot about you and Cathy. One of the reasons I bought the Black Dog was because I knew you'd be great managers, and because I didn't want you to leave. You love the place.'

‘And you wanted Lil to—'

‘Lily,' Alex interrupted. ‘My mother goes by Lily and always has.'

‘Lil's a good barmaid's name,' he said, and she felt rather than saw him sneer. ‘And that's what Cathy and me called her. We gave her a job when no one else was keen to take a young woman with a history like hers.'

‘That's enough.' Alex's cheeks burned. She felt sick to her stomach and shaky. ‘You don't know my mother's real history and even if it was what you're suggesting, who would care? Now or then? She's good at whatever she decides to do. Anyone with a suitable job would have hired her. Would you like me to find a bus stop for you?'

Breath whistled through his teeth. ‘I'm in a lousy mood, is all. Cathy's mooning around over the life she should have had. Came from money, y'know.'

‘So I heard. She seems happy to me – at least, most of the time. With everything in the village so upside down I think it's been hard for her. She's a quiet person.'

‘You don't know anything about her, but no matter. You could be right. We'll turn off before long. We won't get all this messing about on the back roads.'

He leaned forward again, gripped the dashboard.

Alex glanced toward him. He seemed to be watching for whatever turn off he wanted.

Her mobile rang. She picked it up from between the seats and answered. ‘It's Tony,' a wonderfully familiar voice said.

‘Hi Tony.' She gathered her thoughts for how she could signal that something might be wrong here. ‘I've got—'

Will's right hand clamped her shoulder painfully. He shook his head, pointed to himself and mouthed,
I'm not here.
His face was red and sweaty.

‘Hi, Tony,' she said. Her dry mouth made her cough.

‘What's up?' he said, quite softly, as if he wondered if she had company.

‘The roads are pretty rotten but I'm taking it slowly. Road works everywhere. Why they don't try to get this stuff finished before winter, I'll never know.'

‘Where's your sense of adventure?' he said, but there was something forced about it. ‘I wanted to make sure you're OK, Alex.'

Will passed a forefinger across his throat, indicating for her to get off the phone. To her horror, he pinched the sensitive muscle in the top of her shoulder and she almost hissed in a sharp breath.

‘Yes,' she said into the phone, completely flat.

Tony fell silent. She heard the sound of an engine and knew he must be in his Land Rover.

‘You shouldn't drive and talk on the phone,' Alex said. ‘Sorry, I forgot you have hands-free and I know I ought to get it. But I've learned to improvise. If traffic's heavy I can have both hands on the wheel and talk at the same time.' It was the closest she could get to telling him what she intended to do.

‘Is someone with you?'

She didn't answer.

‘OK. Please stay calm, sweetheart. I'll get you.'

‘Sounds like fun. I'd better concentrate. I'll see you later.' It wasn't easy to keep fear out of her eyes and off her face when she looked at Will, but she managed and tucked the mobile into the door armrest without turning it off. ‘Nice to have someone care about you. It's been a long time.'

‘You ought to be careful around young Harrison.' Will laughed, an unpleasant sound. ‘It's a shame not to control the few things you can do something about.'

‘What does that mean?'

‘There's more to our vet than most people think. That's all I'm saying. Not that it matters.'

‘Will, what's wrong? Whatever it is, I'll try to help you.'

He narrowed his eyes at her and she felt his hatred. Why would he hate her?

‘You're nothing,' he said. ‘Nothing better than me, anyway. Maybe not as good. Think about that. You come from nothing but you managed to get your hands on things that don't belong to you. I'm going to change that. Take a right here.'

‘Here?' He'd indicated something no bigger than a lane. ‘What's it called?' she asked loudly.

‘Doesn't matter. Do what I say – it'll be a shortcut for us.'

‘I don't think so, Will. It's going off in the wrong direction.'

‘Do as I say.'

A pine cone hit the windscreen and she swerved, flinching.

‘Concentrate. When we get where we're going I'll tell you a story. You're never going to believe it.' He laughed and the sound made her sweat.

She started the right turn. ‘Look, there's a llama farm up here,' she cried, laughing and coughing at the same time. She cleared her throat and all but screamed, ‘Who has a llama farm? Have you ever been to a llama farm?' as if it were the funniest thing she'd ever seen.

T
he four men in the Volvo didn't need a warning to remain silent. Tony had put his hand over the mobile and the others read horror in his face. Lamb took out a notebook and pen and began to write, then put a note in front of O'Reilly, who nodded.

He showed the note to the other two. ‘We've got to hang on to Alex but get off the speaker from our end. I can do that and listen.'

Silently, Tony gave the man his phone. Lamb slid on a headset and attached a wire to the mobile. He made some adjustments and said, ‘Now I can hear them but they wouldn't hear us. We're off at this end.'

‘Where are they?' O'Reilly drove fast, while Tony prayed they wouldn't have to deal with a zealous police stop. ‘Can't use a light or siren,' O'Reilly added, as if he read Tony's mind.

‘They can't be far from Bourton-on-the-Water but Will told her to turn off.'

‘Turn off where, man?' O'Reilly said. ‘They're headed for the A40.'

The rare sound of car horns blared all around them. A path had begun to open as vehicles swerved out of the way.

‘Alex is shrieking about something,' Lamb said. ‘Laughing?'

Tony's stomach turned over. ‘Is she still shouting about a llama farm?'

‘Yeah … No, not any more. She doesn't know where they are … He keeps telling her to just drive.'

‘She was trying to let you know where she was,' James Harrison said. Like Tony, he leaned forward to grip the seat in front of him. ‘Llama farm? You know anyone with llamas? Treat any?'

‘Will's losing it,' Lamb said, looking at Tony. ‘He hates her.'

‘I don't care what—'

Lamb's upheld hand shut Tony up.

‘According to him, if she'd kept her nose out of it he'd have been all right. The money had started coming again.
It was more than I ever hoped for
. I'm quoting Will here. That silly bugger Leonard found where that piece of filth, Cornelius Derwinter, kept an account he used to keep current with what he owed me.'

‘
Owed
him,' James Harrison scoffed.

‘Psht!' Lamb's hand went up again. ‘The fool had started paying up again – took him a bit but he got the picture in the end. Either he paid me or I let everyone know about his sainted father. That slag of a wife of his, snooty bitch, she was on my side whether she wanted to be or not. She wasn't having her crown tarnished. It was beautiful. If bloody Edward hadn't come back from the dead, showing up at the Black Dog and wanting to do his holier-than-thou revelation of the truth so he could throw forgiveness around, we wouldn't be here now – as long as you took the hint you weren't wanted and cleared out. Uppity cow.'

‘Code,' O'Reilly said, driving between two lorries with flapping canvas sides. ‘Sounds like code.'

‘I want to get my hands on him,' Tony said, and didn't even close his eyes against being turned into a lorry sandwich on a non-existent lane. ‘No more doubt it was Edward.'

‘Think about llamas,' his father shouted. ‘And listen to me. Graham Cummings wasn't Graham Cummings. He was Cornelius Derwinter's boy.'