When Larry fully woke to Rosemary’s urgent shaking, he stared at the pile of light bulbs, rubbed his eyes and stared again. He examined them, then looked up at the empty socket with wide-eyed alarm. His first thoughts were the same as hers.
‘Rose Mary, this means that someone was here during the night while we were asleep!’ He ran to the back door which was closed and bolted, then went into every room, examining every inch of every cupboard, even opening the drawers. He searched the obvious places, the unlikely and the down right impossible, not once, but several times. There was nowhere a person of the most minimal proportions could be hidden. Then he looked up at the trap-door to the loft. He turned to Rosemary who, white-faced and breathless, had followed him around as he searched.
‘Could there be someone up there?’ she whispered.
‘I can’t think where else! Dammit, I’ve even looked up the chimneys,’ he whispered back. ‘Where’s your torch?’
‘Don’t Larry! Let’s call the police, he’s bound to be dangerous if he’s cornered!’
‘He’ll be dangerous, but not half as dangerous as I am!’ He took the torch she brought him from her bedroom. There was a chair in the study and he carried it and placed it below the trap-door.
‘He’s got the advantage,’ Rosemary pleaded. ‘You don’t stand a chance.’ She held her breath as he prepared to jump up into the dark space above them. ‘Anyone there would find it easy to strike at you! You’ll have no defence at all!’
Ignoring her, he stood on the chair and raised the flap-door into the attic. His hands on the edge, he hauled himself up and stood in the darkness, shooting beams of light all around him. Slowly, while Rosemary watched with fingers in her mouth to hold back a scream, he disappeared leaving only a flickering light for her to see.
‘Darling, are you all right?’ she whispered, afraid after only a moment of silence.
‘All right so far.’ She heard him shuffling his feet, stepping over objects, she heard the rustle of paper, held her breath when a box slid across the wooden planking, then cried with relief when his head appeared in the opening, smiling.
‘There’s no one here, and what’s more, there’s no way anyone can get from one house to another.’ He jumped down and she hugged him in relief.
‘What I thought might have happened,’ he went on, ‘was that in some very old houses, there’s no separation between the loft areas. There was one place I heard of where someone could walk the length of the street above the ceilings of unsuspecting neighbours. But,’ he said firmly to reassure her, ‘this is not the case here. This partition is the real McCoy, a brick wall that’s as solid as you could hope for between you and your neighbours.’
‘Then how did he get in?’
They went downstairs and Larry put the percolator on for coffee.
‘I have more than a suspicion it was me,’ he admitted. ‘I think I only locked the front door after we came back from the pub; I didn’t push home the bolts.’
‘Then you think someone already has a spare key?’
‘It seems impossible but what other explanation is there? I’m going out to see if the one we hid in the shed is still there. If it isn’t I’ll have the locks altered again. If it is, I’ll bring it in and put it in the Italian vase on the mantle, and there it stays! If you lock yourself out you’ll have to call the police to let you in!’
‘I’m calling the police now, to tell them about this.’
‘Perhaps I’m wrong, darling, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
‘But why not? Someone came in here while we were sleeping!’ She shuddered at the thought and repeated, ‘Came in here, stood in our bedroom, watched us while we slept, then took out all the light bulbs so we’d know he’d been here!’
‘He’s trying to frighten us.’
‘He’s succeeding!’
‘I mean that if he wished to harm us he’s had the opportunity. I think he’s a trickster, getting his excitement from troubling us. If we ignore the tricks he plays he’ll grow tired of them and perhaps think of some other foolish way to entertain himself.’
‘Or,’ Rosemary argued, ‘he might develop his ‘entertainment’ into something more dangerous for us! If we’re the spice in his life, he’ll want to increase the dose as the excitement fades, not leave it out altogether!’
‘Let’s give it another day or two, then, if we still feel the police should be informed, we’ll go to them and tell them all that’s happened.’
Doubtfully, Rosemary agreed.
Neither of them felt like going on the day out they had planned with such excitement.
‘But,’ Larry said when they had discussed it, ‘we’re still going! Dammit I can’t think what else we’d do. Sit here wondering if someone is going to come in and watch us? No, it’s creepy and we have to get out. A touch of Welsh mountain air is what we both need.’
‘How will I face coming back in?’ Rosemary shivered and looked about her as if the place was a prison from which she couldn’t escape. ‘If I go out I’ll never come back.’
‘Yes you will, I’ll be with you.’
‘But when you go away tomorrow, I’ll be alone and I don’t think I could stand it.’
‘I’m working in Aberystwyth. I promise I’ll be back here every evening before you are. You won’t be alone in the house, I promise.’
‘Why didn’t you call the police for goodness sake?’ Sally demanded, when Rosemary told her friends about the weekend’s happenings. ‘Yes, love,’ Megan agreed. ‘That should have been your first action. How can they help if you don’t tell them everything?’
‘You’re afraid Larry’s at the bottom of it all, are you?’ Sally demanded. ‘That’s stupid! If you suspect him, how can you allow him to share your home – let alone your bed!’
‘He isn’t responsible!’ Rosemary defended. ‘Although I think he might unwittingly be the reason for all this.’
‘Demand an explanation! Talk to the police, now!’ Sally insisted but Rosemary shook her head.
‘I wanted to call the police at first,’ Rosemary told her, ‘but we decided that someone was tormenting us for peculiar reasons of their own and we should disappoint him by not showing any reaction.’
‘But someone who could do such things might be dangerous. How can you tell what he’ll do next?’ Megan asked anxiously. ‘He might be unbalanced and he seems to be able to get in and out of your house as easily as walking down the street! Really, Rosemary, you’re risking serious trouble by allowing this to continue.’
‘If I were living there alone I’d have told them, and I doubt if I would ever sleep in the place again,’ Rosemary admitted, ‘but Larry is going to stay, at least until he goes back to America, and—’
‘When will that be?’ Megan asked softly. ‘Is that something I should, or shouldn’t ask?’
‘We haven’t mentioned it lately,’ Rosemary admitted. She looked at her friend with some defiance and added, ‘And I don’t care. I’m taking your advice and enjoying it while it lasts!’
‘I was talking about a couple of nights in London, love. Not a drawn out affair that could leave you sadder and more lonely than you could ever imagine.’
‘I still don’t regret it.’
‘I did,’ Megan admitted, turning her face away from Rosemary’s startled expression. ‘I certainly did.’
‘You had an affair that went wrong?’ Rosemary stared at her friend in surprise. ‘All this time we’ve known each other, spent days talking non-stop and I never knew.’
‘The man concerned lived not far from where you now live, that’s why I haven’t said ’til now. Long time ago it was. His mother disliked me the moment we met, I was older than him, you see. She had a strong pull on him and, well, he left both me and his mother in the end and went to live abroad somewhere. His mother wouldn’t even talk to me and certainly wouldn’t tell me where he was.’
‘But why?’
‘We’d spent some time living together and twenty-odd years ago it definitely wasn’t the done thing. Especially in a small Welsh village. Put me down as a fallen woman who’d tried to drag her son down with me, or something equally dramatic. What she did was cruel though.’
‘Why didn’t you marry?’
‘I wanted to, I begged him to marry me but his mam didn’t think we should and he – well, sufficient to say he listened to her.’
‘Who was it, Megan?’
‘Mrs Priestley’s son, Leonard.’
‘So that’s why she’s always a bit cool with you! I remember hearing something about her son leaving, from Gran. Gethyn thought a lot of him and treated him like a fond uncle. But – I had no idea that you and Leonard – I’m sorry Megan.’
‘No need, love, it’s all a very long time ago.’
‘And you don’t know where he is?’ Sally asked.
‘He never wrote and so far as I know he never got in touch with her either. She blamed me for that too.’
‘I never knew. She knows you and I are friends but she’s never mentioned a word. Megan, you don’t think she’s at the bottom of what’s happening to me, do you? I mean she sees you visiting me and perhaps she has some vague notion of punishing me because I’m your friend? But no. She’s a sweet old lady and I can’t see her doing anything so terrible.’
‘Nor can I, not now. Although years ago I thought her capable of anything to keep me from her precious son. She was frighteningly determined and – almost evil in her protection of him against me, the wicked woman.’
Mrs Priestley as the mysterious prowler? The incongruity of the scene made Rosemary smile. Mrs P. with her fluffy blue dressing gown and fur-trimmed slippers, cat under her arm, wandering about trying to create mischief? No, it simply wasn’t on!
‘Stranger things have happened,’ Sally said, as if reading her thoughts through her smile. ‘I’d like to meet this Mrs Priestley, Rosemary. Any chance? I hear all this gossip and it’s driving me mad not to put faces to the names you and Megan talk about.’
‘Yes, we’ll arrange something – soon.’ Rosemary was vague but Sally insisted until Megan was finally irritated.
‘Leave it, Sally, for heaven’s sake leave it! I think Rosemary has enough on her mind without arranging ‘get togethers’ to satisfy your curiosity, don’t you?’
Driving home from work that evening, Rosemary was apprehensive.
She was relieved to see Huw Rees walking ahead of her along the hedge-lined road as she approached the last turning, and she stopped just ahead of him and offered him a lift.
He threw his coat into the back seat and climbed in, smelling a little of the fungus with which he worked, smiling his thanks.
‘The holiday work is a bit different from your usual activities, isn’t it, Huw?’ she said as she moved off. ‘What are you studying? Not mushroom growing I bet!’
‘Electronics is my subject,’ he laughed, ‘not much use to me at present!’
He looked at her and guessed something was wrong. Her tenseness was obvious and he asked if everything was all right. Because of the state of her nerves she told him something of the events of the night before the last and before she realised it, found herself pouring out the whole story. The attacks on Larry and the intrusions into her home.
‘Is Sally doing some detective work for you?’ he surprised her by asking.
‘No, why?’
‘It’s only that I saw her in the village shop and she was asking questions in her forthright way.’
‘You know her well?’
‘Not really, but she always comes to talk to me when I go in the library. Asks a lot of questions, doesn’t she and in such a way that it’s hard not to answer.’
‘That’s sounds like Sally! No, she isn’t investigating on my behalf, but by the sound of it she has questions of her own. I wonder why?’ she mused. ‘No, Larry and I decided not to tell anyone of everything that’s happened,’ she explained, ‘because we don’t know who is responsible. Telling the wrong one might put the man on his guard. Please don’t let Larry know I’ve confided in you.’
‘I won’t tell Larry you told me,’ he said, ‘but I’m glad you did. It might be useful to have someone else who understands. If ever you’re on your own, or need help of any kind, just call me.’ As the car pulled up near the footbridge, he added, ‘Night or day.’ There was no Citroen parked nearby and Rosemary’s heart began to flutter.
‘Huw, can I ask a favour now?’ she said in a small voice. ‘You see, Larry isn’t here yet and—’
‘And you don’t fancy walking into the house alone? Of course I’ll go with you. Better still, give me the key and I’ll go in first and call you over when I’ve made sure nothing is wrong.’
She watched, feeling a little foolish as the slim, tanned, gangling young man walked over the bridge and approached the house. He opened the door with the key and disappeared inside. Moments later she saw him wave from the front window, then a brief delay before he came out of the door and beckoned her across.
‘The place is empty and it all looks normal, if unbelievably tidy!’ he reported. ‘If you like, I’ll wait here while you look then you can be certain all is well.’ He waited at the door until she had satisfied herself everything was as it should be, then she thanked him and he walked along to number five.
Larry arrived within half an hour, very agitated and apologetic.
‘Honey-baby, I’m sorry! I looked at the time and realised I’d be late, I tried to phone the library but you’d left.’ He hugged her, then looked at the meal she was about to place in the grill-pan. ‘I’m so proud of you! Coming in and carrying on as if the past couple of days hadn’t happened.’
She smiled and was about to confess to accepting some support from the student Huw Rees, when there was a knock at the door. Larry answered the knock, but she heard Huw ask for her and she went out before Larry could call her.
‘Come and see this,’ Huw urged enthusiastically. ‘There’s an owl in the tree behind Mrs Priestley’s house, broad daylight and sitting there as bold as you like!’
‘Turn off the grill for me, darling,’ Rosemary said and followed Huw to where they could see the backs of the cottages.
She felt him push something into her hand, and realised it was a key.
‘Sorry, I walked off with it after taking it out of the door,’ he whispered. ‘I thought you might not like Larry to know.’
Larry joined them and she could only nod to Huw in expression of her thanks, before he asked, ‘Where is this oddity then? This night bird posing for photographs in the day?’ He showed them his camera which he had hurriedly picked up, but Huw admitted sadly that the bird had disappeared.
They went back inside. She picked up the vase where she and Larry now kept it and quickly replaced the key. Larry smiled and came to hug her.
‘Brave girl, but not quite as fearless as she pretends,’ he said, kissing her brow. ‘She has to rattle the vase now and again to make sure the spare key is still there!’
For the second time she took a breath to tell him about Huw’s help but there was a yell and he ran from her to rescue the trout under the grill that he hadn’t quite turned off.
‘Just a smidgin over-cooked would you say? Oh, what the hell,’ he said, staring at the burned mess, a boyish grin on his face, ‘let’s eat out!’
A week later, Rosemary’s manuscript was ready to send to her agent.
‘I have to read it through once more to make sure everything is right,’ she explained and Larry offered to read it as well.
They sat throughout the evening, reading through, marking any typing errors and remarking occasionally on how she had achieved a particular effect.
‘I’ve never had the benefit of someone else’s eye before sending a story off,’ she smiled as the closed the file on the last pages. ‘I must admit I enjoyed sharing my thoughts and ideas. You really were a great help, darling, thank you.’
‘The teacher in me I guess,’ he said deprecatingly. ‘It’s easier to correct than to create.’ He stood up as she collected together the pages she needed to alter. ‘I’ll make the coffee, shall I?’
‘The last pages can wait ’til tomorrow,’ Rosemary said lazily, ‘it’s a bit late to start typing. I’ll send it off on Monday.’
‘What does he do day after day?’ There was doubt in Sally’s voice when she began questioning Rosemary about Larry. The blue eyes in the pale face looked quite fierce. ‘You can’t believe he’s spending day after day researching his family. Aren’t you curious?’
‘He’s at the library most of the time, and what else would he be doing? You have to remember that he’s come on a very expensive trip to do some research into his family’s background and he has to make full use of his time.’
‘Not so expensive,’ Megan said quietly, ‘thanks to you he has no hotel accommodation to pay.’
‘He’s appreciative of that and more than pays his way,’ Rosemary admonished firmly.
‘I’m sorry, I know I’m interfering, but there are a lot of coincidences and although I know they happen in life, surprisingly often in fact, it’s unbelievable that he’s always there when something strange happens, isn’t it?’
‘Megan’s right.’ Sally spoke more quietly. ‘His presence could explain everything that’s happened. We’ve discussed it and honestly, Rosemary, you’re mad if you can’t see it too.’
‘You don’t think he’s behind all these frightening happenings, do you? Really, that’s crazy! He simply wouldn’t do this to me. I know he wouldn’t.’
‘All I’m saying, love,’ Megan said, ‘is be careful, and don’t believe everything you’re told, ask yourself questions and consider each answer with great care.’
‘I’d know if it were Larry. Whatever you think, I’d know.’
‘All right, consider these for a start.’ Megan held her fingers wide and touched them as she itemized the coincidences. ‘You saw him in the Citroen before he or a mysterious someone put that note through your door to tell you he had found you, after walking out on you in London. Then there was the fiasco of the on/off weekend in London. He said he put yet another note through your door about that, but you never found it. Then there was the letter he didn’t show you but which made him angry. It was addressed to him at your address.’
‘Then what about the cafe on Constitution Hill?’ Sally added. ‘A girl appears to know him then changes her mind. Then he’s punched in the face by someone whom he insists was a complete stranger.’
‘Then there’s all these break-ins,’ Megan continued. ‘He is seen at the time of some of them, by either Huw or Gethyn, yet insists he was elsewhere. Or,’ she said emphatically, ‘he was already there, in the house.’
‘Invite Megan and me for the evening, we’ll persuade him to open up,’ Sally suggested eagerly.
‘No!’
Rosemary didn’t wait to hear any more, she looked from one of her tormentors to the other then walked away from them.
When Rosemary walked to the car park at about a quarter past five, Gethyn was standing beside her car, patiently waiting for a lift.
‘I’m sorry, Rosemary, but I missed the bus. Stupid of me, I went for a cup of tea and forgot the time.’
‘Glad I can help.’ She smiled and opened the door for him to get in.
He chattered easily all the way home and Rosemary was grateful not to have to force herself to make conversation. He spoke mainly about the occupants of the five cottages, explaining about Mrs Priestley taking her new kitten to the vet for injections.
‘Lonely she’d be without that animal to look after, going into old age without a soul of her own. Shame she hasn’t a son to look after her, isn’t it? Him being driven away from home like that.’ From the expression on his face she guessed that he strongly supported Mrs Priestley in her blame of Megan, and she hurriedly changed the subject and discussed instead the amusing antics of the young cat. He then went on to tell her that the Hughes’s from number three were still visiting their daughter and grandchildren, in Bala. The students he clearly didn’t like.
‘You can’t lump all students together,’ she laughed when he began to complain about their lack of seriousness. ‘Huw seems a pleasant young man and I can’t complain about their behaviour.’
‘I’ve seen Huw standing on the footbridge staring at your house,’ Gethyn said. ‘And he can’t be looking for that owl. No one else has seen it, I think he invented it for reasons of his own.’
Rosemary knew that was true, but she said nothing.
She met Huw again on the way home and he gratefully accepted her offer of a lift, getting in behind Gethyn, who looked decidedly ill-at-ease. When she parked the car beside the Citroen, Gethyn got out, murmured his thanks and hurried across the footbridge and disappeared through his front door.
‘Gethyn mentioned the elusive owl,’ Rosemary said with a frown. ‘I wonder how he knew?’
‘I’m certain I didn’t mention it,’ Huw said, helping her out of the car. ‘Probably overheard us talking about it. He spends a lot of time in the front of the house, doesn’t he, just looking?’
‘And that,’ Rosemary laughed, ‘is what he says about you!’