Chapter Seventeen

I got a call from Alicia asking me to help so I set off immediately for the Derby where I was ushered into the Manager’s office. There were two policemen, Kathleen standing, holding onto Arnold’s arm and Alicia, sitting very upright in the manager’s chair. I went to stand next to Alicia, she looked as though she needed some support.

“I know I am his mother and possibly a proper mother would be concerned, but I will not be. He is old enough to know his own mind and to look after himself. For Pete’s sake! Fifteen years ago he would be about to fight for his country.”

“He has run off with the Nanny!”

“Of course he hasn’t. Don’t ascribe your own motives to your son. He is protecting her. He knew you’d sacked her. He knew you were going to split everything up and they would be separated. He is protecting her. Don’t you see? He is looking after her. He has taken charge for himself.”

It was the first time I had spoken with Arnold Donaldson for some years. I had little respect left for the man. He had had an easy life and expected an even easier one. He had failed in every way to support the women and children for whom he had had a responsibility. I did not address him directly, but I sincerely trusted he took in what I said. “Charles is no longer a boy. He is a young man. He is a quiet, intelligent young man who has suffered much from the selfishness of his parents. I agree with Alicia, he has taken his life into his own hands. He has made a decision which I do believe should be honoured.”

I had long found that people listened more closely to the words I spoke if I spoke quietly, calmly and slowly. It seemed to work even under these circumstances so I continued.

“He called me at the office this morning. He knew that I would help him, just as I hope I always have. He knows that I have the trust of his mother, and, I hope, at least the ear of his father.

“He asked me to tell you that he has gone to Sandhey. I have spoken with both Max and his housekeeper. Max has given his permission for Charles and Monika to stay at his house until he returns. When he does everything will be reviewed. But in the meantime they have a comfortable roof over their heads, they have a ‘chaperone’ in Mrs Tennyson and they are safe. I told him that none of you would try to change his mind or visit him or in any way get in touch with him until he returns.”

“What’s Max got to do with it?” Kathleen asked

“Max brought Monika to this country. Don’t you remember? He brought her, God knows how, to this country and found her a place in the Donaldson household. He must feel responsible for her and, also, he has a great fondness for Charles.”

“Charles is just an impressionable boy who is being manipulated by that woman.” Arnold was having none of this idea that his son had acted in any way as an adult. “He is obsessed with her, he sees injustice everywhere.”

“I wonder why?”

“That’s not helpful Alicia.”

“Charles is still a boy,” Arnold repeated “he must be brought home, he makes a habit of running away when things get too much for him.”

“What do you mean?” Alicia asked, aware that Arnold was making sure she realised that, even though she was Charles’ mother, she knew little about his life.

“He ran away from school. He spent a week on the run.”

“When? You never told me. What happened?”

“He ran away from school. We didn’t tell you because you were not here. He turned up after a week or so. He was fine.”

“Is that why he left boarding school and went to live with you? You never did really explain why.”

“He ran away. He came back. What was there to tell?”

“He was my son.”

“Yes, Alicia, he was. He is no longer. You have no claim on him and his actions.”

“Neither it seems, do you.”

The policemen and the hotel manager were bemused. This family bickering was not what they had expected when called to assist with a missing boy, the son of a respected member of the local community.

I did my best.

“I think we’re here to find out what is in Charles’ best interests. Surely we aren’t here to bicker and score points against each other. When he ran away from school he showed that he’d thought it all out, he knew what he was going to do and he did it. We must trust him. I’m sure that now, when he feels he has another person to care for, he has made arrangements, he’s done what he thinks he has to do.”

I was going to do my best to support Charles. He had been right those years earlier, I believed he was right now.

“You always poke your nose into my family’s affairs don’t you?” They were the first words Arnold addressed to me directly.

“I’ve always tried to be here to help.”

The police left when they realised that this was not a case of a missing or kidnapped child leaving me with Arnold, Kathleen and Alicia. Alicia and I eventually won the argument. It was agreed that Arnold and Kathleen would not try to take Charles back, they would allow him and Monika to find sanctuary at Sandhey for the indefinite future.

It was a very long time before they left.