It was Tiffany Whiteacre, looking smaller and paler than Thea remembered. ‘Can I come in?’ she said. ‘It’s raining.’
‘Is it?’ Thea peered out in surprise. ‘After such a lovely day?’
‘Drizzle, anyway. I didn’t bring a coat.’
Thea threw the door wider and ushered the girl inside. ‘Have you walked, then?’
‘I rushed out. I’ve never done that before. I thought it was only people in books. But I couldn’t help it. It was like being blown by a fierce wind. I had to get away. I just ran.’ She was almost crying, her voice broken and breathless. ‘I didn’t bring a phone or anything.’ She seemed amazed at herself, reporting her actions with an air of wonderment.
‘What happened?’
‘They arrested Ricky. They say he killed Danny. My mother’s gone berserk. She’s trying to phone the MP. She kept shouting at me, asking about a thousand questions. My head was exploding with it.’
‘Why come here, though?’
‘I didn’t mean to. I just walked this way. I did think of hiding in the church for a bit – the one on the corner. But it was cold and dark and horrible, so I changed my mind. Then I couldn’t go home, so I kept on walking. When I saw the name Galanthus I remembered this is where you are, so I just thought …’ She trailed off miserably. ‘Sorry.’
‘You must have friends around here, who’d be more help to you.’
‘Not really. You know more about it all than anyone else.’
‘How can you say that? That’s ridiculous.’ The anger took Thea herself by surprise.
‘I mean, apart from Sophie and Nella and another girl called Polly. She’s away, travelling.’ She sniffed and looked around the room for somewhere to sit. Thea had led her into the living room without thinking and now waved towards the sofa where she sank down like a collapsed puppet.
‘Your parents will be panicking about you. Wasn’t it terribly thoughtless to add to their worries, when everything’s in such chaos about Ricky?’
‘Nobody understands,’ Tiffany burst out. ‘Except I think you might. Ricky didn’t kill Danny. Why would he? They liked each other. Danny was trying to get the group to accept Ricky as a full member, even though they weren’t sure.’
‘For a start, I don’t understand that at all. Is Ricky in the group or isn’t he?’ She remembered something Steve had said on the subject. ‘And how come he nearly killed Jack Handy?’
‘He didn’t mean to hit him hard.’
‘So perhaps he didn’t mean to stab Danny to death, either? Maybe he doesn’t know his own strength.’
‘Stop it. Let me try to explain.’
‘Go on then.’
‘Well – Ricky and Nella were … together for years before Danny turned up.’ She held up a hand to stop Thea’s automatic response. ‘Yes, I know that sounds as if there’d be reason for Ricky to hate Danny, but it wasn’t like that at all. They’d already split up and Ricky had a new girlfriend. He was glad when Nella got somebody else as well. She’s terribly intense, as you might have noticed. But very sweet and clever and everything, as well. It was magic the way she and Danny just clicked from the start. I don’t think he ever meant it to happen. He kept his distance for weeks before it all got too strong for him. And then it was all-consuming and he proposed and it was really lovely.’
‘Okay. Got that. So – Ricky,’ Thea prompted.
‘Ricky’s got a job with the canal people. CRT, they’re called. They do rivers as well and they’ve got a project connected to the Churn. You know it?’
‘Doesn’t matter. But there’s a tributary that joins it not far from Bagendon, and that runs through Mr Handy’s land. He’s been polluting it with his chicken shit and causing all sorts of trouble. They’ve got to take him to court over it, but he’s making everything as difficult as he can, and Ricky’s the main person dealing with him. He went for him on Tuesday. They didn’t want me to know about it, but I found out anyway.’
‘Why can’t he just tell all this to the police?’
‘I suppose he will, but they’re still going to think he killed Danny. It suits them, doesn’t it? Gets everything nicely sewn up. That’s what my mum says.’
‘And mine,’ said Thea ruefully. ‘It’s not my experience.’
‘Steve says your daughter’s a cop. You’re biased.’
‘I don’t think so.’ But she wasn’t able to inject complete conviction into her words. Jessica herself had hinted that the truth might be otherwise at times. ‘Anyway – what do you want me to do? I can drive you home, I suppose.’
‘Drive me to Sophie’s,’ Tiffany said impulsively. ‘She might not have heard about Ricky yet.’
‘Unlikely. It was hours ago now. Why haven’t you told her already?’
Tiffany blinked. ‘How do you know when it was?’ She pressed herself back into the cushions. ‘You’ve been spying on us for the police, haven’t you? Sophie said you had. Right from that first time we saw you in the woods. Said you were following us and listening in to what we were saying.’
‘If you believe that, wasn’t it rather stupid to come here now?’
‘I didn’t believe her. She gets a bit paranoid at times. There’ve been a few incidents when the police already knew what we were planning and where we were going. Nella and Danny said it was just coincidence, and most of our targets were obvious all along.’
‘And you probably put everything on Facebook anyway.’
‘No, we don’t. And we don’t send emails or texts, either. Not when it’s something important. I mean – those men culling the badgers aren’t funny. They’ve got guns. We had to be cleverer than them, if we had any hope of disrupting them.’
‘And did you? Disrupt them, I mean?’
‘Sometimes. Not enough.’
Thea sighed. She did not want to take the girl to her friends, even though she was undeniably hooked by everything Tiffany had to say. On the face of it, there did seem to be good reason for arresting Ricky – and how reliable would a sister’s protests be, anyway? Of course she would insist on his innocence. She thought of another topic she wanted to discuss. ‘You know you said Jim Tanner was the one who set fire to this house,’ she began.
Tiffany nodded slightly, with a befuddled look.
‘Well, he didn’t. He came here to tell me. Mrs Foster was quite wrong in reporting him to the benefits people. His back is incurably diseased. He was in agony when he was here.’
‘So?’
‘So you get things wrong. People get things wrong. You might well be wrong about Jack Handy, Ricky, Danny – the whole lot of them.’
‘How could anybody be wrong about Danny? He was an active and committed member of our group. He worked with us for a year. We all knew him and liked him.’
‘Like a brother,’ Thea murmured.
‘What?’
‘I thought you were going to say you knew and loved him like a brother.’
‘Well – yes, we did.’
‘And see what brothers can do.’
Tiffany scowled. ‘Except he didn’t. There’s no way Ricky could stab somebody. Especially not somebody he liked.’
‘Okay.’ They were going round in circles, Tiffany’s mind in a single track like a toy train. ‘So what now?’
‘I told you – I want to go and see Sophie. She’ll know what to do. She’s got a friend who’s a solicitor.’
‘I expect your parents are better placed to see to that side of things. Where does Sophie live, anyway?’
‘Cirencester. The south side. Well, it’s Siddington, actually.’
‘Where there’s another stretch of abandoned canal? I’ve heard of it, but never been.’
Tiffany waved this away as altogether irrelevant. ‘Will you take me?’
It was time to be decisive. ‘No. Sorry. I’ll take you home, but nowhere else. You’re too young to get any further involved than you are already. I wouldn’t trust Sophie to keep you safe.’
‘That’s stupid.’
‘Very likely. But I’m not risking it. You should call your parents right away and tell them you’re okay. It’s mean of you to cause them any further worry, on top of the business with Ricky. I should have made you do it the moment you got here,’ she realised. ‘Or done it for you. They’d have come and collected you.’
‘I’m not twelve. I can go where I like.’
‘You sound twelve when you talk like that.’
‘Okay, then. Give me a phone and I’ll do it.’
Thea produced her own mobile and handed it over. The girl keyed in a number and waited. ‘Hey, Mum – it’s me,’ she said eventually. ‘Yes, I’m with the house-sitting lady in Daglingworth. Can you come and get me, do you think? She said she’d drive me if necessary, but I don’t think she really wants to … yes, that’s right … I know … good … fine. It’s fine … see you in a bit, then. Bye.’
‘She’ll come?’ asked Thea.
‘Ten minutes or so.’
‘They must be furious with you.’
‘Not really. Can I use the loo, do you think?’
The original cupboard under the stairs had been converted to a tiny downstairs toilet, which Thea carelessly indicated. She was feeling flat and superfluous, unsettled by the sudden arrival of the girl and her own failure to behave as a fully responsible adult. As always, her primary motive had been to glean information, fitting more pieces into the puzzle and jumping to some imprecise but persistent conclusions.
Back in the living room, with both dogs reacting to the minutes of waiting as if they were centrally concerned, Tiffany perched on the edge of the chair closest to the window. When a car horn softly hooted, she leapt up and headed for the front door.
‘Thanks!’ she called, and pulled it open.
‘Mind the dogs!’ Thea called after her.
Hepzibah always regarded an open door as an invitation. This one was no different, especially as it had been a pretty lazy day as far as she was concerned. Far too much sitting around for her liking. She ran between Tiffany’s legs and shot down the driveway.
Thea grabbed Gwennie before she could follow, and bundled her into the kitchen. ‘Sorry, old girl,’ she panted. ‘But I need to keep you safe, okay?’ Then she shouted after her own disobedient animal, which had vanished from sight. ‘Catch her, will you?’ she yelled at Tiffany.
But Tiffany had already reached the car, and was opening its back door. Thea could see three heads inside it. Three? Even two would be a surprise. She dashed down to it, getting there just as Tiffany was pulling the door shut again. ‘Hey! Wait a minute!’ Thea yelled. She wrenched the door wide and peered into the car.
The driver was Sophie Wells. Next to her was a woman Thea had never seen before, and on the back seat was Steve of the big ears.
‘Hey!’ said Thea again. ‘What’s going on? We were expecting Sheila. Tiffany phoned her mother, not you.’
‘No, she didn’t,’ said Sophie calmly. ‘She called me, and here I am. It’s not a problem. Mind your own business, will you?’
Thea had had enough. ‘Stop saying that,’ she grated furiously. ‘How can I mind my own business when a girl arrives on the doorstep without a coat and tells me a whole lot of terrible things?’
‘What terrible things?’ Tiffany blinked at her. ‘I never said anything like that.’
‘Never mind. I’ve got to get my dog. But I can’t just let you—’
‘You can’t very well stop us, can you? There’s four of us and one of you. We’ve got something very important to do. You’d approve, actually, if you knew what it was.’
‘What is it, Soph?’ asked Tiffany, transparently bewildered. ‘And who is this?’ She indicated the woman in the front passenger seat.
‘We’ll explain on the way. You just caught us, when you phoned. It’ll be good to have you with us. Given what’s happened to Ricky, it’ll be an excellent bonus. Now shut that door and let’s get going.’
There ensued a tug of war with the door, which was easily won by the passengers once Steve leant across and added his weight. Thea let go when the car began to move, simultaneously furious and afraid for her dog, which could well be under the wheels.
But she wasn’t. She emerged from somewhere in the shadows and jumped up at Thea’s legs. ‘Bloody dog!’ she said. ‘Get in the house, will you.’
She watched the car intently as it disappeared towards the centre of the village, memorising its number plate and model. A black Volvo estate, the number starting with CN12, she would recognise it again. For a few seconds she considered giving chase in her own car, but it would take too long to find the keys, lock the dogs in, and reverse out into the road. They’d be miles away by then.
But she kept thinking it might be possible. The chances were that they were going back towards Cirencester, along the main road. If Thea dashed down to the Stratton road and turned left, she’d get on to the straight stretch to the big roundabout in a minute or two – possibly soon enough to coincide with them. ‘Get in the house,’ she ordered her dog again, and flew to find her keys. Coat pocket. Good. No need to lock the house up – just flick the Yale and slam it shut. The car was still outside, because she’d forgotten to come out again and put it away properly. It was definitely worth a try.
Everything seemed to move hopelessly slowly, and when she finally got to the junction beside the Stratton church, she calculated that it was actually hopeless. Sophie would have long since passed the point where she could hope to intercept her. But then a miracle happened. A black Volvo came towards her from the left, heading towards Stratton. Frustratingly hazy about the precise geography, Thea concluded that as a local resident, Sophie would choose the smaller roads, on a more direct route through Cirencester. At this time of day, it would be quiet and clear.
‘Thank you, God,’ breathed Thea, and pulled out behind the oblivious black car.