Since Ben and Joss Beckett took over The Fair Maid and Falcon, they have had to deal with ghosts, gangsters and well dodgy goings-on. Despite that they have their own family of twin daughters and dogs, and a fabulous ‘found family’ of friends.
As I was wondering what to say next a big black cloud sailed across the moon and I heard Mark shout.
“Somebody douse that fucking light.”
Ben kicked it over and stamped on it just as the situation turned ugly. Whoever was left in the beat-up minibus by the garden gateway decided it was about time they weren’t here. The engine roared into life and the exhaust belched out black smoke as the Merc shot forwards. I don’t think it hit anybody because I didn’t hear any screaming – except for the screams of tortured metal as the van ploughed into the dry stone wall at the end of the lane. The desperate sound of crashing gears bore witness to a desperate attempt to escape the clutches of the blocks of flinty stone.
“In a minute they’re either going to get out or figure out they can’t,” Mark spoke quietly. “Either way you need to be not standing where they think you are.”
Ben just picked me up and ran. We joined Danilo, Finoula, Jed and the dogs just inside the Memorial Garden. A couple of seconds later Neil arrived.
The sound of running feet, sporadic swearing, and the occasional flat bark of a hand gun, bore witness to a running battle around us.
Neil leaned close and murmured.“Much as it pains me to admit it. Out there’s not a place for amateurs.”
Ben nodded. “It isn’t. But I’d not recommend relaxing our vigilance. At some time this is going to occur to someone as a way out, so baseball bats at the ready boys.”
Neil swung his arm suggestively and I got the strong suspicion he’d quite like to belt somebody. He must have caught the edges of my thought because he grinned tautly.
“Yes I am feeling a tad belligerent. The fate of that girl and her baby have awoken the caveman in me.”
Clancy growled softly and pointed his nose at a patch of deep shadow between the wall and a stand of evergreen shrubs. Jed patted his rough head.
“Fetch,” he said softly.
Stan and Ollie pressed themselves against my legs while watching their friend intently. Clancy skirted the patch of thick darkness and disappeared from human view under the hedge. Ollie wagged his tail as the sound of a slight scuffle alerted the watching family that whoever had been hiding was found. A figure I recognised as being the original driver of the minibus stood up and put his hands in the air.
“Walk this way and keep your hands where I can see them.” Danilo barked.
The man did as he was told, probably because Clancy was about a centimetre behind him growling like an enraged bear.
It was difficult not to laugh, because, although he sounded dangerous, Clancy was obviously delighted with himself. His head was held high and his tail was lashing with pleasure.
Once our visitor reached a patch of shadowless grass Danilo made him sit down with his hands on his head, and Jed tied his shoelaces together. Clancy sat beside him, giving him the death glare if he breathed too deeply.
I hid my face in Ben’s chest so I could laugh without spoiling Clancy’s enjoyment.
Finoula returned from wherever she had been and groped for my hand.
“Thank you,” she said gravely.
“For what?”
“You saved me from a nasty injury at the least. Please let me thank you.”
I made a very rude noise. “Finoula, you and Jed are family. And nobody touches my family.”
“If you put it like that. Who am I to argue.”
“Now that’s straightened up you can tell me where Hector is.”
“He’s guarding the cottage. Jed asked him to. He won’t bite but he has a formidable bark.”
“He does. And the guys on the gate won’t be gentle with anyone making him bark.”
As if on cue we heard Hector’s deep-chested voice followed by a voice I recognised as being Simeon.
“Stand still you stupid bugger, or will I let the dog have you?”
Finoula giggled. “I wonder how he’d feel about being licked to death.”
“Terrified I imagine.”
It seemed that the person caught at Jed and Finoula’s cottage was the last miscreant as the night became quiet and the moon sailed out of the scudding clouds into a clear, cold sky.
The remaining Mercedes switched on his headlights and we could see a dozen figures sitting in a line on the dirt road. They were being watched by two of Mark’s lads who were negligently swinging baseball bats.
Neil ambled over to the gate. “We’ve got one in here.”
“Bring him out then.”
Jed picked him up like he weighed no more than a child and tucked him under one arm.
Ben moved to congratulate Clancy and I felt an inimical presence at my back. I instantly knew it was the guy who I had shot in the wrist and right then I wished I’d shot him in the head instead.
“Keep still, bitch, or your dog gets it.”
I looked to my left to see the gleam of a knife at Stan’s ear.
The hand that held the knife was shaking and I realised there was a real danger of my dog getting badly hurt.
“Keep back folks.” I said. “If you come near this bastard is going to stab Stan.”
“Sensible woman,” his voice dripped with something ugly, something I didn’t want to understand. “Me and bitch face and the doggies are going to walk away now. And if you want to see any of them alive you’re gonna let us pass. Move bitch.”
He grasped my shoulder with the hand not holding the knife and I could smell blood on him. He shoved me to right.
My hand was in my pocket and I took a good grip of the pistol that was probably going to be our only chance. As I tried to work out how I could deal with the situation, I took a small step to my right. My captor laughed harshly and urged me to keep moving.
Three steps were all the dogs needed. Stan dropped flat and out of reach of the knife while Ollie launched himself at the man’s legs. The real surprise, though, was Clancy who had managed to creep up behind us and landed on the man’s shoulders like a ninety pound all-in wrestler. They bore Blondie to the ground, and the sound of Ben’s foot landing on his knife hand spoke of broken bones.
Ben rolled him onto his back. “If you want to live, don’t move.”
“What the actual fuck?” Neil spoke for us all. “How did those dogs coordinate that?”
Laughter in my head and the scent of California Poppies clued me in.
“I think they had some help from those who watch over us from the other side.”
Danilo had unashamed tears running down his face and I went to stand with him.
“Grandmother wasn’t about to let anyone disrespect an honorary Lovell.”
He laughed shakily and rubbed a hand down his face. “She certainly wouldn’t allow that. But..”
“But what?”
“But I have never heard her voice from the other side. And today she kissed my cheek and blessed me. I loved her, you know.”
“I know. And she knew too. It’s your wife who isn’t sure.”
He looked into my face and I saw a flicker of something cross his face.
“I do love her. I may not have wanted to marry her but she’s my life now. I need to make her sure of that, don’t I?”
I nodded solemnly before turning my attention to the damaged clairvoyant under Ben’s foot.
“What I’d like to know is who dressed the wound on that one’s wrist.”
Mark, who had appeared on quiet feet, looked down. “That’s an interesting question.”
He poked blondie with his foot.
“Care to comment?”
“I have nothing to say and you can’t make me speak.”
I don’t know what Mark or Ben might have done to him if Finoula hadn’t spoken out.
“We don’t need the words of a piece of shit like him. There’s a girl who is part of the baro’s nursing team. This creature has been sleeping with her.”
Mark gestured with his thumb and Simeon slipped away like a wraith, returning quite quickly with a plain, dumpy girl in a white coat. She looked at blondie and burst into tears.
“What did he do now?”
“Nothing much. Just threatened to kill me and my dogs.”
She crumpled and I decided I’d had enough. I put my hand on Mark’s arm.
“Do you need us any more?”
He smiled his nice smile. “No. I’m sure you can leave the mopping up to us.”
I was just congratulating my dogs and getting my family together when the bulky figure of the male nurse came quietly to my side.
“Would you be kind enough to speak a few words with my boss? He is so tired but he won’t rest unless he apologises to you.”
Ben looked as if he was about to object but I put my finger to my lips.
“I don’t think we can grudge a few moments to a dying man.”
He lifted his shoulders. “We?”
“Yes. We should see him together.”
We entered the van, and I was shocked to see how frail and worn the man on the bed was. Going purely on instinct I knelt at his side and took his hand in mine. He opened his eyes and I smiled at him.
“Don’t try to talk.”
He squeezed my hand and I was given a message from the other side. I looked at his bulky male nurse.
“Can you easily carry your boss?”
“I can, but why?”
“Because I am being told that if he goes to the place where Cherry and her child were hidden, it will bring him peace.”
The nurse nodded. “It might at that. How far?”
“Theres a gate at the bottom of the lane. In the orchard it’s about fifty metres to the tree where she was found.”
“It’s doable then.”
Ben spoke up. “If you carry your man, I’ll bring the oxygen cylinder and the pump.”
I looked down at the man who still held my hand. “Shall we?”
He nodded and the nurse issued a couple of orders to the driver who started the engine. Before he could engage reverse Simeon jumped into the passenger seat beside him.
“I’ll just pop along with you in case we didn’t get all the naughty boys.”
Even in reverse, the ‘ambulance’ was as smooth as silk. We stopped at the gate and the bulky nurse wrapped his boss in a soft blanket. He handed me a lantern and gave Ben the oxygen tank and pump, before lifting the blanket-wrapped man with the tenderness of a mother. I lit the way, with three men close on my heels. At the foot of the old apple tree I stood aside. The nurse simply knelt down and laid his burden in the damp grass where Roz and Allie had planted sweet-smelling flowers.
We all heard the music, although only one of us recognised the tune, but when a voice took up the melody we knew it was Cherry. She sung the simple song and spoke soft words of love that needed no translation. I knew the moment her lips touched his cheek and I understood her promise to be waiting for him. A hand brushed my face and a voice whispered ‘thank you’ before her presence receded. The nurse picked up his boss and turned a face filled with wonder to me.
“His blanket is dry.”
I didn’t know what to say, but luckily Grandmother did and for a moment her voice was as clear as if she was standing at my side.
“We protected him while Cherry made her peace with the one she loves so dearly.”
The nurse was a strong, phlegmatic sort of a man so his stride didn’t falter, but I know he was affected deeply.
Back in the ambulance I bent to kiss the cheek of the dying man who lay at peace in his frail body.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
As we turned to leave the nurse shook Ben’s hand and bowed over mine with an old-fashioned courtliness.
“Thank you bhean mhór (great lady). My old friend can now go in peace.”
“Whenever the sand leaves his hourglass, Cherry will be there waiting to take his hand.”
We stepped out into the bright moonlight and Simeon joined us to watch the van slip quietly away into the night. Neil, Stan, Ollie and the boys from the pub walked quietly down the lane towards us.
“Shall we go home?” Ben suggested.
I was so emotionally drained all I could do was nod.
There will be more from Joss, Ben and their friends, courtesy of Jane Jago, next week, or you can catch up with their earlier adventures in Who Put Her In and Who Pulled Her Out.
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