False Witness by Veronica Heley

Author:Veronica Heley
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Severn House
Published: 2024-03-12T06:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

Thursday early evening

Polly staggered in. She was cradling a sleeping baby and looked to be at the end of her tether.

Her father’s voice filled the stable yard. An ex-teacher of many years of experience, he knew how to make himself heard. ‘You, there! Yes, you! Help me get out of here!’

Bruno leaped around Polly, welcoming her back. She stumbled to the nearest chair, gasping, ‘Oh, Bea. Thank God you’re here. My father’s in the car. I couldn’t stop him. Down, Bruno! Where’s Julian?’

‘At the police station. Further questioning.’

Polly’s composure broke. Tears came. ‘No, no! Surely they can’t think …! What are we to do? Oh, Bruno, down! Oh, my poor love! My father got into the car, I told him we can’t cope now but he won’t listen, and I couldn’t leave him on the street!’

‘Listen! Julian’s solicitor has been informed of the latest police palaver and is on to it. He’s good. Julian will be back in no time. As for your father, we’ll cope somehow.’ Bea tried to convince herself that they could. She took the sleeping child from Polly and laid him in his cradle. There were tear tracks on his cheeks, but at least he was asleep for the moment.

Polly was in pieces. Bruno was distressed. He tried to climb into her lap to lick her face.

Bea told Bruno to control himself and shot a look which said ‘over to you’ at Lance.

Lance got to his feet slowly, shaking his head. ‘I’ve heard about Mr Colston. Domestic tyrant, isn’t he?’

Polly hiccuped and coughed, trying to control her tears. ‘He thinks we should have him living with us at the Hall, and that we’d look after him better than the Home, and I’ve told him and told him that there’s no water and no electricity yet and we don’t have servants, and he just won’t listen!’

‘Just like my old dad,’ said Lance.

‘I must go down to the police station and rescue Julian. Only, I can’t, can I? There’s the baby and my father! I had to bring him because they wouldn’t take him back into the Home, and I thought Julian might find somewhere in the village and … What am I going to do?’

Lance patted her shoulder. ‘Let’s get him in here, that’s the first thing.’

‘He’s got a pile of his things in the car, but I couldn’t get everything in, and I had to leave two cases back at the Home, his books and stuff, and what do the police want Julian for? And the boy cried almost all the way back, and my father said I was a bad mother not letting him have a bottle, but I’ve always had enough till today.

‘I should have stopped and fed him, but when I said I’d do that, my father went bananas! But in the end I did stop, and he went on and on at me and … I think all this is making my milk dry up and … This is just not like me to give way like this.

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