The Village Hall Vendetta by Jonathan Whitelaw

Author:Jonathan Whitelaw [Whitelaw, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2023-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

INTERIOR WITH A DOG

‘Georgie! Georgie! Are you there? It’s Amita! If you’re there please come to the door. Georgie?’

Jason had never seen his mother-in-law so rattled. She was furiously pounding on the front door, her hand clapping against the immaculately polished wood-effect plastic. She had already tried the knocker but had gotten nowhere. Now she’d moved onto pounding with her bare hands.

‘Georgie?’ she shouted, desperate.

‘Maybe she’s out,’ offered Jason.

She took no notice of him. Instead, she bowed down and opened the letterbox. Peering inside, she could see nothing. So she started shouting.

‘Georgie, can you hear me? It’s Amita and Jason. Are you alright in there? We’ve come around to check that you’re okay. Can you hear me? Georgie? Say something, please, for god sake let us know that you’re okay.’

There was no reply from inside. Jason took a step back. He looked up at the miniature mock Georgian townhouse for any signs of life. All the curtains were closed and there were no cars in the driveway. He shook his head.

‘Amita, there’s nobody in,’ he said. ‘Stop shouting, you’re going to wake up the neighbours from their twenty-three hours of sleep a day.’

‘Georgie?’ she shouted again. ‘I don’t understand Jason, I don’t get it. Georgie never goes away, and I mean never, without telling somebody. When she went to Tenerife for three weeks last Easter we were all treated to a full itinerary and breakdown of each day months in advance. Georgie Littlejohn isn’t someone who likes to let a good holiday go to waste when it comes to showing off.’

‘So, maybe she’s lightening up in her old age,’ he said.

Amita cast him a dirty look. ‘Are you serious? You’ve met the woman, do you think she’s the mellowing type?’

Jason was about to argue. Then he remembered who they were talking about. ‘Okay, fair point,’ he said. ‘But I still think you’re overreacting.’

‘Overreacting? In what way?’

‘Oh, I don’t know Amita, the banging on the door, the screaming, the fact we practically flew over here and I’m sure I’ll be getting at least three speeding fines and a ticket for running a red light. Something about those things might lead anyone who doesn’t know you to think you were overreacting.’

‘I’m just… concerned, that’s all.’

‘Concerned?’ he yelped. ‘For Georgie Littlejohn? Now I know there is something deeply wrong. Do you want to fess up before I get the local psychiatric ward on the phone and have you assessed?’

Amita let out a long, deflated sigh. She lifted the letterbox flap again and looked inside. There was nothing there, only the hallway stretching out into the house. No sign of life, no sign of movement and certainly no sign of Georgie. She sagged her shoulders and closed the flap.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said sadly. ‘I’m sorry for not telling you the whole truth. The fact is, I think something might have happened to Georgie and it may be my fault.’ She stepped away from the front door, trudging up the driveway towards their car.

Jason followed her, sensing that there was something amiss, something strangely serious about her.

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