The Lake House

Jake had helped A

Cathy walked in and smiled at A

‘Morning, PC Ashworth. You drew the short straw. You’re answering any jobs that come in while your lovely colleagues conduct the inquiries regarding that poor bugger’s head we found yesterday. And you, George, I’m afraid drew an even shorter straw by having to work with our A

He vigorously nodded his head. ‘I can try, ma’am.’

‘Rule one, George: none of this ma’am bullshit. It makes me sound like I’m your great-aunt. Call me Cathy unless you’ve really screwed up and need to crawl. A

A

‘Take George and give him the rundown on the area. Show him the best places to get some di

‘Yes, boss.’

Cathy gri

A

A

‘Oh and can you bring me back some di

‘Yes, boss.’

George was smiling at her. ‘She seems okay then for a big boss.’

‘Yes, she is as long as you’re behaving…no, she is. She’s great and has been brilliant with me since I moved up here.’

She stopped herself again from giving him the rundown on her life. She didn’t know the man at all so until she did the less said the better. Her radio crackled and the voice on the other end called her number.

‘Can you attend Beckett House on Windermere Road, please. It’s a grade two. Elderly woman reporting the man who came to unblock her drains has come to some harm. She thinks he has disappeared in her cellar and may have come to some harm down there. She can’t go down to see if he’s okay because she’s not good on her legs.’

‘Roger, I’m on my way. Can you show me in seven zero and I also have…’ – she tilted her head to read the epaulettes on his shoulders – ‘…I also have 7993 with me.’

She stood up and George followed her as she strode outside to the van.

‘What’s a grade two again?’

‘It means it’s important but not as important as a grade one, which is an emergency response. There’s two-hour time limit on getting to the job.’

‘Oh, so no blue lights and sirens this time?’

‘No, sorry. Not this time. Anyway be thankful – it’s not very good driving through the twisty back roads around here at top speed, and it’s dangerous.’

‘Yes, it must be. I just wondered what it was like, you know.’

She did know. When she first joined she’d loved it when Jake had been her tutor and would answer emergency calls, then drive like a maniac to get to the job first so they could deal with it. It was an adrenaline rush like no other, but as the years passed she began to realise that most of the jobs were the same people with the same problems, which weren’t really that much of an emergency. The excitement had slowly passed and the dread of being stuck in custody all night with the same idiots took its place.

She decided that George wasn’t so bad and she would do her best not to give him a hard time.

She turned into the overgrown drive at Beckett House. She had been here to do inquiries when there was a missing man a few months back and all the sheds and outhouses had to be searched. The grey slate house, with its huge black and white painted windows and doors, would have been lovely in its day and George began to mumble about how the other half lived. The elderly woman who lived there was waiting for them on the front step and she looked distraught. A

‘Hello, Miss Beckett, what’s the problem?’

‘Hello, dear, I’m afraid I have some very bad news and it’s entirely my fault. I should have stopped him from going down there on his own. I knew all along it was a very bad idea.’

A

‘Why don’t you sit down, Miss Beckett, and I’ll make us a fresh pot of tea, then you can tell me all about it?’

‘Would you, dear, or would you rather go and search the cellar first? Although I think it’s far too late for him.’

George was looking at A

‘I need you to tell me from the begi

‘Yes, yes, of course I will.’

He picked the still-warm teapot up from the centre of the table and tipped the contents into the sink. He then began making a fresh pot.

‘There was a terrible smell and I knew it was coming from the cellar. It’s been around for a few days but this morning it was really bad and I couldn’t stand it so I looked in the phonebook and rang the number from the first plumber’s advert that I saw. They sent two men out and that was all right because it has to be two, you see. You’re much safer in a pair. But they couldn’t see what the blockage was and they didn’t have the right tools. Well, they left and one of those Irish men… What’s the word you use for them now instead of gypsies?’

‘Travellers.’

‘Yes, I’m positive he was one of them. Well, he knocked on my door ten minutes later and, you know, he looked a bit of a rogue and had forced his way inside before I knew it, but he didn’t threaten me. Well, he offered to sort the drains out for me and I was desperate, you have to understand. The smell was horrific.’

A

‘You’re doing really well, Miss Beckett. What happened then?’

‘Well, he went into the cellar but the lights had gone out. I told him he shouldn’t but he laughed and told me that he wasn’t afraid of the dark. I gave him a torch, then I came back in here and it was then that I heard the music, the old music of the wind-up jack-in-the-box that belonged to my brother, Joe. I just knew something bad had happened. I shouted to him but the only thing I heard was a muffled scream and it sounded like it was a long way away.’

George was standing behind the woman rolling his eyes and A

‘Did you notice if this man had a car or a van? Maybe he decided to leave and didn’t tell you?’

‘No, he didn’t have any vehicle that I could see. He walked up the drive. I know because I watched him from the kitchen window.’