Evie by Julia Stoneham Page B

summat to think about! But he caught me a sly one, sir! Took an unfair advantage, he did! A bit below the belt, like. I’d of had ’e but for that!’
    ‘Course you would of, lovie,’ Mabel purred, dabbing at a small abrasion over her husband’s left eye. ‘Course you would of!’
    Constable Twentyman arrived on his bicycle soon after Roger had left on the tractor, taking the Vallances with him back to the higher farm and leaving Dave Crocker with his family. Putting the loaded shotgun into Dave’s hands, Roger had told him to use it only if he had to, to fire warning shots. Dave’s experience with firearms had been limited to taking potshots at rabbits with the other village boys before the onset of the war had turned them all into soldiers. Due to a slightdefect in his right eye, Dave’s involvement in the hostilities had been restricted to the catering corps, consequently he had only rarely come within range of a German bullet and it had been a piece of friendly shrapnel that had wounded him. He acknowledged Roger’s orders and placed the gun, well out of Thurza’s reach, on the top of the kitchen dresser.
    Constable Twentyman had cycled carefully into the yard, his face so flushed from his exertions in the steep lanes between the police station and this farm that he seemed in danger of rupturing a blood vessel. His bulk made the frame of the machine look worryingly fragile as he dismounted, propped it against the wall outside the Crockers’ door, stooped to remove his cycle clips, stowed them in a pocket in his tunic, patted the pocket, drew his notebook and pencil from another pocket, removed his helmet, settled it in the crook of his arm, cleared his throat and loomed, breathlessly, in the Crocker doorway. Soon he was sitting at Hester’s kitchen table and she was putting a cup of tea in front of him.
    ‘And where did the alleged incident take place?’ he began, his pencil poised.
     
    One of the changes Alice had made to the daily routine at the higher farmhouse and quite soon after her permanent arrival there, had been to suggest that dinner, the main meal of the day, should be served earlier than previously. At six-thirty instead of seven-thirty. This made for a shorter working day for Eileen. Lunch was to be a lighter meal than it had been, involving soup or eggs, poached or scrambled and even, sometimes, although Eileen disapproved of this, sandwiches.
    ‘No better nor what they land girls used to ’ave!’ she muttered darkly after Alice had made clear her plan. ‘I suppose samwiches is what she got used to, down to the ’ostel, but the master alus liked a sit-down lunch, ’e did!’ Soon, although she never admitted it, Eileen began to enjoy the fact that her workload was lighter and her hours shorter than they had been. Today she had made a thick, aromatic, artichoke soup, thickened it with cream and served it with home-baked bread which was still warm and crisp from her oven. She had smiled modestly and lowered her eyes when both the master and the new mistress had heaped praises on her and asked for second helpings.
    It was as they spooned up the last of the soup that they heard the clang of the yard telephone. After a moment Eileen came breathlessly into the dining room.
    ‘’Tis Rose Crocker!’ she said. ‘She’m in the phone box outside her cottage! She says to tell you Evie’s gone!’ Alice left the table immediately and went to the yard phone.
    ‘What’s happened, Rose?’ Alice asked, sharply. ‘You were supposed to be keeping a close eye on her! You shouldn’t have let her out of your sight!’
    ‘But I ’as me business to think of, Alice, an’ I needed more skirt of beef for me pasties, so I popped along to the butcher’s. I were on’y gone a coupla minutes and there were no sign of Norman Clark when I went nor when I come back.’
    ‘And no sign of Evie, either!’
    ‘She’d gone up to ’er room, see, just afore I left. And I didn’t think to check on ’er when