promise,’ said the guvnor solemnly.
As we started off down the path, she said, ‘You ain’t really married, are you, Mr Arrowood?’
‘Yes, I am.’
‘Where’s she staying then? Not with you, I don’t think.’
The guvnor turned. His voice was low.
‘She’s staying with friends a little while. Goodbye, madam.’
‘Best get a move on, sir,’ I said, taking his arm and pulling him on, fearing what was going to come next.
‘And where’s your wife, then, Mr Barnett?’ called Mrs Gillie after us.
That old tinker must have had some magic about her, for I found myself stopped still, my feet stuck to the ground. Big as I was, I felt a hot tear under my eye. I shook my head, knowing the time had come.
‘She’s dead,’ I said, my throat clamping up.
‘Ah, sorry, darling.’
The guvnor was stood there on the path, staring at me, his mouth hanging open.
I turned to walk away.
‘Norman,’ he said, taking my arm.
I nodded, pulling away from him, walking on. He took my arm again to stop me. ‘When did this happen?’
‘Summer.’
‘Summer? The Cream case?’
‘Before that. She went up to Derby to see her sister. Just went for a visit, to see the nippers. She had some presents for them.’
My throat clenched up. I coughed, feeling my ears ringing. He rubbed my back. A gust of icy wind raced through the copse.
‘She loved those children, didn’t she?’ he said at last.
I nodded, staring at the wet, grey leaves on the floor.
‘Caught the fever and that was it. Took her in two days.’
‘Oh, Norman.’
‘I didn’t even know she was sick.’
He breathed heavy.
‘And that was it.’ I took a deep breath to steady my shaking body. When I spoke again my voice was broken. ‘I never saw her again. Never even said goodbye.’
‘You should have told me,’ he said after some time.
‘I . . . couldn’t.’
I couldn’t. I didn’t want his comfort. I didn’t want him or Ettie to make it easier. I wanted to suffer. I needed to suffer. I shook my head, and finally, standing there in the damp, cold trees, the rest of it came out too, our room, the silhouettes on the wall, the blankets like sheets of ice, and all her things around me damp and spidery. I told him about her smell, her sense that sometimes I was sure was watching me as I shivered in the dust and the draughts and then I wasn’t sure, and then I was, and how I woke one morning to find my torn sock darned as I’d slept. I told him how I couldn’t bring myself to talk to anyone but her brother Sidney, how I couldn’t hardly even say it out loud to myself because when I did it was like losing another piece of her. It all came out in a rush and a tumble, all those months it was buried inside me, like a hot dam busting. And when it was all gone, I fell silent and empty. Then, in the freezing dusk, the crows began to caw in the trees all around us, the noise getting louder and louder, like they were jabbing me, clawing me, biting me. I turned and hurried out of that copse, feeling his hand upon my back and all my thoughts drowning in the evil mess of the screaming crows.
‘I’m so sorry, Norman,’ he said as we climbed the hill back to the village. ‘We thought she’d left you. Oh my poor, dear friend. I knew there was something changed about you. I just never thought it was this.’
The cold had crept into my blood. Darkness was falling.
As we gained the almshouses, a young copper of eighteen or so came up to us. He wore a dented helmet and a badly shaped overcoat, long in the sleeve and frayed, like he’d been given it from an older copper who’d worn it all his life.
‘Excuse me, sirs,’ he said, his voice unsure. ‘Sergeant Root says you’re to come to the station for a word.’
Without waiting for an answer, he turned and marched up the road, hoping no doubt we’d follow without him having to speak again. I was glad of it: I needed something to move us on from the silence of the walk back to town.
It was a bare room, unswept, unpainted, cold enough to freeze the nose off a brass monkey. Mould speckled the ceiling; damp rose from the floorboards. Sergeant Root was sat at a desk reading a paper. He had a long, droopy face, his neck hidden by a double chin. His moustache was thick, his eyes melancholy.
‘The agents, Sarge,’ said the lad.
‘Right,’ whispered Root.
The guvnor offered his hand. ‘I’m Mr Arrowood, Sergeant. This is my assistant, Mr Barnett.’
The copper nodded, his eyes losing what little light they had in them. He looked the guvnor up and down, at his shoes starting to split at the knuckle, at the blue astrakhan coat rubbed bare around the buttons, at the nose blooming like cocksomb. He turned to the boy. ‘Here’s a lesson for you, lad. These fellows get paid to watch folk. Spying through windows. Hiding behind trees. Cause a lot of trouble for decent families, they do.’
‘Yes, sir.’
The guvnor started to protest but Root held up his hand.
‘I’ve had complaints about you, Arrowood, poking your nose into the Ockwells’ private affairs. I know what Mr Barclay’s been saying about them, but it ain’t true. They’re a good family. Been running that farm for generations. It’s no crime if a married woman doesn’t want to see her parents. Never has been, never will be. Now, I don’t want you upsetting folk here on my patch. D’you understand?’
‘But she’s in trouble, Sergeant,’ said the guvnor. ‘The Ockwells refuse to let us talk to her. Yesterday Walter chased us off with a shotgun. He assaulted Mr Barnett.’
‘Way I heard it you refused to leave his property.’
‘Birdie was in the upper window,’ said the guvnor. ‘She was trying to signal to us.’
‘Was she now. What did she say?’
‘She didn’t speak. No doubt she was afraid of being overheard. She held a picture of Brighton Pavilion to the glass.’
The sergeant raised his eyes at the young copper who dropped his head, hiding his smirk.
‘I’m certain they’re keeping her prisoner, Sergeant,’ said the guvnor. ‘She was asking for help.’
‘Asking for
