Chapter Twenty-Nine
It was nearly six o’clock before Hattie managed to get through to Mary. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Yes. A little tired.’
‘You sound exhausted! Where are you? Are you in the home you wanted to be in?’
The tiniest of pauses was very revealing. ‘Not quite, but I’m sure I can move later if I need to.’
Hattie took a breath. Mary probably didn’t want to answer a barrage of questions just now but she felt she needed to know where her friend was. She didn’t trust Clive further than Mary could have thrown him.
‘I won’t interrogate you now. Just give me the name of the care home and its address.’
‘The name – well, “Whispering something” is the best I can do, I’m afraid. I don’t know the address.’
‘Don’t worry. I can google it. How far from home are you?’
‘It was quite a long drive. I slept through some of it…’
‘I’ll find it. And if it’s in this direction, I’ll come and see you tomorrow. And if it’s nearer home, I’ll call you first and see if there’s anything that got left behind.’
‘I feel so much better for talking to you. Clive was very – brisk. He didn’t give me a lot of time to pack. I’m afraid I forgot my phone charger.’
‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll sort it all out in the morning.’
Hattie noticed a message from Luke when she’d disconnected. For some reason just seeing his name made her breathe faster. She opened the message. It just said, Thank you for last night. It meant so much. L x. She didn’t reply; she needed time to think of what to say.
Images of Luke in his dinner jacket, and rumpled – was it only this morning?
– when he came out to check on her came into her mind.
Just for a second she let herself think about him.
But then she forced herself to focus on Mary and why Clive had whisked her away so quickly and where had he whisked her to?
She rejoined the family party in the kitchen and found herself next to Tom. ‘You look a bit worried if you don’t mind me saying so.’
Hattie smiled at him. ‘I am a bit. I share a house with a quite elderly woman and her nephew has moved her into a care home with no notice at all. I don’t know where she is.
Although I’m sure I can track her down!’ She laughed to disguise her anxiety.
‘I’ve just spoken to her. She sounded a bit discombobulated. Can’t blame her.’
‘Do you have any clues as to where she might be?’
‘Her home is called Whispering something.’
‘But she has a mobile phone?’
‘Yes. I’ve just spoken to her on it.’
‘Then you can track her,’ said Tom. ‘There’s an app you can get. I used it when I was on a school trip with a lot of teenagers. Obviously I deleted it afterwards but I can get you on it. Give me the number?’
‘I’m not very good at technical things,’ said Hattie apologetically. ‘Except sites like Vinted and Etsy.’
‘Me neither,’ said Jacinta, a cousin about the same age as Hattie whom she had always liked. ‘But I’m very nifty with eBay.’
‘These young people,’ said Hattie’s mother. ‘They seem to speak an entirely different language these days.’
‘I suppose it was ever thus,’ said Jacinta’s mother, who was far more relaxed that her sister. ‘I’m sure our parents said the same about us.’
‘There you are,’ said Tom, handing Hattie her phone. ‘She’s about an hour from here. And there’s the address.’
‘Thank you so much, Tom!’ said Hattie. ‘I am so grateful. I’ll go and visit tomorrow and then I can stop worrying. I’m sure it’ll be fine,’ she added, not believing it.
Hattie left just before lunch the next day. All the clearing-up had been done. Beds stripped, leftovers rearranged into Tupperware and vases found for the very many bouquets of flowers that filled the house.
‘Thank you, darling,’ said her mother, to Hattie’s surprise. ‘You were really quite helpful in the end.’
Hattie hugged both her parents and left. Even praise this faint was more than she was used to. Her goodbyes to her sister and Tom were far warmer.
She drove to Whispering Willows (which had turned out to be the name) feeling very gloomy.
This was not the elegant mansion in the pictures Mary had shown her of the home she wanted to move to.
This was smaller, with random additions to the original building, and a garden that no one appeared to take any interest in.
But if the people were kind, and Mary was comfortable, there was no need to make a fuss.
‘We do like visitors to make an appointment,’ said the woman on the desk, who seemed flustered. ‘I don’t know where Mrs Stanely is. It’s Sunday. The chef’s not working this lunchtime and we’re very short-staffed.’
Hattie said, ‘My friend only arrived yesterday so you may well not have met her. Point me in the right direction, and I’ll go and look for her. I’m sure I can find her.’
‘I couldn’t possibly let you do that! I’d have to accompany you. But I can’t leave the desk unattended.’
Panic made Hattie uncharacteristically sharp.
‘I know you have a lot on your hands, Mrs – Wilson.’ (She thanked goodness for name badges.) ‘But I’ve come a long way to see Mrs Stanely.
I’m afraid I must insist on you taking me to her.
Or I’ll have to write a lot of emails.’ Hattie accompanied this with a look she had learnt from her mother.
Mrs Wilson pursed her lips. ‘Follow me, then. But you will have to sign in first.’
Apart from a smell of some sort of meal – hard to define and probably eaten several hours ago – and a very faint odour of urine, there was nothing to tell Hattie that Mary wouldn’t be happy here. But somehow Hattie knew she wouldn’t be.
They found Mary in the television room. She was sitting in a chair and looked suddenly ten years older. Her expression of relief when she saw Hattie caused tears to spring to her eyes.
‘I’ll leave you to it,’ said Mrs Wilson. ‘But please don’t stay too long. Our residents get very tired.’
‘Oh, darling,’ Mary said the moment she and Hattie were alone. ‘How lovely to see you.’
Hattie swallowed. ‘Lovely to see you too! But how on earth did you get here? Did you know you were coming?’
Mary shook her head. ‘Clive came round on Friday evening and said he’d arranged a home for me. He expected me to be pleased, and I suppose I had been saying I’d wanted to go to one for a while, but it wasn’t the one I had chosen.’
‘And he wanted you to go that night?’
Mary nodded. ‘He packed me a suitcase, put me in the car and here I am. Of course I haven’t got any of the things I really wanted with me. If he’d let me leave it until the following day, I could have packed myself.’
‘What about your medication?’
‘I’ve got the little box but I’m not sure about the one I take at night. I didn’t take it last night.’
‘Well, don’t worry. It’s probably all right to miss one. We’ll make a list of everything you need and I’ll go and get it for you.’
‘Do I have to stay here?’
Hattie had no idea really. ‘It might be best to stay for a few days, to let yourself recover from the drama of being plucked out of your house and deposited somewhere else.’ Hattie smiled to imply she was joking, but she wasn’t. ‘Then, when you’ve had time to gather your wits, we can make a plan.’
‘I’m very tempted to ask you to take me straight home now but I am tired, and I think it would be foolish. The staff are very kind here, even if, aesthetically, it’s not where I want to live. There’s not much garden. I need a garden around me.’
Hattie nodded. ‘Is there anything I can get for you locally? I can find a supermarket and get you underwear, nighties, things like that?’
‘Clive tipped my entire underwear drawer into the case, so I don’t need knickers. But it’s personal things like my little radio. My pillow, my eye mask and my skin cream. I also want my old cardigan. I’ve had it so long it’s falling apart but it’s comforting.’
Hattie wanted to cry again. ‘Well, don’t worry. We’ll make a list, and I’ll bring everything you need.’
‘Maybe I’ll make the list tomorrow, when I’ve had a chance to think what I really do need.
I wouldn’t want you to have to come twice.
It’s a long way.’ She paused. ‘I’d fallen asleep in the car, so I felt very disorientated when I arrived.
The nurses called me dear, which I know was kindly meant, but it made me feel old and anonymous. ’
‘I’m so sorry,’ said Hattie. ‘Now, have you got anything to read?’
‘Apparently there’s a library but I haven’t found it yet.’
‘I’ll find it and bring you back some books. Otherwise, as I said, I can pop to a supermarket.’
‘I just hope I’ve got my reading glasses.’
‘Let’s have a look. They’re probably in your handbag, surely?’
Mary shrugged. ‘They were probably lying around with everything else. I don’t know exactly what Clive scooped up before we left.’
Hattie nodded again. ‘OK, you see if your reading glasses are in your bag and I’ll find the library and bring you some books. If you haven’t got reading glasses I can probably buy some.’
It was late afternoon before Hattie headed home.
She had left Mary with a pile of books, (Jacqueline Susann, Georgette Heyer and Ethel M.
Dell) and a new pair of reading glasses as well as lots of other comforts.
Chocolate ginger biscuits, chocolates and a box of Jaffa Cakes.
She was planning to go back with Mary’s own reading glasses and a lot of other things that Clive had left.
She was very tired. So much had happened since she’d set off from home to join Luke for the dinner dance.
She decided to have a nap; then she’d deal with everything that needed to be done.
It was a shock to see that the back door had been tampered with and more of a shock to realise her key no longer fitted, which meant the locks had been changed.
She took a lot of deep breaths and rushed into the garden for a wild wee.
She couldn’t do anything about anything while she was so desperate after the long drive.
She rinsed her hands in the water butt and then got out her phone. She pressed on Clive’s number, swearing to herself she would be calm and controlled. Being hysterical was what he wanted her to be.
‘Clive! Hi!’ She sounded as friendly as she could. ‘I was just wondering how to get into Mary’s house, where I live. Have you left me a key anywhere handy? Under a flower pot? I discovered you’ve changed the locks.’
‘Yes I have and I’m afraid you don’t live there any more. I’ll be selling the house to pay for Mary’s care home.’
‘But my things are inside. And I visited Mary: there are a lot of things she needs too.’
‘What can she need? I packed everything for her.’
‘I have a list.’
‘Oh. Well, I’m away at the moment.’
‘I can’t do without my personal belongings. And nor can Mary. She doesn’t even have her reading glasses.’
‘I’m sure she can manage without reading for a week or so.’
‘How little you know your aunt, Clive.’
‘Don’t get shirty with me! You’ve been sponging off my aunt and that doesn’t give you the right to tell me what she needs. Anything but!’ The line went silent.
Hattie stood outside the house, beginning to shiver. The warmth of the day had dissipated.
At a complete loss, she drove herself to Rose’s house. When Rose opened the door, Hattie asked, ‘Can I stay the night?’ and burst into tears.