Double Jeopardy, page 18
Beverly reached the edge of the tree-line without mishap and found herself only a few yards away from the narrow but negotiable path that ran down the side of the cliff on the far side. Even more aware of the danger – and appalling consequences – of falling, she scrambled down the path. It was a mixture of rock and scrubby grass, but the light was better outside the trees and she could see where she was going reasonably well.
The path ended at a gentle slope that led down to a patch of open land beside a rocky track that became the narrow spit of land leading to the lighthouse. This was the most dangerous part of her journey. Up until now she had been hidden from anyone looking from the cottage by the bulk of the cliff jutting out like the prow of a great ocean liner. About halfway along the spit of land, the cliff would cease to cover her and she would be in plain view of anyone standing by the cottage and looking that way. There was no cover at all and the distance seemed to grow further and more exposed the longer she looked at it.
As she stared across towards the lighthouse, Beverly saw a dark figure standing by the side of the tower that was hidden from the cottage. The figure beckoned to her. She felt a surge of relief and ran across the final thirty yards to fling herself into Jones’s arms, clutching him tightly. Her heart was thumping and she felt breathless, but at least they were together again and away from immediate danger.
‘Did you see anyone?’ he asked anxiously.
She shook her head.
‘No. Mind you, I didn’t stop to look; I just grabbed the money and a torch and ran. What happened exactly?’
‘The woman in the village shop said that someone had come in about five minutes before me asking directions to the cottage and saying I’d invited him to dinner. I didn’t know whether she meant five minutes literally, or she just meant it was a little while before. I was scared I’d be too late and they were already there when I rang.’
Beverly shivered.
‘Thank goodness they weren’t. But how on earth did they find out about you?’
Jones shook his head.
‘I don’t know and hopefully it’s not really important any more. We can lie low here until Sean comes to collect us.’
Beverly nodded.
‘Do we have to stay out here though?’ She shivered again and dug her hands into her coat pockets. ‘That wind’s icy cold.’
‘We need to get inside out of sight,’ Jones agreed. ‘I checked the door just now, but it’s securely locked. Besides, it’s on the side facing the cottage. We’d be in plain view of anyone looking around from up there, so it wouldn’t be a good idea to be spending time trying to force the door, even if I could manage it. There is a window about four feet from the ground on the seaward side of the lighthouse. That might be a way in.’
Jones led the way round to the window, which had six square panes of grubby glass. He took out his penknife and opened the blade. Reaching up, he tapped one of the lowest panes of glass hard with the end of his knife. The pane shattered, the noise lost in the whine of the wind. Beverly looked out to sea. There were a few ships, no more than dark smudges on the steadily darkening horizon, but nothing close enough to see what they were doing.
Jones tapped all the glass from the square, careful to leave no jagged edges he might cut his hand on. Then he reached inside and found the catch. It was stiff with misuse and awkward to turn from outside, but he eventually managed it and pulled the window open, despite the squeaky protest from the rusted hinges.
‘Wait here a moment.’
He put his knife away, reached for the sill and pulled himself up. The years of dancing had given him good muscle power and he managed to lift himself on to the sill without too much difficulty. He paused, perched on the sill, and looked back at Beverly.
‘Hand me the torch, please.’
She passed it up and he switched it on. There was nothing on the floor beneath the window, apart from twenty years of accumulated dust and grime, so he dropped down inside and swung the torch beam round. An old table and three chairs stood by the wall to his left and immediately opposite a flight of metal stairs led up to the next level. He crossed to the front door, but a moment’s inspection told him there was no way he could force the lock from the inside. The window would have to be the way in.
Jones lifted the table across to the window and then went back to inspect the chairs. They all still looked remarkably sturdy, if very grubby. He took two over to the window, placing one by the side of the table before he climbed up and lowered the second chair out of the window to Beverly.
‘Stand on that, it will be easier for you to climb through.’
The area of rock at the foot of the lighthouse was reasonably level. Beverly placed the chair against the wall and stepped on it. She handed her case to Jones and then took his hand as he helped her through on to the table.
‘You’re spoiling me.’
‘You remembered the torch.’
He squeezed her hand. Despite the danger they were still in, just achieving the small success of breaking into the lighthouse to find shelter seemed to have rekindled the romance of their adventure. Beverly climbed down on to the second chair and then on to the floor whilst Jones lifted the outside chair back up through the window and pulled the window closed as far as he could. The rusty hinges would not completely close and the broken pane was apparent from close inspection, but at a quick glance it would not be very obvious that the window had been tampered with.
Despite the rather damp atmosphere, they were disturbing a lot of dust and Beverly started coughing.
‘If we’ve got to be here a while, let’s try to get to the top.’ Jones put his arm round her and gave her a comforting squeeze. ‘That will give us a better view and we should be able to see Sean coming, in case he’s early.’
It would also give them a chance to see Milton’s men if they approached the lighthouse, but he didn’t put that depressing thought into words. He was very aware that although they were well placed to be picked up by the boat, they were also boxed into a trap with no other exits if they were cornered. Night had almost fully fallen, but the stars had already appeared in the clear sky and there was a bright full moon.
‘Come on.’
He picked up the bag from the table and led the way over to the stairs. He used the torch sparingly. A little greyish light was coming in through the windows, giving some blurred shape to the rooms and their contents, but that also meant a light might be spotted from the outside. Still, it was better to risk that than to trip and fall down the stairs.
They made their way carefully up each of the flights of stairs. The lighthouse had been cleared of most items when it had been locked up and apart from a few pieces of furniture and some dusty rags and other discarded items of little use, the rooms were empty. After stopping briefly on the way to get their breath, they arrived on the floor immediately below the lamp station. Jones risked another quick circuit of the torch. There was an open (and empty) storeroom to their left and straight ahead a metal spiral staircase led up to a trap door and the platform above.
Jones went up the stairs and tried the catch. It moved more freely than the window catch and he lifted the hatch and laid it back on the floor above. The lamp level of the lighthouse consisted of the old lamp mechanism in the middle of the floor and curved glass windows all around. Beyond them, accessible through one of the windows, an open walkway followed the circumference of the building. The windows were grimy on the inside, but the outside had been kept cleaner by rain and sea spray. Jones found an old cloth and wiped an area on two or three of the windows so that they had a partial view of the spit leading to the lighthouse, the bay and the sea. He had thinned the dust to a smear rather than actually cleaned the glass, but at least they had some sort of a view.
As they stood looking down toward the land, the moon slid behind a block of cloud and night suddenly closed in. Jones looked up at the sky ruefully.
‘Well, that was a good idea while it lasted.’ The cloud formed a thick wedge, but with clear sky beyond, the moon would be out again before long.
They sat on the floor, ignoring the hardness and the dirt, put their arms round each other for warmth, and settled down to wait. The wind howled round the top of the tower, but at least it was dry and the glass seemed to have kept some of its insulation. Although it was cold, they were under cover and protected from the most severe effect of the elements. It was, Jones reflected, by no means the worst position they could be in.
Fifteen minutes later, that complacency was shattered by the voice that spoke suddenly from six feet away.
‘Hello, Beverly,’ said Jack Pace. ‘We thought we’d never find you. Harry is most anxious to see you again.’
Pace came out of the cottage, ignored Gray’s puzzled enquiry, and ran to his car. He opened the glove compartment, grabbed the powerful binoculars he always kept there and raced back to the cliff top. Making sure that he kept away from the edge, so as not to be standing out against the skyline if anyone looked his way, he surveyed the woods and the bay below.
Nothing.
Fighting down the irritation that rose within him, he started again, traversing slowly along the edge of the woods, looking for a glimpse of colour or activity that shouldn’t be there. As his inspection reached the far point of the cliff, there was a flash of movement just beyond that caught his eye. He focused on the old lighthouse just in time to see Beverly race across the end of the spit and disappear behind the far side. He stepped back quickly from view, lowered the binoculars and smiled thinly.
‘Got you,’ He muttered, under his breath.
He turned back to Gray and Kelly who were standing by the front of the cottage. Kelly had his usual half amused look and Gray was still frowning.
‘Given us the slip, have they?’ Kelly asked.
‘Not for long.’ Pace walked over to them. ‘They must have heard us coming or something and made a run for it. They’re in that old lighthouse over there.’ He jerked his thumb over his shoulder and looked at Kelly. ‘Go and get the map from the car.’
When Kelly returned with the map, they bent over it together and looked at the road layout around the village.
‘We can get there easily by road.’ Pace’s finger stubbed out the route. ‘We go back up the road towards the village, drive past the village turnoff and take that next road on the left. That takes us down to the track that leads across to the lighthouse. We can park back there off the track somewhere and go across after them.’
He looked up at the sky.
‘It’ll be fully dark soon and there’s some cloud to cover the moon. We should be able to get near them without them spotting us.’
‘Do you want us to sabotage their car in case they get past us again?’ Gray asked, eager to start venting his violent feelings on something even if it was inanimate.
Pace thought for a moment.
‘It’s tempting, but no. If we get hold of them without too much trouble, we can bring them back here and collect their cases and stuff from the cottage. One of you can then drive their car back. If we dispose of them and their car and there’s nothing at the cottage linked to them, there won’t be any evidence pointing to us either.’
Gray nodded. He always admired those who could think and plan ahead better than him – which covered most of the people he came into contact with.
The three men walked back up the track to their car. Pace drove down to the cottage, turned round and went back up the track. The headlights swung across the trees and bushes, creating long shadows that swayed and danced as they passed. He retraced their route along the narrow B-road, drove past the road to the village and then took the next turning left down towards coast.
The side road was steep and twisting for a few hundred yards before levelling out. There was a clear, harsh silvery light from the moon and Pace risked switching off the headlights as he coasted round the next bend.
The old lighthouse lay before them at the end of the long spit of land. The track widened into a flat stony area and Pace pulled over on to that and parked. The only sounds were of the wind and the sea. To their right the new lighthouse sent a strong beam sweeping out across the water, giving it fluctuating silvery highlights. There were lights further along the coast, but nothing close to them. The lights of two or three ships could be glimpsed on the horizon.
Pace nodded in satisfaction. Whatever was about to happen, there shouldn’t be any witnesses – apart from those directly involved, of course. He glanced up at the sky. The area around the lighthouse was bathed in light; if anyone was watching for them they would be clearly seen. A bank of cloud was moving sedately across the night sky and would cover the moon in a few minutes. Pace decided to wait and move in under cover of the darkness that would bring. Their quarry was boxed in, but it would be better to catch them unawares and capture them without a struggle than to risk alerting them. There was nowhere for them to run, except into the sea, but there was no sense in making life unnecessarily difficult.
Once the cloud had drifted across the moon, Pace led the way along the track and on to the rocky trail that led to the lighthouse. Kelly and Gray followed without speaking. They paused by the curved wall of the tower and Pace walked to the front door. He had a small flashlight in his pocket and risked a quick inspection of the door. It showed no sign of being tampered with so they must have found another way in. He briefly considered that Beverly and Jones might have gone back inland again, but dismissed the idea. There was no point in coming all the way out there unless they were going to take shelter in the building.
His reasoning was confirmed when they reached the window and discovered the empty square. Pace got the window open without too much noise and lifted himself up over the sill. When he found the table against the window, he was certain he was right. He turned and beckoned the other two in. Kelly’s tall and wiry frame easily made the journey, but they needed to help Gray, whose shoes scrabbled at the wall as he was hauled up.
Standing in the dark, they waited and listened. There was no sound other than the wind and the crash of the sea against the shore and the rocks. Pace used his torch again briefly to locate the stairs and they moved upwards carefully.
As they reached each floor, the three men checked it quickly before moving on. When they got to the floor below the lamp, a murmur of voices drifted down from above. The speech sounded soft and undisturbed; they hadn’t been alerted by the raiding party from below.
Pace had already drawn his gun. He looked upwards and saw the square of paler grey in the ceiling above the spiral staircase. Slowly, careful not to make any noise on the metal steps, he walked up and through the hatchway with Kelly and Gray close behind him.
When Pace stepped out through the hatch, he saw Beverly and Jones sitting on the floor a few feet away, engrossed in each other and not looking his way. Pace stepped forward to allow the other two to come up behind him, switched on his torch to illuminate the two figures on the floor and spoke with great satisfaction.
‘Hello Beverly. We thought we’d never find you. Harry is most anxious to see you again.’
While Beverly and Jones sat stiff with shock, Kelly moved quickly round the lamp to come up on the other side of them and cut off any movement they might have made in that direction. Sitting on the floor, they had no way of finding the momentum to take any action, even if they had not had two guns focused on them.
‘Get up, very slowly,’ Pace ordered. ‘Don’t try any heroics, we’re quite happy to hurt you if necessary. Harry doesn’t mind what condition you’re in when he sees you.’
Pace and Kelly kept them covered whilst Gray carried out a body search – taking an unnecessarily long time over Beverly’s. He pocketed Jones’s penknife, picked up the case, Beverly’s shoulder bag and the torch and moved back behind Pace.
‘The money’s in the case,’ he reported after a moment.
‘Good.’ Pace nodded with satisfaction. It was all coming together nicely. Harry would be pleased. ‘Right then.’ He inspected the prisoners impassively. ‘We’re going back downstairs and out to our car. Reggie will shine the torch on you and Lenny and I will cover you with our guns. Walk nice and slowly.’
Jones gave Beverly’s arm a squeeze to try to give her some comfort, although he was feeling none himself. They had been so near to getting away with it and now … If there was the ghost of a chance he’d sacrifice himself to give Beverly the opportunity to run, but at the moment, any action would just harm both of them. He felt Beverly stumble as she tried to move and put his arm round her briefly.
They walked back down the flights of stairs in the order of procession that Pace had dictated. Pace went first, walking backwards and keeping his gun trained on Beverly and Jones who followed him. Kelly came next, with his gun on their backs and Gray was at the rear, shining Beverly’s powerful torch down on the whole line, but careful not to shine it in Pace’s eyes.
When they reached the ground floor, Kelly went out of the window first, then the two prisoners. He kept them against the wall at gun point whilst Pace and Gray climbed out. Nobody bothered to shut the window after them.
Jones had considered making a dive for Kelly whilst the other two were still inside the lighthouse, but the gunman kept several feet away and would have had no trouble in shooting both of them before he could be reached. Whilst Jones was considering the idea, Pace dropped to the ground and even that faint opportunity had passed.
The moon was out from hiding again and the whole area was flooded in silvery light. Gray moved up to Beverly’s side, put his arm round her and gripped her wrist. She tried to pull away from him in disgust and he showed her the wicked stiletto in his other hand, its silver gleam matching the moonlight.
‘Just keep next to me, nice and cosy,’ he smiled at her.
