‘What does that go down as then – you know, when you update control?’
‘Suspicious incident, then I’ll have to submit an intelligence report and a vulnerable adult form. The next job will probably be a bit more standard. You can be the officer in charge if you like.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘It means you get to run the case, take the statements, request CSI. See how you feel when you get there.’
Annie hoped he felt like saying yes because she couldn’t stop thinking about that face she’d seen in the mirror and the blood on her fingers. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. Did things that look part human but are clearly not live in drains and sewers? Was that even possible or was her imagination on overdrive after the severed head yesterday? She didn’t know, but either way she suspected that Miss Martha Beckett and Beckett House would be seeing a lot more of her in the near future.
31 December 1930
Joseph loved playing hide-and-seek. It was his favourite game and he was lucky enough to live in a house big enough to play a really good game of it. Sometimes it took his sister ages to come and find him, although he hated it if she took too long because he got bored. Today was one of those days where he was bored. He had no idea what she was doing, but if she didn’t come soon he was giving up and playing something else. Then he heard her footsteps running up the first staircase and stifled a giggle. She hated the attic and would go mad with him for hiding in here although she hated the cellar even more. She said the attic was full of spiders and the cellar was full of rats. A right proper girl she was and he sometimes wished that he had a brother to play with, but then he would remember that she was only five so he shouldn’t complain. He was nine so he was almost grown up compared to her. She began to call his name so she must be fed up of playing. Joe had tucked himself away at the back of the small cupboard in the attic. The door was tiny and only really big enough for a child to go in, and he wondered quite a lot why it was there and what purpose it served. It was one of those questions he always meant to ask his father but he would forget about it until the next time he saw it. His father was hardly around anyway. He was always at work at the amusement park. Joe wished he could go there more often with him, but his mother always said it wasn’t a place a child should be spending time in unless it was for a fun day out.
‘I give in, Joe. I can’t find you and if you’re hiding in the attic I’m not coming up there anyway. I told you I wasn’t.’
His mother began to call them and he scrambled out of his hiding place as he heard Martha clattering back down the stairs. For a small child she had feet like an elephant. He hit his head on the doorframe and rubbed it with his hand to take away the sting. Slamming the door shut he ran out of the room and down the steep attic stairs to the landing below, then down the next set of stairs and straight into the dining room where he’d last seen his mother bossing Lucy, their housemaid, around while she was trying to set the table for tonight. He barged through the door and straight into Lucy.
‘Careful, Master Beckett, you’ll do yourself an injury rushing around at that speed.’
‘Sorry, Lucy.’
His mother nodded her head with approval at his manners although he could tell she was a little displeased with him. He looked down and saw the black marks on his clean white shirt and realised why.
‘Sorry, Mother, we were playing hide-and-seek.’
Martha was already standing next to her.
‘Yes, we were and he was cheating again. I told him I wasn’t going up to the attic but he still hid up there.’
‘Now listen to me very carefully: when the guests begin to arrive later on I want you both to be on your best behaviour. No bickering between yourselves and definitely no hide-and-seek in the attic. Do you understand what I’m saying, Joe?’
‘Yes, Mother.’
‘Good. I understand you might be excited and need to burn off some energy. It’s such a dismal day outside and you can’t go and run around the garden, so another fifteen minutes of play and then I want you both to go and get washed and changed.’
‘Yes, Mother.’
They both spoke in unison and she stood up, holding out her arms to them. They ran over for a hug and she squeezed them tight.
‘Now you know that I would like nothing more than to spend tonight reading stories to you both, but your father is an important man and with great importance comes great responsibility, which means he must invite all the other important men and women that he works with into our home to share our precious time. I promise you both that, after dinner tomorrow, when the last guest has gone home, both your father and I will play whatever games you would like and read as many stories as you desire. How does that sound?’
‘Wonderful, Mother.’
‘Good. Now go and play for a while before you need to start acting like two of your father’s waxwork dummies. I love you both very much.’
She kissed them, one after the other, on the tops of their heads and then patted their bottoms, shooing them out of the dining room.
Joe ran along to the kitchen to see what Mary was cooking. He was starving. The halls were filled with the aroma of roast beef and roast chicken. Martha followed him, and Mary laughed to see them both looking like a couple of street urchins, with dirt-streaked hair and faces, and black marks all over their clothes.
‘Where the devil have you two been? Up to no good, I’ll bet. I suppose you’ll be looking for some biscuits and a drink of milk after all that exploring.’
They both nodded and climbed onto the wooden chairs around the huge kitchen table that filled the middle of the room. It was covered in plates and dishes of food, and Joe had begun to lift the lid off one when he felt a tap on the back of his head.
‘Hands off! I haven’t been awake since five o’clock this morning baking and cooking for you to put your scruffy little hands all over my works of art.’
Martha giggled and he stuck his tongue out at her, which made her giggle even more.
They sat and drank the glasses of milk as they nibbled on warm shortbread biscuits that had just come out of the oven. When they finished and Joe had wiped his milk moustache from around his lips he bent his head towards her and whispered, ‘One last game of hide-and-seek and then I’ll play dolly hospital with you.’
‘You promise? You have to nurse the dolls and make them better and not grumble about it.’
‘I promise.’
‘I suppose so. Please can I count in here? I hate having to wait on my own.’
He nodded his head, jumped off his chair and ran towards the door. ‘No peeking, Martha – I’ll know if you cheat.’
Then he was gone. Martha could only count to twenty and then she had to stop and start all over again. She was watching Mary pipe icing onto the biscuits and forgot all about going to find Joe until she heard him call her name. He sounded like he was far away. She jumped off her chair and began walking towards the hall.
A door banged behind her and she turned to see the cellar door ajar. He was just being mean and he was a big, fat cheat. She had told him not to go in the attic or the cellar and he had gone into both. He knew she didn’t like them. Well, he could wait in there all day. There was no way she was going down to look for him in the dark. She shivered. Just thinking about the dark and the rats made her want to cry. What if they nibbled her feet while she was walking around in the dark? She sat on the bottom step of the staircase and waited for him to get fed up and come back up. After what seemed like for ever she stood up and walked along to the door. She stood and listened and thought she heard her brother crying. Opening the door she stood on the top step and shouted, ‘It’s no good pretending. I don’t care one little bit if you are upset. I told you I wasn’t going down into the cellar to look for you so you might as well come back up.’