Page 18 of 59 Minutes
MRS DABB
‘I need to speak to Jasmine.’
‘Call her from here,’ Mary says, her eyes are pleading. She doesn’t want to be left alone, clearly.
‘I don’t have any phone numbers with me and I had to go through her mum last time. No, I need to speak to her in person and look her in the eye.’
‘I’ll come.’ Mary struggles to a stand, joints clicking like she’s been crunched into a stiff position for hours. ‘We can check the doctor’s on the way.’
‘No, just … you just stay here, safe and warm. We’re not supposed to be out and about.’
‘I can’t just stay here like a useless lump, not with Bunny out there and everything else.’ Mary’s voice is going higher, wobblier. She used to be so sure of herself but in this moment, she seems younger than Bunny.
‘You’ve got your key for my place, haven’t you?’
Mary nods.
‘Wrap up the food and bring it to mine. Secure your place properly before you go, lock your doors when you’re driving and don’t pull over for anyone. Okay?’
‘Darling, I—’
‘I mean it, Mary, it’s not bloody safe. Okay?’
‘Okay.’
‘Just let yourself in to ours and hopefully Bunny will get home even before I do and we can all just … we can get through this together. Okay?’
‘Okay.’
‘Please, Mary, be careful, you don’t know what desperate people will do.’
A pause. ‘Yes, I do,’ she says, her voice no longer unsure. She walks into the kitchen to start wrapping up food.
Mary’s 4x4 is a relic but it’s built like a tank. So long as she doesn’t stop for anyone en route, no matter how convincing they are, Mary should be okay. She can’t get hung up on that now anyway, Bunny has to be the priority.
The little electric car is still warm from earlier.
Her temples hum and her neck starts to sweat as soon as she sits down.
She loosens her coat and turns down the heater, but there’s no time to stop and peel any layers off as she pulls out onto the lane, trying to think about the quickest route to Jasmine’s house on the other side of Chagford.
She’s dropped Bunny there before, made small talk with her mother on the doorstep while peering surreptitiously over the woman’s shoulder to look for evidence of …
not something bad as such, more evidence of care.
Of kindness and safety. That the girls wouldn’t be allowed to roam unprotected.
Chagford will be full of cars right now, full of people flooding into the church.
The thought of all those people makes her throat constrict but Mary is right, she should check at the doctor’s just in case.
As she picks up pace, the car doors lock automatically, sealing her in with a mechanical gulp.
The siren is still wailing and the fog has strangled all visibility.
Dartmoor is held together by myths and her favourite was always the pixies.
While most of the others were scary or tragic, the pixies come out to help people, especially in weather like this.
They lead the lost back to the roads and help travellers find their way.
Where are the pixies tonight, with the weather conspiring against locals and visitors alike?
Do they help anyone, no matter who they are or what they’ve done?
She checks the door locks instinctively but, of course, they’re still locked.
A prickle of something or someone in the car with her.
Her eyes flash up to the mirror but the back seats are empty.
A ghost sensation, ridiculous but hard to shake.
For a moment, she pictures the little girl that Bunny once was, fast asleep in her booster in the middle of the back seat, positioned so she was always visible.
The unbearable thought of letting her out of sight, loose in the unknown …
But that’s exactly what I have done.
She snaps on the radio but it doesn’t tell her anything new so she turns it off. Sometimes, it’s worse to know.