Page 53 of The Stranger in Room Six

Desperately, Mabel tried to follow Clarissa who was fighting her way through the crowd. But she could see they were too late. The Colonel was lying on the floor of the court, blood gushing out of his neck, his eyes open.

A man was wrestling with the police, a dripping knife in his hands. ‘Traitors like that deserve to die,’ he was shouting.

Clarissa was screaming hysterically. ‘Jonty! He’s killed my Jonty.’

Everywhere, there was panic. Some people were screaming. Others were shouting ‘Good riddance’ and ‘Now he can’t appeal against his sentence’.

‘Stand clear everyone, please,’ called out another policeman.

‘Let’s get his bitch next,’ shouted someone. ‘Where is she?’

‘Quickly,’ said Mabel. ‘We need to get you away from here.’

Why was no one helping them? ‘Lean on me,’ said Mabel urgently. Somehow she managed to get her still-hysterical aunt back to the car.

‘Are you able to drive?’ she ventured nervously. ‘If we don’t get moving, they might do the same to us.’

Her words must have sunk in because Clarissa stopped screaming and got into the driving seat.

The gear stick made a strange noise but they were moving. ‘Please don’t go so fast,’ begged Mabel sliding down the seat, too scared to look.

Finally, they roared up the drive of the Old Rectory, screeching to a halt. Clarissa opened the driver’s door and slumped out, half-mad with exhaustion, half-mad with grief.

‘I’ll help you get her upstairs,’ said Cook rushing to Mabel’s side.

‘Jonty, Jonty,’ wept her aunt as she sank onto the pillow. ‘How can I live without you?’

The following evening, her aunt fell down the stairs in her grief, twisting her ankle.

‘What am I going to do?’ she wailed to Mabel from her bed.

‘Tonight is the night. Jonty told me I had to fulfil the plan, even if he wasn’t here.

But I can’t move with this wretched pain. How am I going to do it now?’

‘Do what?’ Mabel asked.

Her aunt grabbed her hand. ‘You asked before if you could help with the war work. Now is the time. I need you to go down to our beach and flash a torch tonight at midnight.’

‘Why?’

‘It’s to guide in a boat containing a special person who can help us win this war.’

Surely her aunt was rambling with the pain. ‘Isn’t this a job for the police or the navy?’

Clarissa’s grip grew tighter. ‘They must not know. Jonty and I are working for a higher authority. Now go. Quickly. Three flashes. Then back here.’

Mabel hesitated.

‘I’ve taken you in and given you a home, girl. Do you want to help me or not?’

Uncertainly, Mabel made her way down the cliff path and onto the beach. It was so dark! Scared, she held out the torch and flashed three times.

Someone was flashing back.

Mabel turned hurriedly to clamber back up the cliff path. But as she did so, she heard a shot and screams. Hiding behind the bracken, Mabel saw to her horror that soldiers were running onto the beach. There were more gunshots.

Terrified, she ran back to the house and raced up to Clarissa’s room. ‘I did as you said but then the soldiers came and I heard shooting.’

Clarissa paled. ‘Was anyone killed?’ she rasped, grabbing Mabel’s wrist tightly.

‘I don’t know.’

‘You did your best,’ she said, shaking violently. ‘As a thank you, I want you to have this.’

She undid her locket and handed it to her. ‘Inside is a picture of me and your mother when we were young. Your grandfather gave it to me. Wear it at all times and keep it safe.’

Mabel’s eyes swam with gratitude. ‘Thank you.’

Suddenly the dogs started barking madly, as if someone was at the door.

‘Get back to bed,’ Clarissa hissed. ‘Put on your nightclothes. Quickly. I will ring for Cook to answer.’

Back in her room, Mabel couldn’t help peeping through the door, trembling as two policemen marched up to her aunt’s room. Their voices were loud enough to hear across the landing.

‘We’ve received reports of an unknown boat landing on the beach. Do you know anything about it?’

‘No, of course not. I have been in my room all evening.’

‘Who else is in the house?’

‘Just the cook and my niece.’

Terrified, Mabel climbed into bed. The knock came in seconds. ‘Mabel, love,’ said Cook. ‘The police need to ask you something.’

‘I’m sorry to bother you, miss,’ said the policeman, coming in. ‘We need to talk about your whereabouts this evening. Have you been here at the house all night?’

‘Yes,’ she managed to say, avoiding Cook’s eye. What if she’d heard her running up the drive from the beach?

‘And you’re certain of that?’ The policeman’s eyes were boring into her.

‘You see, we were alerted to a certain “arrival” this evening, and so were waiting on the beach. We saw a light being flashed and then the person we were waiting for drew up, as if the torch was a signal for them. Do you know anything about this?’

‘No,’ whispered Mabel. ‘I don’t.’

The policeman left. Minutes later, she heard a scream. ‘Let go of me. I can’t walk. Ouch!’

Horrified, Mabel stared out of her window. Her aunt was being dragged into a police car.

‘They’ve taken her to the station for questioning,’ said Cook behind her. ‘Did she talk to you about this shooting?’

‘No,’ said Mabel, trying to hide the terror in her voice.

What if her aunt confessed? Her mind went back to the whisperings at night, people coming and going; faces she’d seen once and then never again.

Clarissa’s insistence that she, Mabel, should flash the torch.

Was her aunt guilty? And if so, was she guilty too?

What if the police came to get her next?