Page 40 of Beatrix

‘Just like gnats,’ Billy suggested helpfully.

‘Do any of you undertake amateur dramatics?’ Rob asked.

Everybody looked at Charlotte.

‘We need someone who can ‘old their own wi’ the mudsills doin’ the guardin’,’ Billy interrupted before the matron could react. ‘Someone who can pitch the gammon wi’out so much as turnin’ an ‘air.’ He shook his head, clearly at a loss as to where they’d find anyone fitting that description in the time they had. Then, all of a sudden, his face lit up.

‘Wot we need are two someones… like Gladys an’ Arnold…’

The room erupted in a buzz of opinions, ranging from absolutely not, to that’s a capital idea.

‘Do we trust them?’ Henry asked when the melee finally died down. ‘I confess I still have reservations as to their motives for helping us at Pounds House.’

‘I don’t think beggars can be choosers,’ Charlotte countered brusquely.

‘What about the danger they’d be in?’ Beatrix interjected. ‘They may not wish to take part in such a risky endeavour.’

‘I reckon Gladys is more ‘an capable o’ lookin’ after ‘erself,’ Billy declared, thinking of the makeshift weapon in the matron’s pocket. ‘An’ there ain’t many blokes who’d willingly take on Arnold…’

‘They did say they’d be willing to help if we need them,’ Rob added.

Arabella sighed. ‘The fact is, if we’re actually going to go through with such a totty-headed plan, the least we can do is to enlist the help of people who aren’t likely to be rumbled the first time they open their mouths.’

Henry nodded thoughtfully. ‘I’ll send a telegram to the Dog and Duck first thing in the morning,’ he murmured at length, ‘since we don’t have a home address for either of them. If they agree to help us, they need to get here as soon as possible.’

‘What about Rhys, Alexandra and the rest?’ Ben questioned. ‘There are so many ways this whole plan could go all to smash, we should have some kind of contingency.’

‘I dread to think exactly what kind of contingency plan Florence and Daisy might come up with,’ Beatrix retorted drily.

‘Nevertheless, they are part of Shackleford and Daughters,’ Henry declared firmly. ‘This is the biggest operation we’ve undertaken so far, and we can’t discount the possibility that we’re going to need everyone.’ He paused, waiting for his sibling’s protest at his inclusion of the youngest Shacklefords, but to his surprise, she said nothing. After a few seconds, he went on, ‘How we ultimately bring down Jacob White is a problem for afterwards. At this moment we must focus on saving those children. To that end, I’ll send a telegram to Cliff House instructing everyone to come here.’

‘What about Bernie’s eavesdropping excursion at the Imperial Hotel?’ Beatrix reminded them.

It was Charlotte who answered – as usual without mincing words. ‘If we make a mull of the next few days, it will be a moot point, since we’ll either be grinning at daisy roots or looking to get into a different business…’

* * *

Beatrix wasn’t sure what woke her. Opening her eyes in the darkness, she wondered what the time was. Lifting her head, she saw that the fire had almost burned itself out, only embers remaining. It had to be near to dawn, she reasoned. Next to her, Arabella was snoring softly, still dead to the world. Listening to the unfamiliar cadence, Beatrix realised just how much she was missing her twin. Bernie’s snores were loud – indeed, Bea had been driven to sleep with her pillow over her head on more than one occasion.

All being well, they would be back together in the next twenty-four hours. She suspected that she and Bella would be expected to share their rather splendid room with their three arriving sisters. Alex was lucky to only have to share her bed with one person…

The very idea of sharing a bed with a man inevitably led her thoughts to Rob Noon. She shifted restlessly. Their kiss might as well have not happened for all the intimacy they’d shared since leaving Exeter. But that wasn’t the only thing she missed.

She realised just how much she’d enjoyed being alone with Rob with only Billy along to protect her reputation.

Was Rob accustomed to spending time alone, or did he spend most of his time with his family? Bea realised she didn’t actually know. His life on the other side of the world seemed so far removed from South Devon. There had been no time to get to know one another, no time to learn about each other’s dreams and desires. Within hours of his arrival, they’d been caught up in the case.

But then it had been the same for her two older sisters. Neither Alex nor Bella had had time for a proper courtship. They too had lurched from crisis to crisis without any period of normality. Indeed, Arabella and Benedict had not yet had the luxury of a wedding, though Bea well knew they both wanted one. She wondered what would happen once they’d finally bested Jacob White – if they finally bested him.

Would her father close the agency? Neither he nor Charlotte were exactly spring chickens.

That said, Beatrix could no longer imagine a life without Shackleford and Daughters. Although both she and her twin had balked at the very idea of becoming private detectives, Bea especially had never been particularly drawn to marriage, to the idea of having a husband and a home and family of her own. The odd times she actually thought about the future, she envisaged herself in Cliff House, enjoying Mrs Williams’ plum duff until she was old and grey.

Bea was well aware of her tendency to be outspoken – as was her twin. Their proclivity for calling a spade what it was had got both of them into hot water more than once. Though neither of them would readily admit it, of all their siblings, the two of them were most like their aunt. And now, lying in the dark, Bea finally considered whether the main reason she’d always eschewed marriage was the fear that nobody would want her.

Because she was like Aunt Charlotte.

Charlotte, who’d never given any indication that she wished to be wed. But she and her siblings had always wondered whether it was because no man would have her. Her outspokenness was legendary in the Bay, and most people avoided her unless absolutely necessary.