‘You spoil me,’ Bill smiled at the woman, who must’ve been his wife. ‘It’s a long day when you don’t see the one you love,’ he told Harvey and Melissa when they turned to venture out into the rain. ‘These kids are asking about the Charlestons,’ he explained.
The woman, a lot shorter than Bill, with a pea-green headscarf that would’ve protected her from the wet outside, pulled a face that suggested she had the same opinions of the family as her husband. ‘That name takes me way back.’ She hadn’t moved from Bill’s side and Melissa envied how in love they clearly still were. ‘They were a strange family, very serious, not at all like the new owners. Are you related?’ the wife asked Melissa.
‘No, we’re just trying to find out some information about a friend of ours, Barney Walters.’
‘I’m afraid the name doesn’t ring a bell.’
‘Not to worry,’ Melissa smiled. They said their goodbyes and uttered their thanks again before leaving Bill to unwrap the parcel of steaming-hot potato and battered fish. But Bill’s voice stopped them before they could make a run for it and not get soaked from the rain that had become heavier as they sheltered inside.
‘Come to think of it,’ Bill began, ‘the Charlestons did kind of have another kid, not theirs, but they took in a teenager.’
‘Male or female?’ Harvey asked quickly.
‘Oh, I remember her,’ the wife replied with what appeared to be a bit of a look to her husband. ‘She was beautiful all right, turned heads she did.’
‘Can you remember her name?’ Melissa’s hopes rose.
Bill shook his head but his wife spoke up again. ‘Lois.’
‘I’m not sure that was her name,’ Bill countered.
The wife clearly had a better memory. ‘Yes it was. I remember because one of you lot used to call her Lois Lane.’
‘Ah, you’re right,’ Bill smiled. ‘We did.’
The wife bristled. ‘She was a looker, I admit.’
‘I only had eyes for you back then, you know that.’ Bill hugged his wife to him and planted a kiss on her cheek, making her blush.
‘I didn’t really know the girl,’ Bill’s wife carried on, ‘but I did know that she’d lost her parents at a very young age. I think the Charlestons were her aunt and uncle. They took her in and raised her. I dread to think how strict they were given the way they acted around their workers. We didn’t see much of her in here, but there was some hoo-ha involving a boy and that was when the Charlestons sold up and moved away.’
‘Hoo-ha?’ Melissa asked.
‘Lois married the boy, there was a baby from what I remember. But then nothing. I stopped seeing them around the village.’
‘That’s right,’ said Bill, his memory triggered by his wife’s recollection. ‘The trio became a taboo subject around here. Mr Charleston wouldn’t speak about them if anyone asked and then they were gone.’
‘I don’t suppose you know where to, do you?’
‘Not a clue, love,’ said the wife, her voice softening at the look of disappointment on Melissa’s face.
Harvey and Melissa thanked Bill and his wife again, they’d helped by at least placing Lois here. It had to be the same woman – what with the stationery letterhead, the name and the fact this was the village Barney had grown up in and left. And Melissa wouldn’t mind betting that Harvey was the boy involved in the so-called hoo-ha.
They ran back to the pub and dived into the truck. ‘It’s teaming down,’ Melissa shivered, her hair stuck to her face. ‘That’ll serve me right for thinking it was OK to come out in tiny shorts and not bring anything else.’
Harvey reached into the back of the truck and pulled out a jumper. ‘Here, put this on.’
‘Don’t you need it?’
He flexed his biceps. ‘No chance, I’m not soft.’
Smiling, she pulled the jumper over her head. It couldn’t live in the truck as a spare, it smelled too good for that. The wool neck scratched at her face but not in a bad way and with the engine running and the heater on, she warmed up quickly. ‘Where to from here?’ She looked across at Harvey.
‘No idea. I mean, at least now we know Lois was here, there was some trouble, and you can bet money that trouble involved Barney.’
‘My thoughts exactly.’
He looked across at her when she picked up her phone again. ‘What are you up to?’
