Three Mile Drove, Chapter Eleven (standard:horror, 2803 words) [12/29] show all parts
Author: Brian Cross	Added: Dec 20 2006	Views/Reads: 3164/2051	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Continuation of a completed horror story set in the English Fens

CHAPTER ELEVEN 

The gathering of old people around the vicarage porch gradually began to
disperse. Endleberry smiled, patting each person on the shoulder as 
they left, taking their hands warmly in his. The weekly coffee morning 
dispensed with, he turned to go inside, catching as he did so, a 
glimpse of a figure crossing the street. 

‘Claire if I might have a word,' he swung round, his look hardening
though his voice remained cordial, ‘inside if you please.' 

She looked uncertainly at him, ‘I'm between patients David...' 

‘This won't take a minute,' now she caught the impatience in his voice
as he beckoned her in and hurriedly closed the door behind her. 

He turned on her, agitation visible in his stance, ‘Why did you send
McPherson to me, what possessed you?' 

She met his stare, ‘I'm sorry David, I merely thought you'd put his mind
at rest, convince him he was seeing things,' she sighed, placed her 
medical bag down, right now it felt unusually heavy. 

Endleberry gave a humourless laugh, ‘I don't think our meeting quite had
that effect, if you ask me it'll merely encourage him to go digging 
around, Claire, you of all people; how can you have been so stupid?' 

She saw the way that he trembled; the stern look in his eyes had given
way to fear. She reached up, placed her hands firmly on his shoulders, 
‘Look, I should have told you, but what harm's been done, I thought 
you'd reassure Tim not get upset about this. In the end he's none the 
wiser is he? We've given away nothing.' 

He shrugged her off, pacing around the hallway, ‘That's not my point,
what happens if he finds out McPherson's been here, you know what he's 
like, he won't care that I'm the village parson, won't show any regard 
for the cloth. And you of all people Claire, with so much to lose.' 

‘He's not likely to know,' Claire rolled her eyes, exasperated, she
hadn't expected him to make so much of this, if he kept worrying the 
way he was it really could make things difficult. 

‘Look, he hardly ever shows himself around here, you know that. If you
just relax it'll all quieten down...' 

‘People see things in these parts, they have eyes, ears, they use them
more than most. You know that.' He exhaled loudly, raised his head to 
the ceiling, arms outstretched, ‘It was you who should have just let 
things be.' 

Claire walked forward, placed her hands hard on Endleberry's arms,
pressed them to his sides, ‘Look David, stop worrying. Tim will soon be 
finished here, he'll find nothing more, I'm sure of that. Quit fretting 
eh?' 

She released her grip, turning on her heels and scooping up her bag in
almost the same movement. She heaved the door open without looking back 
at him; outside the air was damp and chilly, contrasting with the 
mustiness of the old vicarage. Despite what she'd said David wouldn't 
be set at ease, and despite her firm stance Claire was worried. She'd 
known Tim for a long time; he wasn't one to let up on things easily, 
even with precious little to go on. She knew he was ambitious and the 
fact that others had gained promotion while he'd been unable to rise 
above sergeant served as a spur to drive him on. 

But his investigations surrounded a missing child after all, they
weren't connected to Bramble Dyke's own little nest of worms, somebody 
had made an erroneous sighting, that was all it was. Pretty soon he'd 
have to quit, like it or not. 

Nonetheless, as she reached her car the air of uncertainty that swept
around her like the mists of the fens, refused to dissolve. There was 
the chance that somehow, before he'd finished, he might manage to 
stumble on something and that in so doing the leak would be attributed 
to her and David. 


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