The Secret of Crickley Hall

At the health centre, despite the Caleighs' early arrival, all three doctors had eight o'clock appointments. In fact, they had scheduled surgeries running right through the morning to midday. As Loren appeared to be perfectly fine, the clinic's receptionist said she would try to fit their daughter in between legitimate appointments. As it happened, there was a ten-thirty cancellation and Eve and Loren were ushered in to see a doctor while Gabe kept an eye on Cally in the waiting room.

According to Eve later, the congenial doctor, a handsome, short-bearded, middle-aged man who treated Loren with easygoing respect, had carried out a thorough examination of their daughter, prodding her tummy and other places with gentle fingers, pressing hard, though, into the muscles of her legs because she had told him that was where it hurt last night. He listened to her heartbeat and lungs and enquired about her health in general; he also asked if she suffered from depression or if she was hyperactive at all. Did she have mood swings (what girl approaching her 'teens' didn't?) and was she menstruating yet? He asked a score of other questions at the end of which he announced that he could find nothing wrong with Loren, although from the slight pouches under her eyes she looked as if she could do with a good night's sleep. But if Eve wanted, he could send Loren to hospital for further and more extensive tests. Seeing her daughter's negative expression, Eve had declined.

Sometimes, the doctor had gone on to explain, and contradictory to what Gabe had said the previous night, troubled sleepers could have such vivid dreams of punishment that they honestly felt they were experiencing the pain. There certainly were no marks on Loren's legs, no weals, no bruises, not even any redness, so it could only have been a severely traumatic dream experience. Should such dreams continue, then he knew an excellent child psychiatrist to whom he could refer Loren.

Eve told him they would keep it in mind if it happened again.

They left the centre just before 11 a.m. and Gabe rang Seapower's Ilfracombe office on his cell phone (which worked fine in Merrybridge) to let his colleagues know he would be in later. Loren was left at school after Eve had had a word with Horkins, the headteacher. From there the three of them returned to Crickley Hall, where Gabe intended to drop off Eve and Cally before going on to work.

But when they got back to the house, they found a police patrol car in the parking area close to the bridge.

•

The uniformed policeman was waiting on Crickley Hall's doorsteps, the front door open wide behind him.

'Mr and Mrs Caleigh?' the officer said as they approached.

'What's going on?' Gabe asked, a worried frown creasing his forehead.

'You are Mr Caleigh?'

Gabe nodded. 'This is my wife, Eve.'

The policeman took out a small notebook from his breast pocket and flipped it open. 'Your full name, sir.'

'Gabriel Caleigh.'

'Gabriel?'

'Gabriel.'

The policeman scribbled in his book.

'D'you mind telling us why you're here?' Gabe asked.

'There were more of us earlier,' the policeman responded, stepping off the doorsteps. 'I'm PC Kenrick. I was left to wait for you, sir. Can you tell me what time you left the house this morning?'

'What's this about?'

Eve glanced at Gabe, concern drawing her features.

'If you would just answer the question.' The policeman was eye to eye with Gabe.

'About seven thirty, perhaps a bit later,' Eve said quickly. 'We took our daughter to the health centre in Merrybridge.'

'This little girl?' PC Kenrick indicated Cally, who sidled up behind her mother's legs at the attention. She peeked out at the policeman.

'No, our other daughter, Loren,' replied Eve. 'We dropped her off at school on the way back.'

'And this is the first time you've returned?' He directed the question at Gabe again.

'Uh-huh. We left the centre about eleven. Took Loren to Merrybridge Middle School and came straight back here.'

'Who else occupies the house apart from yourselves?'

Gabe was perplexed. 'No one else, just us. Look, can you tell us what this is all about? And how did you open the front door?'

The officer had decided to consult his notebook at that moment. 'Uh, yes, sir. Sorry. The outer kitchen door was already open when we arrived, although we also had its key. We unlocked the front door from the inside.'

'Who's we and how did you get the key to the kitchen?'

'My sergeant and two other officers. We obtained the key from someone who'd already been inside the house. That was the, uh, complainant.'

'The complainant? Who the hell is that?'

'If you'll let me ask the questions, sir.'

'Well, what's the complaint?'

'Better that you let me ask the questions for now, sir.' There was no West Country in the PC's voice. 'I will inform you as to what this concerns in due course.'

Gabe looked at Eve, then shrugged resignedly. 'Go ahead,' he said to the policeman.

Although PC Kenrick was watching him closely, it was an indifferent stare. He must be all of twelve years old, thought Gabe. Okay, maybe in his early twenties. Young and keen, polite but breakable. Stay cool, Gabe advised himself; Kenrick was only doing his job, but his guardedness was a little irritating.

'Were you alone in your house some time this morning, Mr Caleigh?' the policeman asked.

'It isn't my house. We're only renting the place for a while.'

'Yes, we were informed of that.'

'Informed by who?' questioned Eve.

'The victims' mother. The mother is actually the complainant.'

'Victims' mother?' Gabe was becoming more intrigued by the minute.

'She and another lady are Crickley Hall's regular cleaners. Now, if we can continue with the questions?'

'The answer is no, I haven't been on my own in the house this morning. I told you—we took our other daughter to see a doctor.' He couldn't tell if the policeman was satisfied or not.

'You're saying the place was empty after you left at around seven thirty? No one else has been staying with you, a relative, or a friend?'

Gabe shook his head. 'No one.'

Kenrick considered this for a moment. He said: 'Does anyone else have a key to the property, anyone other than yourselves?'

'The realtor—' Gabe caught the policeman's frown. 'Sorry, the estate agent would obviously have a set. I guess the cleaners must have a set too.'

'They only have the kitchen-door key. Which is how the victims gained entry. The girl stole her mother's key, the mother being one of the cleaners.'

'I don't get this 'victims' thing.'

Eve butted in. 'Officer, it's time you told us what this is all about. If there have been trespassers in the house, then it would seem we're the victims.'

'I was coming to that, Mrs Caleigh.' PC Kenrick slipped his notebook into the breast pocket of his uniform jacket. 'Earlier this morning while, it appears, you were out, two children—well, the boy is a youth, thirteen or fourteen years of age—say that a man exposed himself to them inside Crickley Hall.'

Eyebrows raised in astonishment, Gabe and Eve looked at one another again. Gabe turned back to Kenrick.

'Say what?' he said incredulously.

'A naked man came down the hall stairs and frightened them. They said he was carrying a thin stick that he beat himself with.'