Bess smoothed Nancy’s clothes with the palms of her hands and closed the suitcase.
‘Ena? Miss Hawksley?’ Astonished, Bess strode across the hall to meet them. ‘Won’t you come into the office?’ She looked at Jack as she passed. No words were exchanged. The young receptionist took a suitcase from Ena, and one from Katherine Hawksley, and pushed them up against the inside of the desk so they couldn’t be seen.
‘My father has been arrested,’ Katherine cried, as soon as Bess closed the door. ‘They took him away in handcuffs. That policeman from London and some other men.’ Katherine shot a look at Ena.
‘Henry and I were with them. Henry thought it best if I went along to take care of Katherine. Can she stay here?’
‘Of course. I’m so sorry, Katherine.’ Bess felt for the young girl. She wasn’t sorry that her father had been arrested, she was delighted about that; she was sorry that the fascist movement and everything associated with it had ruined Katherine’s life. What kind of man would expose his daughter to that? ‘You look all in,’ Bess said to the trembling girl. ‘Can I get you anything?’
‘I think it would be best if Katherine had a lie down,’ Ena said.
‘I’ll ask Jack if there’s a room at the back of the hotel. One that looks across the fields,’ Bess said, pointedly. She didn’t want Katherine looking out of the window and seeing the lake. After the arrest of her father, the poor girl didn’t need to be reminded that she was the last person to see David Sutherland alive - except for his killer. ‘I’ll see what we have vacant,’ Bess said, making for the door.
‘Hang on, Bess!’ Ena stopped her sister in her tracks. ‘My room is at the back of the hotel, and it has twin beds. Katherine could stay with me. That way if anyone comes looking for a guest who booked in today, there won’t be one.’
Bess went out and asked Jack for the key to Ena’s room. ‘Except for Ena, no one but you and I, and Frank when he comes in, knows Miss Hawksley is staying here,’ she said. ‘And it must remain that way.’ With a sympathetic smile, Jack nodded slowly, assuring Bess that he understood. Bess took Ena’s room key into the office and gave it to her.
‘I’ll take Katherine up and stay with her until she’s settled,’ Ena said.
Bess followed Ena and Katherine out of the office and into reception. As she stepped behind the desk, Jack picked up Katherine’s suitcases. ‘I’ll take these up, Mrs Donnelly,’ he said, making light of the cases as he swiftly crossed the marble hall ahead of Ena and Katherine.
Jack returned as Frank and Nancy came in from feeding the animals. Apart from a little dirt on her shoes, Nancy was as clean as she had been when Bess dressed her that morning.
Because it was important that no one knew Katherine Hawksley was staying at the hotel, Bess didn’t want to tell Frank in front of Nancy. If I’m being melodramatic it’s too bad, she thought, but an eight-year old child might innocently say a name, which, if overheard by the wrong people, could be disastrous.
Bess trusted Maeve and would tell her on Monday when she returned to work. To Frank she said, ‘Ena has brought her friend from New Year’s Eve to see us.’
‘Good. The removal must have gone to plan.’ Frank took hold of Nancy’s hand. ‘Let’s get some tea and biscuits, shall we?’
Jack, professional and discreet, was busy writing something in the reservations diary. ‘Can you manage on your own if I take a break, Jack?’
‘Yes, Mrs Donnelly.’
With the hotel having been full during the half-term break, Jack had been busy most of the morning with guests paying and departing. Because the children were back at school on Monday, the majority of the guests had left soon after breakfast. Bess looked at the clock on the wall above reception. It was ten-forty-five. ‘I’ll be back at eleven.’
Bess turned to remind Jack to take messages, but he beat her to it saying, with a twinkle in his eye, ‘Messages?’ Bess laughed. She was still laughing when she entered the dining room.
‘Chef has made me a cake,’ Nancy said, smiling broadly, ‘Do you want some?’
‘Yes, please,’ Bess said, and held her breath while Nancy cut through a sponge cake, with a cake knife. Trying to work out which way the cake would wobble off the knife if it fell, Bess lifted her plate. She needn’t have worried. Meeting the plate half-way, Nancy turned the wide blade of the knife upside down and the cake tumbled onto Bess’s plate.
Waving his hands in the air, the chef came into the dining room. ‘Did you like the cake Chef made for you, little one?’
‘Yes, thank you. Will you look after the rest, so I can give Aunt Maeve some when she comes for me?’
‘But of course.’ With a flamboyant swoop, he picked up the cake-stand and flounced out of the dining room.
Frank laughed and Bess shook her head. ‘I need to go on reception now, Nancy, so Jack can have a break. When he comes back is there anything you’d like to do before lunch?’
Pulling a thoughtful face, Nancy put her finger to her chin and looked up at the ceiling. ‘Say goodbye to Grandma Dudley.’
Bess felt a lump in her throat that she knew wouldn’t clear by coughing. ‘All right. We’ll walk down.
