The Armada Boy by Kate Ellis Read Free Book Online Page A

belonging to the village playgroup was pushed into a corner and
the desks and computers moved in.
    Wesley went through the house-to-house
reports, trying not to think that at that moment Neil would be diving beneath
the cold grey waters of Bereton Bay and watching the uncovering of a ship that
had sailed with the Spanish Armada. He dismissed the image from his mind and
returned to his own bit of uncovering. But there was nothing to discover house-to-house
had drawn a blank. The entire population of Bereton had been sitting dutifully
in front of their television sets watching Inspector
Morgan , a TV detective
who, needless to say. never wasted time on useless house-to-house enquiries and
who never had paperwork to catch up on.
Inspector Morgan's days were filled with intriguing clues and car chases.
Wesley looked around at the team beavering away at their desks and computer
screens. Routine and paperwork... Inspector Morgan wouldn't last five minutes.
    One report caught his eye. Apple
Cottage. Rachel's neat, legible handwriting recorded her opinion that although
the inhabitants of Apple Cottage denied having seen anything on the night of
the murder, they might be worth another visit. Reading between the lines,
Wesley knew that this meant they were probably lying through their teeth. He
reported this to the inspector.
     
    'What are we waiting for, Wes? Let's
get round there.'
     
    Not being of country stock, Heffernan
and Wesley didn't notice the quality of the apple trees as Rachel had done. The
battered door opened slowly ... first an, inch, then another. A head appeared,
wrinkled as a walnut and topped with fine winning
white hair. The old woman peeped myopically round the door.
     
    'Can we have a word, love? Police,' Heffernan
said quietly, showing his warrant card.
     
    But the old woman wasn't looking at
the inspector. As soon as she spotted Wesley standing behind him she fixed her
watery eyes on him and started to scream. 'I'm not going. It's my house ... you're
not having it. Get away .. . go on ..She let out a terrified
shriek as she was grabbed from behind by a plump, shabbily dressed woman.
     
    'That's enough. Mother. You'll have
one of your turns again.'
     
    'It's them ... the Yanks... there's
a black one there... I ain't going ... I ain't going.' The old woman shook off
her daughter and stood her ground.
     
    Heffernan had dealt with drunks and
violent armed robbers but white-haired old ladies left him lost for words.
'It's okay, love,' he tried. 'Nobody's going to take you anywhere. We've come
to see your daughter, that's all.'
     
    'It's him.' She pointed at Wesley
accusingly. He too was speechless. 'He's come to put me in the truck.'
     
    'No one's going to put you in any
truck. Mother. Calm down... come back upstairs. Shall I ring for Dr Pargiter?'
The plump woman put her arm round her mother and tried to draw her towards the
stairs.
     
    'I'll not go.' The old woman's words
held a finality that brooked no argument. Heffernan noticed a stream of
glistening liquid running down her bare leg. The urine left a dark patch on the
threadbare, patterned carpet.
     
    'Oh, Mother, look what you've done
now.' The old woman looked down as if she weren't aware of what she had done.
She suddenly fell silent and acquiescent. Her daughter led her towards the
stairs, crooning reassuring words in the old woman's ear.
     
    'Quite a reception,' said Heffernan
as they hovered awkwardly on the doorstep.
     
    To their relief the woman returned
after a few minutes, apologising profusely. 'You'll have to excuse Mother ...
She thinks she's back in the war half the time.' She looked at Wesley and blushed,
embarrassed. 'It was you being ... you know. The GIs... the Yanks ... some of
them were black and she'd not seen no black people before ... not round here.
She thought...'
     
    Wesley was beginning to understand.
'So she thought we were American troops coming to move her from her home in
1944?'
     
    The woman relaxed a little. 'It's