Faith - Lesley Pearse [234]
‘She’s okay,’ he said soothingly. ‘She was very brave and fought him off. We think her attacker has had a minor stroke and they are taking him to hospital.’
Mrs Hernan came out of her house, crying and very agitated. ‘Oh, Meggie,’ she said, wringing her hands. ‘I’m so glad you’ve come back. What a terrible business!’
Mrs Hernan was a widow in her sixties and she often looked after Lucy for Meggie when she had to be away from home for more than a few hours. She was a stout, kind-hearted and sensible woman, not given to hysterics, so that made Meggie even more frightened.
Her neighbour explained how she rescued Lucy from the road and then called through the letterbox when Laura didn’t answer the door. ‘I couldn’t believe it when she called back telling me to get the police! When they got here and I let them in, I thought both Laura and the man were dead because she was slumped down on top of him on the kitchen floor. But she is all right, she’d just fainted. I suppose that was the shock. I nearly fainted myself, I’d had such a fright. Lucy’s still in my house.’
Meggie wasn’t one for telling anyone her business. All Mrs Hernan knew was that Laura had come to stay for a holiday. Meggie supposed she had no choice now but to tell her the truth; after all, it would be all over the papers once Laura was exonerated. ‘You go indoors out of the rain and have a cup of tea,’ she said. ‘I’ll come and get Lucy and have a chat once I’ve seen Laura.’
She found Laura lying on the settee in the sitting room, a tall, powerfully built sergeant with a crewcut perched on the arm talking to her. Laura looked awful; one side of her face was puffy and her eye red and swollen. There were also bruises on her neck as if her attacker had tried to strangle her.
‘Don’t panic,’ she said, trying to smile at Meggie. ‘It looks worse than it is. They’ve been trying to get me to go to hospital, but. as far as I know they’ve got no miracle cure for black eyes.’
She quickly explained what had happened, making light of it. ‘As for Lucy, she was as clever as Lassie, she charged out the front door and got help for me. We’d better give her something special for her tea.’
Meggie felt choked up by her sister’s courage and by the way she was trying to make her laugh even though she’d clearly had a terrifying experience.
‘I’ve got the gist of what happened, but if it’s okay with you I’ll call back tomorrow and take a proper statement,’ the sergeant said to Meggie. ‘Are you two going to be all right here alone, or would you like us to leave someone to stay with you?’
‘We’ll be fine on our own,’ Laura butted in. ‘Just make sure you keep Robbie Fielding under lock and key. The last thing I want is him coming round here in the middle of the night and showing his face at the window like Robert De Niro in Cape Fear.’
That did make Meggie smile. She could remember watching the video of it with Ivy, and her sister had been too scared to drive home alone.
The police left once they’d checked the kitchen for the second man’s fingerprints. Meggie got some ice cubes out of the fridge and made a pack to put on Laura’s face.
‘I don’t know,’ she said, shaking her head as she held the pack to Laura’s cheek. ‘Leave you alone for an afternoon and you invite a couple of men in! Sergeant Erskine was nice, did you try to chat him up too?’
‘No, I don’t think he realized how gorgeous I am normally,’ Laura laughed. ‘Anyway, I think he fancied you, I saw you whispering in the hall.’
‘We were talking about you,’ Meggie said defensively. ‘He said how brave you were; he’d obviously done his homework and knew your case inside out. He might not have mentioned your beauty, but he did comment on your sense of humour.’
‘I expect he thought it was warped!’
Meggie half smiled. Laura was right, Sergeant Erskine was nice, with soft brown eyes and a generous mouth, and he was clearly a sensitive man. ‘Your sister’s got a lot of guts,’ he said. ‘Most people in that position freeze up. But the thing that impressed me most was her control. She used just enough force to overpower her attacker.