Three Mile Drove, Chapter Twenty Five

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

The sound of wind and thunder had rendered the newcomer’s entry inaudible, but now Darren became all too aware of his arrival. Stench wafted through the barn fuelled by sudden draught, and there in the open doorway stood the figure, its face masked by the darkness, its feet crunching through the hay which covered the barn.
Darren felt Claire’s hand on his arm, he felt it tighten, then he felt her other hand place something solid into his. In the darkness he couldn’t tell what it was, and she made no attempt to raise her torch.
But the newcomer had one of his own. He raised it now, shining it down to where Tomblin sat, struggling with the bonds that tied him to the post. ‘You look a sorry state son,’ he said, his voice gruff and flat, ‘I see the stranger has found his way here, and a right mess we have on our hands, so it seems.’ Darren saw then who the newcomer was - Jacob Tomblin, the old man himself, and if his spirits could have sunk any lower they would have done then, because along with him, the assortment of gruesome misfits had returned, and guarding the door was a leering Joseph.
Darren’s mind span, he felt the object he held in his hand, it was weighty and solid. He thought that Claire must have provided it as a weapon, though its usefulness would be lost if he exposed it now. He thought of rushing the group, then he thought of guiding Claire and the girl through the tiny exit at the back, but both would have been equally useless. The assembly had begun to circle them, and the object the old man held in his other hand looked like a revolver. Darren fumbled, managed to find his coat pocket and force whatever Claire had given him inside it.
‘Come on you old fool, untie me!’ he heard Shaun Tomblin’s raucous tones rattle across the barn, only to be met by a muted response.
‘All in good time,’ Jacob Tomblin swung the torch at his son and gave a disapproving glance, ‘I thought you could look after yourself better than this.’ Darren thought the old man made a move to untie him, but he stopped and turned about, directing the torch at Claire, ‘I’d rather that your daughter hadn’t been here tonight, my dear…’
‘She wouldn’t have been if this bastard hadn’t set fire to the house,’ Tomblin glared at Darren, ‘he set fire to the house, tried to kill the lot of them and when he found it hadn’t worked he chased them here.’
‘Your daughter?’ Darren turned towards Claire in disbelief but her eyes were focused coldly on Shaun Tomblin, ‘Don’t be so bloody stupid Shaun, nobody has a better reason to destroy that place than you…’
‘Hold your tongue woman, my son here would do no such thing, he has too much respect for his family than to do that.’
‘Too much respect, huh, what a laugh!’ Claire smiled humourlessly and despite Jacob Tomblin’s face taking on an angry edge she moved closer to him, ‘Let me tell you just how much respect he has shall I?’ She swung back to Darren for a second, ‘Let me tell you just what’s been happening out there all these years.’
‘Are you gonna let her ramble on at a time like this,’ Shaun Tomblin struggled with the ropes, glaring at his father, ‘Just untie me will you and then do what you have to.’
‘All in good time I said, son,’ Jacob Tomblin hoisted the gun he held in his left hand, then relaxed his grip a little, ‘Ain’t no harm in letting her have her say, ain’t going to make any difference either way now.’
‘You think not?’ Claire hissed through her teeth, fighting back the urge to contradict the old man. The police were on their way, she’d called them herself, but why give him the advantage of knowing as much?
‘Yes Darren,’ she said, a backward glance at him, ‘Julia is my daughter, but don’t let it shock you too much, there are plenty of hidden, sordid deeds in these parts.’
Darren switched his shocked gaze to where the old man now directed his torch, the child stood between them, her head low. ‘I saw the resemblance, I just thought…’
‘Her father was Sam Regan, yes that’s right Darren, the uncle whose bungalow you inherited,’ she allowed him a bitter smile while inside her stomach wrenched. She watched Darren’s face distort with horror, ‘He raped me one day when I went to the place on an errand for my parents. They were related you see, this whole damned road is cursed with that affliction.’ She switched her gaze to Shaun Tomblin, the hatred in his eyes seemed to throw more light than the torch, ‘Shaun wanted the girl for his own, he wanted her to grow up with this hideous bunch so that in time she would introduce fresh blood into them, help erase what generations of incest had created. You see the results before you.’ She swung her arm at the assortment of misfits and Darren felt his temper reaching breaking point, easily overcoming any remaining sense of fear he held. He wanted to rush at the old man, rip the gun from his hand and settle the account for Claire, finish both Tomblin senior and his son off there and then, but he had a feeling Tomblin knew how to use the gun and didn’t doubt that he would do so.
He felt Claire’s restraining arm against his waist, she’d sensed his urge to rush Tomblin, ‘Wait,’ she said softly.
‘Where do you think this is going to get you?’ Darren’s temper got the better of him, and he made a move towards the old man, his hand on the weight in his pocket. But Claire’s grip was on him and her strength surprised him, he felt her nails digging into his skin.
‘Wait,’ she whispered. Thunder cracked overhead and she sighed, waiting for it to die away. ‘Like I say, I was just a young girl on an errand, taking medicine to my ailing uncle. Just a naïve twelve year old thinking she was being kind. Only he wasn’t ailing at all, and when I was getting his medicine out of my bag he pulled me across the bed and raped me.’
She paused, her voice had lost some of its clarity; he felt a tremble now in the grip she had on him. ‘Later I found I was pregnant by him, I was frightened of telling my parents, frightened of telling anybody but in the end I had to. After that I was sent away to a convent near London, and my parents looked after Julia. One day I got a letter from my dad saying my mother was ill. When I got home I found my mum was dead, and my dad lay dying.’
In the torchlight Darren saw Claire’s face contort with bitterness, when he might have expected tears. She seemed to exude a ferocity like a cat about to pounce, the stance that a few minutes ago was directed at him.
‘I knew he’d taken her, my dad kept a diary. He kept it up in the attic of their house. You knew, didn’t you Shaun, you tried looking everywhere but you never found it. It wasn’t in his cases, it was right beneath them. Loose floorboards in an old attic. But you wouldn’t have thought of that, would you, you thick bastard. I’ve got it now, safely in a vault.
It tells of all the sordid deeds here, of the kidnap, of these poor pathetic creatures that you’ve hidden from the outside world, it tells of how my parents were too frightened of this family to speak out, and that they feared for their lives. They were right about that, weren’t they. They were poisoned, by you. Murdering bastard.’ She glanced at Darren, angry and hurt, ‘So you see that’s why I’m sure he set fire to the house. Things were getting just a little too hot, weren’t they Shaun?’
‘That’s enough,’ Shaun glowered at both Claire and his father, ‘untie me and deal with them now, she’s had her say.’
‘So she has son,’ the old man’s hand tightened on the trigger as he raised the gun, ‘so she has.’
Claire took another step forward as Tomblin straightened his arm, levelling the gun at her. Darren braced himself, free of her restraining arm now and ready to spring should she tackle him.
‘You don’t think you’re getting away with shooting us, do you Jacob? The police are on their way, they’ll be here at any minute.’ Claire, trying to keep her voice cool, swallowed heavily, now she had let the cat out of the bag, perhaps handed the old man the initiative. A derisory smile crossed his wrinkled face.
‘The police, Claire? I doubt it. Not for a long time,’ his smile widened as her brow creased. ‘I came across them on the drove, they were closer to the place than they thought until I directed them down to old Sam’s bungalow. Yeah the place does have some uses apart from attracting unwelcome strangers. Don’t you worry yourself my girl, they won’t find this place in a month of Sundays.’
Claire felt she had swallowed a pill every bit as lethal as the bullets loaded inside Jacob’s gun. Darren saw her head drop, he saw old Jacob Tomblin savour his moment of triumph, he saw her daughter, filthy but still pretty, standing tearfully behind her.
And then his restraint broke.
His eyes travelled downward to the straw littering the barn floor, old Tomblin had the gun, he had the torch but right now its beam was directed solely at Claire. Through the shadows he saw his chance and in the split second he had to react Darren bent low scooping the dust filled hay in the palm of his hand and letting it fly across the few feet that separated him from the old man.
Tomblin felt the dust more than he did the straw, it bit with sudden ferocity deep into his eyes. He let out a yell of anguish as his son’s voice barked in fury. Shaun had seen what had happened but the old fool hadn’t untied him, there was nothing he could do and now both gun and torch lowered Darren leapt in front of Claire wrenching the weapon from his grasp.
A renewed cacophony of screams rang through the air as Joseph lurched forward egged on by his family of freaks. Joseph remembered the blow he’d taken and it filled him with frenzy. Darren was his target and Claire saw that, she leapt on his back with all the impact she could muster, embedding her feet in his sides, but hunched though it might have been his spine took her weight without a shudder and he seemed oblivious to her presence.
Darren lashed an arm across the ugly face but the twisted mouth simply smiled, he felt the gun he’d taken from Tomblin ripped from his hand and saw it flung backwards to where the old man retrieved it.
‘Joseph untie!’
The deformed teenager gave an uncertain glance, until the old man, his gun firmly back in his hand inclined his head quickly towards his son.
‘Untie him, let him witness what follows without restraint,’ he muttered, his eyes fiercely upon the bound man, ‘though he hardly deserves it.’