‘Yes. She is apologetic and quite lucid.’
Sam stood up. ‘I think you should try to get in touch with Philip Fauve before she wakes. Give him as much of the story as you feel comfortable with but be sure that he grasps the severity of what is happening here. There is no way Kate can meet Sophie. No way. Then when Kate is compos mentis, you must tell her that they’ve flown back to Canada. We need to free her of that particular worry, and you need to become her guiding light again. Can you do that, Will?’
Will thought for a moment. ‘Damn! I don’t have a contact number for him, other than his mobile, and it’s not connecting. He said it wasn’t working properly even though he had roaming activated.’
‘Can you ring the air base?’ asked Matt.
‘I can try. I’ll do it now while you are both here, if that’s alright with you?’ He looked from one to the other. ‘I might just bottle it if I leave it till later.’
His call was put on hold, and after being connected to several extensions, he was finally put through to someone who knew about the Canadian captain.
‘He is at Lakenheath today, sir. I can give you a number if that will help?’
Again, he was passed around until a curt voice asked why he wanted to contact Captain Fauve. He explained that it was a personal matter. He said he urgently needed to speak to him regarding his niece and their proposed visit to the fens. The man informed him that for security reasons, the best he could do was to get a message to Captain Fauve and ask him to return the call.
Will then had to spend a restless fifteen minutes before the phone rang. To his disappointment, it was the Lakenheath base again.
‘I am sorry, sir, but the conference ended an hour ago and Captain Fauve has already left. I understand he is staying the night in London, but we have no contact number for him.’
Will swore softly.
Choosing to ignore the epithet, the man on the other end of the line suggested he ring Mrs Fauve in Canada. He was bound to call home at some time, and she could pass on a message for him.
Will thanked the man. After hurriedly working out the time difference between England and Saskatchewan, he found the number.
Annette sounded surprised but delighted to hear from him, although her tone became more sombre when he told her of his problem.
‘Poor Kate! How awful! Yes, of course, you must speak to Philip, but his phone is down. Let me get the London number for you. They’re staying at a small hotel in Bayswater. We had a few days there a couple of years ago.’
Will could hear the shuffling of papers.
‘Ah, here it is.’ Annette Fauve read out the number. ‘It’s room twenty-five, Will, and if he rings me first, I will make sure that he knows about your troubles and doesn’t spring another surprise visit on you. I really am so very sorry that turning up unannounced like that has caused such an upset.’
Will assured her that it was no one’s fault. He explained that Kate had become worse of late and the smallest thing made her ill. He also explained that telephone calls could be difficult if she was around, so to forgive him if there were times when he couldn’t talk freely. She said she understood, wished him well, and hung up.
The hotel said that they hadn’t yet arrived but confirmed their booking reservation. Will said he would ring back. His back and shoulders screamed with pain from all the tension, and his elbow throbbed mercilessly. In the past, when his injuries had played him up, Kate would massage his aching joints with aromatherapy oils. Now he went in search of paracetamol.
‘Headache?’ Matt asked.
‘Oh, Matt. Headache. Backache. Mainly elbow ache. You name it, it aches.’
‘Hardly surprising, my boy,’ said Sam kindly. ‘Have you managed to track Fauve down yet?’
‘No, but at least I have the number of his hotel. I’ll try again in half an hour.’ He swallowed the paracetamol. ‘Look, if you guys want to get home, I’m over my crisis. Kate will probably sleep the clock round, so if you need to go, it’s not a problem. You’ve both got me back on an even keel again. I’m so grateful, honestly.’
Sam glanced at Matt. ‘I don’t know about you, but I have all the time in the world. I’ll stay until you’ve talked to Captain Fauve.’
Matt agreed. ‘No rush. Let’s make sure you have this sorted.’
* * *
Finally, Will found himself talking to Philip. ‘I thought there was something wrong, Will. You were strung out like a high wire. Look, I’m really sorry about all this. I feel I’m to blame. I should have found a way to call you first, but I had no idea Kate was that bad.’
‘It’s not your fault,’ said Will quickly, ‘and please don’t let Sophie feel like that either. Can you assure her that her aunt is very poorly, and that it has nothing to do with her?’
He was desperate not to let his niece feel that he’d rejected her, on top of losing her parents.
Philip promised he would tell her as much as he could. ‘Do you think we will see you at all?’
‘I really don’t know, Philip, her moods fluctuate so suddenly. I would hate to break another promise to Sophie.’
‘Say, tell you what, we’ll stay on here another night, then come up to the fens a day later than planned, on the Sunday night. That way, we’ll be around for all of Monday. If you can get to see us it would be great, but if not, no sweat. The motel has a pool and Sophie swims like a fish, so we can chill out there before our journey home.’
‘What time do you leave?’
‘Twenty-one hundred hours from Waddington. It’s in your neck of the woods, and less than thirty miles from the air force base.’
‘I’ll do my best to see you, Philip, but I can’t make any promises. I’m living from crisis to crisis at present.’
‘Look, you take care of your wife? After all, it was a bit of a long shot meeting up anyway, and,’ Philip paused, ‘and young Sophie didn’t like Holland House one bit, you know? She keeps on about it, doesn’t know how you guys can live there. Funny how an ordinary old house can freak a kid out.’
Will was of the opinion that Holland House was anything but ordinary but refrained from saying so.
Philip lowered his voice. ‘I think I can hear her getting out of the tub. I’ll sit her down and explain things to her. But hey, it sure was lucky that you decided not to bring her back with you? You would have had Sophie to deal with as well as Kate.’
‘You mean she is really that troubled by Whisper Fen?’
‘Sure thing, Will. She had an awful dream about it the night after we saw you. Woke up sweating and crying. It upset me too, she looked so terrified. She said she had been trying to save some bird’s eggs from getting washed away on the marsh when the tide started to come in. She tried to get back to the house, but it kept moving away from her. She said the water was over her shoes and she was calling for help, but all she could hear was the house laughing at her. It must have been pretty vivid, poor little kid. It took ages to get her off to sleep again. I expected her to have nightmares over her mum and dad, but not about some old building. Well, I better go and get showered myself, we have an early dinner booked. Take care, Will, and if there’s anything Annette and I can do, just ask.’