The Secret Passage - Chapter Nine
Locked Up in the Police Station
by Nina Bawden

The big, shiny car purred through the streets of Henstable with the four children huddled in the back, not speaking. Mary felt very miserable and scared - and hungry, too, because it was lunch time. She sat next to John and held his hand to comfort him though, in fact, John looked more thoughtful than frightened. His face was pink and his eyes were bright - almost, Mary thought, surprised, as if something extraordinarily nice and exciting had happened. He certainly didn't look like a criminal being taken to the police station.

Neither did Ben. He sat stolidly, his hands clenched on his knees. He had not spoken once and he was so furiously angry that his eyes were like hard, dark little stones. Mary knew he was angry about Pin and was glad of it; as long as he was angry he couldn't be scared, though he probably wouldn't have been scared anyway. He was too young, she thought, to understand the dreadful thing that was happening to them.

Victoria was frightened, though. She was crouching in the corner and shivering as if she was very cold. Her face looked just as it had when they first met her; a screwed up, pale, sullen face, glowering out of the window.

The car stopped. Jackson got out, opened the back door and jerked his head. "Out," he said curtly.

They went up some stone steps into a big, bare room, where there was a kind of counter and a policeman standing behind it. The children waited while Jackson spoke to the policeman in a low voice. The policeman was a tall, red-faced man with a great deal of hair; not only did he have a vast, ginger moustache, but there were spikes of red hair growing stiffly out of his ears. He looked at the children while Jackson was talking and after a bit, he beckoned to them.

They went up to the counter. It was so high that Ben could barely see over it. The policeman spoke to them. They would have to stay here for a while, he said; they were to tell him their names and addresses and their parents would be sent for.

Ben's mouth was shut tight as a clamp and John seemed speechless - not through fear, exactly, it was more as if he was far away in a world of his own. Mary glanced at Victoria because she was so obviously the oldest, but she was clasping her arms across her chest and quivering and staring at the floor.

So it was Mary who talked to the policeman. She said that their name was Mallory, she told him where they lived and Aunt Mabel's telephone number. The policeman put little questions, to encourage her; though his voice was gruff it was also quite kind and after a while Mary began to feel a good deal less frightened. When she had finished, she glanced at Victoria again and suddenly realised what John had realised earlier: that Victoria only had to say she was Victoria Reynolds and everyone would know that they weren't criminals, only rather naughty children who had broken into someone else's house. And though her grandfather might still be very angry, he would hardly send his grand-daughter's friends to prison.

She was rather surprised because Victoria didn't speak up and say who she was, but she wasn't angry. Mary had a very kind heart and was always ready to make allowances for people: she thought Victoria was silly not to tell the policeman her name but she was very sorry for her, because she looked so pale and terrified.

Perhaps the policeman was sorry for her too because he didn't question her, though he looked at her once or twice in a curious sort of way. Or perhaps he thought that she was a Mallory too.

When he had written down all the things that Mary told him, he took them behind the counter and into another room, where there was a lot of bright, scrubbed, yellow paint and a small, barred window high up in one wall. The policeman said they were to wait there for a little while. Just after he had left, another policeman - a very young one - came in with a tray on which there were four steaming cups of tea that he put down on the bench. He didn't say anything but winked at them in a cheerful way.

In spite of his wink and the tea - which was so strong and sweet none of them could drink it - the next half hour was a very unhappy time. In fact it seemed more like half a day than half an hour. None of them spoke much. Ben just said, in a quiet, ominous voice, "Just wait until Miss Pin hears of this!" and relapsed into a dark, gloomy silence. Victoria just sat and shook and John peered sideways at her from time to time - an odd, secretive glance that would have puzzled Mary, if she hadn't been so busy wondering what would happen to them. And what Aunt Mabel would say!

Perhaps even when they discovered who Victoria was, and that they hadn't stolen anything, they would still be sent to prison! Perhaps breaking into a house - Breaking and Entering, was what Mr Reynolds had said - was just as bad as stealing something. And they had broken the Bust. Perhaps once My Reynolds discovered that, they would all be thrown into jail straightaway, and not let out until they were quite old...

This thought was so alarming that she quite stopped worrying about how upset and angry Aunt Mabel was going to be, and when, finally, the door opened and Aunt Mabel was ushered in by the hairy policeman, Mary ran up to her, crying, "Please - oh, please Aunt Mabel, don't let them send us to prison."

Aunt Mabel's eyes were red and her face was pinched and cross, but she held Mary's head tightly against her side and said soothingly," There, there, my lamb, don't cry..." Then, as if she was rather ashamed of herself for being so kind and gentle, she pushed Mary away and said coldly, "I am deeply ashamed - so ashamed I don't know what to say. Your Father will have to know - everyone will know. It will be in all the papers, you will have to come up before a magistrate..."

Ben pushed Mary aside and stood in front of Aunt Mabel. He burst out, "He said we were thieves. And we're not. Miss Pin knows. I'm going to tell her."

His face was so set and burning with rage that John and Mary would have laughed, if it had been such a solemn occasion. Then he ran towards the door, butted the hairy policeman in the stomach and squeezed past him. He took everyone by surprise; he was out of the police station and in the street, almost before the policeman could turn round.

"Ben," Aunt Mabel called in a high voice, "Ben, come back here..."

She would have gone after him if the policeman had not stopped her with a loud, good-natured laugh. "Let him go, Mrs Haggard. We know where he lives, don't we? We can get hold of him when we want to." And he went out, closing the door.

Aunt Mabel said, "Well, you've got yourselves into a pretty pickle... You..." Then she saw Victoria, and her eyes sharpened with surprise.

John gave her a queer little squeak of excitement. "Aunt Mabel," he said, "this is Victoria. She is your Long Lost Daughter."

Aunt Mabel looked thunderstruck. John said, "I knew, because of the locket. She was wearing it when she was found on the steps of the church." He beamed at Aunt Mabel, very proud and happy, as if had had quite forgotten he was locked in a police station. "We went into the House of Secrets and we found the brass bedstead and the chest with your things in it and the picture of your baby that was stolen - and then we found Victoria had the locket with your picture in it..."

In a minute, he thought, when Aunt Mabel had taken in this wonderful news, she would open her arms wide and clasp Victoria to her bosom. He was a little surprised - even though perhaps he hadn't explained it very well - when Aunt Mabel did not do this. She simply stood there, her mouth opening and shutting, like a fish gasping for air.

Mary stammered, "But... but I thought Mr Reynolds was her grandfather..."

"Only her adopted grandfather," John explained. "That's not the same thing at all." He looked at Aunt Mabel solicitously. "I suppose it's an awful shock. Would you feel better if you sat down?"

But Aunt Mabel wasn't just shocked. Something was dreadfully wrong. Her face had gone a curious, mottled colour as she looked at Victoria and suddenly burst out, "Why, Vicky Clark. What have you been telling them - you wicked girl?"

Victoria burst into tears.

"I couldn't help it, I couldn't..." she sobbed. "They found me in the house and I was so scared... they kept asking questions on and on and they thought Mr Reynolds was my grandfather and I said yes, he was, because I thought otherwise they'd tell on me and I'd get into awful trouble. Then, later on, when I found they hadn't any more business being there than I had... I couldn't, I couldn't..."

John stared at her. He couldn't believe it. Why should Victoria have told such dreadful lies?

He said indignantly, "But you had that locket! You said..."

She looked at him miserably. "I took that locket out of the chest in the attic. It was so pretty, I only wanted to wear it for a little while. But - but I thought you'd think I'd stolen it. And - and anyway I'd been pretending to myself about it being my mother's locket..."

"But why did you tell us the other things? Do you mean it wasn't true, none of it - about the awful school and being adopted and your mother and father dying and everything..."

John was dreadfully angry. It was partly disappointment, of course - it had been so exciting and wonderful to think he had discovered Aunt Mabel's daughter - but he was also an upright boy who despised people who didn't tell the truth.

Victoria drew a long, sobbing breath. "I didn't - I didn't mean to tell lies, but I just started and I went on. And it was nice thinking that I lived in that lovely house and that my real parents were rich and everything. It was sort of exciting and everything's really so horrible and dull..."

Aunt Mabel's voice was unexpectedly gentle. "It wasn't all lies, John. Vicky's parents are dead. She's an orphan and she lives with her foster mother, Mrs Clark. Mrs Clark works for Mr Reynolds - she keeps the house clean for him when he's away."

But John's face stayed cold and stony. He said, "So that's how you had a key. You just came in and out through the back door. I think you're a nasty, lying little sneak. Telling us all those stories and making us sorry for you... and... eating our food..."

"I didn't want it," Victoria shouted fiercely - she wasn't crying now, but just as angry as John. "D' you think I wanted that horrible, cold egg and that horrible bread and butter all covered with dirt? It's your fault - you made me eat it, you made me..."

She looked thoroughly bad-tempered and cross but Mary felt, suddenly, rather sorry for her. It was their fault in a way, they'd wanted her to be mysterious and exciting. And it was silly of John to be angry when all Victoria had done was to pretend to be someone else - and John himself was always pretending. But of course, though it was all right to pretend, it was wrong to tell lies; sometimes it was very difficult to tell which you were doing.

Mary said, "You should have told us. I mean, it was all right to pretend in the beginning, but after we'd been found out - when Mr Reynolds had caught us, I mean - you could have told us in the car, or something..."

Victoria gave a sniff. "I thought you'd hate me for telling those lies and think I was horrible, the way everyone else does. And I wanted us to be friends."

"But we were friends," Mary said, surprised. "So you could have told us. And you should have told us you'd only borrowed the locket because..."

Her voice trailed away. She had suddenly realised how awful it must be for Aunt Mabel when she came into the room and John said, "this is you Long Lost Daughter", when it was only a girl she knew called Vicky Clark.

She looked at Aunt Mabel anxiously, but Aunt Mabel didn't appear in the least upset. She looked grim. She gave Mary and I'll-talk-to-you-later look. But when she turned to Victoria, her expression wasn't grim at all. It was kind and pitying.

She said, "What were you doing in the house, Vicky? Did Mrs Clark know you were there?"

"Once she did," Victoria said unhappily. "She hurt her back, see, about two months ago, and she said I was to go in and dust downstairs so the place would keep clean for Mr Reynolds. He's ever such a fussy man. Mrs Clark said I was to go home after school and give the little ones their tea and put them to bed and then go along to Mr Reynolds' house and clean. I didn't want to go - I was scared because the house was shut-up and spooky - but she said I was stupid. So I went and dusted like she said - the dining room and the stairs and the hall and then I was tired and my legs ached and I thought Mr Reynolds wouldn't mind if I sat down for a little while. So I went into that room and saw the piano..."

Aunt Mabel said softly, "And then? What happened then?"

Victoria looked into Aunt Mabel's face and gave a relaxed little sigh, as if something she saw there made her feel soothed and comforted. She said, "I played it. It's a lovely piano, it's got a lovely tone. And I wanted - I wanted to play it more than anything in the world. I needed to practise. The lady next door to Mrs Clark's used to let me practise on her piano and then she got a television set and she couldn't be bothered with me any more because they wanted to watch the television... though Mrs Clark said it was because she didn't like me, she said I looked so sour and cross no one could like me. And she said it wasn't worth my having music lessons any more if I couldn't practise." She paused. "I didn't hurt the piano. I didn't do any damage."

"I'm sure you didn't," Aunt Mabel said.

She was looking at Victoria in an odd way, almost as if she wanted to cry, and Victoria looked back at her with a sad, trusting expression on her face and said piteously, "Will Mrs Clark have to know? About the police and everything? I did an awful thing, you see, I gave her the front door key but I took the key out of the back door so I could get in to play the piano without anyone knowing. I didn't do anything else except once or twice I went to sleep on the bed in the attic because I was tired - I took an alarm clock so I'd wake up before it was dark. And now Mrs Clark'll find out and she'll send me back to the orphanage." Her voice broke in a sob. "I don't like Mrs Clark, but I don't want to go back to the orphanage."

Aunt Mabel took a handkerchief out of her pocket and blew her nose. She said, "I'm afraid Mrs Clark will have to know, unless My Reynolds decides to drop the charge. But he is a very hard and difficult man."

She stared straight in front of her for a minute, as if she was thinking very hard. Then she did something that was quite unlike anything the children had ever seen her do. She went up to Victoria and put her arms round her and held her head tight against her shoulder. She said, "Don't worry, Vicky dear. I'll try and think what is the best thing to do. You can come home with us and have something to eat and before you go home I'll see Mrs Clark and try to explain to her."

"Can we go home?" John said in an astonished voice. "I thought we were going to be locked up."

Aunt Mabel said dryly, "No, John. Not that you don't deserve it. But in England, no one can be imprisoned without trial."

John sighed deeply, with relief. And Victoria clung to Aunt Mabel, just as if she had been her long lost daughter, and cried a little.