Chapter 7

Angela looked at Joseph with incredulity.

"Such a stupid prick!" she said at last. With her hands on her hips, Joseph could not take his eyes off her body, still filling out those pyjamas prettily and now gathered to her waist.

"I'm concerned about him," said Joseph. "He has no idea what the weather can do around here and that car will not handle well in this storm."

Angela looked at him in amazement.

"Joseph he took your wife and child. He killed them in his arrogance! Let him go and kill himself in his car – poetic justice!! He deserves it. He wouldn't even pay for their bloody funeral or even attend it!"

"Angela," Joseph said patiently, "Trevor is a human being. He is like he is for a reason. Anyone, and I mean anyone, is worth saving. People can change, and even if they don't, I'd prefer they always had the chance."

"I don't understand you," she said, her exasperation showing. "How can you be so detached?"

"Ten years, Angela," he said, gazing at her. "Ten years and a lot of meditation to allow me to move on. I have moved on. It took years of meditation to forgive. I have forgiven, but to be honest, I was surprised at myself just then!" and he laughed that simple happy laugh. "Don't you see, Angela? I'm free of all that baggage."

Then in an instant he was serious.

"Trevor, your Gerard, could die out there. Could you live with that on your conscience? Before you had your accident here and before you knew what he had done to me and to Susan and Sonia, you lived with him. There must be some good in him for you to stay with him?"

Angela still could not follow his reasoning, but his last remark made her think. What was it about Gerard that made her stay? At that moment she could not think of anything.

"What do we do?" she sighed with resignation.

"Well, first I make hot sweet tea and put it in a flask. Then I get those chocolate bars with the soft caramel filling. Blankets – I have a survival blanket you know – you could get them for me from the airing cupboard on the landing. That warm hat with the earflaps, mittens, from the hall chest. Take them and warm them by the stove in the living room."

Angela went off to do her part, and Joseph did his. He had the food and drinks in an insulated bag, and had a large padded bag for the blankets and clothing. He put them down in the hallway.

"I'll get the Rover out and follow down the track. Check if he made it to the road. Then down the road a while to the village. Perhaps he made it, but I need to check; if he didn't make it far, he won't be able to call for help, no signal remember?"

"I'll come too," she said.

"Well," he grinned, looking her up and down, "I think you should dress first."

"Oh, you!" she punched him gently.

"Put everything you have that's warm on, lots and lots of layers, don't worry how you look. You could be wading in a metre of snow, and the wind is icy. I have a hat for you, and gloves."

She went to the bedroom and dressed as he had told her. Two pairs knickers, and of tights, a bra, camisole, two shirts and a sweater, a pair of leggings and slacks. She looked at herself in the mirror and laughed, she looked like a barrel. Then she went back into the hallway, to find Joseph also looking more bulky, already waiting in his Barbour coat, boots and over-trousers. He handed her a hat with tabs for her ears, a pair of over-trousers, and a pair of gloves.

"Put your coat on and then this cagoule and these over-trousers," he said. She did so. "Now the hat and gloves." Again she obeyed.

"Wait until you hear the Rover come round and then come out," he said. "Bring the bags with you."

With that he went outside, Bob following him. The snow blew in for a second before the door was closed, it was still snowing very heavily and blowing hard.

It was a long time before she heard a vehicle outside and went out. She noticed the thick tread on the tyres and the extra large wheels keeping the car well clear of the ground. As she opened the door she was hit by a wall of heat.

"I needed to warm it up before we set out," he said.

She climbed in and they were off. They travelled slowly, the snow driving into the windscreen as the wipers on full speed struggled to clear it away. It was as if they were in a thick fog, so heavy and driving was the snow-storm. Angela could see the snowdrifts already growing here and there against the drystone walls, and she wondered if the large four by four would be able to make it. Joseph seemed to know what he was doing, and she felt comfortable and secure with him.

Angela was surprised when Joseph slowed the big vehicle down. She could not see the sharp left bend in the track, for the snow had drifted and obliterated the drystone wall round the field and it was impossible to tell that the entrance to the field ahead was not the road.

Once Joseph had cautiously made the turn, they were confronted by the Porsche, which had slewed across the track and buried its nose in the shallow ditch at the side. Gerard must have seen the bend at the last minute, had been travelling too quickly to control the car when he made the turn and spun. The ditch was not deep, but the car ran so low on the road that it was now perched on the edge of the ditch with its mid-section grounded, and the front wheels pawing the air. The rear of the car was half-way across the track and the car itself was already disappearing under the snow which piled up against it in the wind.

Joseph stopped the car and they sat looking at the scene for a moment.

Then Joseph said, "Please Angela, will you wait here while I check the car and Gerard? No point in both of us getting cold and wet. OK?"

She nodded, and he put up his hood and pulled the string tight round his face, then opened the car door and left. The snow eddied in and a cold blast hit her before he quickly shut the door.

He trudged through the deepening snow to the car and went to the driver's side, peering in through the window which was steamed up. The car's engine was not running as he would have expected to keep the inside of the car warm. He could not see inside, and went to the passenger side which was somewhat more in the lee of the wind. He tried the door and it opened. His spirits sank when he saw there was no one in the car. The fool had wandered off on foot, he thought, no doubt panicking. He walked back to the Range Rover and after shaking himself off, climbed back into the car.

"He's gone," he said, and she could see he was worried. "He would have better stayed in the car. We'd better get after him."

Angela made as if to get out of the car, but Joseph stopped her.

"We'll go in the car," he said.

"But the way is blocked."

"There is another way."

He reversed the car to the corner, put it into four wheel drive and went into the field, turning along the wall and following it, just wide of the drifting snow, turning right at the end and making for a gate at the far corner.

"It's my field," he explained. "This gate brings us onto the track further along."

He got out and opened the gate, and they drove though onto the track. Again he stopped and got out to look at the snow, but the wind had blown any footprints away. He got in and they continued along the track at a walking pace.

As they passed between the first trees of the wood, Angela cried out, "There, over there, under that tree!"

The shape of a man sitting hunched under a dense fir tree, sheltering from the snow storm, was ahead and to the right of the car. They stopped and as Joseph made to get out, Angela did the same.

"Put your hat on, flaps down, hood up and pull the string tight around your face," he ordered. "And zip your cagoule up to your neck. Gloves on."

She did as she was instructed

"Be quiet and gentle," he said, "He may be confused. We coax him into the car, back seat with you. You put the blankets round him, talking all the time. Give him the tea and try to get him to eat the chocolate bars. The more the better. That will warm his core from the inside."

He took the spare hat and mittens and the two of them made their way to the crouched figure.

Joseph knelt by the man, and assessed his condition. He was still shivering a little, but it was clear he was going into the second and more dangerous stage of hypothermia.

"Trevor," said Joseph quietly, "You feel cold. Let us help you up. Come where it's warm."

The man stirred, "Wha'?" he said, "Keeping out of the wind. I'm all righ..."

"I have a better place," said Joseph, "where it is really warm. You want to get warm don't you, Trevor?"

Gerard looked up vacantly then nodded and Joseph took him under his armpits and raised him gently to his feet. Joseph put the hat on Gerard's head and the mittens on his hands as if he were a small child.

"Angela," he said, "you take the left, I'll take the right."

They put his arms over their shoulders and slowly walked him to the vehicle, the engine of which Joseph had left running.

They eased Gerard into the rear seat.

"Get in," he said to Angela, holding open the rear door and shutting it behind her.

He went round and got in the other side. Gerard was mumbling something, looking about him.