Chapter 3: Joeys Strip Search

‘I’m away a lot with work,’ he said, ‘So the house and garden get neglected. If you want to come and live there as my housekeeper and the lad keeps the garden tidy, you can live there rent free.’

‘In the situation we were in it was a wonderful offer and mum had no hesitation in accepting. I had never really taken to him myself, but I hadn’t seen that much of him, so I thought perhaps I’d misjudged him, as he was being so generous.’

‘We moved in the following week. I knew mum had been crying to herself some nights with worry. To see her so relieved and happy again was lovely.’

‘We settled in fine, and everything went well. Uncle Desmond was out at work or away with work a lot, so it was just like our own home most of the time. When he was home, he joined us for meals and mum often sat in the lounge with him after dinner.’

‘He was very quiet, and he was abrupt at times. But that didn’t bother either of us particularly. I stayed with them sometimes, but more often than not I’d go up to my bedroom. I had the smallest of the three bedrooms, so it was like my own little den. I used my headphones when I played any music and if I watched my own tv I’d keep the volume down.’

‘When we moved in, Uncle Desmond had told us very clearly that he didn’t like people coming to the house who he didn’t know. After he had gone out, mum said it was a small price to pay for what we had.’

‘When I became friends with Gareth and Alan, I explained the situation to them. They thought it a bit odd but accepted it. They still invited me to theirs just the same.’

‘For the first two months I spent most of my spare time working in the garden. It had got very overgrown. I’m no gardener, so I concentrated on getting rid of everything that was obviously growing wild and mowing the lawn.’

‘I sorted out the front garden first, then moved to the back. As I worked my way down the garden, I noticed that the pathway down the centre of the back garden was relatively clear of excessive overgrowth. That was very different to the rest of the garden, so I was puzzled.’

‘Then I discovered something strange. In the end fence at the very bottom of the garden was a gate which was completely clear of overgrowth. Beyond it was an area totally overgrown like a jungle. But a pathway had been cut into it, barely wide enough for a person to pass through.’

‘From the cut branches at each side, it was plain that it had been kept trimmed recently. That made me even more puzzled. I opened the gate which opened easily and silently. Going through I walked along the narrow space between the trees for about twenty yards.’

‘I was almost on it before I saw a log cabin amongst the trees and bushes. When I reached the door, I could see glimpses of what looked like water through the trees, in front of the cabin. The undergrowth was too dense to get through.’

‘I tried the door, but it was locked. Further along the back there was a small bit sticking out. I managed to squeeze along the back and round the extra bit on the back. The other side wasn’t quite as dense, so I was able to squeeze along the end.’

‘I could see from here that there was a lake in front of the cabin. I felt a bit like an explorer. I almost fell in the lake, not seeing the edge of the land through the bushes.’

‘The cabin had a balcony all along the front, so I climbed over the rail and stood looking at the lake. It was quite a large oval shape and all around looked totally overgrown.’

‘I turned round and looked at the cabin. It had a wide patio door covering two thirds of the front. I could see inside, it had a bed, an armchair, a table and two chairs. I don’t know what made me try the patio doors, but it slid open.’

‘I stepped in and had a look around. I noticed there was no dust anywhere, which seemed strange with it being so hard to get to. At the back was the other side of the door I’d come to first and another door.’

‘I opened the other door and found a toilet and a washbasin. There was also a hoover hanging up which explained the lack of dust. I closed the patio door then let myself out of the door at the back. It was a yale lock, so I was able to close it behind me and save myself having to squeeze back through the bushes.’

‘Returning to the garden, I carried on with my work. I wondered whether I should say anything about it or not. Clearly someone was using it, otherwise the pathway wouldn’t be clear. But as Uncle Desmond hadn’t mentioned it I decided to keep quiet, for now at least.’

‘The following day Uncle Desmond returned home in time for dinner. He’d been away for several days. Not usually very forthcoming, to my surprise he complimented me on the front garden. ‘He’s done the back garden as well.’ mum said. He didn’t seem as pleased to hear that and gave me a strange look.’

‘After dinner, he went out back. I’d noticed him looking at me a few times over dinner, so I left the washing up. I nipped up into mum’s bedroom which looked out over the back garden.’

‘As I got there, he was just disappearing through the gate in the fence at the bottom of the garden. With my ariel view I noticed that the couple of bushes near the bottom of the garden would hide the gate from the house at ground level.’

‘I returned to the dishes. Soon afterwards, he came back in. I was sitting in the lounge with mum by then. He looked at me and said, ‘I should have warned you not to go through the gate at the bottom of the garden. There’s a very deep pond in amongst the trees and you could easily fall in it before you realised it was there, because it’s so overgrown.’

‘I was tempted to tell him that I was a good swimmer, but I thought better of it. ‘Ok,’ I said, ‘Thanks for telling me.’ ‘How was he with you after that?’ Lewis asked.

‘He was strange anyway,’ Joey said, ‘But he seemed to be even more so with me after that. But life went on as usual until the following Sunday. It was his one Sunday in the month that he was at home. After mum had gone to church, I was sitting in the lounge reading.’

‘Uncle Desmond came in and said, ‘Right you, come with me.’ He sounded angry so I got up and followed him. He led the way down the garden and through the gate.’

‘Make sure you keep to the path,’ he ordered, ‘I wouldn’t like to have to tell your mum you’d fallen in and drowned.’ We reached the door that I had come out of. He put the key in and opened the door.’

‘When we were inside, he pointed to the floor just inside the patio doors. There were a couple of what looked like muddy footprints that had dried out and left dust.’

‘Someone’s been in here,’ he said. ‘Go and get the hoover and clean it up.’ ‘I was so worried about what was going to happen I wasn’t thinking clearly. I went straight to the other door, got the hoover out and cleaned up the muck.’

‘As I did, I remember thinking, ‘I’m sure I checked the floor before I left. Surely, I would have noticed that mess.’ I put the hoover away and found him standing looking at me with a satisfied looking smile on his face.’

‘You fell for that,’ he smirked, ‘How did you know where the hoover was?’ ‘I couldn’t see it,’ I said, ‘So I assumed it was in the cupboard.’ ‘Don’t lie to me he screamed as he slapped me hard across the face. You’ve been in here before, haven’t you?’

‘Yes,’ I admitted. ‘How did you get onto the balcony?’ he shouted. I explained about finding the path, then the cabin and squeezing around the back to the balcony. ‘The patio doors were unlocked,’ I said, ‘So I looked inside.’

‘What did you steal?’ he asked. ‘Nothing,’ I said indignantly, ‘I’m no thief.’ ‘Don’t lie to me,’ he said. ‘Well, I’m not having a thief living in my house so you and your mum can get out.’

‘Please don’t do that,’ I said knowing how upset mum would be. ‘I promise you I didn’t take anything, I only looked around briefly.’ ‘Well, I don’t believe you,’ he said. ‘I think that whatever you took, you would be keeping it on you for safekeeping,’ he said. ‘So, there’s a simple solution.’