Chapter 26

My ears picked up, and I filed this in my memory for later.

So it was that we were home before I got a chance to discuss this information with my wives. I chose to speak first with Sharl, as the prime mover in Jenny’s arrival with us.

“Sharl, I want you to introduce to Jenny, apparently just in passing, the words, ‘Mount Shasta Home’, and note her reaction to the term.”

“Odd thing to say to her, Jimmy.”

“My reason for asking this is that your dad’s secretary mentioned that the afore-named establishment has a bad reputation among girls. That made me think. A bad reputation among girls may indicate institutional abuse so that may be a possible previous residence for Jenny, and an indication of why she has such a fear of returning.”

“I see.”

Sharl thought for a bit. “I could perhaps say to Marjory that if we had to travel on a family visit we might park Jenny with a local children’s home for a few days, and ask if she knows anything about the Mount Shasta Home. I would make sure to say this within the hearing of Jenny, and if she exhibits a bad reaction, I could ask her why she would not want to stay there for a few days.”

“Sounds good, Sharl. Go ahead and try it when you see the opportunity. She might say she has heard bad things about the place, then we have no positive identification, but at a minimum she has enough local knowledge for us to conclude she lived locally before going on the streets.”

Sharlene arranged the dinner schedule so that Jenny was at the same table as her, but at the opposite end. During the meal, she casually said to her neighbour, Cherry, “What do we do if we have to go visit relatives? Do we leave all the others here?”

Cherry replied, “I would expect all the wives to be there together.”

“Does that include Elizabeth?” asked Sharl.

“Well, she is a wife in effect if not in name. We shouldn’t leave her out.”

“That leaves Jenny. We can’t leave her on her own; that would be unfair.”

“Then what do you suggest, Sharl?”

“Leave her with people who can look after her for a few days, such as a children’s home. Today Jimmy heard mention of a Mount Shasta home. Possibly that might be suitable.”

There was a sudden squeal of fright from the other end of the table. Jenny’s terrified look had returned.

“No! I can’t go there!”

Sharl stared at her in assumed surprise.

“Why ever not, Jenny? These homes are provided for protection to such as you.”

“Because ... because...” she tailed off, speechless.

Sharl pursued the question.

“Is there some reason what that particular home frightens you, Jenny? We want you to be safe, girl, and we will ensure that happens, no matter what.”

Jenny had that ‘caught in a headlight’ look, and slowly said quietly, “That home was bad to me.”

Sharl gave her a big gentle smile. “Now there you are, Jenny. If we know what is wrong, we can do something about it, but if you don’t tell us, we can’t do anything to help, dear.”

“Oh.” Jenny subsided, at a loss for what to say but still afraid of what might happen.

Sharlene continued pressing, “Was it all the home, or was it one or more individuals in the place, Jenny?”

She shivered, then admitted, speaking slowly and hesitantly, “It was Mr Osmand, the owner. He likes to touch and fondle girls, and if you don’t come to him when he demands it, he hits you when no other staff are looking. Nobody dares to resist. The only escape is to run away and not get caught, but only if you get the chance, and that is not often. Being caught might be fatal.”

“So if you run away, you have to hide and not come to the notice of the authorities?”

“Yes. If you get caught, you get sent back. I would rather die!”

“That is why you wouldn’t give your name or where you came from? Doesn’t the home post you as missing if you disappear?”

“No, for the police would ask why you are missing. He wouldn’t want questions like that. He just tells everyone you went home to your parents, if you are not there anymore. We were never sure if that really meant family home, or dead, so no-one dared to query any disappearance. We always hoped the girl had escaped.”

Sharl told her, “Jenny, we will never allow you to be sent back there. We will keep your secret, and keep you with us. We don’t need to go on family visits as a group, and probably won’t, so the idea of that was just a ‘what if’ question that you can forget about. You are our Jenny now.” She repeated, “OUR Jenny.”

Jenny burst into tears, and once she had calmed down, she said, “I am so relieved. I was scared you might send me back to that hell-hole.”

Sharl reported the facts to me, and asked what we could do about the man Osmand. I did not need time to think about it. The answer was already to hand and I told her to leave it with me.

I phoned Captain Thomson the next day, to inform him that some interesting information had come into my possession about Mount Shasta children’s home.

“The information is hearsay, so not actionable as evidence for a conviction, but I am sure some judicious enquiries might enable to you to enlarge these claims about that children’s home and the owner or administrator, a Mr Osmand.”

“Is there any reason why you have such an interest in that home, Mr Hargreaves?” he asked me. I hummed and hawed before saying, “I have a suspicion that the girl you and I know as Jenny might have escaped from his clutches at that home. There is a sneaking suspicion that not every child that is recorded as being placed in that home is recorded later as leaving that home. I have my doubts about their records.”

“What are you suggesting, Mr Hargreaves?” said Thomson, with a frown evident in his voice.

“Only that it may be worth someone examining the home’s records of children’s departure from the home, and find if there is any record of the later existence of these children after they have officially left. For example, is there a Jenny who is placed in their care and is no longer there, but with no official departure on record?”

“That sounds serious to me, Mr Hargreaves.”

“It does, and it is. Sometimes a child dies while in a home, perhaps through terminal illness, and is buried in the grounds, but there should be a formal registration of the death, and a burial record stating where the body lies. That may account for some missing children, but there may be others who simply disappeared. Those are the ones worth investigating further, in my humble opinion, Captain.”

There was a slight pause before the cop’s reply.

“As you say, interesting. I might start by asking the department that supervises these homes, to make enquiries into the quality of record-keeping of that home. I will insist on knowing what their enquiries reveal, and take it farther if warranted.”

“Thank you, Captain. I apologise if I have added to your no doubt heavy-laden burden of duties.”

“Not at all, Mr Hargreaves. My responsibility is to all our community, and I intend to enforce that duty of care.”

We said farewell, and I left that with him for a while. Kicking ass at another department is not an easy achievement, and he probably would have to apply some leverage from another angle to get action. Perhaps he might suggest that there was doubt about that department’s reliability in supervising such establishments that were taking public money to look after children. In my estimation of the man, he was capable of applying the appropriate pressure in a careful manner to get these checks done in detail and thoroughly applied.

For the moment, I must get Sharl to tell Jenny that we are working on a solution to the Mount Shasta home problem, so that her anxiety can be relieved a little.

Efforts to get Yeats Group up and running again were going well, and EJM Distribution were definitely moving in, negotiations with Yeats having been satisfactorily concluded. Their trucks were coming and going as the company instructed their drivers on the new premises they would be working from: the loading areas; where they could park their vehicles; where the repair bay was situated if major maintenance was required; where the boss of an evening had their office for dealing with the paperwork for vehicle usage and drivers’ hours, and for details of the clients whose parcels were being sent around the country, as well as the centralised preliminary route planning for the most efficient delivery routes.

I intended to call in on them to make myself better known, as I might be their man to call at night or a weekend if there was a technical problem related to their presence on the industrial estate. They would have the security company number to call if there was a security breach of any kind at their building: an unlikely event due to the base perimeter security routine. Operational matters would be up to the company to sort out, such as if they had a broken-down truck somewhere and had to arrange a recovery of the vehicle and onward passage of its load.

We had to do this on occasion, but it was on a more local scale where it was much easier to send out a replacement van to transfer the load and take it onward.

I checked to see if we had the phone number for Charles Fairfield, and Emerson’s secretary passed it to me. I phoned and got a reply.

“EJM Distribution. How can we help you?”

“Mr Fairfield?”

“Speaking.”

“Jimmy Hargreaves of the Yeats Group. How are you settling in here?”

“Things are going fine so far. The drivers like the new place; particularly the toilets, as they are a higher class facility than we had at our last place; clearly designed to do a good job for all the Air Force men.”

“I hadn’t considered the toilet facilities, the quality of the restrooms, when we were pushing the benefits. I’ll keep it in mind when we negotiate with any other business. Talking of other businesses, we are going to have a new restaurant here, where the Air Force previously had their kitchens and their Officers and Airmen’s clubs. I am told the new owners are stripping out all the old cooking equipment and replacing it with new gear made to today’s standards. During daytime it will act like a diner, offering good but cheaper meals for working folk like you and your staff, then in the evening it moves on to become a high class restaurant with high quality food, with service and prices appropriate to that style. If you want to woo or wow a potential business client, they will get the best possible experience at the new place. They are going to name it Top Gun, to show the standards they aspire to.”

Fairfield commented, “Overall, that aircraft hangar makes an excellent unit for our trucks to come in and out of, for loading and unloading under cover, away from the weather, and the high roof level and extractor fans takes away all the diesel fumes that these trucks produce. It means working conditions for our men have improved, and that makes for happier staff.”

“Glad to hear it, Mr Fairfield. Your exterior security is covered by our industrial estate security service – Plummer Security Services. They do regular patrols of the estate, so all you have to worry about is your interior contents if anyone breaks in. Our security men can attend any break-in, but are not empowered to enter without the owner’s explicit permission. We had a break-in recently at our first warehouse, and called the cops to take away the criminals that our Security team apprehended.”

“Good to know, Mr Hargreaves; good to know. Is that security part of the deal for the building?”

“You would have to check with Chairman Yeats, or our lawyer, or whomever negotiated your lease, to clarify that, but I would tentatively presume that it was included. It makes life so much simpler for everyone that way! I just wanted to let you know that as I live on a house on the estate; the former Air Force boss’s residence, that I am on call if you have any problem that security cannot deal with directly with your people. I would expect that to be overnight or at weekends when you don’t have staff in the building. I will make sure you have my number to call.”

“That is kind of you, Mr Hargreaves. I trust that I won’t have to call on you.”

“I hope so too, Mr Fairfield. Nice to talk with you.”

“And with you. Bye, Mr Hargreaves.”

That evening, I was able to get my girls to assure Jenny that preparations were in hand to do something about Mr Osmand and his children’s home. She must have asked about how this was happening, for Sharl informed her that it was me, the husband, who was acting on Jenny’s behalf.

Jenny was amazed that a man was trying to help her. Sharl told her that their Jimmy was a great guy, nothing like what she had encountered at the home or on the streets.

“Do you know what most impressed me about Jimmy, after I met him? It was his demand for people to be respected in whatever job or task they were involved in. You could be a plumber, or a waitress, but both merited respect from you unless they later showed they did not deserve that respect. That attitude meant that other people began to respect you in return, and that astounded me.”

“Was that why you married him?”

“A tricky question, Jenny, but no. I married him because I fell in love with him. If a man treats you as someone worth striving to help, it makes a mark on you. He insisted on us improving ourselves, and was rather forceful in his emphasis, I stopped being a bully to my sisters and started trying to be a person that Jimmy would be proud of; almost a father figure, but most definitely not. He became a desirable man. That was the point where I started to love him and aspire to become what he saw in me and my sisters. He saw us as worthwhile people, people who deserved to be changed for the better. He set himself the task of changing us into the girls we deserved to be, and by God, he succeeded.”

“So why have I never met him since I arrived, if you are so proud of him?”

“To protect you, Jenny. You recall what you were like at the hospital? If a man appeared, any man, you went into a panic, so that all the staff who worked with you were female: doctors, nurses, orderlies, even police officers who came to interview you. Don’t you remember? They were particularly careful to not upset you.”

“Not really; it was all a blur at the time. I couldn’t think straight, and at times I couldn’t think at all. I was just reacting to what was happening around me.”

“I see. Well, we warned Jimmy to stay out of your sight, despite the fact that this is his home. We have been eating meals in different rooms when he was home; some of us with you, some of us with him. Most of the time we girls have not even had sex with our husband, in case you noticed and freaked out.”

“What? You did all this for me?” Jenny was astonished.

“Of course we did it for you. The whole family are doing this to help you, Jenny, to show our respect towards you; Jimmy included. We are treating you as if you are our daughter. Our daughter deserves all the help we can give her, that’s all. I am going to be a Mom, so this is good practice for the future, if ever any daughter of ours needs our love after a disaster.”

“Oh.” Jenny was subdued, unsure what to say, if anything.

Sharlene had a brainwave.

“Would you like to meet our Jimmy? Or at least see what he looks like?”

“Umm ... I don’t know, Sharl.”

“In that case, what we will do is let you have a look at him without him knowing. How does that sound?”

“I could manage that, I think.”

So Sharl and the other girls arranged to have me helping in the kitchen, and allowed Jenny to pass the doorway when I was busy at the cooker, stirring a pot. As she did so, I continued to face the cooker, so that she had no chance to see my face, just a rear glimpse of my body standing at the cooker. This was more frustrating for her, so she demanded to get to see my face, pointing out that her one glance at me outside was walking with Marjory and she had not focussed on me.

They solved this quandary by asking me to do some gardening the next evening, and Jenny had the chance to look out a window at me. That was more satisfactory, so now when the wives talked about their man, she knew visually who they were talking about.

In fact, she was impressed by what I looked like, and said so to Sharl. She smiled and replied, “Yes, we were impressed by him in many ways. That is why we ended up marrying him!”

Jenny said slowly, “I am beginning to realise that not all men are the same. Most men I encountered before wanted to have sex with me, or touch my body for their own gratification; never to treat me as a person worth liking and ... and respecting.”

“That was what we three had experience of before we met Jimmy. We were treated by men as females to have sex with; nothing more, but we didn’t notice that at the time; we weren’t observant enough. Jimmy had to convert our view of life and of other human beings, so that we had respect for ourselves and showed respect to other people. It is an amazing discovery when you make it, Jenny; that people are simply people, some nasty, some nice, and many a bit of both. It is up to you to make a judgment on them and act accordingly.”

It was a couple days later that my cop friend phoned me back at my office during the afternoon.

“I thought you would like an update, Mr Hargreaves. The establishment in question was visited by an official named Jones and myself yesterday, and we had an interesting meeting with the owner.”

“Ahh,” I said with a question in my voice. “It depends on what you mean by ‘interesting’, doesn’t it?”

“Indeed. The man was surprised that we wanted to look at his records of his charges, and tried to put us off by claiming to be unsure where his staff held the documents. I told him that in that case it should only take a moment for him to order the records to be produced. We could wait for action. He was not happy, but we got to see them and sat down to do a full inspection. All and any gaps were questioned. The answers for one or two children no longer present were vague and unsettling to me, so I demanded the address of the parents who had supposedly collected the girl. It was always a girl. Runaway boys were dutifully reported to the authorities. Girls seemed to not run off but were collected by their parents, according to Osmand.