Emily's phone jangled again "What should I do?" she asked.
"Answer it, see what he wants" said Victoria.
"How did he get my number?" she said.
"Paul probably. Winding you up" said Victoria, with a smile.
Emily answered "Hello" she said trying to sound as sexy as possible.
Victoria stifled a giggle.
"They've gone" said a tiny shaky voice at the other end.
"What?" asked Emily "Who's gone?"
"They have, they won't be back 'til ten. Please hurry." The terrified voice said.
"Oh God! Helen? Is that you?" she shouted, but the phone was dead.
Victoria sat bolt upright in her chair.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
"We've got to be back before eight" said Ben quietly.
"At eight" corrected Amy.
"But not later!" said Ben.
"Shush" said Victoria.
The three of them lay together, with Alison and Emily, under a spread of thick bushes in the vicarage garden. They watched the vicarage closely, as they had done for the past 5 minutes. The rambling old building was quiet. An old black car sat on the driveway, and the garden spread around them like a park.
"It doesn't look like anyone's in" said Victoria.
"Where's Helen then?" asked Emily.
"Good question" said Victoria "We should have planned this out in more detail"
"Sorry Victoria, we didn't really think this far ahead" said Emily feeling disappointed in herself.
"Don't worry, darling, we'll cope" she said, patting Emilly on her bottom.
"What are we going to do?" asked Ben sounding terrified "Is it illegal?"
Victoria chose not to answer that question "We can't lie here all night, we haven't got that much time. We need to act."
Everyone rolled onto their sides to look at Victoria.
"I have to go in" she said "To set up the camera. Ben, you're coming with me."
Ben looked like he was about to have a heart attack.
"Don't worry, tiger, easy in, easy out" said Victoria.
Amy was about to point out that Ben was very clumsy, but she thought better of it.
"So, Emily, anything happens out here. Anything at all, you phone me. I'll set my mobile to silent, it'll vibrate" said Victoria.
"Taking Ben and a vibrator" said Emily "Not so much confidence in the little studmuffin after all"
"You're getting as bad as Paul" said Victoria "If anything goes wrong I'm relying on you guys. Be creative, find a solution, but be safe. Em, you're in charge, but listen to Amy okay, she's smart."
Emily nodded.
Victoria took a deep breath, and with her heart pounding, she climbed to her feet and dashed across the lawn to the side of the building. She clutched her new camera close to her side.
"Ben" Emily said in a harsh whisper "Get out there, now!"
Ben wanted to go home, but he leapt up and dashed over to join Victoria, running low, and for some reason best known to himself - in a zigzag.
His reward was a slap on the bottom "Stop mucking about, this is serious" said Victoria.
Victoria took a quick peek through the nearest window, exposing herself for the shortest possible time. An over-fussy, old fashioned room lay beyond. It was empty.
"We'll work our way round the back" said Victoria, and she led off.
Ben still wanted to go home. He followed.
Victoria risked another window, with the same result. She ducked low under it, just in case, and pressed herself to the wall on the other side. She looked down the long garden which ended in an orchard. Tress and hedges framed it, but it was large enough to be divided into several sections. A large swimming pool occupied one section. Vegetables grew in another. Victoria felt very exposed. If it had been dark they might have been hidden, but in the light of a late summer evening, anyone in the garden would see them instantly.
She looked at the route ahead. The building turned slightly as the wing they were attached to folded back into the house. A large patio, bordered by an old moss covered grey limestone balustrade, lay ahead. With another deep breath she darted round the corner. Ben followed, anxiously keeping an eye out for trouble. As he neared the corner he tripped over his own feet, flew a short distance through the air, and landed in a crumpled heap.
"Ow!" he said.
"Ssshhhh!" she said sharply.
Ben picked himself up and dusted himself off.
"Ben, get over here, quickly!" said Victoria. He speeded up a little but was still upset by his fall.
Victoria grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the wall. "For God's sake be careful!" she said.
"I'm scared" he said, his eyes beginning to fill with tears.
Victoria kept a hold of his collar and pushed her face close to his "So am I" she said "And you're not making me feel any better. Now come on, tiger, be brave. I am" she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and he cheered up a bit.
"But you're fourteen" he said.
"And you're a big brave boy" she replied.
She took a quick peek round the next corner. A long straight section, lots of windows, ending in a round tower. "Very Victorian" she thought "How appropriate."
Victoria moved quickly, she knew that staying in one place for too long would create a kind of mental paralysis, and she would never be able to take the next step, forward or backward. She wished that Paul was here. It would be so much easier with him at her side.
She took the first window - nothing; the second - nothing; the third - she dragged Ben down. "There's someone in there" she said.
"Who!?" said Ben in a panic.
"Stay down" she said, and she rose slowly to peer over the sill. It took a little while to make out. The light outside, and the reflection off the glass, made it difficult for her to see clearly into the gloomy room.
She saw the back of a girl - about Alison or Amy's age, stood in the middle of the room with her hands on her head. She hadn't a stitch of clothing on. She took her time, scanning the room. There didn't seem to be anyone else present. Victoria dropped back down again.
"I think it's Helen" said Victoria. "Okay, Ben get ready. If I say run, run"
"Now!?" said Ben, growing even more scared.
"No, not now, well, get ready now, but don't run unless I say so." said Victoria. Ben wanted to run now, all the way home. He squatted, facing back the way they'd come, ready to flee for his young life.
Victoria slowly raised herself again, allowing her entire head to become exposed to the window. She raised a finger and very gently tapped on the glass. Ben jumped and went to sprint out of his stance, but he overbalanced and fell forwards. He picked himself up again as if he had meant to do that.
She tried to ignore the catastrophe that capered next to her, and waited. Helen didn't move. Victoria, her heart in her mouth, tapped again a little harder. She saw Helen flinch. Excruciatingly slowly Helen turned her head and then, only as much as necessary, her body.
When Helen saw Victoria at the window she hesitated. And then all of a sudden she waved a hand indicating Victoria should continue down the building and she fled the room.
"Come on Coco" said Victoria. She grabbed Ben by the collar again and dragged him at speed round the house, abandoning all caution. They moved as fast as Ben's reluctant feet could scrabble.
They both jumped when a door opened. Victoria nearly panicked, dropped Ben, and ran for it, but she held her nerve. Ben tried to run for it anyway, but Victoria kept hold of him.
No-one appeared through the open door. It swung, creaking inwards, revealing a dark rectangle within. "I need a wee" whined Ben.
"Later" said Victoria.
"I really need one now"
"You'll have to wait" she said "Come on"
"Where are we going?" he asked his voice quavering.
"I don't know" she replied.
She dragged Ben towards the open door, but she hugged the wall again. She took a quick look, and saw Helen standing just inside looking terrified.
"Is there anyone in, Helen?" asked Victoria in a loud whisper.
"Not yet" said Helen fearfully.
"Not yet", she couldn't have just said "No" thought Victoria, her legs beginning to feel weak. "We're coming in sweety" she said suddenly, and with a rush of adrenalin she dragged Ben through the door.
Emily heard a loud scream "Shit, what was that?" she said.
"Sounded a long way off" said Alison.
"it's a trap" said Emily "They've got Victoria and Ben."
"Didn't sound like Victoria" said Amy "Or Ben."
Emily relaxed a little "You're right, it didn't."
"I'd better call her" said Emily flipping open her phone "Make sure she's alright"
"Won't she think there's a problem?" said Amy "That was the signal for if there was a problem"
"Damnit!" said Emily "I can't even call her."
"What are we going to do?" asked Alison desperately.
"Wait" said Emily. "What else can we do?"
Victoria clamped a hand over Helen's mouth as quickly as possible. Helen struggled, her eyes bulging. Victoria looked around desperately for any signs of movement, any signs of danger. Her heart was thumping so hard she was afraid she'd not hear trouble coming.
Ben had practically fainted. Victoria had dropped him when she'd leapt to quieten Helen, and he still lay where he had fallen.
Victoria hugged Helen to her "Sssshhhh it's alright darling, we're friends, we're not going to hurt you. We'll be as quick as we can. We need you to show us Giles' room. Once you've done that you can go back to what you were doing before. If we get caught, we won't say a word about you, we'll just say we snuck in. I promise."
Ben regained some of his senses and started to pick himself up. He found he was staring straight at a girl, and she was naked, his eyes locked onto her fanny. "Cor" he said.
"It's a boy!" yelled Helen, and she started to scream again. Victoria was quicker this time and silenced her before she erupted. She quickly turned Helen round. Partly to preserve her modesty, and partly so that the sight of Ben wouldn't upset her. It was then that she saw Helen's bottom and legs.
"Oh my God!" said Victoria. Helen's bottom and the top half of her thighs were burning angry red. "You poor darling, who did this?" she asked, carefully lifting her hand from Helen's mouth.
"Daddy" Helen sniffled.
"Because of what Giles said?" she asked.
Helen nodded "He watched" she said.
"Listen, darling I'll promise you this:, Giles is going to get a lot worse than this when we catch him. We"re going to take all of his clothes off and smack him until he screams, and a lot more. When we"ve finished with him I promise you he will never hurt you again" said Victoria.
Helen put on a tiny smile "Can I watch?" she asked.
Victoria paused for thought "You can not only watch, you can help" she said.
Helen's smile grew a little bigger.
Victoria quickly slipped her skirt off and dressed Helen in it carefully. She turned Helen round again. "This is Ben, he's really nice, and he's going to help us" said Victoria.
Helen didn't scream this time; she just looked him up and down silently. Victoria was just about to say something else when they heard a car approaching.
"Shit they're back" said Victoria. Ben turned to flee.
"That's not them" said Helen. The car passed by.
Victoria breathed again, then looked round for Ben "Ben" she whispered "Ben?" she said a little louder "Ben get back here now!" louder still.
Ben appeared in the doorway looking sheepish "I thought it was them" he said defensively.
"He's not very brave" said Helen.
"Oh he is, Helen. Ben's a very brave boy, aren't you, Ben?" Victoria said.
Ben nodded slightly, feeling anything other than brave.
"He's the one who stood up to Giles this morning" said Victoria.
"And got punched on the nose?" she asked.
"That's my little tiger" said Victoria with pride.
Helen regarded him with awe "That was really stupid" she said.
"We've got to move quickly sweety, where's Giles' room, can you show me?" said Victoria.
Helen led the way carefully, hampered by the length of Victoria's skirt.
They left the scullery, passed though a hall to a back staircase. They ascended the dark stairs quickly. Ben was at the back and he stared up at Victoria's white knickers embroidered with little blue butterflies.
"Cor!" he said.
"Are you alright?" Victoria called back.
"Uh, yeh" said Ben "Cor!"
At the top of the stairs Helen stopped and pointed to a heavy oaken door.
"In here?" asked Victoria.
Helen nodded.
"Okay darling, I need my skirt back now, you go back downstairs. We'll take it from here. You won't get into any trouble" said Victoria.
"He's watching" said Helen.
"Ben turn and face that door, if you look, you can explain to your mother why you had to walk home naked tonight" said Victoria.
Ben turned to face the door and locked his eyes onto a knot in the wood. Victoria recovered her skirt and Helen quickly dashed back down the stairs. Victoria got dressed and turned to Ben "Did you look?" she asked.
"I didn't" he squealed.
"In you go then" she said, pushing the door open.
Giles' bedroom was large. There was a great view from three sides of the tower, a huge double bed, a settee, a desk and chair, and lots of wardrobes. It just didn't look lived in. It was too tidy, perfectly tidy.
Victoria's eyes scanned the room professionally. She considered and dismissed several possible locations. She paced about looking at things from different angles. Ben shuffled round the room nervously, peering at things curiously.
"Don't touch anything darling" said Victoria.
"I won't" he said.
After a few minutes she walked to the corner of the room and held her hands up making a frame like a film director. "We can get the bed and the computer from here" she said, "but where can we hide...Oh, there maybe. Get me that chair Ben" said Victoria.
Ben crossed to the chair, picked it up and carried towards Victoria. One of the chair legs hit a small table and a lamp toppled. Victoria could catch it, maybe, but not while holding the camera. She had no choice. She dived. The lamp landed in her hand, and the camera thumped down on the heavily patterned rug. Victoria lay on the floor, holding the lamp, staring at the dropped camera.
"If that camera's broken, Ben..." she didn't finish the threat.
"I didn't want to come anyway" he said miserably.
"Put that chair down and stand in the middle of the room. And don't move!" said Victoria as she climbed to her feet.
Ben trudged to the middle of the room and put his hands in his pockets. He stared down at the grass stains on his trousers and wondered what his mother was going to say. He didn't imagine she'd be pleased.
Victoria placed the lamp back on the table, straightened the rug, and only then went over to the camera. She inspected it carefully. It looked okay on the outside, but she couldn't tell the condition of the delicate electronics inside. She wouldn't know if it was working until she checked the feed on her laptop.
She positioned the chair and stood on it, reaching up high to the top of a wardrobe. Ben watched, enjoying the site of Victoria's skirt riding up as she stretched. He grinned, even though he was in the doghouse, and became lumpy again.
Emily saw the Reverend, his wife, and Giles walk up the drive. She flipped her phone open and dialled.
Victoria put the chair back, and walked around the room checking to see how visible the camera was. "I think we're done" said Victoria.
Ben took his hands out of his pockets and gave a huge sigh of relief. "Can we go now?" he said.
"Come on, Tiger!" said Victoria, putting an arm around his shoulder and they turned to the door.
It opened.
Giles walked in.
Continued in Chapter Twenty Seven