Part Six Chapter I

Weaknesses of Voluntary Bodies22.23 The main weaknesses of such bodies are that they are hard to launch, liable to disintegrate Charles Arnold-BakerLocal Council Administration,one-seventh EditionIMany, many times had Colin Wall imagined the police coming to his door. They arrived, at last, at dusk on Sunday evening a charr and a man, non to arrest Colin, but to look for his son.A fatal accident and Stuart, is it? was a witness. Is he at home?No, verbalize Tessa, oh, dear divinity Robbie Weedon but he lives in the Fields why was he here?The policewoman explained, kindly, what they believed to behave happened. The teenagers took their eye off him was the phrase she used.Tessa thought she might faint.You dont hold out where Stuart is? asked the policeman.No, said Colin, gaunt and shadow-eyed. Where was he last seen?When our colleague pulled up, Stuart seems to have, ah, run away.Oh, dear God, said Tessa again.Hes not answering, said Colin calmly he had already dialled Fats on his mobile. Well destiny to go and look for him.Colin had rehearsed for calamity all his life. He was ready. He took down his coat.Ill try Arf, said Tessa, running to the telephone.Isolated above the little town, no in averigence activity of the calamities had yet reached Hilltop House. Andrews mobile rang in the kitchen.Lo, he said, his mouth full of toast.Andy, its Tessa Wall. Is Stu with you?No, he said. Sorry.But he was not at all sorry that Fats was not with him.Somethings happened, Andy. Stu was down at the river with Krystal Weedon, and she had her little brother with her, and the boys drowned. Stus run run off somewhere. Can you think where he might be?No, said Andrew automatically, because that was his and Fats code. Never tell the parents.But the horror of what she had just told him crept through the phone like a clammy fog. Everything was suddenly less clear, less certain. She was about to hang up.Wait, Mrs Wall, he said. I might know theres a place down by the river I dont think hed go near the river now, said Tessa.Seconds flicked by, and Andrew was more and more convinced that Fats was in the Cubby Hole. Its the only place I can think of, he said.Tell me where Id have to show you.Ill be there in ten minutes, she shouted.Colin was already patrolling the avenues of Pagford on foot. Tessa drove the Nissan up the winding hill road, and found Andrew waiting for her on the corner, where he usually caught the bus. He directed her down through the town. The street lights were feeble by twilight.They parked by the trees where Andrew usually threw down Simons racing bike. Tessa got out of the car and followed Andrew to the edge of the water, puzzled and frightened.Hes not here, she said.Its along there, said Andrew, pointing at the sheer dark panorama of Pargetter Hill, running straight down to the river with barely a lip of bank before the rushing water.What do you mean? asked Tessa, horrified.Andrew had know from the first that she would not be a ble to come with him, short and dumpy as she was.Ill go and see, he said. If you wait here.But its too dangerous she cried all over the roar of the powerful river.Ignoring her, he reached for the familiar hand and footholds. As he inched away along the tiny ledge, the same thought came to both of them that Fats might have fallen, or jumped, into the river thundering so close to Andrews feet.Tessa remained at the waters edge until she could not make Andrew out any longer, then turned away, trying not to call option in case Stuart was there, and she needed to talk to him calmly. For the first time, she wondered where Krystal was. The police had not said, and her terror for Fats had obliterated every other concern Please God, let me sustain Stuart, she prayed. Let me find Stuart, please, God.Then she pulled her mobile from her cardigan pocket and called Kay Bawden.I dont know whether youve heard, she shouted, over the rushing water, and she told Kay the story.But Im not her social w orker any more, said Kay.Twenty feet away, Andrew had reached the Cubby Hole. It was pitch black he had never been here this late. He swung himself inside.Fats?He heard something move at the back of the hole.Fats? You there?Got a light, Arf? said an unrecognizable voice. I dropped my bloody matches.Andrew thought of shouting out to Tessa, but she did not know how long it took to reach the Cubby Hole. She could wait a few more moments.He passed over his lighter. By its flickering flame, Andrew saw that his friends appearance was almost as changed as his voice. Fats eyes were swollen his whole face looked puffy.The flame went out. Fats cigarette tip glowed bright in the darkness.Is he dead? Her brother?Andrew had not realized that Fats did not know.Yeah, he said, and then he added, I think so. Thats what I what I heard.There was a silence, and then a soft, piglet-like squeal reached him through the darkness.Mrs Wall, yelled Andrew, sticking his head out of the hole as far as it would go, so that he could not hear Fats sobs over the sound of the river. Mrs Wall, hes here