Chapter 37 – Crash

I continued to bang on Louisa's front door, to no avail, as no response was evident. I glanced down the street and the mass of people outside the market seemed to have grown. Typical village nonsense, no doubt. Sometimes I was certain that they congregated in groups to compare gossip and to also spread viruses and bacteria.

I turned to my right, walked quickly to the end of the row, made two left turns and trekked across the back gardens to the terrace of Louisa's cottage. I stood there peering into her combination lounge and dining area through the glass doors. I shielded my eyes from the glare and stared inside, but other than a large cardboard carton sealed with tape sitting by the wall, there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary.

I tapped on the glass and called out. "Louisa! It's Martin. Are you home? Louisa?" I pounded harder and longer.

I got no response. No dulcet voice, no shining eyes, no… Louisa. But I had to see her, tell her… I saw the cooker looked clean and tidy, no pots in the sink that I could see, nor papers or magazines on the table. I pressed my face to the glass with hands held to my face blocking out the glare when a voice surprised me.

"Doc? Taking up being a peeping Tom?" Penhale stood by my side, his thumbs hooked into his police equipment belt. "I'd hate to have to charge you…"

I dropped my arms swiftly as I backed from the glass door.

"It's a joke, Doc! I'm sure you're on an errand of mercy, well maybe, I mean…" he cleared his throat nervously. "You did sort of leave your car illegally parked in front of the cottage. You're going to move it soon?" He tapped a pad of tickets in his breast pocket. "Hate to have to cite you." He winked.

"No. I was, uhm, am looking for Louisa Glasson."

"Stands to reason, you standing on her terrace."

I started to walk from the back of the cottage and Penhale followed at a trot. I tried to get away from the dolt, but he kept up, almost jogging alongside. He almost crashed into me in his haste. "Did Louisa call you, Doc? Anything wrong? With Louisa I mean."

I gave him a piercing stare as we reached the street. "It's not any of your business!"

Joe pinched the sleeve of my suit coat. "Doc, please… I'm trying to tell you… if you'll just give me a minute." He panted.

"Tell me what?" I turned from Joe as I heard voices, to see the people by the Market were now clustered by my car, muttering and giving me strange looks. Their behavior was not that odd as I had seen many peculiar behaviors in this appalling village. This was one more example of small town activities. Strange people; almost all of them.

The only one I could bear to be near was Louisa, and I had mucked that up for fair, and Aunt Joan as well for I hadn't treated her fairly either.

Joe looked at them and started to yell. "All you lot! Back to your business. Nothing to see here. I'll take care of it."

I whirled on him. "Take care of what?" I turned to face the crowd, now about a dozen or so. "What are you all gawking at?" Now my temper was up.

The crown rolled their eyes, shook their heads and slowly wandered away, but not moving that far.

"Joe, what in heaven's name is going on? Would you mind explaining?"

Penhale looked about timidly. "Doc, you see…"

"No, I don't see! What's going on? What part of my personal life are YOU and THEY messing about with now? Well?"

"Doc." Joe started. "Look, I had hoped to talk to you in private, like. I was sitting in my patrol vehicle hoping to intercept you. Somebody saw you drive away this morning. I was waiting for you to get back."

"Why?"

Joe took a deep breath. "It's like this, Doc. You see…" he started to say, but he was interrupted by the woman from the market. Maggie, or Margie, or something is her name; I had treated her for Bell's palsy last winter.

The stocky woman shouted, waving her thick arms. "Joe! For God's sake tell him! Tell the man!"

Joe looked down at his shoes. "I really don't want to do this…"

Margie, or Maggie, marched over and looked me straight in the eye at close quarters. "Look, it's like this." Joe tried to bodily intervene, but she brushed him away. "You never did understand what you had, did you?" she bellowed angrily. "How you swooped in here from London and treated us all like dirt!"

"That's not true, Margie!" retorted Penhale. "Leave off the man, would you? Not his fault."

"Oh? Isn't it? Come into our town made a total mess of things!"

She was right. I had made a mess of things; with patients and treatments, and there wasn't a single person in the entire village I cared about or cared for me, but for a handful. But I had no time for this balderdash. I had to…

"And you!" she spat at my feet. "To think I let a tosser like you treat my face when I needed help! Bah!"

Others in the group made similar comments about my character, person, or my profession. I looked from one to the other. "I don't have time for this," I said and brushed past all of them to my car.

"Doc! Wait!" yelled Penhale, but I drove away. Looking back I saw the man actually chased me for a few feet then stopped as Al Large appeared from nowhere and grabbed his arm. Pauline was on the other side of Joe and they held a conversation.

Just as well. I was in no mood for dealing with idiots. My drive back from Newquay was filled with worry and anxiety and now a new concern had taken over. Louisa was not home. That much was clear.

In my cottage I sat quite still for a few minutes, my mind racing, and was pulling my mobile from my pocket when there was a knock on my kitchen door. I had been steeling myself for a very awkward phone call and now I was interrupted.

"God! Who is that now?" I swore and opened the door to find Al Large looking at me with a morose expression, which was typical. "What do you want? Is this medical?"

Al dug a toe into the slate and looked askance at my face. "Doc. Not medical…"

"Then why have you come here Al?"

He took a deep breath and sighed. "Can I come in? It's starting to rain."

"Alright." Al came in but I left the door standing open. "Make it quick."

"Doc, I know that you don't want to see me right now."

"No, I don't! What is it Al?" I gritted my teeth, expecting to hear some sort of Portwennian nonsense, like the outbreak of bubonic plague, a sea monster in the harbor, or another money-making scheme of his father which always fails. "Go on!" I urged him. "Out with it."

"Well, Pauline and I, and the others, were talkin' and she said that you need to know something. I… sort of got elected." He rubbed his chin and avoided my eyes. "I know that…"

"Al? Please get to the point." I could hear and see rain pounding down as Al verbally danced around.

"It's like this… Paul said she would come with me… but she sort of chickened out…"

"Oh? So what sort of trouble have you two gotten yourselves into now?"

"Damn it Doc! Do you have to be so bloody nasty? I'm trying to tell you something important! Tryin' to help…"

"So say it and get out!"

Al looked at me grimly. "It's like this…"

I listened to what he said, yelled "Get out!" and thrust him out into the downpour, and as I slammed the door behind him it made a crash like a falling coffin lid.