11:30 27th February 2013 Dingles Homestead, Emmerdale, Yorkshire
Belle was looking through the laundry basket outside her bedroom for her red skinny jeans when she happened to overhear something that deeply disturbed her.
"I took the bairn upstairs to settle him down and he'd gone by the time I'd come back again" she heard a rattled Diane telling Lisa, "I didn't realise until today that he had taken the letter".
Belle heard her mother trying to calm Diane down, not understanding what she was telling her, "what letter? Why would Our Cain nick your post?"
"Not my post. It was addressed to Chas. I was going to destroy it, but I hadn't had time. It was on the side. A credit card statement I think"
"Oh" was the only thing Lisa had to say to this.
"If he saw something…"
"I know" Lisa nodded. Both women hated what Chas had done to Debbie, couldn't forgive her for her actions and the trouble they'd caused. But neither wanted her punished the way Cain seemed hell bent on doing.
Lisa shrugged, "well he has gone away, went late last night saying he had a bit of business in Ireland. But there's nothing we can do is there? The silly girl hasn't told anyone where she is, we can't warn her."
Diane sighed. "Half of me hopes he does find her, I won't say this in front of Debbie or any of the rest of your lot, but I don't half miss her" she confided in Lisa.
Lisa nodded, "Aye, I'm the same. But Cain's on a mission, there's no telling what he'll do if he finds her".
Belle crept back into her room and pulled her mobile out of her pocket. She scrolled down a couple of names and pressed call.
"Hello?" a confused voice came on the other end.
"Aaron?" Belle spoke as quietly as she could, "it's Belle".
"Belle? You okay? What's going on?" Aaron was surprised to hear his cousin, he'd never received a call from her before.
"It's Cain. I think he knows where Chas is. He nicked her post and left for Ireland last night. I remember Shadrach talking about going to Ireland all the time, I think she's there. I don't know what to do, Cain's been proper awful lately and I'm worried he's going to hurt her if he finds her."
"Belle, calm down, it'll be fine. I'll sort it"
"How?" she asked, starting to cry
"Just trust me."
"Okay. Shall I tell my mum?"
"No. Not yet. I'll call you back when I've got news. Don't worry."
The line went dead and Belle threw her phone onto her bed and wiped her tears. She pulled a box out from underneath her bed, a large cardboard box with a post-it note on the top which read "for Ding Dong x" in a familiar scrawl. She lifted the lid and peered inside at the contents, although there was no need to look – she'd pored over them so many times, she knew them off by heart. Books she'd read twenty times each, photographs of family she'd laughed and cried over, some old school books she'd found useful in her own studies and some bits of jewellery and perfume she wore when she knew no one would notice.
She pulled the most precious item out and pushed the box back under her bed before climbing under her covers and sitting up in bed, propped up against her pillows. She opened the battered book to the first page and traced her fingers over the faded green writing.
"Chas Dingle, Keep Out"
When she'd first found the old scrappy book at the bottom of the box she'd ignored it, thinking it was an old exercise book Chas had kept. It wasn't until she'd devoured all of the other books she'd been left that she'd given it a second look. But there hadn't been many days since then that she hadn't looked in it at least once.
You couldn't call it a diary, the entries were too far apart. More of a collection of thoughts and memories, written in the same handwriting as was on the post-it note. The first entry was in very young handwriting, dated February 1987.
Today is my 9th birthday. First one in a while that my dad remembered and he got me the best present I've ever had -he took me to the cinema and for a bun at a café in Hotten. But the best thing was he was sober – not one drink all day. He's off at the pub now, but he managed to last til this evening without even one sneaky pint. I'm so proud of him. Cain even remembered this year – bought me a huge bag of sweets and this book. Well, when I say bought, I'm sure he nicked them, but the thought's there. I reckon Charity probably had more to do with it than him, but I don't care, this is the best birthday ever.
After that, there were lots of random entries, lists and doodles, little glimpses into Chas's past. Belle's favourites were a list entitled "Ten Ways to Deal With Cain" and a story Chas had written when she was eleven in which she became a top lawyer and defended all of her family members in court.
Belle had used the Cain list several times, especially number 6 – "the quickest way to get Cain to shut up and leave you alone is to tell him you love him". The more she'd read, the more she felt she'd got to know her cousin, and the more she missed her presence now. She wanted to talk to her about everything in the book, the things she'd experienced, the way she'd felt when she'd found out she was pregnant at thirteen – younger than Belle was now.
Belle wondered where she was now, worried about what Cain would do when he found her. She didn't know why Chas had gone with Cameron when he was with Debbie, she didn't understand why she'd break the family code like that. But she also didn't understand why the rest of the family had been so enthusiastic about banishing her. She'd watched every single member of her family do a lot worse at different times, (except perhaps her mother) and they'd all been forgiven.
And knowing what Chas had put up with from Shadrach and Cain over the years only made Belle more angry on her behalf for being turned on for making one mistake. She knew Debbie had had a tough year with Sarah and she thanked God that little Liam had come along and saved her. But Chas had supported Debbie through all that, just as much as anyone else. She'd raised money for Sarah to go to Paris, paid herself for the ticket. And she'd been there for her mum when her dad had gone off his head. Belle marvelled that she'd been able to keep herself sane whilst juggling so many balls at once. No wonder she'd run off, she'd probably got fed up of having to lie to everyone.
Belle decided she'd give Aaron until the evening and if he hadn't called back, she'd tell her mum what was happening. With that decision made, she sank back into her bed and carried on reading the book, trying to take her mind off her niggling worry that something terrible was happening somewhere far away.