Thorfinn Grimm's Holiday — Part 3
Just Two Friends on a Train, Heading to Different Places
This is the third part of a Thorfinn Grimm Winter Special that I’m publishing over the next few weeks. Here’s a link to the index so you can catch up on previous parts and older stories, and don’t forget to subscribe!
Enjoy the show!
Chapter 3
Mr Walter Darby’s speech marked the end of Christmas Eve dinner. Cora wheeled him out of the room and all the other Darbys retired for the night. Pippin’s mother led him away to the library for a private conversation, and I decided to step out onto the patio for some fresh air.
Father Moore joined me after a few minutes, looking very grave and nursing a glass of brandy.
“Mr Darby certainly throws a mean dinner,” I said, trying to break the ice.
“‘Mean’ is the right word,” said the priest. “You can’t imagine what it’s like, hearing that man’s confession every night. It weighs on you.”
“How long have you been doing it?” I asked. “Giving him his last rites, I mean. Isn’t that usually reserved for when a person is on their deathbed?”
“He is on his deathbed, has been ever since his stroke last year. It really woke him up about his mortality, I think. Started coming to church every day. Then when he got worse, I had to start doing house calls. It’s not that he became religious, you see, it’s like buying afterlife insurance to him.”
“That seems rather inconvenient,” I said. “Considering your, uh…”
“Considering I’m blind? Yes, it was a bit of a bother,” Father Moore chuckled. “But after the first week, Mrs Darby asked me to move into one of the guest rooms. It makes things a bit easier I suppose, but it does keep me close to the old devil, and that’s a difficult cross to bear.”
We talked a bit more but were eventually interrupted by Cora Darby, who burst onto the patio with an irritated look. It disappeared the instant she saw us, replaced by her usual beaming smile.
“Father Moore, Mr Grimm, I see you’re getting on well,” she said. “It’ll do you good, Mr Grimm. Some spiritual counseling. While I have you here, Father, I have some ideas for next year’s Christmas fête…”
I excused myself and exited the situation as quickly as I could, abandoning Father Moore to the weight of his duties.
Two hours after Pippin was informed that his mother had gone missing, we were on a train hurtling across the countryside. He frantically called every person he could think of who might have an idea what happened to her. No ransom demand had been made yet, but he wasn’t ruling out kidnapping.
“We’ll find her,” I reassured him. “I promise I’ll do everything in my power.”
“I know, I know you will.” Pip nodded. “It’s just… The last time I spoke to her… Oh God!”
I’m not very good at comforting people. The most I could do for Pippin was to pat him gingerly on the shoulder and make soothing sounds. He asked me to cut it out. I decided to try changing the subject.
“Was that true what Mr Darby said?” I asked him. “Did you really denounce the family inheritance?”
“Yes, of course. I couldn’t stand living in that house.”
“I get that. But what do you do for money?”
“I work, Finn,” he said, a little annoyed. “I’ve told you a million times but you keep forgetting. In all of your stories, I’m always either buying groceries or going to school. Have you never wondered if there might be more to me than that?”
“Uh, I guess not,” I admitted. “I’m sorry. Truly, I am. What do you do, then? What’s the job?”
“I’m a budtender in a cannabis dispensary. We’re pretty up-market so it’s good pay. Not enough to get my mother out of that hell though. I always said I would once I became a doctor and started a practice, but now…”
He trailed off, staring out the window at the trees and fields racing by. It was starting to get dark.
“Finn, there’s something I need to tell you,” he said at length. “Something my mother said on Christmas Eve.”
My instincts (and my interests) were piqued. Pip looked truly terrified.
“We were talking about Grandpa Walter,” he explained. “She was really upset about the things he said at dinner.”
“What exactly did she say?”
Pip gulped. “‘I can’t be free until he’s dead’. That’s what she said, Finn. What if she really meant it? What if she killed him?”
Intermission.
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Now to return to the story, Pip has just informed Finn that he suspects his mother of having killed her father. Let’s see how this idiot reacts.
“Wow,” I said. “That’s… bad.”
I was understating it, of course. If he was right, it wasn’t just bad, it was horrible. Something like that would break Pip, I was sure. But only if he was right.
“Maybe she didn’t,” I said. “Maybe that’s just how she felt, and then someone else killed him.”
“I don’t know,” said Pippin. “Seems like a pretty big coincidence. Actually, to her, I think that would have felt like a miracle.”
“Right, exactly,” I mused. “She can’t be free until he’s dead, now he’s dead, and she’s free to do whatever she likes. So what would your mother like to do?”
He considered it for a moment. “Travel, I suppose,” he said. “She and my Dad travelled all over Asia before he died. I guess that’s what she’d want to do, but she probably wouldn’t. I don’t think she can handle that sort of thing anymore.”
“Oh, Pippin,” I laughed, an idea dawning on me. “All this time, you’ve been worried about your mother, the sickly, helpless ghost of Darby House. Have you never wondered if there might be more to her than that?”
Turns out, it was actually really easy to find Mrs Alice Morstan. All I had to do was call some of my friends in the police and have them find out if she’d bought a plane ticket recently. She had, and to a destination even I would never have guessed.
I got off at the next station and hopped on a train back to the city. Pippin wanted to come with me but I convinced him it would be better if his mother was found by a neutral party, someone she wasn’t related to. Also, I needed him to do a little more digging so we could finally find out who killed his grandfather and why.
A few hours later, I was on a plane listening to the flight attendant deliver the welcome announcement.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of Thai Airways, it is my pleasure to welcome you aboard flight TG917, flying direct to Bangkok.”
To Be Continued…