“Come home…”
“I will, Hilary wants me here for now. To face the music I guess, let Olivia’s mother tear a strip off me and watch me getting fired. I hope I haven’t lost Hilary her sponsorship.”
Kate tried to calm me but I knew I’d been stupid. We chatted aimlessly for a few minutes before I rang off and threw the phone down. I was disturbed by a knock on the door. I knew it would be Hilary, possibly with a police officer in tow. I opened the door slowly.
“Olivia, what are you doing here?”
“May I come in?”
“Please… Oh, Look, I’m so sorry. I overreacted… I…” She shushed me.
“Adam, it’s me who should be sorry.” She spoke softly. At my look of disbelief, she continued. “Stupid as it sounds, I think you might have helped me.”
“Helped you? Sorry, Olivia, I’m confused.”
“What with all you said this morning, it felt good to be involved but then I was stupid, I ignored Hilary, I just felt I could do better. I just refused to listen to her or what the horse was telling me. I rode too hard and then blamed the horse. Is the horse, okay?”
“Yeah, Bob’s built like a brick outhouse; he’ll be fine.”
“It was my fault, not his. I told Hilary I was stupid; I’ve tried to tell Sally but she told me to fuck off!”
“Give Sally time. You have to understand that, to her, each horse is her own. She will protect them with her life. I would just stay away from her and let her calm down a bit.”
“When you hit me… I thought Bob had made a mistake. I knew it wasn’t me… But when you hit me, it really hurt and… Well, it sort of came home to me that beating an animal when it is not their fault… Shit Adam… It took that to make me realise I have a problem! I get so angry, like a red mist, I just can’t control myself… Oh, Adam… Do you think I can change?”
“I hope so. Look, Olivia, this is the first step. As I said earlier, you’re an amazing rider, if you can crack your temper problems, you’ll be unstoppable. I don’t think you realise how very grown-up it is of you to admit your mistake as you just have. So, I have to do the same, I should never have done that to you, it was completely unforgivable and I feel really awful. I’m leaving. I’ll go and tell Hilary.”
“No, Adam please don’t leave. Look, I forgive you… I wish someone had done it much sooner.” She smiled, standing up she reached out to hug me, flinching as she reached her arms around me.
“Does it hurt?”
“Enough to remind me how stupid I was.” She lifted her shirt to show the deep line of bruising across her side, it was a clear black and blue line. I gasped.
“Oh shit, that looks so bad. Olivia…. Oh, Christ, I’m so sorry…”
“I’ve learnt my lesson. I hope, but do it again if I forget… Thank you, Adam. Do you think we can still be friends?”
“Friends? Of course. I’m proud to know you.”
We gingerly hugged, suddenly I saw past the aggressive teenager. She was a child in an adult world. I could understand that, with her mother as her role model, it was natural that aggression and anger would be her default position. However, the way she had approached me had been so brave. I was deeply impressed and hoped that she would listen. I knew that she could become unstoppable as a professional rider.
* * *
Sally, Hilary and I sat in the farmhouse, huddled around the kitchen table. Hilary had poured large glasses of wine. I had told them of my conversation with Olivia, Hilary had nodded sagely but Sally had snorted, sloshing her wine.
“I don’t care what you say… Adam you’re just trying to defend her. She deserved what she got and she bloody well knows it. She came to you because she knew if anyone saw her beating that horse she would be drummed out of the industry.”
“Sally, I think she’s learnt her lesson. I know I have.”
“Yeah, yeah… Well, I think she’s fooled you. She has you hook line and sinker. Just wait till mummy presses charges!”
“Sally, I think she’s just a young girl who deserves a chance, I think she’s had a tough life, I mean growing up with Grace as your mother. Who can say we’ve not made mistakes in our life? I know I have; I understand even the perfect Sally Benson has made a mistake or two… Like running naked…-”
“Okay… But I still think she is playing you both…” Sally stood up, slamming the wine glass down before yanking open the back door and stalking away muttering.
“Do you think she’s playing me?”
“Adam… I’m not sure what to think. I’m glad she’s decided not to make a big fuss about this. I need time to think about what has happened. Why don’t you go back to Kate tonight?”
“Thanks, but it’s a bit late and I’ve had too much wine to drive. Honestly, after everything I’m exhausted. I think it’ll be best if I leave early tomorrow. Good night Hilary.”
I walked away unsure what Hilary thought. She’d seen Olivia abuse the horse, but then my reaction. I wanted to kick myself, but it had been so spur of the moment. The events of the day and glasses of rich wine had left me tired so I slipped into a dreamless sleep almost immediately, only pausing to set my alarm for the early hours of the morning, hoping to slip away before everyone was up on the yard. Maybe a few days break would allow things to settle, and it would be best that I was not in the middle of things.
* * *
First light - I stepped out of the caravan, it would be another couple of hours before Sally woke to feed the horses and likely more again when Olivia surfaced. I sighed as I started the car, hoping this would not be the end of my time here. I drove slowly down the drive and away into the misty morning.
* * *
I’d slept poorly, scared for what Olivia would say to me and Adam… Would I have done what Adam did? Would I have had the strength of mind to strike out if I saw someone abusing one of our horses? I would like to think I would, I would like to think that I wouldn’t sit back and allow it to happen unchallenged. However, I’d not been there. I’d have to ask to see the CCTV footage and make my own decision.
I laid out the feed bowls, working swiftly alone, throwing feed into each bowl before distributing them around the yard, patting each of the horses, my horses. They may be owned by others and ridden by Hilary, but these were my charges, my friends. I would defend them. Of course, I would. No one had better dare come between me and my horses. I glanced at my watch. It would be another hour or so before Hilary would come down and goodness knows when Olivia would appear. It was at that point that I heard footsteps. Looking over the stable door I saw Hilary, dressed in a pair of old blue breeches and green wellies.
“Hilary? What are you doing out this early?”
“Thought I could help you muck out this morning…”
“What? Are you feeling alright?”
“Stop it… You’re down one now Adam has gone home and I don’t think we’ll see Olivia until later. Come on, it’ll be like the old days. As long as you think I can meet your exacting standards, Miss Benson!”
“Oh, really? Well, thank you, Hilary. I do appreciate the help. Come on, let’s grab pitchforks and barrows and get started.”
It had been a long time since Hilary and I’d been side by side working like this. I understood she had important things to do and realised she was often up earlier than me working. Her place was online and, on the phone, planning the season, preparing for events and mine was with my horses. However, as the radio played and we chatted over the stable doors it was like the days a few years ago when Hilary had just been starting out as a pro-rider. Days when we worked side by side every morning together.
* * *
I’d woken with an uneasy feeling, I’d heard Adam driving away and couldn’t go back to sleep, torn by what I’d seen him do to Olivia. I would have wanted to do the same, but had more self-control, at least I hoped I did.
I’d been furious when she’d ridden Bob into the arena boards, he was the most trusting of horses, despite being a stallion you could
trust him with your heart and she had abused that trust. Forcing him to do something which hurt him, but he unquestionably did all he could to answer the commands of his rider. I would have words with Olivia later. We would spend the weekend working on her manners and control, she may be the best rider in the world, but if she fell to pieces because she lost her temper then it would all be for nothing.
I shook out a bag of shavings, stepping back to see a perfectly clean stable. Bob butted me, clearly unimpressed as I didn’t have a treat for him. I led him back into the stable and watched with the same childish joy as I always did as he rolled, covering his coat in wood chips.
“I’ll get rid of my barrow and then I’ll put a brew on!” Sally acknowledged and I trudged towards the muck heap, pushing the barrow up the rickety plank to get the load of muck dumped at the top of the heap, trying to be particularly careful not to slip and fall in the mire which would no doubt happen just as Sally turned the corner to watch my messy humiliation.
I’d seen the pitchfork, stuck like a flagpole in the steaming heap each time I’d emptied my barrow and it had bugged me. It was unlike Sally to leave tools out overnight and there was no reason for this being there like that. I stepped off the wooden board, my feet sinking into the soft, warm wood-chips and approached the pitchfork. Grabbing it to pull it out of the heap but it seemed to be stuck. Confused I pulled again, there was movement but the fork was held solid. Frustrated I pulled the fork with all my might.
* * *
I heard the screams from the stable I was finishing and ran towards the muck heap, I saw Hilary standing at the top of the pile, her screams splitting the air. I climbed up to her, grasping me in my arms. Looking down, I saw what had caused her screams and fell silent.
II
Discoveries
“The selection of the British Equestrian team for the upcoming Olympics is on everybody’s lips. Will Hilary Wessington make the grade? After high scores during the season, many feel she has guaranteed herself a place and that it is a foregone conclusion she will once again don her nation’s colours”
Equestrian Weekly
11
Taking Charge
Turning, I was violently sick, splashing vomit on my boots before heaving until there was only bile left. Hilary was kneeling sobbing. Her wails cut through my consciousness. She’d brushed the muck from Olivia’s face, although it was clear this would no longer be a concern for her. She was lying there, staring at the sky, her eyes wide open in apparent fear, her lower body still buried in the shallow grave. The pitchfork was deeply embedded in her chest, the four prongs leaving red holes in her white blouse. I was silent as if time had frozen. I saw Hilary moving, she’d stood up and was staggering blindly down the manure pile, I reached out and grabbed her before she fell and landed in the mud below.
Holding her tight, I could feel her shaking, every muscle electric, she was making sounds. Not words, but random gibbering and gasping. I helped her back down to the yard.
“I’ll call an ambulance.” I pulled out my phone, its screen cracked, the case smudged with scratches. I dialled nine nine nine.
“999 Emergency, which service please?” The operator seemed detached, professional and calm.
“I don’t know?” I heard my voice, it was quiet, not sounding as if it was my own. “My colleague is dead.”
The operator calmly asked who and where I was. I slipped into autopilot, the practised speech I had ready in case of an accident when my first aid training would kick in. It was clear Olivia was well beyond any form of first aid.
I don’t remember ending the call. I don’t even remember holding the phone anymore. The next thing I knew was when we heard sirens and two police cars arrived. The officers were polite, asking what had happened. I nodded towards Olivia, watching as one of the officers walked up the scaffold plank ramp, looking down at Olivia’s empty eyes, reaching for his radio.
A female officer asked a question, she asked it twice but I couldn’t understand the words. I blinked as my world went dark.
* * *
My teeth chattered as I sat at the kitchen table, I’d tried to sip the sweet tea I’d been offered but I’d spilt most of it so the kindly female officer had taken it from my hands. I’d explained who I was and that Sally was my head girl. I told them we had been preparing the horses, feeding, mucking out, all very mundane activities. And then…
Just thinking of what had happened, touching the pitchfork. The policewoman was speaking again. I apologised, wiping my eyes, I was distracted. She told me she understood, I didn’t think she could. My morning had been so normal, just another Friday morning, business as usual, it had almost been breakfast time and I’d had that nice bacon to use up.
Oh, God… Olivia was dead!
The thought hit me like a sledgehammer. It wasn’t as if I could forget this, but I kept trying to put it from my mind. Oh, her mother. I’d have to tell her mother, I tried to stand up but the police officer asked me to sit down, they would do that, they would look after everything now.
The most bizarre thoughts crossed my mind. I’d once joked with Sally some years before, ‘if I die just chuck me on the muck heap!’ - we’d both laughed. Now, there was nothing at all amusing about a young life cut short.
* * *
“Please, tell me again what happened?”
“I was mucking out, I was on the back yard, just finishing up, I heard Hilary screaming, I thought she might have seen a rat, something like that. I ran to where she was and… And I saw her there… Oh shit, she’s dead…” Something broke within me, the floodgates opened, tears bursting from my eyes, I struggled for breath as I sobbed. She had been there with us yesterday, and now.
“Take your time…”
“There’s not much more to say…” I stutter between sobs. “That’s it… Then I called 999 and…”
I closed my eyes, but could only see the image of the young girl, staring up at the sky with her empty eyes.
* * *
“We’ll get scenes of crime in, but this is an almost impossible crime scene. There might be some prints on the pitchfork handle but as for much else. We’ll just have to wait and see. Keep an eye on the two ladies, they’re both in shock, get them out of the way and assign someone to them to make sure they are okay.”
“Kelly!” I looked up, there was John Vance, my second in command. At almost fifty he was both considerably older than me, looking towards early retirement. He had always been the ‘almost’ man. Almost making promotion but never quite making the grade, he had been passed over more than once and it had left him jaded, bordering on angry.
Wearing the cheap suit, he wore day after day and what little hair he had greying and messy. He was a good copper, but it was clear he had wanted more from his life. And what of me? Did I want to be here, almost forty, yes, I was heading up homicide in a good-sized force but every new murder was starting to take its toll on my mind and body.
I’d rushed here from the gym this morning, getting changed quickly and my long blond hair was still damp. I was trying to fight against my body as the long hours behind a desk were turning me podgy. I sighed.
“Morning John, sorry to drag you out so early.”
“What have we got?”
“White female, aged twenty-one years old with stab wounds from a pitchfork to the-”
“Sorry, did you say pitchfork?”
“Yeah, what else do you expect at a stable? The poor lass was stabbed in the chest with a fork and buried in a shallow grave. The stable owner found her, she’s in shock.”
“Christ, I bet she is.”
Death Rider (The Rider Series Book 2) Page 8