Death Rider (The Rider Series Book 2)

by Samantha Bassett

  “Look Dan you know, if he’s family, I can’t talk with you about the case.”

  “No… I appreciate that. And I wouldn’t put you on the spot. However, there is a concern about Hilary Wessington. Could I ask if you could please do a welfare check?”

  “Wessington, she was the owner of the yard. Why the concern?”

  “His wife visited her; I know. But she wasn’t there. Her groom said she has moved to Germany.”

  “And, but the sounds of things you have reason to believe she hasn’t?”

  “Have a look at the house, if she has left it was in a massive hurry, she clearly didn’t pack any of her personal items and has even left the lights on.”

  “Oh, shit!”

  “Yeah… It’s just a heads up as the groom has left now also and I don’t want any nasty surprises for the next owner. If you know what I mean?”

  “No, I appreciate it, there have been a load of online threats. I know she called in about a few things, it may have been too much for her.”

  “Well, thank you, DCI Jarvis.”

  “Kelly.”

  “Well, thanks, Kelly. I appreciate it.”

  “I’ll get a patrol to have a look around and see if there is anything to see.”

  “Great, have a good day.”

  * * *

  “Come on, let’s have a look around. There are lights on, let’s see if there is anyone home.”

  I stepped up to the door and knocked, the sound echoed through the building. There was no response. I turned to my partner.

  “All quiet. Why don’t you radio through and tell them there is nobody home, see what they want us to do?”

  Kathy took her radio. “Yankee Oscar two three two to control, receiving.”

  “Receiving two three two, go ahead.”

  “We’re at the Wessington house to complete a welfare check, there’s no response can you please advise?”

  “Advise you may enter the premises if you feel there may be a risk to life.”

  “Received and understood. Okay, Sue. Looks like we had better have a quick look inside, just to make sure.”

  “Well, the lights are on and there’s nobody home which is exactly what we were told would be the case. Let’s open up and see.”

  We walked round to the back of the building, the backdoor was pretty flimsy, and I was able to force it open with minimal effort or damage. The house was silent, with lights on in the kitchen, hall and front room as well as upstairs.

  “Hello? It’s the police. Anyone home?”

  We looked through the rooms, I started downstairs while Kath looked at the upstairs rooms. I was in the office at the back of the house when she stepped into the room.

  “Nothing upstairs Sue.”

  “Look at this?”

  We both knelt on the floor beside the overturned office chair, there was a dark patch on the carpet. I glanced under the desk and saw a broken wine bottle, moving it carefully I saw there was a matching dark mark and strands of hair on the broken glass.

  “Shit! I think we need some backup here…”

  * * *

  “DCI Jarvis… Oh, John, it’s you. It may have escaped your attention but it is eleven o’clock at night and my shift ended hours ago. What do you want?”

  “Kelly, it’s fine. You don’t want details of a potential second homicide at that stable where the girl was buried in the crap, I’ll find someone who is on duty.”

  I was suddenly totally awake. “What the hell did you say?”

  I was in my car in minutes and at the stables within another twenty, there were several patrol cars parked up. John was waiting for me at the door to the farmhouse.

  “Here she is! Timely as usual.”

  “Thanks’ John, what the hell is going on? You said another murder?”

  “Possibly. Look come in. This is Miss Wessington’s house. She was the rider; her staff member was one who was topped.”

  “Yes, I do remember.”

  “Well, you had that tip-off to do a welfare call, so control sent some plod over to have a look and they found this.”

  We had reached the office room, I could see the overturned chair, John pointed out the stain on the carpet and, beneath the desk the bottle.

  “It’s not been dusted for prints yet, but by all accounts, SOCO confirms that there is blood both on the floor and the bottle. It looks like whoever was in this chair was struck pretty bloody hard with the bottle. And they fell just there.” He pointed, rather obviously as the dark patch on the carpet.

  “Shit!”

  “Shit indeed. Not least as we are missing two things.”

  “What?”

  “Well, we don’t have a murderer yet, naturally.”

  “And the second?”

  “Well, we don’t have a body either… Cheer up Kelly, at least there’s no dirty great pile of crap for you to dig through! Although, you know, I think you sort of found your place there. Quite fitting for you really Kelly.”

  22

  Loose Ends

  “Dan Anderson.”

  “Dan, it’s Kelly Jarvis from Yorkshire Constabulary.”

  “Oh, hi Kelly, how are you?”

  “Good… Look Dan, I’ll come straight to the point. That welfare check you requested. What prompted it?”

  “Why? Have you found something?”

  “You know I can’t tell you.”

  “Okay, sorry. I understand. My wife asked me to look into what had happened to Hilary as she was worried about her. I told you, she was visiting her husband in HMP Frankland, with his sister Amanda.”

  “Okay, but why were they going to see her?”

  “Kate had been left a voicemail by Miss Wessington. She’d said she wanted to speak to her about the CCTV, the call cut off with some sort of noise, Amanda, my wife said it sounded as if she had been hit with something and then hit the ground. Then she couldn’t get hold of her for days. Every time she called the phone went to voicemail. So, they went to visit her. Her groom was there, she said Hilary had left to go to Germany for work.”

  “The noise, you say it sounded like she had been hit? What do you mean?”

  “Well, when I listened to the message, it sounded like she had been hit with a heavy object. There was an impact and her crying out.”

  “Shit! But the groom said she’d left the country? Surely that’s that. She’s moved on, I can’t say I would blame her?”

  “Yes. However, that was when they noticed the lights were on in the farmhouse. Look, she just thought it was weird and when they looked through the windows it looked as if everything had been left. Surely you would take most of your personal belongings if you were leaving the country. I understand the house is about to be repossessed, so you might leave some things behind, but my wife said it looked like she had left everything. She was just naturally concerned. I’m sure you understand.”

  “Okay Dan, I think I’ll need to speak with your wife, not least to hear this voicemail.”

  “Of course, I’ll give you, her details.”

  * * *

  It seemed easier to drive across to Cumbria, not least as the atmosphere in the office was becoming toxic with John throwing his weight around more than ever and a slew of complaints about another case. There seemed to have been some vital evidence lost and he was pretty much telling anyone who would listen that I was incompetent, whereas I had my, so far unfounded, suspicions that he was more involved than he was letting on.

  To be honest, an afternoon away from the station was a great relief. My sat-nav told me I had arrived at the riding school just as I pulled up onto the driveway. I gasped as I saw the view across the river, it was beautiful. I shook my head. I needed to remember the reason why I was here. I stepped from my car and was approached by two women; the redhead was dressed for riding in blue breeches and boots.

  “Mrs Bishop? DCI Jarvis.” I held out my warrant card.

  “Hello, yes I’m Kate Bishop and this is Amanda Bishop,” I did a double-tak
e. “Yes, she’s, my sister-in-law.”

  “Right, and your husband?”

  “Adam. Yes, you put him in prison for murder.” She left the words hanging. I’m sure if I hadn’t been a police officer she would have added ‘you bitch’ or worse. I understood her distaste, but I had a job to do.

  “Yes… Look, I need to understand what’s going on as this is all becoming somewhat confusing. You visited Miss Wessington but her groom said she had left the country is that correct?”

  “Yes…”

  “Why did you go to see her?”

  “I’d been there before, trying to find anything which might clear my husband’s name. Hilary understandably didn’t want to see me, but, later on, she left me a voicemail.”

  “Okay… I’m aware of the voicemail. Can I listen to it?”

  “Of course.”

  She pulled out her phone and unlocked it, handing it to me. I dialled the voicemail service listening to the recorded message, before hitting a button on the keypad and listening again.

  “Okay, so she says she wanted to speak to you about the CCTV footage, but she gets cut off?”

  “Yeah, it’s a bit strange. There’s that noise. It’s like she was hit or something.”

  I looked up sharply. “And where were you when you received this message?”

  “Here. Amanda and I helped the girls with the evening stables, then we had a meal together and I’d gone to bed. I left my phone downstairs. I picked up the message the next day.”

  “Okay. I may need to take your phone please.”

  “Of course. Honestly, it only ever brings bad news. What’s happened to her? She was shaken by the… Well, by what had happened…”

  “I can’t say at the moment what’s happened. However, I will get in touch if I need anything and I’ll return your phone as quickly as possible.”

  “Thank you…”

  * * *

  “So?”

  “So, what John?” He was trying to rile me. I wish he would spit out what he wanted to say. I was tired of his games.

  “What do you think? You’ve listened to the voicemail; it sounds like she was struck heavily at the end of the call.”

  He was right. We had passed the voice mail message to the technical team who had cleaned up the audio. There was a distinct sound which certainly could have been Hilary Wessington being struck on the head, followed by her moan and the sound of her falling out of the chair onto the floor. What this meant however was unclear. Who had hit her and why? And, most importantly was she walking around somewhere with amnesia, or sadly, more likely where was her body?

  * * *

  “She was attacked.”

  “Kate, you can’t be sure about that?”

  “Amanda, you listened to the voicemail, she called me and then there was that thump and the line went dead. Look at the way the police were about it, there is no way she would have come all the way across here unless she had a damn good reason. Hilary was attacked.”

  “There were a lot of people baying for her blood online…”

  “Kate, there were a load of horsey teenagers on Instagram who idolised Olivia and so they started to threaten Hilary, but do you honestly think that any one of them would have really done something to harm her. And what about Sally. She said she had gone abroad, left to work in Germany. But if she hadn’t left…”

  “So now you are suspecting Sally of foul play…”

  “No… But…”

  “But what Kate? We have to leave this to the police.”

  “Why did she call me? Hilary made it clear she didn’t want to see me again, why was she suddenly on the phone to me, apologising.”

  “She’d had a drink and wanted to clear the air.”

  “No… It was something about the CCTV. That was what she said… She was playing that when she called me, it was still on the computer screen. But what? I need to see the CCTV images!”

  “What? You must be joking…”

  “I’ll call the police officer who left her number. We can ask her to look at it.”

  “She will tell you to go away, possibly not as politely as that.”

  “We have to try…”

  I grabbed Amanda’s phone and dialled the number left to me by DCI Jarvis. It rang for a few seconds before she answered. “Hello, it’s Kate Bishop here, you came to our yard in Cumbria earlier.”

  “Mrs Bishop. How can I help you?”

  “Look, when Hilary, Miss Wessington left me the voicemail she said she noticed something about the CCTV. I think it may have been about my husband. Could I see the images?”

  There was a long pause. “Mrs Bishop, you have to realise that I cannot just provide you with CCTV footage from an active investigation.”

  “But…”

  “No but’s. I’m sorry, but it just isn’t possible.”

  * * *

  “There is no way they will give you the footage. Of course, they wouldn’t do that, it’s an active investigation. The only thing Kate could do is ask the lawyer to apply for a copy as part of his defence, but, if it is like you told me there’s nothing on there to see. Didn’t you say that it shows Adam collecting the murder weapon? It sounds pretty clear cut to me.”

  “Dan… There must be something though, Hilary made that call.”

  “Mandy, Hilary called Kate because she felt guilty about being rude. It’s clear she had been drinking and just happened to have the CCTV images still on her monitor. I promise you, there will be nothing there which can help Adam and it will only upset Kate to have her watch her husband walking to kill that poor girl.”

  “Dan! Don’t say it like that. You make it sound like you think he did it?”

  “Look, I want to believe he’s innocent, but, weigh up the case. He had attacked her earlier in the day and…”

  “Dan, I know… For fuck’s sake, I don’t need you to go over it again. For me, please, is there anything we can do?”

  “Christ Mandy… Okay. Right, I shouldn’t do this.” He sighed. “The CCTV system was cloud-based, wasn’t it?”

  “Cloud what? What are you talking about?”

  “Christ! You Luddite… The CCTV system saved it’s images on a remote internet server, in the cloud?”

  “I don’t know? How the hell would I know where the images were saved?”

  “Listen. When Hilary let you in, she showed you the CCTV images on screen didn’t she?”

  “Yes…”

  “Okay, do you happen to remember what system it was? Did it have a company name on the screen?”