“Christ Dan, I saw the screen for a minute or two. There was a screen with controls, hang on there was a logo. It was like a white bird flying on a blue circle.”
“Bingo… We’ll make a copper of you yet. That is a system from Blue Bird Security, they are a pretty big name in the industry. That means that the system saves all the images onto their server so it is always safe. I would guess the police will be making contact with them officially to access those images right now, so you had better be quick.”
“Be quick to do what?”
* * *
I looked up as Amanda rushed into the kitchen, she had a piece of paper in her hand. “Where’s your laptop?” I grabbed my old laptop and handed it to her. She opened it and started to type in a web address. I stood behind her as a screen loaded, ‘Blue Bird Security’.
“What’s that?” I watched as she typed in an email address and then typed a password. The screen changed and there was a series of images on the monitor. “What the hell! That’s Hilary’s yard! How the hell did you do that?”
The stables were empty, but it was clear the cameras were still working. Amanda looked down, consulting the sheet of paper before selecting a menu option. Clicking some buttons, she sat back.
“Do you want to tell me what you are doing?”
“It was a long shot, I spoke with Dan and he said the CCTV system saved the images in the rain or something, remotely on the internet anyway. However, the thing he told me was the most people never bother to change the default password, so by using Hilary’s email address and a password of password, zero one I’m able to access the system and, with that last click I have just downloaded the last months’ worth of CCTV images to your laptop.” She clicked on a folder, within it there were a series of dated video files.
* * *
“Bishop”
“Sir…”
“Sit down. I wanted to see how you were coping?”
I looked up. The prison mental health nurse sat behind his desk, he didn’t look much older than me, but he would be able to go home at night to his wife and family, a luxury which was not going to be afforded to me for a long time.
“How am I coping? Well, honestly, life’s a bit shit. I’m in here for something I don’t think I did, but now I’m even doubting myself, nobody else believes I’m innocent. I have to wait for a trial which could take another year and then resign myself to spending the next twenty years inside, by which time, my pregnant wife would have had our child and they would have likely left home not having ever properly met their father. So, you tell me, as you are the expert. How should I be coping?”
“I understand…-”
“Do you? I seriously doubt you do. I don’t think you can even imagine what this is like. I’ve spent my life living and working outdoors. Now, I’m lucky if I can walk around the yard for half an hour. I see the papers; I see what they say about me. The ‘cruel killer’, how I thoughtlessly killed that girl. I could never have done that. But it seems from what my useless lawyer tells me the police have a rock-solid case. Damn it, there are even images of me walking to kill her. Now, did I blackout or have some sort of brainwave? Because I could never hurt someone but, it seems, by all accounts, I did.”
“Are you having any suicidal thoughts?”
“No sir.”
I looked down. I couldn’t hold his eye contact. I knew what he wanted to hear, but the thought of living my life in prison as a hated murderer, coming out to what? What would my world be like after all that time? I’d already hurt Kate and Amanda. I saw it in her eyes, she wanted to believe I was innocent, but there was doubt. She hardly knew me. Perhaps the easy way would be to end it. There were times at night when that thought gave me solace. Not having to face another day of the noise, the anger and the bullying. It was painfully like being back in care and I knew I couldn’t survive a lifetime of that.
* * *
I was feeling a bit lost with Mandy staying in Cumbria, it seemed like a world away. Not necessarily the distance, but with what was happening. I’d liked Adam, he was a great guy, but I couldn’t put my job behind me. I had far too many cases during my time when people you thought were great had done something terrible. Maybe being a copper had changed me, I couldn’t look at someone and see innocence without thinking about what they could be capable of. Here was a man who had attacked a girl in front of witnesses. I’d seen the pictures in the papers, whoever had leaked those to the press for a few quid had done his cause no favours. In the court of the tabloid press and public opinion, he was clearly guilty.
Never mind she might have hit her horse, that had been edited out of the story creating something salacious which would sell papers. I remember seeing the images on the front page. Adam bringing down the riding crop onto the girl and then images of him, pitchfork in hand walking to kill her. I wanted to remain positive, impartial, however, I could see why Yorkshire Constabulary felt they had a strong case, it was bang to rights. Probable cause, and a glut of evidence.
So, when Mandy begged me to support her. That night when she had packed to leave, I’d told her ‘don’t get too close’. What I wanted to say was, don’t get dragged down. That was the only way this case was going, downhill. Selfishly I didn’t want my fiancé to get dragged into the mire of a very public criminal case for which there was no solution. And now the owner, Hilary had ‘disappeared’, again my calculating mind could only see one of two things. She had either run away, escaped to Germany as her groom had suggested. Who could blame her, she was ruined, sponsorship had gone, her horses taken, her home on the market? So, what she had left the lights on, what the fuck did she care?
Of course, there was the only other alternative, she hadn’t been able to cope. Someday she would be found, either when there was a drought and her decayed bones appeared at the low watermark in the reservoir or hanging from a tree.
23
Moving Pictures
“Well… I don’t know what you expected?” Crap! I regretted my words as soon as they left my mouth, I was being tactless. I opened my mouth to speak again, but Kate cut me off.
“No Amanda… Shit… You’re right. I was hoping there would have been something which we had all missed. I was being stupid.”
Kate looked crestfallen. We had been sitting for hours going through the CCTV images, the progression from the mundane, yet happy. Adam and Sally joshing as they gathered tools to muck out, the hours of riding in the arena. And then the attack. Olivia had beaten her horse, it was terrible to watch, there was part of both of us who felt proud when Adam had ridden up and struck her. If it had ended there the story could have been so different. Even if he had got in trouble for what he had done it would have been somewhat justified. Standing up for an innocent animal, anyone could understand. However, as the images rolled on, the activity on the yard ceasing and the darkness falling. There were the two sets of images, Olivia crossing the yard, holding something in her hand and, a minute or so later Adam stepping from the tool shed, a pitchfork in his hand. I clicked on the stop button.
“I’m so sorry…”
Kate shook her head, tears dripping down her cheeks.
“Come on, it’s time for bed.”
* * *
I flicked through the images on my phone. There he was mucking out, there riding Bob. Only one or two of the pictures had him facing the camera, mostly I had taken them silently, without his knowledge. Clicking away, there he was bending down to pick out hooves, oh God, that taut butt, he had looked so good in those tight breeches, it was a shame he wouldn’t be wearing them again. Never mind, I had a good collection of illicit photos to enjoy, at least until I could find something or someone else to provide my eye candy.
* * *
“Morning Kate, have a seat. Look, I’ve been here a couple of weeks, but I don’t know what else I can do here. I mean I’m really glad to support you but…”
“But there isn’t an end to this, is there?”
“Kate, it’s not that…�
��
“No, Amanda. Thank you. I appreciate you’ve been here supporting me. But, you’re right, I am going to need to do this alone sooner or later. God knows when his trial will be and then… Well, let’s cross that bridge when we get there.”
“Look, I can come up at the weekends.”
“No. You have your own life, and that wonderful Dan, he’ll be missing you. Thank you.” She took my hand. “You’ve been amazing, but I have the girls to help me around the yard and well…”
“Look, if anything changes or you need me, I’ll be straight up here.”
I stood up and we hugged. Despite everything, I felt as if I was giving up, but there was nothing else I could do here now, except for losing my job. As tolerant as Wiltshire Police had been, I couldn’t take an unlimited leave of absence.
I stayed with Kate for the morning before reluctantly walking back to my car. She waved as I drove away feeling like a coward.
* * *
Although I had a clear journey, it seemed to take forever to get back to Wiltshire, however, once I saw the rolling Downs, I was pleased to finally be home. Turning onto the driveway I saw Annie sweeping the yard. She waved and approached the car as I pulled up.
“Hello, stranger! How are things with Kate?”
“Oh, she’s been better. Kate’s suffering. She’s clutching at straws, but it doesn’t look good.”
“Oh, I know, it’s been in all the papers. It seems horrid. Could he have?”
She left the sentence hanging; however, I knew what she wanted to say. It was what everyone seemed to be thinking, even I was unsure of my brother. Could he have killed that girl in cold blood, I would like to think he couldn’t, but the more I saw the more I despaired. And, even if he hadn’t killed her, it seemed that there was no way to disprove it to the police.
“Look, Annie, he’s, my brother. I want to believe he couldn’t have been capable of that…”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to just come out and say that…” She was blushing deeply.
“Annie, I’m not even sure myself. How has Dan been?”
I knew Dan had been swamped with work, he couldn’t talk about it over the phone but there was something big going down and I could tell from his voice that he was under a lot of pressure, I was looking forward to being back there for him.
“He’s okay, he was lonely.”
“Thanks, Annie. Look, have you some time? I could do with some fresh air, maybe take a hack up to the Ridgeway?”
Her smile said it all, she told me she would tack up a couple of the horses while I unpacked the car. I thanked her and dragged my holdall upstairs to the flat, loading washing into the machine before changing into breeches and boots.
* * *
“Hi there, I saw your car was back!” I dropped my case and walked towards Amanda, taking her in my arms and hugging her tightly. “How are you coping?”
“Oh Dan, that’s a leading question. Kate’s in pieces, I was trying to hold myself together, Adam is… Well, he’s in the shit and I can’t see a way out of it. What about you, how’s the case going?”
“Mandy… It’s tough, we’re so close to getting what we need. We had a tip-off and I think we are less than a week away from national raids.”
“It’s a big one?”
“It would represent taking millions of pounds of drugs off the streets, but it’s all up in the air. You know how it is, anything could happen.”
“And that’s why I knew I needed to be here for you. No… I can’t do much more for Kate, and as for Adam… Look you need me, and my God, I need you, Dan!”
We embraced again; I felt the tension in her body as I’m sure she felt it in mine. I’d tried all I could to find out more about Adam’s case but there was very little which I was allowed to know. The bottom line was he was screwed and I felt for Amanda, having only just found her brother again I knew the thought of losing him was scaring her to death.”
* * *
The farmhouse seemed cold and empty. Night had fallen and I was alone, the distant lights were twinkling across the bay and, closer to home there were still lights on in the grooms’ flat. I grabbed my coat and stepped out of the back door.
I climbed up the familiar stairs and knocked on the door. Jacqueline opened it. “Kate? Are you okay?” I had intended just to see the staff were okay, but, instead, I stood on the stone landing and burst into tears. “Oh, Kate! Babe… Come in.”
The flat was warm, the girls quickly surrounded me, I was hugged and taken to the sofa where a mug of hot chocolate was placed in my hands. I blinked looking around at my staff.
“Oh girls, I’m sorry…”
“Kate… You’re going through hell. Don’t be alone, you can stay with us if you like. There’s the spare room and, well, I’m sure you need company.”
I snuffled and muttered apologies, wiping my eyes.
It was so good to be back amongst the girls. The conversation was stilted but just being amongst friends meant so much. Caroline brought out a set of PJ’s.
“Look stay here tonight, you can borrow these. I’ve made up the spare room with clean sheets.”
I lost it again, gulping and crying. Their hugs were cathartic and made me feel as if I could carry on. The spare room was clean and tidy, Caroline had put the bedside light on which made it feel cosy. I undressed and slipped into the clean sheets.
* * *
I was bolting. Oh God, the wind in my face, and snow or hail stinging my cheeks. I pulled up on the reins but the horse just wouldn’t stop no matter what I did.
“Keep calm Kate!” I told myself, but my voice was quaking at what seemed to be the inevitable disaster ahead. Suddenly the reins went slack, the bit had snapped. I panicked, oh God, the main road was ahead of us.
I pulled hard left, but without the bit in his mouth, my horse was out of control. The sound of hooves hitting the tarmac and then the horse slipped. The horse was falling and I was falling too. I screamed until I hit the ground hard and blacked out.
I woke with a start, my head pounding. Reaching up I touched a tender spot on my forehead where an egg-like lump was forming. I tried to sit up in the half-light. Oh God, it had been a dream, but my head? I looked down, there was a smear of blood on the corner of the bedside cabinet. I stupidly must have hit my head on the corner of the cabinet as I’d writhed in my sleep. Only I could be as stupid as to almost knock myself out in bed.
I stood up, my head spinning. Oh no, now I knew I was risking concussion, how the hell do I tell people I’d done this? It was funny how the humiliation of the situation stung more deeply than the pain in my head. What a stupid thing to do, hitting my head on the bedside table. It was so stupid, who could make a mistake like…
I froze.
* * *
I rolled over; my phone was ringing beside the bed. I’d been in a deep sleep, Dan’s arm around my shoulders. It was the first proper rest since this had all happened and was angry at the interruption. I snapped up the phone. “What?”
“Amanda!”
“Kate… What the hell is the time? Shit! Sorry, sorry… Are you okay?”
“No, I’m fine I had a bad dream, then this stupid accident, I hit my head but…”
“Look, Kate, if you had a nightmare can I please suggest you go back to sleep and let me do the same. I’ll call you first thing in the morning.” I hit the end call button and slammed the phone down. It hadn’t touched the surface when it was ringing again. “Kate!”
“No, I’m sorry. But it just got me thinking. The CCTV. Have you got access to it there, I know what Hilary was about to tell us?”
Death Rider (The Rider Series Book 2) Page 16