Farm Kill

by Robert W Fisk

  "Lance. Kidnap Lance?"

  "No. They live too close to each other. The farm itself? Burn the property down?"

  "No," said Richard. "He could have done that after he hit them. I looked in the windows. There were no bodies."

  "Ugh. I hadn't thought of that," said Alex. "So, are they hostages?"

  "Why would they be used as hostages?"

  "To make them do something? Perhaps to assign custody of Lance?"

  "No, that wouldn't stand up in Court at a later date. Maybe to sign something, though," Richard replied.

  "Pin numbers? Bank accounts?"

  "What about the whole farm? Ashleigh and Gregory wouldn't know where Lance was, so Zinsli and Lance's Mum could say he would kill him if they didn't sign the farm over?"

  "No way," said Alex. "Lance's Mum wouldn't allow Lance to come to harm. Maybe that's why Lance was left on the farm."

  "In that case, he'll come back for him," said Richard. "She must be involved, though. Maybe she still has rights to the farm and Greg won't let her back?" suggested Richard.

  They heard Jo and Lance returning. Alex finished the conversation: "We'd better get Jo and Lance out of here, and make ourselves safe for the night."

  Alex said," Richard, this place is spooky. A fantail just flew in the open door. Someone is going to die. Wash your hands, quickly."

  Jo and Lance came into the dining room. "Lance didn't want me to go to the cottage," she explained. "He yelled and screamed at me, so I let him show me what he wanted. He took me to the dogs in the picture. They are all dead. Then he pulled me back to the machinery shed."

  "Did you find out why he wanted to go there?" asked Richard.

  "You're not to go there on your own," said Alex. "Promise me."

  "I think we all need to go. I think Lance has a plan but I made him come back here. As far I can work out, there was a fire last night, before the earthquake today," said Jo. "Lance followed Greg and Ashleigh out of the house and watched. Tricksy was with him. Apparently Tricksy is scared shitless about fire."

  "Jo!" said Richard. "Wash your mouth out!"

  Alex said, "Richard, that St Angela's College has ruined Jo. I've never heard such language."

  "Sorry. Tricksy is really scared about fire and wouldn't go any closer, but I think Lance sneaked as far as the tractor."

  Richard and Alex listened intently. How Jo had got so much from Lance was a wonder, but using the pictures and Tricksy gave Lance a vehicle for his thoughts.

  "To get them out of the house," said Richard. "That's why the fire was lit."

  "The cases in the small bedroom are packed. A woman was sleeping there. She is either coming or going. I think she was leaving. Zinsli's wife? Tit for tat?"

  Richard said, "Thanks Jo. A brilliant report. Well done. Now we have to think about what to do next."

  Jo spoke. "Lance said that they both ran away. Zinsli shot the dogs. They waited by the dead dogs then went into the house. They must have been there a long time, all morning, because the next thing, we came along."

  "I think he wants to see them buried," said Richard. "Lance, please ask Mr Tricksy to take us to the dead dogs."

  Lance yelled, "No! Not dead!" It seemed to be the only word he could say without Tricksy.

  Both Richard and Alex knew that there was little emotional attachment on the part of autistic children. They both knew that Lance must have come a long way to be able to convey such a long sequence of events but showing emotional attachment was a bridge too far. They were surprised when Lance stood up and began walking with Tricksy at his side. The three Wests followed. Lance led them through the yards to the kennels.

  Richard leaned over the first dog and undid its collar. Jo went to help him, holding the dog's head up as Lance pulled the collar tight to release the pin in the buckle.

  "I'm sorry, Lance," said Richard. "This dog is dead. Will I bury him for you?"

  Lance ran off. He ran fast in the direction of the machinery shed. Jo ran after him and Richard and Alex followed in their wake

  The workshop was a mess with tools all over the floor, a door that was stuck open, and a big crack in the concrete floor. They caught up with Lance, who had run ahead of them. He stood beside the quad bike, which was a Honda ATV. There was a roll bar fitted to make it safer on the downlands terrain, the rolling slopes and steep faces of which added to the inherent instability of the ATV variety of farm equipment.

  The Honda was a powerful machine with four wheels. The handle bars for steering looked ridiculously small, popping out of the large square motor cover in front of the driver. It looked like a large block of metal with four tyres, one at each corner. There was only one seat, behind which was a metal tray. At the rear, a tow ball was fitted for a farm trailer. The red Honda ATV looked large and menacing.

  Jo climbed on the back of the ATV with her feet in the tray and her hands on a safety frame that looped over the rider's head. Alex and Richard walked back to the dead dogs. Jo and Lance were waiting a short distance away. Lance pulled the bike up next to Richard and got off. He went to the dog lying on the ground. Lance took the dog by the back legs as if it was a sheep, and pulled it towards the quad bike.

  Jo helped Lance lift the dog on to the tray. He started the quad bike and waited. Jo realised that she was meant to climb on the quad bike behind Lance, standing between the tray and Lance's seat. She held on to the safety frame for support, and then Lance set off.

  Alex stayed with the remaining dead dogs. She began unfastening their collars so the official at the Council could record the deaths and not search for them when it was time to dose for hydatids. Richard followed on foot. He couldn't keep up but followed the sound of the quad bike. Lance stopped at the offal pit. Not every farm had an offal pit for dead animals now that dead lambs and calves were picked up at the farm gate and taken to the works so their skins could be turned into kid leather, but this farm still used one. Jo and Lance threw the dog down the pit. They repeated the journey two more times, with the little farmer driving the quad bike. Then Jo and Lance took the ATV to the shed while Richard and Alex walked back to the farm house.

  24.

  On the way back to the farmhouse Alex said "Obviously, we have to go to Zinsli's house. He doesn't know us so we are unlikely to come to harm. We can have a look around, and see what we can find out."

  "We could ask him about Lance's parents," said Richard. "Check out his reaction. Then point out there's a kid with a real problem left to fend for himself."

  Alex continued for Richard, as long married couples often do.

  "We think from Lance's drawing that Zinsli has taken Lance's father hostage, but we can't think why. We think Lance might be in danger, and so are we if Zinsli comes back."

  "Except it might not be Zinsli," said Richard. "But there is still danger. We need to get help, and that's where you come in."

  Jo caught up with them. Lance was holding her hand.

  Richard asked his big question. "Jo, will you please take Lance and go to the nearest village? It will be a dangerous job. It might take you into the night."

  "Will he come with me?" asked Jo.

  "We can ask," said Richard. "Otherwise he has to stay with us, but I'm not sure how we can defend him. Or us for that matter. "

  Lance immediately said, "Mr Tricksy says Lance will show you the way. Lance can drive the ATV."

  "No way," said Richard. "Mr Tricksy, please say thank you to Lance. He may show Jo the way but he must not drive the farm bike."

  There was still no electric power so Richard filled the tank on the generator. By the time the ATV had been checked over and filled with petrol it was seven o'clock

  They discussed the route the children should take.

  "There's no liquefaction round here as far as I can see," said Richard. "That low area we passed through, with the pipe to drain it during rainstorms, I think that was a swamp and that's why there was liquefaction on the bypass road."

  "Thank God we found that pipe," sa
id Alex. "I think you're right. Liquefaction was only found in Christchurch where there had been previous swamp land. Jo and Lance should be safe."

  "But there are large cracks in the ground in some places, said Richard. "One runs right under the farm helper's cottage. The cottage is a write off. It is not safe to go in there. It never was a strong construction."

  "I'm more worried about the boy," said Alex. "He is definitely strange and yet in some respects very knowing. And he has to talk through the dog."

  "It's not a dog," said Jo. "It's a bitch. I looked."

  Alex was constantly shocked by Jo's worldliness. Neither the Paki-Pakis nor the Wests had pretensions to be more than they were, but both families were genteel and polite and didn't go looking at the rear ends of dogs.

  "Perhaps I'm growing old," thought Alex, who had just turned forty.

  "Yes, you are," said Jo. "I don't think you meant to speak out loud, Mum. You're doing that quite often now you're getting on."

  "Jo," said Richard. "Apologise."

  "Sorry Mum. I love you."

  "I still love you, but only just, said Alex. "Did you see that young boy's room? Absolutely immaculate. Everything in its place, all folded neatly and everything in order. Not like you, Jo."

  "Thanks for that, Loving Mother," said Jo.

  "Let's talk about our rescue plan," said Richard. "The ATV. Dangerous. Be very careful. The road. Jo, it's not likely there will be liquefaction but be careful around the area where we came out of the pipe. The pipe's not near the road or we would have used it instead of walking across the fields. Stay on the road. Be very careful about cracks and mud slides."

  Alex added, "It's probably a two or three hour walk to that village, so it might get dark even with the ATV."

  "It's about ten kilometres," said Jo. "My GPS doesn't need the internet."

  With serious misgivings but spurred on by the thought of Mr Zinsli finding them in the Somerville's house, Richard and Alex said goodbye to the two young people.

  The pair set off with Tricksy trotting along behind the ATV. Somehow the presence of Tricksy made Alex feel more comfortable. She felt very apprehensive about Jo's safety as she watched the ATV go down the gravel drive and cross a dam holding back a farm pond then disappear out of sight. At least Jo was riding out of danger.

  25.

  The earthquake that swallowed up the West family devastated Grantville. Buildings had fallen, glass and rubble strewed the streets. Grantville was cut off to the South, where Christchurch lay, while to the North, Blenheim and Nelson hospitals' facilities were limited but available. A steady flow of helicopters ferried people to Christchurch hospital while ambulances drove two and a half hours north to Nelson and Blenheim or to the ferries in Picton to take the injured across Cook Strait to Wellington.

  One of the worst hit buildings was Grantville Hospital. The structure was only a few years old and should have been among the strongest in the land but all eight floors pancaked on to the ground floor. Although the hospital was relatively quiet during the holiday period, with many staff on leave, the majority of deaths occurred at that site.

  Also badly hit was the police station. This was a more modest building comprising two reinforced concrete two storey extensions to an existing wooden building that housed most of the records. Windows were broken, ceilings fell down and doors jammed. As a result of broken pipes, some record rooms were flooded but there were no injuries or deaths.

  Barbara van Buren got under her desk as soon as the room began to shake. She knew to hold the legs of the desk but the movement was so severe she felt her wrists would break if she held on any longer. Her computer flew from the desk and crashed to the floor, narrowly missing her legs. A water cooler went bouncing down the space between the rows of desks.

  The earthquake registered 7.6 on the Richter scale. It lasted for two minutes, a very long time for any shake. The air roared with the sound of a hundred diesel trucks then fell silent as the shake rolled away. The room was silent apart from the moans and screams of the injured. Barbara was one of the first on her feet. In the absence of any senior officers Barbara took control of the situation, calling on those not seriously injured to come to her desk, a task for which she was later commended. Five officers and two civilians lined up. Barbara was mildly amused as she had expected people to crowd around her desk.

  Monday was her first day back after taking compassionate leave to marry. Some welcome home! She gave orders to assess the injured and label the site where they lay with red, yellow or green marker pens, of which her desk held a large number as a result of her squirreling pens away in her drawer. Those labelled yellow were to have the highest priority when medical services arrived. Those labelled green were less badly injured but were not able to move on their own. The red was to be used for the dead, whose bodies were to be left for undertakers. Fortunately, in the police building, there were no people classed as red, but there were two cases of serious injury and a collection of broken bones and cuts, especially to faces.

  With the triage finished and the injured receiving assistance, Barbara turned her attention to incoming calls. Because warranted officers were needed on the street, she had to use civilians to man the communications. This meant that serious decisions were referred to her.

  Her heart stopped when a message from a truck driver, Brendan Geddes described a Toyota being swallowed up by a landslide. Barbara knew the Wests were going home to Weatherston that day because she had talked with Alex West and wished her a safe journey.

  She had a note on her desk, Toyota LLM446. Geddes, Brendan witness. Feeling sick with the uncertainty of her thoughts, Barbara asked one of the civilians to please find the truck driver on the bypass road, the Brendan Geddes who had seen a car carried away in a mud slide.

  26.

  Richard and Alex watched the farm bike go down the track towards to pond. The girl and the boy looked incredibly small. Richard thought about how many people were killed each year on such bikes. Although they had four wheels, they were not well balanced, being top heavy. Such bikes rolled easily going across a slope. He hoped Jo at fifteen had enough sense to avoid trouble.

  "Let's find out what we can," said Richard. "Then we'll go over to Zinsli's house."

  They started in the study, where Richard pulled down the top of the writing desk. He found a set of drawers inside, all neatly labelled. As an academic, Richard was well-used to skimming through papers and he quickly found out that two years ago Gregory, obviously known as Greg by the more personal correspondence, had lodged a notice of separation.

  Agreements between a Bryce Tomlinson, representing Future Farms Ltd, and Gregory Somerville showed that a mortgage had been obtained over the farm to convert it to a goat dairy farm. Long lists of receipts for stock followed. A memo from Bryce Tomlinson noted that the company had sold several hundred Drysdale sheep and purchased about the same number of South Suffolk ewes and hoggets. The company noted the purchase of a stud South Suffolk ram, the price of which surprised Richard. He could buy a car for what Greg had paid for the ram. A more personal footnote asked after the health and welfare of Bryce Tomlinson's niece, Ashleigh Moffitt.

  "Got you," Richard said aloud. "Now I know your name."

  In the master bedroom, Alex went through drawers. Most contained clothes. Greg's clothes were mainly for the farm. He had a sports coat and two pairs of long trousers and that was about it. The rest of his clothes were underwear, jerseys and woollen shirts, jeans and overalls.

  Ashleigh's clothing was in her suitcases. Like Gregory's, her wardrobe was mainly for the farm. She had some nicely tailored business suits, plus some clothes from her student days. Some pretty blouses and some enviable lingerie spoke of a different side to her life, before she came to Te Kouka Flats. Ashleigh was packed up and ready to go.

  Oral contraceptives were in the bedside drawer. The last pill had been taken on Sunday. Whatever had befallen the couple, it had been after bed time on Sunday night.

  Alex s
tarted on the papers. They were nearly all Greg's. There was an agreement to borrow five thousand dollars at no interest from Ashleigh Moffitt. There was a letter to Sally, obviously his previous wife, which had never been sent. In the letter, Greg spelled out his sorrow that he had not been a good husband, and how his failure had led to her leaving him for his neighbour, Philip Zinsli, following Greg's discovery of their affair. He regretted spending so much time on the farm and so little time showing her how much he loved her, and that his love would never change if she decided to return.

  Greg wrote of the progress of their son, Lance, and how he was now attending primary school three mornings a week. Although he still became upset and noisy when frustrated, Lance had almost ceased hitting other children. The children were remarkably tolerant towards Lance.

  The letter was signed, 'Your loving husband, Greg.'

  Alex picked up a handwritten letter to Ashleigh from her Uncle Bryce. Bryce told her he was pleased to hear that she and Greg were partners and that she had moved into the farm house. He went on to describe the stock that he had bought, that was now in the name of the Somerville and Moffitt partnership. He ended by saying there was no need to thank him for bringing them together, a beer would suffice.

  Alex and Richard met in the kitchen over a cup of tea. They shared notes and put pieces of information together. They were no closer to solving the mystery of the disappearance of Greg and Ashleigh, apart from Lance's pictorial account, which sounded more like a kidnapping than a robbery. Or was that just because Jo had been taken and held hostage six months ago? Was kidnapping on their minds, or had something more sinister happened? Who would leave a needy young boy to fend for himself??

  27.

  The cup of tea was finished. The day was getting on.

  "Now's the time for me to go to Zinsli's house and have a look around," said Richard.

  "I don't like that idea. I'd be left here on my own," said Alex. "And I'm worried that he will catch up with Jo and Lance."