BLINDFOLD

by Lyndon Stacey

  The car had scarcely stopped rolling when the front door opened and a small child erupted through it in a flurry of curls, flounces and flying limbs.

  As Gideon and Pippa got out of the car, this mini tornado whirled towards them and stopped barely three feet away, resolving itself into an enchanting two- or three-year-old girl, with a head of tousled curls and a pair of huge, dark-lashed brown eyes. She was dressed Victorian-style in petticoats and a long pinafore dress of green corduroy.

  `Hello,' Pippa said, smiling at this vision. `What's your name?' Having precipitated the meeting, the child seemed suddenly shy and looked back for reassurance to where a slim, dark female followed at a more leisurely pace, wiping wet hands on a dishcloth.

  `Please excuse my undisciplined daughter,' the woman begged with a smile as she came up to them. `Try as I might, I can't make her see that all visitors have not necessarily come to see her.' She bent to take the little girl's hand. `Daisy, you are an exasperating child. I told you to wait for me, didn't I?'

  Emboldened by the proximity of her mother, Daisy peered up at the visitors. `Are you Giddy an' Pips?'

  With a carefully straight face, Gideon nodded at the child. `We are,' he confirmed gravely. `I'm Giddy and this is Pips.'

  EIGHT

  THE GRAND TOUR OF the surgery and accompanying buildings took nearly an hour, all told. Gideon and Pippa were deeply interested in all that they saw and Sean Rosetti, seeing their interest, needed no further encouragement to show off his pride and joy.

  The conversion of the outbuildings to surgery, recovery room, drugstore and residential stabling was very recent, and the whole place was as modern and hi-tech on the inside as it appeared ancient on the outer. They learned that it had in fact only opened to patients within the last year. Sean told them that, at present, he shared the practice with one other vet, a trained anaesthetist he referred to as Eddie, with whom he eventually hoped to go into partnership.

  At the stables, where they started the tour, Gideon and Pippa were introduced to one of the two veterinary nurse-cum-grooms who, between them, manned the yard twenty-four hours a day whenever there were horses in residence.

  `They've got a bedsit where they can relax when everything is quiet,' Sean said. `And we're having another one put in so owners

  can stay here if they arrive in the middle of the night or just want to be near their horses. I expect, once we really get busy, we'll have to have more stable staff, but at the moment we're managing.'

  The stables were all equipped with state-of-the-art fittings, including an automatic watering system, and were linked to the nurses' station and Sean's office by closed-circuit television. `It saves having to keep coming out to check on them, which is a pain for us and disturbing for them,' he explained.

  At present the hospital held just one patient, who stood looking quietly contented in her luxury accommodation. They were told that she was recovering well from a deep, abdominal wound that had required cleaning and extensive stitching in a sterile environment. She was due to go home shortly.

  In the main block of the buildings, which bore no resemblance to their former life as a milking parlour and dairy complex, Gideon and Pippa were shown the reception area where horses could be unloaded from horseboxes under cover. Various metal trolleys stood tidily around the walls with emergency equipment at the ready, Sean saying that some of his patients arrived in a state of virtual collapse.

  From reception, he led them through a door that opened on to a flight of half a dozen or so steps leading upward to a corridor. From this corridor, windows looked down into both the surgery and a smaller room with padded floor and walls, which he explained was the area where horses were first anaesthetised, and to where they were returned to recover consciousness after surgery.

  `We needed a corridor to bypass the surgery, for reasons of hygiene,' Sean said. `And it actually makes quite a good observation area.'

  `For whom?' Pippa asked.

  `For owners - if they feel like it - and for visiting vets. Even for me if we have to call a specialist in. And maybe, one day, for students.' His eyes shone with thoughts of possibilities for the future.

  The tour concluded with a brief look at the room that housed the X-ray equipment, the drugstore, the office and two rooms that were for general storage. The storerooms were locked, as was the office with its three large filing cabinets and its hot drinks dispenser; and all the connecting doors were fire-doors, made of metal and hung to swing either way. Everywhere was scrupulously clean and tidy. Gideon and Pippa were impressed, and said so.

  `Come over to the house for a drink,' Sean suggested when they'd seen all there was to see. `Cathy would love to meet you properly and I promised Daisy you wouldn't go without saying goodbye.'

  `She's a sweet child,' Pippa said as they made their way across to the farmhouse.

  `You don't have to live with her,' Sean declared with feeling. `She can be a little monster!'

  `Is she an only child?'

  `At the moment,' he said, opening the front door and ushering them through. `But not for much longer. We've just found out that Cathy's expecting again. No doubt that'll put Madam's nose out of joint for a bit, but I think it'll do her the world of good in the long run.'

  Cathy appeared, accepted their congratulations and invited them through into the kitchen, which was a practical mixture of new appliances in an old farmhouse setting.

  `I'm sorry, I don't normally entertain guests in the kitchen,' she said. `But the sitting room's in a frightful mess. I'm decorating and all the furniture is piled in the centre of the room with dustsheets over it. I had intended to leave it until the summer but by then I might not be in the best shape for climbing up and down stepladders.' She put a hand on her stomach a little selfconsciously.

  `I'm sure Sean would have done it for you,' Gideon said provocatively, with a sideways glance at the vet. `Do him good to have something to do in his spare time.'

  Sean favoured him with a sour look. `Ha, ha,' he said.

  Cathy laughed. `On the rare occasions that he does have a few minutes to spare, he disappears into his wine cellar,' she complained in a tone that conveyed tolerance.

  `Oh?' Gideon said with interest. Wines were one of Giles' passions and he was trying, with limited success, to educate Gideon in the subtle art of wine appreciation. `Do you collect it, make it, or just enjoy drinking it?'

  `All three,' Sean said.

  `Pippa's brother has a very good cellar.'

  `And guards it like the crown jewels,' she put in. `I think he's afraid I'll use one of his precious Chateau-something-or-other's for cooking. Like most men, he doesn't believe a mere female could possibly have any knowledge of such things.'

  Gideon and Sean both reacted with predictable indignation to that but Cathy swung round from her coffee-making. `I agree completely! Sean won't even let me go' down to the cellar on my own. I'm beginning to think he keeps another woman down there!'

  'My secret is out,' he declared dramatically, but behind the smile Gideon thought he detected a trace of annoyance. `Seriously though, a fella needs somewhere he can go to get away from the stresses and strains of everyday life.'

  `And which am I, darling? A stress or a strain?' Cathy asked as she brought a coffeepot and cups to the scrubbed pine table where they were sitting.

  `If I were you, I'd be careful how I answered that!' Gideon warned, laughing.

  `You're so right!' Sean said, looking stricken, then seizing thankfully on the diversion. `Ah, hello, Daisy. What have you been up to?'

  `I bin good,' she declared defensively, coming into the room and up to her father's knee.

  `I'm sure you have,' he assured her. `Good God, what is it with you women? You always think you're being accused of something.'

  `Well, we have to stand up for ourselves,' Cathy said, laughing as she put a plate of chocolate muffins next to the coffeepot. `Otherwise you great rough bullies would make our lives a misery. Isn't that right, Daisy Doolittle?'
<
br />   Daisy climbed on to a vacant chair, eyeing the muffins. `Daisy's hungry!' she announced, readjusting her priorities. `Daisy needs two muffins!'

  `Daisy won't get any muffins at all if she doesn't mind her manners,' Cathy told her, severely.

  In the hall a telephone trilled. Sean groaned and Cathy went to answer it.

  `She's very good at sifting out the time-wasters,' he explained, but within a minute or so she was back.

  `It's Rita Morgan. You'd better talk to her. It's something about the powders you gave her for her broodmare. She seems worried. I'll find her notes.' She flashed an apologetic smile at her guests as she followed her husband out of the room. `Please excuse us for a minute. Oh, and help yourself to coffee and muffins.'

  The minute lengthened to ten and still Sean and Cathy hadn't reappeared. In the meantime Pippa had poured coffee for herself and Gideon, and milk for Daisy, and they'd each had a muffin. Daisy ate her muffin with messy enjoyment, getting almost as much around her mouth as in it. Apparently abandoning the idea of a second helping, she slid off her chair, holding her sticky fingers high, and made her way towards the door into the hall.

  `Hey, hang on!' Pippa exclaimed. `Let's wipe those fingers, shall we? I'm sure Mummy won't want sticky muffin all over the house.' She led the child towards the sink, taking care to hold her wrist rather than her hand, and wiped the offending digits with a wad of damp kitchen paper.

  `That's better.' Pippa released the child's hands and looked round for a bin.

  `Try that corner cupboard,' Gideon advised, pointing.

  A short search revealed the bin under the sink and as Pippa

  turned back to the table she stopped short. `Oh, Lord! Now where has she gone?'

  In the corner behind Gideon a door stood open eight black inches or so and there was no sign of Daisy.

  `The wine cellar?' Pippa suggested. `I'll get her.'

  On the wall just inside the open door Gideon found a light switch and flicked it on. Daisy stood a little way down a flight of steep, stone steps, gazing up at him. `Daddy's den,' she said. `Daisy show you,' and pattered on downwards.

  `Oh, no, you don't!' Gideon ran quickly down after her, catching up with her just as she reached the bottom. He grasped her hand firmly, glancing around with interest at the racks of bottles and benches of winemaking equipment as he did so, then led her back up the steps. `I'm quite sure you're not allowed down here. Come on, up we go.'

  He pushed'Daisy ahead of him through the doorway and turned to pull the door shut.

  `What are you doing?' Sean demanded sharply, coming through from the hall. `That door should be locked. Where have you been?' `Well, it wasn't locked,' Gideon replied, somewhat taken aback by the implied accusation. `Daisy opened it when we weren't looking and I went down to bring her back. I'd no intention of prying.'

  Cathy had come in behind her husband and now put her hand on his arm. `Oh, come on, Sean. Aren't you taking this a bit far? We should be grateful to Gideon. Daisy could easily have fallen and hurt herself down there.'

  `That's exactly why I keep it locked.' He paused and then said with a rueful smile, `I'm sorry, Gideon. I didn't mean to be rude. It's just that those steps are treacherous. I must remember to take the key out of the lock in future.'

  `It's all right, forget it,' Gideon said, and was rewarded by a grateful smile from Cathy.

  Daisy had tired of the drama. `Are Giddy an Pips staying to

  dinner?' she asked, her wide eyes looking from one to the other and back to her father.

  `Er ... ?' Sean looked enquiringly.

  `You're very welcome,' Cathy assured them.

  `Thanks, but I'm afraid I have to get back to feed the horses,' Pippa said regretfully.

  Cathy looked a lot more disappointed than her husband, Gideon thought. It appeared that he wasn't completely forgiven, in spite of the apology.

  By the time Pippa dropped Gideon off at the Gatehouse, refusing his offer of help with the horses, it was getting on for six o'clock and completely dark. Rachel's Mini was parked by the gate, and as Gideon turned from waving to Pippa, Rachel herself emerged from it, almost as if she had been waiting for him.

  `Hi,' he said cheerfully. `Did you have a good day?' `Busy. I've got to go back on Thursday. You?' `Great, yeah. Thoroughly lazy, I'm afraid.'

  They began to walk towards the house together and Gideon could sense Rachel's tension like electricity in the air.

  `What's the matter? You haven't seen Duke again, have you?' `No. I've been watching the house. I don't think there's anyone around.'

  Gideon turned to look at her in the glow of the porch light, which he'd taken to leaving on as a precaution in these uncertain times.

  `How long have you been watching the house?'

  Rachel avoided his searching gaze. `About half an hour, maybe longer.'

  Gideon tilted her chin up with a finger. `The truth,' he said quietly.

  `All right, nearly an hour. I was scared. I knew you weren't there and I didn't want to be trapped again. At least in my car I'm mobile.' She was patently agitated, and Gideon felt a twinge of guilt. He should have been back earlier.

  He let them both into the house and proceeded to check all the rooms for intruders, ostensibly for Rachel's benefit but in truth, ever since the night of his abduction, he'd experienced some difficulty in relaxing until he was sure the house wasn't harbouring any undesirables.

  The night was quiet. A steady drizzle fell outside, and inside Gideon worked on his portrait while Rachel curled up in front of the fire with a novel and a glass of wine.

  Around eleven o'clock Gideon rubbed tired eyes, pushed his tray of chalk pastels away from him and switched the angle-poise off. Yawning, he wandered into the sitting room and discovered Rachel fast asleep in the corner of the sofa, her book spread-eagled on the floor and Elsa on her lap. Remembering what had happened the last time he'd awakened her in a similar situation, Gideon bent and blew softly on her face. Slowly, and with no fuss, Rachel's eyelids flickered and began to open.

  Immediately Gideon stepped back.

  `It's all right for some. Having time to fall asleep in front of the fire!'

  `Mm. Well, it's been a long day,' she said, stretching with feline grace. `And some of us had to work.'

  Elsa jumped off her knee, cross at being disturbed, and Gideon tried not to look at Rachel's slim curves; they encouraged thoughts that for the time being were much better not explored.

  Gideon had an appointment the next day with a farmer in a neighbouring village who trained point-to-pointers for a hobby. He'd recently taken on a young horse that showed a great deal of promise, `If,' as his exasperated trainer had complained to Gideon the previous week, `we can ever get him to the bloody racecourse!' The problem seemed to be a deep-rooted fear of travelling by horsebox, and the trainer, with whom Gideon had worked before, had appealed to him for help.

  When he had agreed to see the horse the Duke Shelley situation hadn't existed, but it was obvious as he got ready to leave the house that morning that Rachel was not at all comfortable with the prospect of being left on her own. She had come down to breakfast pale and heavy-eyed, and had shadowed him ever since, as if afraid he would go without telling her.

  Finally, as he shrugged his leather jacket on over a thick jumper, uncomfortably aware that she was watching him, darkeyed, from the sitting-room doorway, he took pity on her and, warning her that she'd probably be bored stiff, offered to take her along.

  They made the short journey in the warmth and relative comfort of the Mini, and were met at their destination by a ruddycheeked, middle-aged man wearing a flat cap, tweed jacket and trousers held up by baler twine.

  Gideon introduced Rachel as a friend of Pippa's, come to watch him work.

  Rachel smiled at the farmer; a wide, sweet smile peculiarly her own, and said anxiously, `I hope you don't mind my turning up like this? Gideon said it would be all right.'

  `Mind?' Quentin repeated. `You've made my day! Well, I suppose
we'd better go and sort out this pesky animal. I've parked the box in the drive because I've been working on it all morning, but actually I think that's as good a place as any to try and load him. Come and see what you think.'

  They left the Mini in front of the plain red-brick farmhouse and skirted the building and the towering bulk of the lorry, to reach the yard at the back, where alongside a tractor shed, henhouses and a barn, six looseboxes stood. Six long aristocratic heads appeared as if by magic over the half-doors and six pairs of nostrils fluttered in greeting.

  ,They're pleased to see you,' Rachel observed with pleasure as they stopped a few feet short of the stables.

  `They think it's getting near their lunchtime is more like it,' Quentin said with a laugh. `But it's nice to see, even so.'

  `Which is the problem boy?' Gideon asked.

  Quentin opened his mouth, half-raising his hand, then stopped. `You tell me,' he invited.

  Gideon raised an eyebrow. `It'll cost you extra,' he warned. `Well, I've got to call your bluff now and again. Make sure you're not having me on.'

  Without further ado, Gideon went forward.

  All the horses strained towards him except one, a coltish bay with wide-spaced, intelligent eyes, which regarded his approach with a slight flattening of its small ears. He ignored it, walking past without stopping and pretending not to notice the flash of temper that was directed at his back as he passed. He spoke to the other five: two amiable bays, a grey that was touchy about its ears, another grey, and one a chestnut who tried half-heartedly to nip him.

  Gideon turned back to the first bay, who by now was banging its door, furious at having been passed by. The horse quieted as he approached, once again flattening its ears and, when he turned to face it, backing off a pace or two into its box, from where it continued to eye him.