BLINDFOLD

by Lyndon Stacey

  He landed on his feet and swung his head to look at Gideon but was apparently unwilling to take him on without the advantage of a weapon, for he immediately turned and sprinted away across the yard.

  Without much expectation of catching him, Gideon ran on, wondering whether the police were on their way, and also where Blackbird and the donkeys would end up if they found their way down the drive to the village.

  Ahead of him, Duke had reached the corner of the granary and glanced back over his shoulder to see where Gideon was. As he did so, Giles appeared running from the direction of the farmhouse and launched himself at Duke's legs in a tackle that would have instantly won him a place with the British Lions. He followed it up, however, with a move that would just as quickly have lost him that place.

  Gideon jogged up with a wide grin on his face. `Foul!' he declared.

  Giles was by now sitting firmly upon his captive, breathing heavily and leaning on one hand which was, in turn, pushing Duke's face uncompromisingly into the mud of the farm track.

  Gideon tilted his head on one side, looking down at his erstwhile opponent.

  `You know, I'm not sure he can breathe,' he announced after a moment or two.

  `How sad,' Giles said lightly, but he relaxed the pressure a little. Duke spat mud and curses, and wriggled violently.

  `There's gratitude,' Giles observed, leaning hard once more. `Would this be useful?' Pippa came up behind Gideon, holding out the lead rope from a head collar. Rachel stood some distance away, apparently not yet convinced that Duke was sufficiently contained.

  Gideon took the rope, and with Giles' assistance, bound Duke's wrists to his ankles with ruthless efficiency and great enjoyment. They stood back and surveyed their handiwork with satisfaction.

  Duke was not nearly so content. He spat some more mud and then let loose an incredible string of verbal abuse, his extensive vocabulary presumably acquired during his army days.

  `Oh, for heavensakes!' Pippa exclaimed. She pulled a cotton scarf from around her neck, and kneeling behind him, wrapped it around his face, pulling it into his protesting mouth and knotting it at the back of his head.

  Gideon was impressed. `Where did you learn to do that? At catering college?'

  `No. At the cinema,' she countered. `You see what you're missing?'

  `Obviously.' Gideon turned to give Rachel a reassuring grin. `Come on, we've got him now. Or rather, Giles did.'

  `He can't get free again?'

  `No.' Giles went towards her and put his arm round her shoulders. `He's trussed up like the proverbial chicken and the police are on their way. They'll have him locked away in no time, I should think.'

  `Did he hurt you?' she asked, frowning as she noticed the bruise on his forehead.

  `No, I'm fine,' he assured her.

  Gideon raised his eyebrows significantly at Pippa. `Who's the

  hero now?' he murmured. `By the way, how did the donkeys escape? Did Blackbird crash the gate?'

  `No, I let them go. They were milling around in a semi-panic, and I thought if I let them out they might stampede and cause a diversion.'

  `They did,' Gideon said heavily. `Unfortunately it was me that was diverted! I'd just got hold of our friend at that point.'

  Pippa bit back a giggle. `Oh, I'm sorry! Only I saw Blackbird had deserted you and I thought you might need some help.'

  `O, ye of little faith. Was that another of your tricks learned from the films?'

  `Well, it always worked for John Wayne,' she told him.

  SIXTEEN

  IT WAS A GOOD HOUR and a half after the police arrived to relieve them of Duke Shelley that Gideon, Giles, Pippa and Rachel finally arrived back at the Priory in Giles' four-wheeldrive Mercedes.

  The police, two officers Gideon had not met before, dealt with the situation with brisk efficiency, releasing Shelley from his makeshift rope bonds and securing him with handcuffs before taking statements from his four weary captors. They were very gentle with Rachel, who looked, and probably was, on the verge of mental exhaustion.

  Duncan Shelley was also wanted, one of the policemen told them, on suspicion of involvement in a drugs-related stabbing the night before. Gideon mentioned the knife and a short search turned it up at the scene of the confrontation.

  `You were very lucky, sir,' one of the policemen told him. `He's a nasty piece of work.'

  Gideon flexed his bruised shoulder muscles gingerly. Once again, he didn't feel very lucky.

  The bulk of the time after the police had hauled their unwilling

  captive off was taken up with retrieving the donkeys from the various parts of the farm to which they had fled. Rachel took no part in this operation, staying instead in the farmhouse under the motherly eye of Henry's wife, where they found her in due course, kneeling on the rug by the fire, playing with a litter of boisterous kittens. She looked up eagerly as they came in, and Gideon immediately said, `No! Elsa would murder it!'

  The skies had opened again and it was decided to leave the horses at the farm to be collected the next day. Blackbird had been found pulling hay from a stack of bales in the barn but allowed himself to be caught with no trouble and appeared to bear Gideon no lasting grudge for the treatment he had received.

  The Priory kitchen, with its assortment of old armchairs, ancient range pumping out heat, basketful of puppies and deliciously fragrant cooling loaves of bread, seemed like heaven as they came in from the cold, wet dusk outside.

  Mrs Morecambe fussed round them all, exclaiming at the state of Giles and of Gideon, who now also sported an impressive purpling bruise where the end of the chain had caught him in the face. She made them all sit down, ignoring Pippa's protests that she had horses to feed and settle for the night.

  `They can wait five minutes while you have a cup of tea. They're not that fragile, and you can't make me believe they are. You look fit to drop!'

  Pippa gave in, admitting that she could do with a cup of tea, though, as she pointed out, she had come through the whole thing the fittest of all of them.

  Gideon was the wettest, his clothes never having completely dried out since his ducking in the river, but Mrs Morecambe's suggestion that Giles lend him a change of clothes was greeted with a chorus of mirth.

  `I'm quite a bit bigger round and a good four inches longer in the leg,' Gideon explained, seeing that Mrs Morecambe was looking a little put out.

  `Well, I know that,' she said. `But you're not going in for a fashion show.'

  `Actually, I'm drying out quite nicely now I'm next to the range,' he told her. `Sort of steaming gently.'

  She pursed her lips in a way that showed she wasn't completely mollified but he knew her well enough to be sure she would soon come round.

  Quite apart from being decidedly damp, he was feeling the ongoing effects of Duke Shelley's efforts with the chain, and they were not very pleasant. Even the soft upholstery of the armchair generated more pressure on his bruised shoulders than was comfortable, and now he was resting, the injured muscles had begun to stiffen and set up a protest every time he shifted his position.

  He was glad no one had been witness to the worst of the confrontation. If Pippa had known, she'd probably have had him stripped to the waist and rubbed liniment into his bruises, and that kind of attention he felt he could well do without, just at the moment.

  Having consumed cups of tea and slices of newly baked bread, they were sitting round feeling warm and somewhat sleepily discussing the events of the afternoon when Gideon's mobile phone trilled.

  `Hi, Bro, it's me,' Naomi's voice announced. `Look, I just wondered if you'd seen or heard from Tim this afternoon? I had to go to Bournemouth to see about this job I've been offered, which took forever, and when I got back he wasn't here. I wouldn't worry but some of the animals obviously haven't been fed and I wondered if there was a problem with the donkeys or something, and he'd come over to you? His car's gone.'

  `No, he's not here,' Gideon told her. `You've obviously tried his mobile . . .'
>
  `Yes. That's the silly thing. It's here on the table. Wherever he is, he forgot to take it. Oh, well. Never mind. I expect he'll turn up. Speak to you later.'

  `Yeah.' Gideon was frowning. `Give me a ring when you find him, won't you?'

  `Okay,' she said lightly. "Bye for now.'

  Gideon ended the call, still frowning. `None of you have heard from Tim today, have you?' he asked thoughtfully.

  Nobody had. They discussed possibilities for a moment and then the talk turned to a discussion of the character traits of Fanny's remaining five pups, but Gideon felt unsettled. She had sounded casual enough, but he was sure there'd been an undercurrent of real anxiety in his sister's voice.

  `Well, I still think the black pup is more intelligent than Gideon's brindle one,' Pippa said, standing up and stretching. `But I'm not going to sit here arguing about it any more. I've got horses to feed. Volunteers gratefully accepted,' she added hopefully. ' Gideon?'

  `I'm sorry,' he said. `What?' `Stables?'

  `Yeah, sure. Look, I'll be with you in a minute. I just want to ring Naomi back.'

  `Okay. But you're not really worried about Tim, are you? After all, what can have happened? He's probably just nipped out for something, met a friend and stopped for a drink.'

  `Yeah, maybe. But I would have thought he'd have let Naomi know.'

  'Well, he hasn't got his mobile, has he? She told you that.' Pippa collected a coat from the washroom on her way out, calling, `See you in a minute, then,' and the door banged behind her.

  Gideon keyed in the Sanctuary's number, noting as he did so that Rachel had fallen asleep with her head against Giles who was sitting perched on the arm of her chair. He smiled to himself.

  He wasn't smiling a minute later as he cancelled the call and keyed in Naomi's mobile number, and when he cancelled that call too, his heart was beginning to beat a little faster.

  Giles was watching his face. `She's probably outside looking for Tim,' he offered.

  `She'd surely have taken her mobile,' Gideon said. `In case he called.'

  `You're really worried, aren't you?' Giles said, surprised. `What on earth do you think has happened? The Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, Part Two?'

  Gideon didn't smile. `I'm probably getting paranoid in my old age,' he said, climbing stiffly to his feet. `But they've got some pretty nasty neighbours. I've just got a feeling something's not right. D'you think I could ... ?'

  'Yes,' Giles said resignedly. `Take the Merc. It's faster. Just don't crash it.'

  The country roads of Dorset don't lend themselves to great speed, but the Mercedes' speedometer touched ninety-five a time or two on the straighter stretches and Gideon tested its cornering ability to the limit. It wasn't until the last few miles of narrow lanes forced his speed down that he noticed a vehicle following him, lights flashing urgently. It was almost completely dark by now but the absence of blue lights suggested it wasn't the police, and on the remotest chance that it might be Tim or Naomi, Gideon slowed to a halt, keeping to the crown of the road so he couldn't be boxed in.

  The vehicle behind stopped about six feet from his rear bumper and a figure got out. Even in silhouette, Gideon could tell it was Logan; he had a certain way of moving. He waited for the policeman to come up to the window and then lowered it four inches or so, blinking in the light of Logan's torch.

  Logan dispensed with the expected remarks about Gideon's driving, saying simply, `I followed you from the Priory. What's up?'

  `Maybe nothing,' he said. 'Naomi phoned looking for Tim, and now I can't reach her either. Too much has gone wrong lately. I need to know they're safe.'

  `Okay. I'll be right behind you.'

  Gideon thanked him but he'd already disappeared, and when the Mercedes moved off, the other car was once more on its tail.

  The yard appeared deserted when Gideon and Logan drew up in front of the office. The security light came on illuminating their vehicles, Naomi's yellow MG, the open area of rain-puddled gravel, and the buildings beyond. Several piles of sand and shingle stood around. Of Tim's Volvo there was no sign.

  Logan was out of his car and shining his torch into the MG as Gideon came round the back of it.

  `My sister's.'

  `She's still here somewhere, then.'

  `It looks like it. I'll take a look in the caravan and the farmhouse. You look in reception,' Gideon suggested, though with little optimism; there were no lights to be seen anywhere.

  The caravan was indeed empty; the heater not even warm. Nobody had been in there for quite a while. The burnt-out shell of the farmhouse stood dejectedly in its overgrown garden with chipboard across the windows and a tarpaulin on the roof. All was quiet, and as far as he could tell, nothing had been disturbed. Gideon padded round to the front of the offices again. He was wearing desert boots, his soggy footwear being the one item of clothing he had stopped to change. The rest was more or less dry now anyway.

  Logan was waiting.

  `Nobody in the office or surgery,' he confirmed. `But there's a white pick-up parked round the corner. Any idea whose that might be?'

  Gideon shook his head. `Sorry.'

  `I'll call it in,' Logan said. `Then we'd better take a look round the rest of the place. What there is of it.'

  He produced his mobile and sweet-talked someone at the station into checking the numberplate for him, waiting only a few moments before saying, `Right, thanks. I owe you one.'

  Pocketing the phone he looked at Gideon. `Well, well. It belongs to your friend Joey Dylan.'

  Gideon frowned. `Joey? Why would he be here?'

  `You tell me,' Logan invited. `He's been here before, though, hasn't he?'

  `Only when Jez - his sister - was here. I don't know whether she's been back since the fire, or even if she's out of hospital yet. Naomi didn't mention her. I have seen Joey next door, though. At the Grange. I think he works for Slade sometimes, when he needs some muscle.'

  Logan glanced sideways at him. `Such as abducting people in the middle of the night?'

  `Yeah, things like that.' It wasn't the time to hold back on Logan.

  `Someday, when we've got a little more time, we'll have a beer and you can tell me all about that,' he said. `But for now let's take a gander, then decide what's best to do. It might be worth taking a little look next door to see who's at home.'

  They set off past the foodstore and down the row of old stables, which grew less serviceable the further they went. On their right lay the open areas of concrete foundations where the new, wooden stables had stood before they had burned to the ground, and beyond that the hard-standing for the mobile home, the remains of which had finally been carted off to the scrapyard a couple of days before. Several piles of bricks and timber promised rebirth in the near future.

  They searched all the remaining buildings, shining Logan's torch into the corners and disturbing the badger in one stable, who blinked and tried to push himself deeper into his straw bed. Then they tramped round the fence that separated the yard from the fields beyond, calling out every few strides for Naomi and Tim, but they saw and heard no one. Gideon battled with a rising sense of unreality. They couldn't just have disappeared.

  `It's like the Marie bloody Celeste,' Logan commented, as they came to a halt in front of reception once again. `Any ideas?'

  `I wish I had,' Gideon said. `One person going missing is bad enough, but two, and separately ... ?'

  `Right. Well, I think I'll shoot along to the Grange,' Logan suggested. `I don't think Slade's into wholesale kidnap but it won't hurt to account for his whereabouts. You take the torch and stop here in case either of them turns up. But watch your back, okay? There's still a chance Joey's around here somewhere. I don't want you disappearing too!'

  `Me either,' Gideon agreed.

  As the sound of the car's engine receded, he stood debating whether he should take another look round or whether it was worth trying to find Tim's diary to see if that held any clues. Surely Naomi would have thought of that, though. A fa
int smell of petrol hung in the air, causing him to wrinkle his nose. Logan's car could do with a service, he thought inconsequentially. The security light went out, leaving him in darkness, and after a moment he waved a hand to bring it on again.

  Right in front of him, about twelve feet away on the edge of the pool of light, stood Joey.

  Gideon caught his breath. `Christ! Where did you come from?' Joey's attitude was wary but non-threatening. `I was waiting 'til the cop buggered off' he said.

  `How did you know he was a cop?' There was nothing about Logan's clothing or vehicle to suggest it.

  `It pays to know, pal. He comes from Chilminster nick, that one.'

  `Well, he'll be back in a minute, he's only gone next door,' Gideon warned him. `So, what are you doing here? Do you know where Tim and Naomi are?'

  As he spoke, Gideon took a step or two sideways, out of the direct glare of the light. He didn't want to be a sitting duck ifJoey wasn't alone.

  `No, I don't. But I think they're in trouble. I bin trying to reach you for the last hour or more.'

  `I haven't been home,' Gideon said, his heart beginning to thud. `Why do you think they're in trouble?'

  'Because when I saw him this afternoon, Slade was talking

  about getting out. He said he'd got wind of a nice little haul that was just there for the taking, and he was gonna cut his losses and go. Then he started muttering about you. Said you were unfinished business and how he had a score to settle.' Joey shook his head, almost despairingly. `I don't know what you did, pal, but you really pissed him off and he's not one to let that sort of thing go. That was when he remembered your sister. He said if he could get hold of her, then you'd be sorry you crossed him.'

  Gideon's fists were clenched by his sides. `What? Did he say what he was going to do?'

  `I'm sorry, pal. I should've kept my mouth shut. I told him I don't hold with hurting women, and he clammed up. Said he didn't need me anyway. I should've waited 'til I knew more. I tried to ring you but I haven't got your mobile number, so I came to warn your sister but she wasn't here. Don't know if she'd have listened to me anyway, after the other night.'

  Gideon was wary. `Why should I believe you? What's in it for you?'