BLINDFOLD

by Lyndon Stacey

  But he was too late anyway.

  Calmly, Milne took his right hand out of the front pocket of his painter's smock, revealing a large, old-fashioned handgun that had probably been out of date before the Second World War. Any doubts as to its serviceability, however, were dispelled in the shockingly loud report of its discharge.

  Even as the ears of those closest rang with the sound, Slade was already dead. Shot through the heart at almost point-blank range with surprising efficiency for a man of the arts, he was knocked backwards and down, dragging his accompanying officer with him.

  For a moment there was shocked silence. Slade lay on the frosty ground, his eyes flickering weirdly with reflected blue light, and whatever vengeful intentions he may have had, extinguished forever.

  EIGHTEEN

  I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE IT!' Pippa declared, tucking a wayward, newly bleached curl behind her ear as she poured coffee into mugs on the Priory's huge kitchen table. `And Sean Rosetti, of all people!'

  Gideon shifted to try and ease his various aches and pains. Nearly a week had passed since the horror of the events at the Sanctuary, but it would be a long time before his body would begin to let him forget it. `Yeah, well, like I said . . .'

  `Oh, I know. Keep it under my hat. But within these walls it can't hurt, can it? And I'm still trying to get my head round it. I mean, how could Sean have just stood by and let them treat you like they did that night? I thought he'd have had more backbone!'

  Gideon had had much longer to think about it than Pippa. `He couldn't do a lot about it at that point, could he?' he pointed out. 'Slade was more or less holding his family to ransom by then, to say nothing of his career. To be fair, I don't think he would have carried on for any other reason. Slade was a past master at manipulating people, and he guessed Rosetti wouldn't do it for the money alone, however much he needed it.'

  Pippa topped the mugs up with milk, pushed one towards Gideon and shouted `Coffee, Giles!' towards the open door, before settling down on the other side of the table. `They were taking a hell of a risk, though, weren't they? I mean, what if someone had wanted a paternity test?'

  Gideon nodded. `That's what I thought but then, as Sean said, why should they? A lot of the foals were apparently perfect little carbon copies of their illustrious uncle. Most of the mares' owners would have visited Sox at the stud when they booked his services. He looks happy and healthy. What earthly reason would they have to suppose that anything was amiss?'

  Pippa frowned. `You almost sound as though you admire them for what they did. It was criminal. And whatever you say, I'm still not convinced that they should have got away with it.'

  `Me neither,' Gideon agreed, `in principle. But what's done, is done. And who's to say some of them won't turn out to be just as good jumpers as Sox might have sired? After all, there's no certainty that he would have produced talent either.'

  'No-o,' Pippa said slowly. `But the fact remains that those people paid a lot of money for something they didn't get. However you look at it, it's fraud. There should be compensation.'

  `And who's going to foot the bill?' Gideon asked. `Anthony?' Giles came in and flopped down in a chair beside Gideon, rubbing his hands together. It was a cold, bleak day and the kitchen was by far the warmest place in the house. `Not still chewing over the Great Stallion Scandal, are you?' he asked, reaching for his coffee. `A horse is a horse, as far as I can see.' `Well, thank you for that intelligent input,' his sister said, dryly. `So I suppose it would also be true to say a wine is a wine?'

  `Ah. Now that would be the remark of a truly uneducated person,' Giles said, comfortably sure of his ground. `The two bear no relation.' He looked at his sister questioningly and said, apparently out of context, `Has he?'

  She frowned heavily at him and answered quietly, `I don't think so.'

  `The thing is,' Gideon said, ignoring them and still trying to justify his silence on the Sox affair, `with Tom and Slade dead, the person - or people - who'd be most damaged by revealing the truth are Mary and Anthony Collins. Now all that boy ever wanted was to help his father run the stud and take over when he retired. He's got a good head on his shoulders and he's a far stronger person than Tom ever was. If the truth ever came out about his father, he would be devastated. The press would crucify the family and the stud's credibility would be shot to pieces. He's done nothing to deserve that. Neither of them has.'

  `I suppose . . .' Pippa relented, still doubtful. `But Sox can't go on standing at stud, can he? How are they going to get round that?'

  `Sean's going to break it to Anthony in a day or two that Sox's sperm-count is dramatically down. He'll say Tom asked him to do some tests just before he died because he was worried that the horse was a bit under the weather. It'll be a shock to him, but he won't be able to argue with the figures.'

  `But surely he's booked up for the season?'

  `That can't be helped,' Gideon said sadly. `It could never be painless, but this is the best way out for all concerned. There'll have to be an announcement in Horse and Hound. You know, "Olympic Gold Medallist Retires from Stud" or something similar. Anthony will cope.'

  `It doesn't seem right, though, Sean getting off Scot-free.' `Oh, I think he's suffered more than you could imagine. And think of Cathy and Daisy,' Gideon added, persuasively. `It would ruin their lives too.'

  `He's right, you know,' Giles put in, helpfully for once. "'Let sleeping dogs lie" and all that. Leave well enough alone.'

  `What the eye doesn't see . . .' Gideon contributed.

  `Yeah, all right, all right!' Pippa exclaimed. `I think I get the idea. I'm not saying I agree with it, mind. I mean, innocent people often get caught in the crossfire; surely the responsibility lies with the criminal not with the people who come along to pick up the pieces. But,' she held up her hands, `it's not up to me, is it? So, how are Tim and Naomi getting on? Have you spoken to them today?'

  `No. I called them earlier,' Gideon told her, `but they weren't in. I'll try again, later. They seem to have come through it remarkably well though, considering. Naomi is incredibly tough.'

  `Like her brother, I'd say,' Pippa remarked casually. `First a confrontation with a chain-wielding maniac, and then taking on the Dorset Mafia! Getting beaten up once in a day is enough for most people, but not masochistic Mr Blake! Honestly, what on earth possessed you to take on Slade on your own?'

  `I wasn't on my own,' Gideon protested. `Joey was there. I told you how it happened. We had no way of knowing how long Logan would be and we didn't know what Slade might be doing to Naomi and Tim. What was I supposed to do?'

  `You could have been killed,' Pippa persisted stubbornly. `And I don't know how you could trust that Joey bloke after all he'd done to you, for heavensakes! Not to mention emptying Logan's petrol tank.'

  `Yeah. Logan was pretty pissed off about that, too. It ran out before he even got to the Grange.'

  `So it was Joey's fault that Logan wasn't there, yet you still trusted him! That's plain daft!'

  Gideon didn't have an answer. He took a long sip of his coffee and stared broodingly at the tabletop.

  `Well?' she demanded.

  `Er ... it's a guy thing,' he suggested with an apologetic grin. `Male bonding.'

  Beside him, Giles spluttered into his mug and Pippa favoured them both with a withering look. `Oh, pleasel' she said with heavy emphasis.

  The old range spat and popped as a log shifted inside it, and looking round the old kitchen in warm contentment, Gideon became aware that Fanny the Labrador was busy washing just one remaining pup. Pippa had successfully homed three of the puppies in the last week but there had still been two there the night before. With a mixture of relief and wistfulness, he saw it was the brindle pup that had gone.

  `When did the brindle go?' he asked.

  `Oh, this morning,' Pippa said. `It's going to a smashing home. Local too, so I'll be able to see it.'

  `So, have you got someone lined up for the last one?'

  `Why? Do you want it?' she asked,
regarding him quizzically, head on one side. Then she laughed. `No, actually I'm thinking of keeping it myself. I've been thinking about it ever since we lost the smallest one. I don't know why.'

  `It's that soft centre again,' Gideon teased. `You want to watch it, you're becoming quite sentimental in your old age.'

  `Perhaps I am,' Pippa said thoughtfully. Then, changing the subject again, `So, Milne was behind all the trouble at the Sanctuary, after all.'

  'Gideon nodded. `Apparently. He and another idealist - who's since died - stole the Darius Sinclair collection back in the sixties to save it from being sold to America. Milne then installed it in that specially adapted room in the bunker where, I gather, he regularly used to sit and admire it. The farm was derelict for nearly fifty years, you see, until the old lady that owned it inconveniently died and left it to her great-nephew, Tim. According to Logan, Milne assumed that there'd be ample notice of any change in the status quo; you know, For Sale boards or builders dropping off supplies. Plenty of time to remove the paintings before anyone moved in. If the farm had come on to the market he would have bid for it. Nothing had changed for such a long time that I suppose he'd become complacent. But, as it happened, he was away for a few days and when he returned Tim was already there.'

  `And he plonked his mobile home bang on top of the entrance,' Giles said. `That was a bit of a bummer for Milne, wasn't it? So he hired Slade to shift him.'

  `Well, he could hardly have come and gone without being seen, wherever the mobile home was,' Gideon pointed out. `I suppose the idea was that if he could get rid of Tim, even for a short time, he'd be able to rehouse the pictures somewhere else. But it didn't work out that way.'

  `And then Slade found out what a fortune Milne was sitting on, and decided to relieve him of it,' Pippa put in.

  `Yeah. The scam with Sox and Whitewings had gone belly up, though I think he was probably already getting bored. And once he discovered Milne's secret, he must have thought it was easy money.

  `Which it would have been, if you hadn't turned up,' Giles added. `He could have got Tim and Naomi out of the way and whisked the paintings away without anyone being any the wiser.'

  `Except Milne, of course, but he couldn't say anything without incriminating himself,' Pippa said. 'Slade would have been home and dry. Do you think he really would have blocked the ventilation shaft and left you to suffocate?'

  Gideon shrugged. `Who knows? I wouldn't have put it past him. After all, dead men tell no tales. But who's to say that room was even airtight after all these years? The rubber seals on the doors were probably perished, and anyway Logan would pretty soon have worked out where we were.'

  `I'd have been petrified,' Pippa said soberly. `It's a good thing Logan was there. So how did he come to be following you in the first place? You never did tell us.'

  `Well, I'd spoken to him Friday - after Tom's funeral - when I was still trying to figure out what was going on, and I pushed him for his opinion on the explosion at the cottage. He was convinced I knew more than I was telling and he's like a terrier when he gets hold of something, so after his shift on Sunday he came on over to see if he could get me to open up. He was almost here when he met me hating in the other direction and decided to tag along and see where I was off to in such a hurry.'

  `Well, it looks like his terrier instincts may just have saved your life,' Pippa observed. `It sounds as though Slade had it in for you in a big way!'

  `Yes, in the end, I think getting back at me was almost more important to him than the money,' Gideon said, remembering the look of vicious loathing that Slade had directed at him as he was led away. Joey said he could never bear to be beaten.'

  `What would you have done if the old guy hadn't shot Slade?' Giles asked curiously. `I mean, he was hardly going to keep his mouth shut; was he? If he couldn't get at you, I should think he'd have jumped at the chance to take it out on your friends.'

  `Yeah, he said as much. And he said he hadn't finished with me, either. I just hope he hasn't got half a dozen brothers who're going to come looking for me!'

  It was said lightly, but Pippa looked aghast. `You don't really think . . . ?'

  Gideon shook his head with a grin. `No, I don't,' he said firmly. `So this Milne character saved the day,' Giles said.

  `Mm. In a rather drastic way. It seems that after Logan had been there asking where Slade was and what he was doing, Milne began putting two and two together. When Logan found out about the paintings he sent someone to arrest him, but by that time Milne had already set off across the field to the Sanctuary with the gun in his pocket.'

  `Pretty extreme,' Giles commented.

  `Yeah, well, he was a man obsessed. He lives and breathes art and he'd jealously guarded the Sinclair pictures for the best part of forty years. And that wasn't all. I gather he was one for the guys, if you know what I mean, and I think Slade had led him on a bit. I guess that made the betrayal twice as hard to stomach. I think he just flipped.'

  `Wow! Lust, betrayal and murder in darkest Dorset,' Giles exclaimed. `You never know what's going on behind closed doors, do you?'

  `Too true. By the way, where's Rachel?' Gideon asked.

  Pippa had been deep in thought but now she gave herself a mental shake. `Oh, she's down at the farm with the donkeys.

  Confronting her demons, she said. She hasn't been down there since the business with her charming ex.'

  `She's a brave girl,' Gideon said approvingly, glancing at Giles. `And from what I hear, you're a lucky guy!'

  Giles blushed a little. `I don't know what I've done to deserve it. After all, you had a far more heroic role in the drama than I did.' `That's just it,' Pippa stated wisely. `I think Gideon is altogether too much for her to cope with. You're more homely,' she added with sisterly sweetness. `Any more coffee?'

  The companionable sibling bickering faded to the edge of Gideon's consciousness as he closed his eyes against the onset of another throbbing headache. They were troubling him less frequently now than they had a few days ago. He groped in his pocket for the bottle of double-strength painkillers his doctor had prescribed, and took two with the dregs of his coffee. They usually made him feel a little woolly but the compromise was well worth it.

  The events following Slade's death were not much more than a blur now. Milne had surrendered his weapon without a struggle, his face blank and his whole body shaking with the shock of what he'd done.

  Shock had had its effect on Gideon too, seeming to drain his body of its last reserves of strength. His head swimming once more, his legs had threatened to let him down, and a sharp call from Logan had brought a second paramedic to his aid. Once in the ambulance, with Naomi at his side, the relief of relinquishing all responsibility was immense and he'd closed his eyes and gratefully let consciousness slip away.

  They had kept him in hospital for several days, until the doctors were as certain as they could be that his head injuries were not going to develop into anything life-threatening. He was then discharged with the proviso that he should immediately report any sharp or worsening pains, double vision or impaired coordination. He was fortunate that he hadn't suffered a fractured skull, they told him shaking their heads solemnly, and he was left with the feeling that they held him in some way to blame for his injuries, as if he'd been involved in a pub brawl.

  Gideon had looked forward to the peace and quiet of the Gatehouse after the ceaseless, if well-meant, attentions of the staff at the hospital. His dream of solitude was soon to be shattered, however. Pippa met him at the door of the hospital with the information that, with Rachel out working most days, there was absolutely no way she and Giles were going to let him go back to the Gatehouse on his own. He was to stay at the Priory until he was fully recovered.

  His lengthy protests fell on deaf ears but in the event he had to admit that he was grateful. Still uncomfortably weak and feeling emotionally below par, Pippa's unfussy good sense and Giles' undemanding company were the best possible aid to his recovery. His usual sense of
humour was soon restored too, by Mrs Morecambe's dire predictions of his likely demise if he failed to follow the doctor's instructions to the letter. His strength had quite quickly returned with good food and complete rest, and all in all, he felt better after just six days than he could have dared hope.

  Logan and a senior officer had visited him twice and from them he'd learned that Milne had been arrested and charged with the murder of Slade and the theft of the paintings but appeared to regret neither. In turn, he'd given them a truthful, if incomplete, account of recent events, and if Logan was aware that they were being fed a budget version - and Gideon was almost certain that he was - he didn't say anything in front of his superior. At the end of their second visit, however, he lagged behind as they got up to leave.

  `If I let it go at that,' he said quietly, `then I'll expect the full story one day, off the record. I think you owe me that.'

  Gideon had to agree. It was just a fraction of what he owed the man.

  A growing babble of voices brought him back to the present and he glanced at Pippa who was trying to hide a smile. The door from the main hall burst open and suddenly the room was full of people. Gideon looked up, wonderingly, scanning each face as they came in.

  Naomi led the charge, followed closely by Tim and Rachel, Sean, Cathy and Daisy Rosetti, Mary and Anthony Collins, and a woman Gideon felt he should know but couldn't place.

  Gideon got hastily to his feet. `What the ... ?'

  Naomi looked at Pippa with mock despair. `He still hasn't, has he?'

  Pippa shook her head. `It's his age, poor old chap! And that knock on the head didn't help.'

  `Oh, my God! It's my birthday, isn't it?' Gideon exclaimed, and then through the general laughter, `Why didn't someone tell me?' `We couldn't believe you'd really forgotten!' Pippa said. `All except Naomi. She said you quite probably had. I must say, it's a completely new twist on a surprise party to me!'

  `There's someone else outside,' Tim announced over the hum of amused comment. `Someone special!'

  He opened the door with a flourish to reveal Joey's half-sister, Jez, looking uncharacteristically pretty in a flowered dress, and a little overawed by the occasion. She came in glancing shyly up at Gideon, who rewarded her with a huge grin.