by Wilf Voss
"Promises, promises." Adam laughed. "Let’s check the yard first!"
The late check involved walking round the yard ensuring that all the horses each had adequate water and that their rugs were fastened. Adam and Kate went round the main yard together.
"Let's do the one of the back yards each. It will be quicker that way." Kate smiled.
"Okay." Adam watched as Kate went off into the darkness. He went off to the other yard. As he was checking one of the horses, he heard a slight noise, something he couldn't describe. He left the stable he was in and went round to the other yard. As he turned the corner he saw that the lights were off, Kate would have switched those on, he thought to himself. He flicked the switch but there was nothing. "Damm lights! Kate are you okay?" Adam paused there was no response. "Kate!" He saw a vague movement in the shadows. . .
~~~
Chapter 4
"No Pinkerton, you can't come with me." The kitten meowed loudly. "I'll be back soon." Amanda wanted to get to the yard early this morning; she had fed Pinkerton, but would be back later to play with him. She edged her way out of the front door and closed it quietly behind her.
The morning was dry and bright, there was a crispness on the grass as she walked towards her car. The mist rolled across the valley forming great grey shrouds of the fields and hedgerows. She thought that it would be a nice day to walk to the yard. She wouldn't need the car after all. So she set off down the country road.
The yard was very peaceful. Amanda stood on the driveway trying to ignore the mud and puddles and imagine this place being an impressive holiday equestrian centre with five star hotel and restaurant. That was a stupid thought; she couldn't even run this small yard without any other complications. She walked towards the main yard; one or two horses had their heads lazily hanging over their stable doors. She went up to a big grey and rubbed his ears, it wickered and rubbed its nose on Amanda's chest. Walking towards the back yard, she noticed a bundle of rags lying in the mud. Amanda walked towards it and was suddenly hit by a sense of foreboding. As she got close, she suddenly realised what it was.
"Adam? Adam! Oh no! What's happened?" Amanda knelt in the mud next to Adam's silent body. His breathing was shallow and laboured. "Oh no! Wait here. . ." She ran across the yard to the office, fumbling with the lock she eventually pushed the door open. Picking up the phone, she dialled 999. "Hello. . . Hello?" There was nothing but silence, she tried again, there was no dial tone. Amanda ran out of the office again and back to Adam. He was still lying still on the yard. "Adam. . . I'm going to get some help for you! Adam!" Amanda rushed across the yard; she saw her car wasn't in the car park. "No!"
Amanda ran down the drive and out onto the yard. There was a payphone in the village, she didn't have a phone at home, she told herself that there was nobody who would want to call her. At the payphone, again there was no dial tone. She slammed the handset down. The only option was to get her car and drive Adam to the nearest hospital. She ran back to her house and picked up the car keys.
Opening the car, she sat inside and fumbled with the ignition key, turning it the engine turned over but would not start.
"Come on! Come on!" Amanda yelled, turning the key again, the engine came to life. She drove as quickly as she could to the yard and stopped her car next to Adam. "Come on Adam I'm going to get you to hospital." Adam was silent. Amanda grabbed him under his shoulders and dragged him across the yard, she wrenched open the back door of her car and pushed him onto the back seat. "Oh Adam why do you have to be so heavy?" Amanda slammed the door and leapt behind the wheel.
***
Amanda pulled up in an area marked for ambulances, and ran into the casualty unit.
"Please help me I have an injured person in my car."
"Yes, one of the porters will help you." The receptionist pointed to a person in a white coat.
"But he's unconscious! I need help. . . Don't just sit there! “Amanda grabbed the telephone handset from the receptionist.”Please. . ." A nurse appeared from a side office and ran towards the desk. They both went out to Amanda's car. Adam was placed on a trolley and wheeled into the casualty unit.
***
"Miss King" The nurse came through to reception
"Yes, that's me. . . Is Adam okay?" Amanda stood up knocking over the cup of vending machine coffee.
"He's fine, he has slight concussion but he'll be okay." The nurse smiled. "Don't worry. . . Would you like to see him?"
"Oh yes please. . ." Amanda followed the nurse through into a cubical. Adam was lying flat out on the bed; he was wearing a light blue smock with 'Hospital Property' stencilled across it. Amanda walked towards the bed, "Adam. . . Are you okay?"
"Amanda? Is that you?" Adam stared directly upwards.
"Yes it's me!" Amanda turned to the nurse.
"As he has sustained a blow to the head and has concussion. We would like to keep him in for observation for a couple of days. Do you know how he sustained the injury?"
"I'm sorry I don't know. I found him on the yard this morning, he was just lying there. I don't know how long he had been there. I tried to ring for an ambulance but the phone wasn't working. . ."
"That's okay. . . I think we should let him rest for a while."
"Okay." Amanda took Adam's hand. "I'll come and see you soon. Now you rest."
***
Back at the yard, everything seemed normal. Caroline was sitting in the office as Amanda walked in.
"Hello Amanda. . . What's wrong?"
"I've just had to take Adam to hospital, I found him lying unconscious on the yard this morning." Amanda shook her head.
"That's why he didn't come down this morning, we thought him and Kate had run off together."
"Kate?"
"Yes Kate isn't around. She's not in the flat, or on the yard."
"Have you checked her room?"
"Yes Karen checked Adam's and her rooms when they didn't come down to work. Their beds hadn't been slept in. What's happened to them?"
"I really don't know? I really wish I did."
"Perhaps Adam had an argument with Kate; she could have hit him and run off." Caroline shrugged her shoulders.
"I really don't think that is very likely?" Amanda stepped into the office and sat down. Perhaps Kate had argued with Adam. She might have hit him with something in her temper; she may have easily got frightened and run off. Amanda looked down. Suddenly she saw something that made her blood freeze. She reached down and picked it up and placed it gingerly in her pocket, things started to click into place, Amanda shuddered. This couldn't be what had happened. . .
"Amanda?" Karen crashed through the office door. "You're here!"
"Karen. Were you not expecting me to be here?"
"No..." She paused. "I found this." Karen put a copy of the local paper in front of Amanda. "Look at this!"
"Look at what? What's up?" Amanda looked down at the paper.
"It has just arrived, look at this." Karen pointed to the obituary column.
"Who's died? Anyone I know?" Amanda read down the column. Her blood ran cold.
Amanda Jane Bishop
Age 24
'Taken so suddenly from us all.'
"Is this some kind of joke?" Amanda's voice quaked.
"No Amanda. . ." Karen shook her head.
"Can you leave me alone for a minute . . .?”
Karen and Caroline left the office silently. Amanda looked at the page in front of her. This might be just a joke, she shuddered, or it could mean a lot of trouble. There were things to do; she had to contact the police for one thing. Amanda stood up and left the office. The sun was shining, but the wind was cold, so she zipped up her jacket, she ignored her car and walked down the driveway and on towards the village. As she passed the pub, she saw a grey Telecom van parked up on the pavement. Amanda walked towards the engineer who was sitting on the edge of an open manhole.
"Hello." The engineer looked up, still clasping
bundles of cables. "I had a problem this morning; I had to call an ambulance. The phone at my stables up the road was out of order; the payphone wasn't working either. . ."
"I'm sorry about that." He picked up a bright yellow test meter. "You see this lot." Nodding down to the huge bundles of brightly coloured wires. "Someone has cut through them."
"Cut them?" Amanda looked down at the damaged cables.
"Yeah, it’s wiped out phones in Redbridge and for miles around. It must be vandals, they are so stupid." He frowned.
"I agree." Amanda crouched down in front of the manhole. "How soon will it be fixed? I need to ring the police about something." The engineer looked up.
"Well the cables will take a few hours to fix. But if you want you can use my mobile, it's in the van. The door is unlocked."
"May I? Thanks." Amanda opened the door and sat in the driver's seat. She picked up the mobile phone and dialled 999. The operator answered. "Police please. . ." The line clicked and a person answered. "Hello I would like to report an attack. . . In Redbridge. Yes, at the riding school. Adam Bishop. My name? Amanda Bi. . . Sorry Amanda King. Thank you." She put the phone down, and stared at the receiver.
"All okay?" The engineer stood in the open doorway.
"Yes. . . I suppose so. Thank you for the use of the phone."
"That's fine. . ."
Amanda stepped out of the van and started walking back towards the yard.
***
Detective Inspector Bailey had just arrived at the station. Currently he was trying to open the door with a cup of coffee in one hand and a pile of buttered toast in the other, when his phone started ringing. He kicked the door and stepped into the office dropping a slice of toast, butter side down on the lino. He put the coffee down on the desk sloshing liquid over an opened file, and picked up the phone.
"Bailey." They had cut down on the staff in CID at Ashburton, everything was dealt with at the larger station in Taunton. There were now only two officers, himself and a detective constable who was now late. The duty sergeant had called there had been an attack. He sighed, what the world was coming to. . . But soon he wouldn't care about any of this, he was due to retire before the end of the year, only about another month and then, well a nice police pension and. . . . He brought himself back to the phone call, spending a moment to jot down the name and address. He saw Lucas run through the door, step on the slice of toast, and slip, landing heavily on the floor. Bailey put the phone down. "Good morning. . ." Lucas picked himself up off the floor.
"Who put that there?" He grabbed the remains of the toast and threw it in the wastepaper basket. He brushed the seat of his trousers and took off his jacket.
"I wouldn't bother taking that off, we have work to do." Bailey picked up the car keys from the desk.
"Not another school visit. I wouldn't have worn my suit if I had known. Not after the last time, I never got that paint out you know."
"Lucas your problem is that you spend too much time complaining." Bailey ripped the top sheet off his notepad. "We have to find a Miss King regarding an attack at a stable yard."
"Great. What's happened? Someone was bitten were they? They're getting in CID to find which horse did it?" Lucas grabbed his jacket and opened the office door. "I want something more interesting. . ."
"Go back to London if you want excitement." Bailey was going to say something about townies, but he stopped himself.
***
Kate woke, her head throbbing. She could hear muffled voices...
"You have the goods?" There was a pause. "Undamaged I hope... You had better ask her about our property."
Rolling over onto her side Kate realised that she couldn't move any further, her ankles were lashed together with rope and her arms were tied behind her back. She edged towards the wall and tried to sit up.
After what felt like hours Kate had managed to struggle herself into a sitting position. She saw that she was in a dark room, its walls roughly built in local stone. Kate gulped, what was going on? Why was she here? Where was here?
"Help!" Kate shouted as loudly as she could. "Please somebody help me!" she stopped as the door opened. A large man walked towards her.
"I see that you have woken up!" He had a London accent. "I'm so sorry that you have to be here like this, but my associates would like to know about the money."
"Money?" Kate frowned. "What money?"
"Don't play the fool with me! You thought that you could just steal our money and go? You didn't think that we would let you get away with it?"
"I don't know anything about any money. I hardly have any money; I earn just enough to live." Kate shook her head.
"Make it easy on yourself. . . Tell us where the money is."
"I told you I don't have any money. . ." Kate screamed.
"Shut it!"
"No!.. Help! Please someone he-. . ." Kate was silenced as he shoved the rag into her mouth. Kate gagged and tried to spit the material out.
"I told you to shut it Miss Bishop. . . Sorry." Kate watched as he left the room, leaving her in darkness again.
***
Amanda watched through the office window as the blue Metro made its way slowly up the drive. It stopped and two men stepped out, the younger in a grey suit, slammed the car door and was complaining about something. Amanda smiled and left the office, the younger man was quite attractive. . . She pushed the thought from her mind.
"Can I help you gentleman?" Amanda smiled warmly, catching the eye of the younger man.
"Detective Inspector Bailey, Detective Constable Lucas. We are looking for a Miss King." The older man showed a police badge; Amanda looked at it briefly before catching eye contact with Lucas.
"That's me. Amanda King." She held her hand out. Looking down she saw it was dirty. She rubbed her palm on the back of her jodhpurs and offered it again. The older man ignored her and walked on. Lucas took her hand firmly and shook it.
"Can you tell me exactly what happened?"
"I don't really know. I came to the yard early this morning.-"
"At what time?" Bailey looked up from his open notebook.
"Eh?" Amanda looked towards Bailey.
"What time did you arrive here this morning?"
"I suppose about six. Yes it must have been six o'clock, I had woken up early, not that I always do of. . ." Amanda paused, Bailey sighed. "Sorry. I walked across the yard, just to check the horses really, and when I came across the back yard I saw Adam.-"
"Adam?" Bailey held his hand up.
"Adam Bishop. He is..." Amanda paused. "He is a member of my staff. I saw him just lying on the yard. I went over to him, he was unconscious. I thought for a moment that he might be dead. Anyway, I ran to the office, to phone for an ambulance, but the phone was out of order. I ran down to the village, I had left my car at home. I tried to use the payphone but it was out of order too. So I drove the car back here, picked him up and drove him to hospital.-"
"Which hospital?"
"Ashburton General. . . They've kept him in for a couple of days for observation." Amanda smiled at Lucas.
"Can we see where you found him?" Lucas smiled back.
"Yes of course. Would you like to come with me. . .?” Amanda walked round with the two officers’ to the back yard. Karen was standing in the middle of the yard forking muck from the ground into a barrow. "Karen! I thought I told everyone to stay off this part of the yard until the police had been."
"I'm sorry. . . I clean forgot." Karen smiled sheepishly.
"And what have you done here?" Amanda scowled.
"I'm sorry the barrow just tipped over."
"Well this was where I found Adam. . . Just about where that muck is now. . . Look I'm sorry."
"So, you are telling me that the scene of the crime is now just under a pile of muck. I really think that forensic is going to have much to work on. . . Look there really is very little we can do. . . I'll log the details." Bailey turned away.
"Wait. . . There is something else. Another member of staff went out to do the late check with him, Kate Grimshaw. She's missing..-"
"Really?" Bailey raised his eyebrows. "That might make things a lot easier." Bailey started walking away.
"But they were." Amanda grabbed Bailey's shoulder. He stopped. "They were very close. . . You know what I mean?"
"Lover's tiff. They argued, she hit him and panicked. So she ran off. I've see this many times before."
"No. . . It's not like that. . ." Amanda shook her head.
"We'll take the details and talk to the rest of the staff."
Amanda watched as they walked back towards the office. If only she could tell them the truth. She shrugged her shoulders and followed them.
***
The officers spent a couple of hours asking each of the staff if they had seen or heard anything, in each case the answer had been the same. That they had been too tired after working all day and had either been asleep when Adam and Kate went out or went to bed shortly afterwards without seeing anything. None of them had seen anything and they certainly had not seen any reason why Adam and Kate might be fighting. It was late afternoon when the car finally pulled away leaving Amanda sitting in the office. She flipped the card she had been given by the police officers, on the back Simon, Detective Constable Lucas, had written his home telephone number. Amanda picked up the receiver and dialled the number, it rang. She looked at the phone before placing the receiver back down. Now was not the time to involve anyone else.
Amanda locked the office and walked to her car. She drove back to her cottage. Opening the door she was pounced on by Pinkerton who had been sleeping on the stairs.
"Oh hello Pinkerton!" The kitten purred loudly. "Are you a hungry little kitten?" She carried the kitten into the kitchen and watched as he ate its food.
~~~
Chapter 5
Amanda walked through the corridors. She had forgotten how much she hated hospitals, the sickly smell of disinfectant. She took a deep breath and pushed open the double doors. She saw Adam at the end of the ward.
"Hi Adam!" Amanda smiled. Adam looked up. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel as if someone has used my head as a football." He groaned and tried to sit up. Amanda rushed forward and helped him, plumping up his pillows before placing them behind his back. "Thanks! You'd make a great Florence Nightingale. . ." Adam looked deeply into Amanda's eyes. "The police visited me yesterday."