Time to Pay

by Lyndon Stacey

  Shaking his head in bewilderment, Gideon made a mental note to remind Giles about the window, and went back downstairs.

  ‘Will you call the police?’ Eve had asked before he rang off. But what was he supposed to tell them? Somehow he didn’t think they’d get overexcited about an untidy pile of correspondence and a frightened cat. He was a fair way to thinking it was a product of his blow to the head, himself.

  Glancing unenthusiastically at the paperwork, he consulted his watch and decided it was probably time he thought about going up to the Priory. Tilly Daniels was due to come and see how Nero was progressing, and he wanted to be there.

  The horse did them proud. His general demeanour was much calmer now, and although he was by no means problem-free, his progress over the nine days he’d been in the Priory yard augured well for the future.

  With Pippa and Tilly following on foot, Gideon rode Nero out of the yard and round the back of the stables to the conifer-screened outdoor school behind. One of Nero’s foibles was a tendency to nap, or baulk, at leaving the yard, but today, although Gideon felt his slight hesitation as he passed under the stone arch, he doubted whether either of the girls would have noticed it. Once in the railed-off area, the horse didn’t put a foot wrong. Gideon put him through his paces, doing a warm-up, a little elementary dressage, and finishing over two low jumps that Pippa had erected across the diagonal of the rectangle.

  It was only the second time he’d jumped the horse, but Nero gave him a wonderful feeling and it occurred to him that if he didn’t ever make good on the track, he might prove to be a terrific showjumper or eventer, given time. As he began to slow the horse up, Pippa called out, ‘Keep him going, Gideon. I’ll pop it up a peg or two.’

  Obediently Gideon sent Nero on round the outside of the school, concentrating on keeping him calm and collected, and it wasn’t until she called for him to come again, and he swung into the turn, that he saw just how high she’d raised the poles.

  Gideon had never been more than a hobby rider. Although his behavioural work sometimes called for him to climb aboard, this only normally involved ensuring that the horse would perform the basics, such as hacking across country, behaving in traffic, and any other everyday situation it might be having difficulties with. He’d never, in his life, faced a jump the size of these two, and wondered why Pippa had put them so high.

  He was given little time to consider it, for, whatever other problems Nero might have, jumping wasn’t one of them. He saw the first obstacle and was away, finding his own stride, bunching his quarters and sailing over. In the nick of time, Gideon shifted his weight forward, sliding his hands up the brown neck to give the horse the freedom to stretch, and they touched down on the other side in perfect harmony. Two strides later, the performance was repeated, and Gideon turned the horse in a circle before riding it back to the gate, where he saw that Giles had now joined the two girls. They were all smiling.

  ‘Wow!’ Gideon exclaimed, as he drew to a halt. ‘Suddenly the Grand National doesn’t seem such a wild ambition! That was all down to him, that last time; he’s a natural.’

  ‘He’s not the only one,’ Tilly observed. ‘You didn’t look too shabby yourself!’

  ‘Just what I keep telling him!’ Pippa put in. ‘But he doesn’t believe me. He’s never had a lesson in his life.’

  ‘Do you want to ride him?’ Gideon asked Tilly, feeling it was high time to change the subject. Every now and then, Pippa tried to persuade him that he was good enough to compete, and he had no interest in the concept whatsoever.

  ‘I’d love to, if you don’t think it’ll upset him.’

  ‘No, I don’t think so. Just keep your hands as light as you can; too much contact panics him at the moment. I rode him in a headcollar when he first came in to the Trust.’

  ‘That would cause a stir at Aintree!’ Tilly laughed, pulling her crash hat on.

  With his new rider on board and the stirrup length adjusted, Nero moved off willingly enough and, on the whole, behaved well, but after a few minutes it became clear that some of his self-doubt was creeping back in.

  Even Giles noticed it.

  ‘He looks kind of worried,’ he said, watching their progress.

  ‘He is,’ Gideon agreed. ‘He’s a very insecure person.’

  Tilly and Nero approached, trotting down the side of the school, the horse’s ears flicking back and forth nervously and his stride noticeably shortening.

  ‘He feels a little bit tense,’ she called as they passed. ‘Do you want me to stop now?’

  ‘Just pop him over the jumps, he’ll enjoy that,’ Gideon suggested.

  She nodded and sent Nero on into a canter, her long blonde hair flopping up and down on her back with the rhythm of his stride. Gideon hadn’t seen her ride before – other than in and out of the yard at Puddlestone – and was impressed by her. If anything, he thought her a better rider than her brother had been; she had more sympathetic hands.

  As Nero approached the fences again, his uncertainty left him. His ears pricked forward, his eyes became eager and his whole attention was focused on the job in hand. Tilly sat quietly, leaning forward as the horse took off, her legs close and still, and her hands giving as he stretched.

  ‘That was amazing!’ she said, pulling up beside them. ‘He’s a different horse when he sees a jump. What a talent! I can see why Damien was so excited about him but, having said that, he didn’t go as well for me as he did for Gideon, did he?’

  ‘I call him the witchdoctor,’ Pippa said. ‘All my horses go better for him than they do me; it’s infuriating!’

  ‘He’s basically insecure,’ Gideon told Tilly. ‘We just have to get him to see you as his herd leader. Perhaps, when you’ve got time, we could try join-up. It’s the basis of all animal psychology, really.’

  To his relief, Tilly showed no cynicism. ‘Oh, right. I saw a demonstration, once. It was fascinating. How long will we need?’

  ‘Not long for the actual join-up session,’ Gideon said as she dismounted, ran the stirrups up and loosened the girth. ‘But you’ll need to follow it up; build on it, and really give him a chance to bond with you.’

  ‘Well, I’m up for it,’ she said, as they began to walk back to the yard with Nero. ‘I’m over the moon about what you’ve done so far. He was being such a pig, I was beginning to despair. He’s so much more relaxed now.’

  In Gideon’s pocket his mobile began to vibrate silently, the ringtone having been turned off in deference to Nero’s nerves. He fished it out and glanced at the display.

  Angie Bowen.

  ‘Just going to answer this,’ he told the others, indicating the phone and dropping back. With the Trust, there was always the possibility of an emergency.

  ‘Hi, Angie.’

  ‘Gideon? Not interrupting anything, am I?’

  ‘No, not at all. What’s up?’

  ‘Well, it’s two things. One is to ask if it would be at all possible to change the day of your next visit?’

  ‘I’m sure that won’t be a problem but I haven’t got my diary handy, at the moment. I’ll have to ring you back on that one.’

  ‘OK, that’s fine. It’s just that we’ve got the trustees visiting, and I’d rather like them to meet you and see you work.’

  ‘OK.’ Gideon could think of things he’d like better, but he supposed they needed to see where the money was going. ‘And . . .?’

  ‘Oh, and just to tell you that Boomer’s gone to his new home. They came to try him on Wednesday, then brought their vet out, Friday, and picked him up this morning.’

  ‘That’s brilliant! So he behaved himself, presumably?’

  ‘He did. He was the perfect gentleman. I explained about the flies, but they didn’t think it would be a problem. It’s a lovely home.’

  ‘Wonderful. I’m really pleased. A few more pennies for the coffers, then.’

  ‘Yes. Oh, that reminds me. You know when we were talking about our mystery benefactor the other day, I said that
the money always came in five separate envelopes? Well, this time there were only four. What do you make of that?’

  ‘You’re still convinced this has to do with Damien?’ Gideon lowered his voice instinctively, even though the others were, by this time, some way ahead.

  ‘No – not convinced, but it does seem a bit of a coincidence, doesn’t it?’

  ‘Well – yes, I suppose it does . . . But to be honest it could well be just that – a coincidence. And short of asking Tilly outright – which I’m not about to do at the moment – we’ll probably never know.’

  5

  WHEN GIDEON CAUGHT up with the others he found that Tilly had already received, and accepted, an invitation to stay to lunch.

  ‘I’m under orders from my staff to take the day off,’ she said. ‘They’re a bossy lot, and they said they didn’t want to see me around the yard until teatime.’

  ‘Right, then after lunch I’ll take you down to see the honkers,’ Giles told her. ‘If you’d like to?’

  Tilly looked puzzled. ‘Honkers?’

  ‘Donkeys,’ Pippa explained. ‘You’ve heard about our sanctuary, I expect. Giles calls them honkers because of the noise they make.’

  ‘I’m thinking of renaming the sanctuary “Honkers’ Hollow”,’ he said. ‘You can come and help me sign in two new arrivals.’

  ‘She’s supposed to be taking the day off,’ Pippa protested. ‘That’s a bit of a busman’s holiday.’

  Tilly laughed. ‘Actually, I’d love to come and see them. I love donkeys, and I’d much rather be busy.’

  ‘Great.’

  Gideon thought Giles looked particularly pleased, and felt a little uneasy. It was nothing unusual for Pippa’s brother to show interest in an attractive female, in fact he’d have been more surprised if he hadn’t, but his relationships weren’t known for their longevity, and Tilly could do without any more heartache at the moment.

  Just as Mrs Morecambe was putting a ploughman’s-style lunch on the table, Lloyd turned up, wearing mud-spattered breeches, a white shirt and a Puffa jacket, having spent the morning drag hunting.

  He greeted both Tilly and Pippa with a kiss, and collapsed onto one of the armchairs with a theatrical groan.

  ‘I’m knackered! We had a bloody brilliant morning, though. Huge turnout and hounds went like the wind. We lost half the field in the first ten minutes and they didn’t catch up until the start of the third line!’

  ‘I wouldn’t have thought they had a brilliant morning, then,’ Gideon observed.

  ‘Well, we can’t hang about for the stragglers,’ Lloyd declared. ‘If they’re not up to it, they shouldn’t come.’

  ‘You can hardly call half the field stragglers,’ Tilly put in, voicing Gideon’s own thought, and he was reminded that Lloyd was an old friend of the Daniels family.

  ‘Yeah, well maybe it wasn’t quite half,’ he amended with a grin. ‘But still, I think we might have to organise special days for the unfit and the novices. Lay a trail with smaller jumps and put more breaks in it, to slow things up.’

  ‘You want to be careful – if it gets too popular, nobody’ll want to chase foxes any more and you’ll lose your political platform!’ Gideon warned.

  ‘Rubbish! Drag hunting’s OK, but it’s not a patch on the real thing. Besides, there’s still fishing and shooting; with hunting banned, everyone’s scared shitless the bastards will start on those next.’

  ‘Lloyd,’ Pippa warned, with a nod towards Mrs Morecambe, who had stopped on her way out of the kitchen and was looking back with an expression of strong disapproval.

  He put up his hands. ‘Sorry – sorry! Language – I know. It’s what comes of spending the morning with the lads from the kennels. I apologise. But, getting back to the hunting, the trouble is, if we organise extra days, I shall have to get a couple more horses. Prince is OK but Badger’s getting a bit past it, and Lady hasn’t been right since that day I had to walk her back to the box.’

  ‘I don’t know why you took her,’ Pippa commented. ‘You said you thought her back wasn’t quite right.’

  ‘Well, I wouldn’t have done if Prince hadn’t bashed his leg on the gatepost and given himself a big knee. They always do it the day before hunting – that’s why you need a spare. Course – I could hire one of yours . . .’ he said, with a sideways look at her.

  ‘Oh, no, buster! Think again. I know how you ride, and I’m not having any of my horses brought back on their knees!’

  ‘Hey, I’m not that bad!’ Lloyd protested, assuming a deeply wounded expression, but Gideon got the impression that he was rather proud of his hard-riding reputation. His opinion of the man slipped another notch.

  ‘So, how come you’re back early today?’ he asked. ‘I thought these things went on all day.’

  ‘Yeah, they do, normally, but one of the whips has got flu and Pete – our huntsman – had a big family do to go to, so we just laid three short but very fast trails.’

  Over lunch, the conversation was light-hearted and touched on many things, including the ongoing triumph of Giles’ business venture.

  ‘The launch went brilliantly. We were even on the local TV news – did you see us?’ Giles asked Tilly, but she shook her head.

  ‘Sorry, I don’t have time to watch much TV, but I’m glad it all went well.’

  ‘Don’t worry, he’ll probably show you the video,’ Pippa said. ‘We’ve all seen it at least a dozen times. But actually, there was one blot on the evening; someone tried to help themselves to our tack.’

  ‘What – one of the guests?’ Tilly asked incredulously.

  ‘No, I didn’t mean that, but I reckon someone took advantage of us being busy with the launch. After all, it was well advertised. It nearly worked, too. If Gideon hadn’t gone out to check on Nero when the fireworks started, they’d have got away with it.’

  ‘Gosh!’ Tilly looked at Gideon. ‘Did you catch them in the act?’

  He shook his head ruefully. ‘I’d like to be able to say I was the hero of the hour, but the truth is—’

  ‘He blundered in and got clobbered over the head,’ Lloyd cut in. ‘That is, if there ever was a burglar. My theory is that he tripped up and knocked himself out, then invented the story of a break-in to cover up his embarrassment!’

  ‘Damn! You’ve sussed me,’ Gideon said, with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. ‘Could you pass the pickle, Giles? Thanks.’

  ‘Did they do much damage?’ Tilly asked. ‘Breaking in, I mean.’

  ‘No. They didn’t really have to break in, as such,’ Pippa said. ‘It seems I must have left the door unlocked, though I can’t imagine how – I’m usually so careful.’

  ‘Haven’t you got an alarm?’ Tilly looked surprised.

  ‘No. We should have, really,’ Giles said. ‘Who do you use for security?’

  ‘Actually, we had ours updated last year, when there were a lot of tack thefts locally. An old friend of Damien’s did it – or at least, his company did. Julian Norris. Norris Security Systems. Did a good job, too. It’s a doddle to use.’

  ‘Old Nervous Norris,’ Lloyd said, nodding. ‘Perfect line of work for him. Isn’t he dead now?’

  ‘Yes. Actually, it was rather sad because it was the day his company finished the work for us that he was killed in the car crash,’ Tilly said. ‘It was a hell of a shock. He came to see us that evening – to check we were happy with the work, I suppose, Damien spoke to him – and then, on the way home, his car went off the road and hit a wall. We didn’t find out about it until a couple of days after.’

  ‘So what happened – did he fall asleep?’ Gideon queried.

  ‘Possibly. Nobody really knows.’

  ‘I heard it was suicide,’ Pippa said.

  ‘Yes, I heard that rumour, but there wasn’t any proof,’ Tilly said. ‘They held an inquest and the verdict was accidental death. Damien and I had to give evidence because we were the last people to see Julian alive. They wanted to know what his state of mind was – you kn
ow, did he seem worried about anything, that sort of thing.’

  ‘Ha! That’s a laugh!’ Lloyd exclaimed derisively.

  ‘Why?’ Gideon didn’t understand.

  ‘Because you’re talking about the most miserable bugger I’ve ever met! He was always worrying about something or other, and if he couldn’t find anything to worry about, he’d invent something. That’s why we called him Nervous Norris.’

  ‘He was a bit of a worrier,’ Tilly agreed. ‘I think he suffered from depression, but he was a really nice chap. Actually, on that night, he seemed quite cheerful, which made it all the more tragic when we heard what had happened. Damien was quite cut up about it.’

  ‘Yeah, I’ll admit, he was a nice chap,’ Lloyd conceded. ‘Just a bit of an old woman, at times. God – it’s hard to believe they’re both gone! What a waste!’

  There didn’t seem to be much to say following this observation, and there was an uncomfortable silence for a few moments, then Pippa said brightly, ‘Well, I can’t sit around here all day – I’ve got horses to ride. Are you coming, Gideon? Blackbird could do with the exercise, he’s getting fat!’

  ‘He’s not fat!’ Gideon retorted. Pippa’s horses were never fat, unless they were out at grass, and even though Blackbird was nominally his horse – because he flatly refused to behave for anyone else – Gideon knew she kept him well exercised when he couldn’t find the time to do so himself. ‘But I’ll come, anyway.’

  ‘Lloyd?’ Pippa enquired.

  ‘No, not me. I’m for home and a hot bath; get out of these sweaty clothes. That faint hum you can hear is my socks!’

  ‘I wondered what it was,’ Giles commented.

  ‘Does that still hurt?’ Pippa asked sympathetically, watching Gideon ease his crash cap off and rub his head.

  ‘It is a bit tender,’ he admitted. ‘But the swelling’s gone right down. I wouldn’t like to have tried putting my hat on yesterday.’

  ‘Well, I’m really sorry it happened but at least it wasn’t in vain. I’ve been through everything and it doesn’t look as though they got away with anything at all. They must have panicked after hitting you, and run off empty-handed.’