‘Do you want a hand?’ Daniel offered, riding out of the trees.
There was quite a wind over the ridge, singing through the leaves of the beech trees, and it was clear from their reactions that neither of the men had heard his approach. As they whipped round, Daniel saw Taylor Boyd and his younger brother, Ricky – he of the blue pick-up and threatening behaviour. Neither looked particularly overjoyed to see him.
‘I wondered if you wanted some help?’ he said again.
Taylor recovered first.
‘No, you’re all right,’ he said. ‘We can manage.’
Daniel rode closer. ‘It looks pretty heavy.’
The two men were obviously wishing him gone, and, perversely, that made him quite keen to stay. He gestured at the sizeable length of smooth, painted steel at their feet. It looked like part of some sort of farm machinery. ‘So, what is that?’
‘Mind your own fucking business!’ Ricky flared up, but his brother told him to shut up.
‘Just some scrap metal Mrs Summers wanted cleared away. It’s only rusting away up here now no one’s using it.’
Daniel nodded his approval.
‘I expect she’ll get a nice little bit for that – the price of scrap being what it is,’ he said. ‘Handy, your family being in the trade.’
Taylor’s eyes narrowed as if he was unsure whether Daniel’s remark was as ingenuous as it sounded. He apparently decided to take it at face value.
‘We’re all pulling together to help while the boss is in hospital. That’s the kind of community it is,’ he said smoothly.
‘That’s nice. Oh, well, if you’re sure there’s nothing I can do, I’ll be on my way,’ Daniel said, turning Piper away.
He rode until the gloom of the wood and the slope of the land made it impossible for the brothers to see him, then cut along the side of the hill and turned back up towards the shed from a different angle.
Still some way off, he reined in and stepped down from the saddle in true Western style using the stirrup, à la John Wayne. Unwilling to test Piper’s much-vaunted obedience any further at this sensitive moment, he tied the long split reins to a small tree, which the horse immediately set about stripping of foliage. Using a sharp whisper, he told Taz to stay, then made his way forward, moving silently from tree to tree, his eyes on the pair by the van.
That they had been having a humdinger of an argument was plain to see, and Daniel felt it was a fair bet that he was the cause. Taking advantage of the brothers disappearing into the shed once more, he moved still closer, until he was barely twenty feet away from the van, and hunkered down under cover of a bramble bush and a decaying tree stump.
Moments later, Ricky came out again, carrying an armful of newish-looking angle-iron fence posts, followed by Taylor dragging a rusty metal roller, which squeaked in protest as it turned.
Ricky said something over his shoulder that was lost on the wind as far as Daniel was concerned, but he heard Taylor’s reply.
‘Well, that was bloody stupid, to start with! And what’s more, it didn’t work, did it?’
‘That wasn’t my fault,’ his younger brother protested petulantly, throwing his bundle of metal into the van. ‘At least I did something. And I’ll tell you what I think—’
‘I don’t care what you think! You don’t make the decisions; I do. And what’s all the panic for? He’s just a driver, that’s all. Temporary. He’ll probably be gone soon.’
‘But he’s in the house.’
‘For now.’
‘And anyway, I don’t trust him; he’s got a kind of look.’
‘A look?’ Taylor sounded amused. ‘You’re just hacked off cos he wasn’t scared of you.’ He turned to face the younger man. ‘Listen, when the time comes – if he makes trouble, I’ll take care of him. Until then, just lay off. OK?’
Ricky made a face and nodded reluctantly.
‘Good. Now, give me a hand getting this bloody thing in or we’ll be here all night, and I need to see a man about a very expensive dog.’
Daniel mulled over what he’d heard for much of the ride back, but he couldn’t make much sense of it. Ricky’s words confirmed that it wasn’t so much him personally but his occupation of Forester’s Cottage that was an issue, but they left him no nearer to knowing why. His brother’s statement that if he made waves he would be taken care of was very interesting, and all the more so because of the calm assurance with which it was made. Taylor Boyd was definitely a man to keep an eye on.
Back in the yard, he stripped the tack off Piper and washed the sweat from his coat, giving a glowing report of his ride to Sue, who appeared as he was turning the horse out in the paddock.
‘He’s a cracker, isn’t he?’ she agreed, coming to stand beside Daniel as he leaned on the paddock fence, watching Piper roll in the dust.
‘What time do you finish?’ he asked, looking at his watch. It was half past seven.
‘When everything’s done. Why? Were you going to ask me out?’ she quizzed with a sideways look of amusement.
‘Well, no – I was just curious. It must be a long day for you.’
‘It is, but I don’t mind. I love the horses. You don’t do this job if you’re a nine-to-five sort. Besides, I’ve known Jenny for ever – we went to school together – and she really needs the support right now.’
‘You’re not wrong there. Actually – do you fancy getting a bite to eat?’ Daniel asked.
‘No, really. You don’t have to. I was only teasing.’
‘I know. But why not? I’ve got nothing much at the cottage. Of course, you’ve probably got family waiting for you. Stupid of me …’
‘Just my dad, and he expects me when he sees me.’ She tilted her head to one side with a smile. ‘OK. Thanks. Why not?’
On Sue’s recommendation, they chose The Fox and Duck for their meal. The Crown was OK, she told him, but trying too hard to be a contemporary eatery. The Fox had good home-cooked food at sensible prices, she said. It was the one the real locals used.
The first person Daniel saw, as he ducked through the low doorway, was none other than Taylor Boyd, standing at the bar with Dek Edwards.
‘Whelan.’ Boyd nodded curtly in Daniel’s direction, then caught sight of his companion. ‘Hi, Sue. All right?’
‘Fine,’ she replied briefly, her cheeks flushing with colour. She slipped her hand through Daniel’s arm.
Lounging against the bar, Edwards leered in her direction. ‘All right, Sue? You don’t waste any time, do you? What’s the new boy got that I haven’t?’
‘Manners, for a start,’ she retorted, then turned to Daniel. ‘Shall we go through to the other bar?’
‘If you like.’
‘I do.’
‘I take it there’s a bit of history between you and Boyd,’ Daniel said as the door swung to behind them.
‘What makes you say that?’
‘Your body language. You seemed very keen to show him that you were with me.’
‘Yeah, well, I was stupid enough to go out with him once, and once was all it took. God, I must have been desperate! Talk about an ego. Trouble is, he acts as if we’re mates now, and we’re so not. I don’t even like him!’
‘And what about Dek? What’s the story there?’
‘Him? No story. He’s just a low-life. He’s got the hots for Taylor’s sister, from what I’ve heard. Round there at every opportunity, drooling over her like some lovesick tomcat. I’d almost feel sorry for the girl if she wasn’t such a poisonous slut.’
‘Wow! Don’t hold back on my account,’ Daniel told her.
‘Sorry.’ Sue had the grace to look a little sheepish. ‘We have history.’
Daniel let the subject drop and she said no more about it, but she kept an eye on the door to the public bar all through the meal, leaving him to wonder whether she was dreading Boyd following or hoping he would. Daniel began to suspect that he’d been used, but he couldn’t complain, for, in a way, that was just what he was doing, too.
As a social occasion, the meal with Sue Devlin was time enjoyably spent; as a fact-finding mission, it was perhaps less worthwhile.
Gently probing, Daniel formed the impression that she didn’t know Gavin Summers particularly well. He had no interest in the horses and rarely visited the stables unless it was in search of Jenny, she said, and this in itself obviously put him low in her estimation. The little information she did volunteer confirmed the notion Daniel already had of a marriage, if not in crisis, then at the very least becoming stale. He gained the impression that Sue wasn’t altogether unhappy about that fact.
What also became clear was the affection that had been felt locally for Jenny’s first husband, Colin Barton, killed in a tragic farming accident. This wasn’t especially surprising, as Great Ditton was a close-knit community and his family had apparently been part of it for generations. As an incomer, Gavin was immediately at a disadvantage, and Daniel found himself feeling sympathy for the man.
Not entirely trusting Sue’s apparent attitude towards Taylor Boyd, Daniel trod carefully in seeking information about him, merely observing that he appeared to have practically taken over the running of the haulage business in Gavin’s absence and that this must be a relief to Jenny.
‘Relief’s not the word I would use.’
‘What d’you mean?’ Daniel asked, taking a sip of his after-dinner coffee.
‘Well, the thing is, I don’t think she trusts him a hundred per cent. Gavin took him on, see; she never would have. The family’s too well known around here.’
‘Well known for what?’
‘Well, you know – they’ve got a bit of a reputation.’
‘They own the garage, don’t they?’
‘Yeah, and the scrapyard – or salvage yard, as they like to call it. And there’s some as say that not all the scrap that goes through there is scrap, if you know what I mean.’
Daniel did. It was a countrywide problem. With the price of raw metal being what it was, anything metallic that wasn’t tied down – and some that was – went walkabout of a dark night. Lead off the church roof, copper piping, metal railings and even manhole covers were all considered fair game by the thieves, and farmers were bearing the brunt of the problem, losing oil and diesel reserves, as well as tractors and other machinery. His suspicions of that afternoon were confirmed.
‘She doesn’t suspect him of stealing from her, does she?’ He injected shock into his tone.
‘Oh, no! I mean, I shouldn’t think so,’ Sue said. ‘It’s just … anyone round here would be a little bit cautious where the Boyds are concerned. But if she thought he was actually stealing … I mean, she’d fire him, wouldn’t she?’
‘I suppose she would, if she had proof,’ Daniel agreed. ‘But you have to be a bit careful about firing people without due cause these days, I imagine. I mean, they’ll have you in court at the drop of a hat.’
‘Mm, and he’d be right up for that, without a doubt.’
Daniel was puzzled.
‘If that’s your opinion of him, what made you go out with him?’
She shrugged. ‘I dunno. It was just a one-off. I thought it might be a laugh. It wasn’t ever going to be serious, was it? But, I mean, he’s not bad-looking and he can be quite a charmer when he wants.’
‘The allure of a bad boy,’ Daniel mused. ‘So, what’s his interest in dogs? Sorry, I overheard something and my ears always prick up when dogs are mentioned.’ The phrase he’d heard Boyd use earlier that evening had lodged in the back of his ex-copper’s mind, and although ‘to see a man about a dog’ was a common enough euphemism, the way he’d used it had seemed to imply a greater meaning. Sometimes the simplest explanation was the right one, but not, it seemed, in this case, because Sue looked genuinely baffled.
‘Dogs? No. I mean, they’ve got a couple of Rottweilers at the yard, but they’re more guard dogs than pets.’
‘Oh, perhaps they were talking about dog racing or something,’ Daniel said dismissively. Jenny had mentioned that it was one of her husband’s hobbies.
‘Yeah, maybe.’ Sue didn’t sound particularly interested. ‘So, I gather someone left a welcome for you at the cottage … Trashed it pretty badly, by all accounts.’
‘Ah, you’ve heard about that, then?’
‘I told you, it’s a small village. Everybody knows everything.’
‘Including who did it?’
‘I don’t know about that. Most people are saying it must have been kids. There’s not a lot for them to do round here of an evening or weekend. They hang around the rec usually. It wouldn’t be surprising if they got up to a bit of mischief, and everyone knew that Forester’s was standing empty.’
‘It looked like someone might have been up there before.’ Daniel told her about the beer bottles and cans. ‘Maybe if they’ve been hanging out there, they might have been annoyed that I was moving in.’
Sue pursed her lips. ‘S’pose so. Never heard tell of anyone up there. It’s a bit remote.’
‘Oh, well, Taz’ll keep anyone away now,’ Daniel said.
In due course, he paid the bill. After exchanging pecks on the cheek, they went their separate ways, Sue on foot, explaining that she only lived a few houses away from the pub, and Daniel returning to his car and the waiting dog.
As he entered the dark alleyway that led from the road to the pub car park, a deeper shadow detached itself from the wall of the building and stepped into his path.
Daniel’s heart rate stepped up a notch.
‘Evening, Boyd. Were you looking for me?’
He sensed a momentary hesitation from the other man and guessed he’d wrong-footed him.
‘Just a word, Whelan. That’s all.’
Daniel kept walking, unhurriedly but without altering his course, and Boyd gave way and stepped aside. In the lamp-lit car park, even though he was aware that Boyd was following, Daniel walked across to his car before turning round.
‘Now? Can’t it wait until the morning?’
‘It could, but we’re both here now, so why wait, eh?’
‘All right.’
In the car, Taz was barking at Boyd, his muzzle scraping the glass and affording an impressive view of his teeth. Daniel quietened him with a sharp command.
‘Big dog like that must cost a lot to feed,’ Boyd observed. ‘You interested in making a bit more money?’
Daniel played the innocent.
‘What? Overtime, you mean?’
Boyd shrugged. ‘In a manner of speaking. Only you’d be working for me.’
‘Doing what?’
‘A bit of driving, amongst other things, maybe.’
‘Does Mrs Summers know about this?’
‘It’s nothing to do with her. Call it a bit of private enterprise, if you like. No harm done to anyone and a little extra cash in your pocket. What do you say?’
Daniel could see the gleam of Boyd’s eyes in the muted light. He was watching intently, as much for Daniel’s reaction as for his answer, he guessed. He deliberately kept his tone non-committal.
‘I’ll have to think about it. Let you know in a day or two.’
‘All right, but don’t take too long. And this is just between you and me, right? No need to mention our little conversation to anyone else. If I find that some little bird has been tweeting where it shouldn’t …’
Daniel ignored the threat.
‘I’ll let you know,’ he repeated, and got into the car.
After work the following day, with another fine evening in prospect, Daniel again found himself heading for the stables. This time he had to catch Piper from the field, and as he led him into the yard, he saw Jenny there, talking to Sue.
‘Piper won’t know what’s hit him,’ she remarked, coming over as he brushed the horse’s chestnut coat to a sheen. ‘Going out twice in two days.’
‘You don’t mind? It just seemed like such a lovely evening.’
‘Of course I don’t mind. I wish I could come wit
h you.’
‘Well, why don’t you?’
‘Because I’ve got three hungry children waiting for their tea. But I will one day. I just need to plan ahead. Where did you go yesterday?’
‘Up the track to the beech hanger and along the ridge,’ Daniel told her. He’d been debating whether to tell her of his encounter with the Boyd brothers, and now he made a snap decision. ‘I saw Taylor and his brother on the other side of the wood.’
‘Did you?’ She frowned. ‘What were they doing up there?’
‘Loading some old farm machinery into their van. They gave me the impression you knew about it.’
‘No, I didn’t. Well, I did ask Taylor to shift some scrap for me a couple of months ago – some galvanized iron sheets from an old barn that collapsed last winter and a rusty plough from the days of horsepower – but I assumed he’d done that ages ago.’
‘Mm, well, I think he may have interpreted your request as a licence to help himself,’ Daniel observed, moving up to Piper’s head to brush his silky forelock. He described what he’d seen.
‘Oh dear, I suppose I’d better have a word with him,’ Jenny said, looking as though it was a task she didn’t relish.
‘Actually, it might be better if you didn’t, cos he’ll know where the information came from, and just for now I’d rather he didn’t see me as taking sides.’
‘That sounds a bit serious. Do you think he’s up to something?’
‘Not necessarily. As far as I’ve seen, he’s not doing too bad a job running the business – apart from having it in for Reg, as you suggested.’
‘Poor old Reg. Do you think he is getting too old for the job?’ Jenny asked.
‘Well, he’s always last back and Boyd makes a big fuss about him being slow, but since he has on average two more drops than the rest of us, that’s not surprising, is it?’
‘Wait,’ Jenny caught his arm. ‘He has more drops?’
‘Yes. Almost always. And if not that, then he has to drive significantly further between them than we do. I asked him. He doesn’t get on with the others very well, so he’s never thought to ask them about their routes. He wasn’t too happy when he found out.’
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