“She sounds like she is totally drunk. She probably fell off her chair or something. Ring her back…”
I dialled her number which rang for a long time before switching to voicemail. I left a message asking her to call me.
* * *
“Mr Bishop? Hello there, I’m Will Taylor. I’m your barrister.”
“Oh… Hello there. So, are you going to be able to help me?” I sat down at the table opposite him.
“I’ll do the best I can. Now, you are aware there is a lot of evidence against you, and this is going to be a difficult case to defend, so I will need to find out whatever we can to try and get you off the charge. However, and I need to be honest, I am not sure if that will be possible.”
“I suppose telling you I didn’t do it is pretty pointless.”
“Sadly, as much as I might believe you, we have to convince a jury. Now, the best chance we have is to try to reduce the sentence, however, the likelihood of getting a manslaughter charge rather than murder is pretty minimal. You fetching a pitchfork and waiting for the victim seems a bit premeditated. We could try for diminished responsibilities. Sorry, it means you were not in your right mind at the time, it would mean you could be charged with voluntary manslaughter and detained in a secure hospital under section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983 rather than prison, however that is a difficult route also.”
“Okay, so, is my innocence an option here at all?”
“Honestly, with the evidence, the police have on you. No. Sorry.”
“Shit.”
“I’m sorry, but there is too much corroborating evidence against you. As I said, this is going to be a long and difficult process.”
* * *
“Miss Benson?” I looked up smiling as the woman invited her into the tack room. The yard was beautiful, part of a private estate some distance from the main manor house. The drive through the Devon countryside had been beautiful.
“Please, call me Elizabeth…”
“Okay, well Elizabeth. Come through we can have a chat in the tack room. You have a good deal of experience as an event groom and sole charge of hunting yards. This is a very impressive CV. So, why you are looking for a new opportunity now?”
“I thought it was time for a change. I’d been working in Yorkshire for some time.”
“Oh, you must have heard of that murder in Yorkshire. On Hilary Wessington’s yard, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, I heard about that, a nasty business. I met her groom once. I wouldn’t have wanted to be working on that yard. Ughh… That poor innocent girl. Anyway, I’d rather not talk about it.”
“Of course, I can understand. Well, down to business. We’re looking for a sole charge groom. Look, I won’t beat about the bush, as I said on the phone, I think you would be well qualified for the job, so if you would like it?”
“Thank you…”
* * *
“I’ve tried for three days to get in touch with Hilary, her phone has stopped going to voicemail and seems to now say the number is not in use. It must be broken. I am sure she was about to tell me something about the CCTV.”
“She was drunk, you could hear that on the recording. Did you try her groom? You had her number, didn’t you?”
“I did, but it just kept ringing with no answer. Look, I know this may seem extreme Amanda, but could we drive across there. Just to see if she will have a word with us? I’m sure it’s nothing. We could do it tomorrow as we go to visit Adam.”
“Kate, I think you’re wasting your time. But, if you want to drop in, I am sure we can. Just be ready for a frosty reception again.”
“Thanks. I owe you.”
* * *
We weren’t due to see Adam until the afternoon when our visiting order set out the times and details instructions. So we left early arriving at Hilary’s yard by mid-morning. All was quiet with no horses in the stables, I tried knocking on the farmhouse door but there was no response.
“This is weird…” I turned to Amanda.
“Let’s try the groom’s cottage, see if she is in?”
We walked over to Sally’s cottage; her car was parked beside the cottage so we knocked on the door. She opened the door sighing and shaking her head.
“Look, I don’t want to see you…”
“Please… We need to see Hilary.”
“You’re too late, she’s left now.”
“What? She’s left? Where has she gone?”
“Well, the owners took their horses away after it all happened, and she as didn’t own the yard, she’s gone to work overseas.”
“Overseas?”
“Yeah, I think she knew somebody in Germany so she was going to work over there, they don’t know her for the shit your husband did over there. So, thank you for making me both unemployed and homeless.”
“Oh Sally, I’m sorry…”
“Yeah, not as sorry as me. Well, there you are. I’ve got to go; I’m moving on too. So, thanks for nothing and bye. Oh, I hate to be rude, but fuck you!”
Sally slammed the door closed behind her and got into her car, driving away rapidly spraying us with gravel.
“Shit!”
“Kate. It’s likely for the best. Hilary’s found something better to do, Sally is moving on. There’s nothing we can do here now.”
“Maybe…”
I walked towards the farmhouse, peering through the windows it didn’t look as if Hilary had packed up and left, there were unwashed plates in the kitchen sink and pictures on the wall.
“Wow, what a slob! She left the place in a mess.” Amanda shook her head.
“She left in a real hurry…”
I tried the back door which was locked.
“What are you doing?”
I walked to the front door; it was also locked. I started to look around, lifting the doormat and plant pots beside the door. I found a spare key hidden on the top of the door frame. I slid it into the door and turned the lock.
“Shit! Kate what are you doing? You can’t just break in.”
“It’s an empty house, who will care or even know. Just get inside quickly.”
Amanda shrugged, looking around, there was nobody watching so I opened the door and stepped inside. The house looked as if it had been untouched, everywhere there were personal mementoes, pictures, trinkets and rosettes. Upstairs the bed was unmade and Hilary’s wardrobe was full. More worrying was there were lights switched on throughout the house, there was even an undrunk mug of coffee standing cold on the kitchen table. I looked at Amanda.
“Look, she had to travel overseas, she’s packed light…”
“Mandy, she’s left everything. Shit!” Kate grabbed a book that had been sitting on the shelf. “If she went to Germany, she left without her passport. Explain that?”
We walked into the office; the computer was on with the images of Adam frozen on the screen. I shuddered.
“Hang on…” Amanda reached past the office chair which was lying on its side, there was a large dark patch on the carpet. “I don’t know if this is just spilt wine.” She reached down, touching the mark before sniffing at her fingers. Before knocking a broken wine bottle with the toe of her boot, it also had a deep red mark on the glass. “Shit! I’m not an expert, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t a wine stain and this is starting to look a little suspicious.”
“Are you saying you think something may have happened to Hilary?”
“Kate, I’m not sure what I’m saying, but this all seems a bit weird, she isn’t here. Her groom says she’s gone to work in Germany but that can’t be the case. Look, let’s get out of here. I’m going to call Dan…”
* * *
I looked up as the cell door opened. I knew Kate was visiting me, I’d been counting the minutes until I saw her, but, equally, I didn’t want this to happen. Somehow, seeing the woman I loved crystalised my lack of freedom making it clear in my mind what I was about to lose.
She’d told me she would stand by me, but I couldn’t expect her
to do that? I’d read the papers, and my barrister had made it abundantly clear a last-minute reprieve was the sort of thing that only happened in movies. Here, firmly rooted in reality I had to be ready for a trial where I had little or no defence. I had been alone at the time Olivia had been murdered, I had run away, a phrase the press seemed to favour, leaving the yard in the early hours to escape the consequences.
Any other time I would have just been alone in the caravan. Hilary and Sally had tried to console me, to convince me that I wasn’t some sort of awful bully. I’d never hit anyone in my life, but she’d made me see red and I’d hurt her, and that was the final nail in my coffin. Beating a defenceless girl. Oh, I had lived that statement. Spat at by other prisoners, the beating I had taken in the showers from someone whose daughter was the same age as the kid I had killed.
The press had been clear in the way they presented the story and it seemed the police were following the same narrative. From how they chose to look at it I wasn’t a crusader against animal cruelty, stopping a girl from beating a horse out of anger. I was a jealous bully with a chip on his shoulder, usurped by a better rider so I had first struck out and then brutally killed my competition.
I followed the officer into the visiting room. There she was. Gone was her cheeky smile which had so often greeted me outside of this hell. Instead, a frown, new lines on her brow and that gaunt, drawn look. She looked up briefly with a smile that failed to reach her eyes. I sat down opposite her. We fell into a halfhearted conversation about the stables, how she was coping with early pregnancy until we fell into painful silence.
“Kate, you know I didn’t do it…”
“Adam, I don’t think I would be here if I thought you had.” She touched my hand.
I looked into her eyes. She was holding something back, she broke eye contact with me, staring down at the table.
“Kate, what is it?”
She looked up as if stuck with lightning, gasping and stuttering before falling silent for a moment. She sighed deeply, looking up into my eyes.
“Adam… I need to know. While you were away…”
She stopped, again her gaze fell to the table, she drew her hand from my grasp.
“What?”
“Adam… Was there anyone else?”
My heart froze. What was she asking? Suddenly I understood.
“Kate… I… Babe, I love you. I only love you. Please, you must know that. I would never…”
I would never. But I almost had. I was a second away from infidelity, I had walked away but. The guilt engulfed me, there with Sally, we had been drinking, I’d left, but a part of me had wanted to storm down her door, to take what was on offer. But I had turned away. I stuttered.
Kate pulled her hand away, standing up from the chair. I saw the tears in her eyes, my own were splashing on the table. She turned and walked away. I called after her, pleading as she was led away to her freedom.
With a hand on my shoulder, I stood, following the officer back to my cell.
* * *
Kate looked broken as she stepped, blinking into the sunlight. I gulped. Whatever had happened in there? I broke the silence.
“I spoke with Dan.”
“And?”
“He thinks we are overreacting. Hilary has a hate campaign after her online, she’s probably left in a hurry to get away from the nasty comments and threats. I suppose he’s right.”
“You don’t sound sure?”
“Kate, even if she was leaving in a hurry, she would have taken her stuff, switched off the computer. It seems like she left in too much of a hurry. Unless there was a mob at her door.”
“Or she didn’t go of her own free will?”
“Look, I don’t want to read too much into this. Dan thought I was being stupid. But, it just doesn’t feel right…”
I stopped. We were sat in the car, my hands on the steering wheel. I turned to face her.
“Kate, what happened in there?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Her monotone, the tears. I realised how hard this was, but there seemed to be more.
“Kate. We can help him.”
“I don’t know if I know him.”
“What?”
“What if I really didn’t know him. What if…”
“Kate… But…”
“You’ve only known him for a year or so, me less so.”
“Kate, I know my brother. He could never do something like this.”
I stopped, taking a deep breath, I turned the key, starting the engine.
“So we give up on him like he wanted to give up on you.”
“He wants a divorce.”
“And it’s killing him. You may think I don’t know my brother, but, I do know he’s a good man. I know how much he loves you. He told me once, he loved you enough to let you go. That man has gone through hell for you. Look, if you want to leave him.” My voice broke, I choked back a sob. “If you want to carry on alone.”
“I can’t carry on alone… I need him.”
Kate’s voice was quiet, she was staring at her hands, her breath catching.
“So we fight for him.”
21
Discoveries
“But Dan, she left in a real hurry. It looked like all her possessions were there still, even the lights were on. And that broken bottle, it looked like there was blood and hair on it?”
“Okay, you’re clearly worried about her, do you think she has done something?”
“Oh God, Dan I hadn’t thought of that, you mean, has she killed herself?”
“She might have felt responsible, that and all of the online abuse, it might have pushed the poor girl over the edge. Look, I’ll call the officers working on Adam’s case, give them a heads up and let them see what can be done. I’m sorry babe, you were right to call, this is starting to sound pretty serious.”
* * *
“DCI Jarvis…”
“Hi there, SP Anderson here from the National Organised Crime team.”
“Not the Dan Anderson?”
“Oh, has my reputation gone before me?”
“Slightly, what do I owe the honour of speaking to ‘Gangbuster Dan’?”
“Ahhh… Okay, thank you.”
“No, I mean it… The stuff you are doing is really impressive.”
“It’s all part of the job. But I need to talk about a case you are working on. Now, I have to state I do have some involvement as the accused is my brother-in-law.”
“Ok, you have my interest now, which case and what’s your involvement?”
“Adam Bishop, you have him for the murder of Olivia Wright-Turner…”
Death Rider (The Rider Series Book 2) Page 14
