Death Rider (The Rider Series Book 2)

by Samantha Bassett

  “Sally! Please… What are you doing?”

  “Well Kate, I want to give a message to my previous employer. Oh, I’m going to give a message to both of my previous employers! The only difference will be that, for you, Hilary, it will be somewhat more direct.

  Now, I don’t want to be here personally. I am so very sorry, but I need to leave you alone for just a little bit longer. As you can see, the heater has a time clock on it, do you see that? I’ve set it so I will be far away when it switches on and when it does… Well, can you guess what’s going to happen?”

  She was shaking with nervous excitement, almost like a child with a new toy.

  “You’re going to let us burn to death.” Hilary’s voice was low, very matter of fact.

  “Yes! Gold star! You are going to die, but let’s face it, that was always going to happen. Better still, there’s a suicide note which will be found in my cottage, telling them how I was so shocked to be sacked and how I just can’t carry on. That should stop them from looking for me. I mean, the fire will be large enough that they won’t be able to tell that the charred remains aren’t mine!”

  “Sally, you don’t need to do this. You could let us go… Please, stop this now. We can make sure you get the help you need.”

  “The help I need? It’s beyond that now. If I’m caught, I’ll rot in prison, so, as I said, what’s another couple of people dead? You know, killing the first one, that bitch Olivia, well I had to do it. Do you understand? I needed to do it for you, Hilary. She was going to take everything we had worked to create. She would just leave you there. I did it because I loved you. I couldn’t see you hurt…”

  “But… When you did that, you destroyed everything…” Hilary moaned.

  “Me?! You gave up! You allowed this to happen! You drove me to this! I tried everything, I worked hard. I warned you. Damn it! I told you, be careful taking her as a sponsor. I told you what the other grooms were saying, how the other riders were laughing at your stupidity. How the bitch just wanted a way for her talentless daughter to get into high-level event riding. She would have taken everything, and you let it happen. You spineless bitch. Do you remember what you said to me? Do you remember that night, I said, please look for someone else, don’t sign with her! You told me I didn’t understand. You said, how could you understand you’re just a groom!”

  “Sally… Oh, God, I never meant to hurt you…”

  “But you did! You ignored me, then you belittled me. You acted so high and mighty. You always treated me like a child! I mean, sending me to bed early for fuck’s sake!

  But what would a mere groom understand? Well, Hilary, I understood more than you. I knew exactly what people were saying, I could see what was happening. It was as if you couldn’t or just didn’t want to know.

  Hilary, do you know I wanted to leave you there and then. But I knew I had to protect you. I needed to help you maintain your position. I put your hurtful words behind me. I kept working as hard as ever. I knew I needed to protect you from yourself. But then. watching what was happening, there was nothing I could do. It was too late. The day you invited her daughter to our yard. That was it. That was the last straw. I could see what was happening, you had become totally blind. You’d given up. I had to act. I needed to save you. Don’t you see? All of this was for you? I cared for you. Damn it! I loved you. Every new day hurt me, watching what was happening to you. And you never understood. You never knew or cared.”

  “Oh, Sally. I am so sorry… I was stupid. I never meant to hurt you. Please, can you forgive me?”

  “No… I can’t forgive you…”

  “Well, Kate… She’s done nothing to you… Please, let her go… I beg you!”

  “No, she knows what she did. Don’t you Kate? You took him from me.” Sally glared at Kate.

  “Him? Sally, who are you talking about?”

  “Adam… Bitch!” Sally spat in Kate’s face. “I tried everything but he wouldn’t even look in my direction. He was besotted with her. So, if I can’t have him, neither can she! You know what, I may have to look him up in a year or two. Sympathise about his tragic loss.”

  “You’re completely mad… You realise you will be caught.”

  “Kate… I doubt it. This is going to look like a terrible suicide attempt. If I do my job right, they won’t be able to identify the bodies, they’ll presume it was me and some other, random person. I’ll get away, find somewhere else to go. Whereas, you both remain dead. But here I am chatting away, time is ticking. Literally! I’m going to leave you now. You have a few hours left, I’d spend the time wisely if I were you.”

  Hilary yelled as Sally left the room, the door slammed and locked behind her.

  “Oh, God Kate… We’re doomed.”

  33

  Error of Judgement

  “Hilary… Can you move your hands at all?”

  I watched as she struggled. I had taken the one thing I could do when Sally asked me to bind her hands. You see, having never been a Girl Guide, instead, I spent my free hours in the stables, therefore I was no expert in knots. There was only one knot I was able to tie and that was the knot that every equestrian could tie in their sleep. I instructed Hilary to grab for the twine and pull, as she did the twine slipped. The joy of the quick release knot. I’d prayed that Sally wouldn’t double-check my bindings. Seconds later, Hilary’s hands were free, however, Sally had been less kind while binding her arms and so we were still trapped.

  There was only one thing I could do, I tried to shuffle my chair. It scraped and moved less than an inch. I was struggling as there was so little movement I could make as I was firmly tied, but, as our lives depended on my actions, I moved as much as possible.

  * * *

  “Christ!” I stared at who was no doubt going to become my successor.

  “I told you Kelly… It just doesn’t map out. And, there is something else.”

  “Shit John! What else do you want to tell me?”

  “There was DNA under the victim’s nails. She must have scratched whoever killed her.”

  “DNA? There was no DNA mentioned. I got you to check! You said…”

  Crap, what was the point, I knew where this was leading. He had schemed and found his way to discredit me and get his promotion, just in time to bump up his pension.

  “Well, I don’t remember you asking. When you were so convinced Bishop had to be the one who had killed her, the paperwork wasn’t prioritised and then it got stuck in the system, I had to go and request the results personally…”

  “Enough John, for fucks sake! Tell me. The DNA matches Adam Bishop?”

  “No… But we think we have a match, and it matches DNA found on the wine bottle.”

  “Do we know who it is?”

  * * *

  Kate leaned her chair over, I guessed what she was doing so started to inch my chair towards her. Progress was painfully slow and I could see the time slipping away on the time clock, but eventually, we were close enough for my free hands to start to attack the knots holding her arms. The twine was tight, Sally had pulled it as hard as she could, not caring that she had cut off our circulation. I was struggling to be able to free the knots, I tugged at the twine desperate to free her.

  * * *

  “So, John, let me get this clear before I have to go to the Chief Constable and explain our fuck up. Well, as you’ve made it look, ‘my’ fuck up. We have CCTV images which far from showing the suspect getting the murder weapon as we thought, in fact, show someone else who doesn’t match Adam Bishop’s physical appearance. And, months after we thought we had this investigation stitched up, we have suddenly found DNA which isn’t his under the fingernails of the victim and, finally, because that wasn’t enough. His fingerprints are not even on the murder weapon.”

  “Well, in SOCO’s defence, they thought he might have been wearing gloves, and again you were convinced he was the murderer so they sort of took their foot off the pedal, as it were.”

  “Okay, thank you, Jo
hn. So, put me out of my misery. Do the prints on the murder weapon match the person whose DNA we have?”

  “Well, as you know Kelly, we take everyone’s dabs to rule them out.”

  “For fuck’s sake John, I know how basic policing works. I just don’t know how we have fucked up so badly! Please tell me, do the prints match the DNA?”

  “Yes… We have a match and just need to find the real murderer. The prints and the DNA on the victim, the murder weapon and the broken wine bottle we presume topped Miss Wessington all match one person. A woman called Sally Benson.”

  “Oh, fuck! The groom! Well, it was nice knowing you, John. If I’m not sacked, I am going to spend the rest of my life in a bog-standard response car dealing with littering offences and parking tickets.”

  “Sorry Kelly…” A wicked grin crossed his face.

  “Not as fucking sorry as I am, you bastard!”

  * * *

  “Hurry up!”

  “Kate… Shut up! I’m doing my best”

  I yanked at the twine and it finally slipped free. Kate freed her arm and started to untie the other bindings. It seemed like an age, but her arms were eventually free and she started to untie her legs. I glanced at the clock. Christ! Had that much time passed, or had Sally lied about the amount of time she had left us with. There was a loud click and the smell of petrol fumes started to fill the room.

  “It’s switched on…”

  “I realise that Hilary…”

  “Kate, Hurry up!”

  Kate wrenched her leg, desperate to free herself from the bindings. I looked across and saw wisps of smoke rising from the towel and then a sudden ball of flame burst across the heater. Kate screamed, wrenching her leg free, but, by then it was too late.

  * * *

  “Sir…” I looked across at the Chief Constable, he had his head in his hands and was groaning.

  “No. Wait a moment, please. Just let me understand this. You went and charged a man with murder based on a necklace that had been found and the fact that you thought that a jumper being worn by someone on a dark CCTV image matched one which your presumed suspect owned, even though the physical description of the individual in the images didn’t match. And, to add to this, months after you assured me that you had this case watertight. You have suddenly found a DNA match for someone completely different and, that DNA matches a potential weapon in a second case. So, we have an innocent man in prison and the murderer is roaming free at this very moment. Is that right?”

  “If you put it that way. Yes sir…”

  He gave a long sigh. “You know what I want you to say, don’t you?”

  “I resign?”

  “No Kelly. That would be too good for you right now. No, I want you to explain to me how there has been such a breakdown of policing. What we do for the innocent man who is currently behind bars charged with a murder he clearly didn’t commit and what you are doing to catch the actual murderer?”

  “I’m sorry sir… We are looking to find the real suspect.”

  “I’m sure you are Kelly. Look, I’m guessing I’ll have to say sorry to Mr Bishop when he comes out of prison, and his wife. This could be embarrassing and bloody costly for the Force.”

  “Oh, his wife’s gone missing, sir.” I stuttered.

  “What? Oh, Christ! When you say missing, are we speaking the same language? Think hard about what you do next as these will be the most important decisions of your policing career. I want you to find the person who did this. I’ll have to look at recovering the situation you’ve left me in. This is not over Kelly!”

  The Chief Constable ushered me from the room, the door was slammed in my face, I had expected no less of a reaction. I grabbed my phone and dialled.

  “S.P. Anderson.”

  “Dan, it’s Kelly from Yorkshire.”

  “Kelly, how can I help you?”

  “Dan… Kate Bishop, you said she was in Devon, you said she had gone missing? Did you say who she had gone to try and find?”

  “Yes, she was trying to find Hilary Wessington’s groom, a girl called Sally Benson. She thought that she may have had some information…”

  The phone slipped from my fingers as a wave of nausea hit me.

  * * *

  “Bishop…”

  I looked up. It was late at night, I’d been in a fitful sleep when the cell door had been unlocked, the guard had stepped in and ushered me out, along the block into an interview room. Across the table was the man who had previously announced he was my barrister and who had told me I had no chance for freedom. He looked tired, clearly, he had also been dragged out of bed.

  “Have you come to tell me how long I will be staying in prison? Because if you are, please tell me in the morning and let us both sleep.”

  “Well, funny you should say that. I am going to tell you how long you will be in prison.” He smiled. “Trust me, Mr Bishop, you won’t want to wait until the morning to hear this. Look, I’ll get to the point. This is highly unusual, however, Mr Bishop, you’re free to go.”

  “What?”

  Had I heard him correctly? Was this some dream cum nightmare where I would wake, still in my cell with a lifetime imprisoned ahead of me. I looked up, my barrister was still speaking.

  “The police have admitted they have made some pretty basic mistakes in the case. I won’t go into all the details right now. But, let’s just say they are satisfied you didn’t commit the murder.”

  “I told you that…”

  “Well, that brings me onto the next matter. Mr Bishop, would you like to procure our services to represent in the matter of compensation from the police service?”

  * * *

  The following hours passed in a blur. Rather than being returned to my cell, I was ushered from the interview room and returned my clothes and belongings. It was strange to be dressed in my own clothing again, my breeches and boots still dusty with arena sand. I was escorted out towards the main gate where a car was waiting to take me back home to Cumbria. I questioned the late hour. The prison governor had laughed telling me, as far as he was aware, the Yorkshire police force was so deeply embarrassed by the situation they wanted me moved before the press found out and were waiting outside the prison ready to take photos and footage, deepening the humiliation of the whole situation. I was told I should expect a very grovelling visit from the Chief Constable in the coming days. He shook me by the hand and wished me luck.

  The journey was uneventful and I slept most of the way, I had to be woken by the driver as we arrived back at the stables.

  The farmhouse was cold and empty, it was only then that I was truly struck by the fact Kate wasn’t here. I didn’t have time to dwell as the kitchen door flew open and Jacqueline ran towards me taking me in her arms, she was followed by the rest of the staff who jostled around me.

  “Adam? What the hell are you doing here? Oh, shit! Have you escaped from prison? Are you an escaped fugitive?”

  I had to laugh as she went from overjoyed to serious in a moment. I assured her I had been released, not that I was too sure why myself. My barrister had tried to explain but it was all beyond me.

  I allowed myself a moment amongst the happy crying. I knew Kate would come back. Things could only get better, couldn’t they?

  * * *

  The fire was spreading. I yelled at Kate to get herself out, but she instead lunged at me with a knife she had found on the counter. Cutting the twine, she set me free, we tried to make it towards the door but the heat was too great. There was nothing we could do, we cowered in the corner of the tack room desperate to escape the inferno. The tack room door was reinforced with steel and we were locked in, trapped with flames becoming closer by the second.