by Wilf Voss
Adam smiled faintly. He didn't dare tell he about the debts or about the text message he had received a few hours earlier. He pulled out his phone again and pulled the message up. 'Tick tock Mr Bishop. Shame if someone you cared for had an accident...'. He slammed the phone down.
***
Kate stepped into the hospital, she had called them earlier and found that Caroline was in the psychiatric ward which had unnerved her, the actual experience was even worse. The ward was distant from the main hospital buildings and was clearly secure with bars on the windows and security on the door.
"Can I help you?" The security guard looked up.
"I am here to see Caroline Gibbs."
He looked down at a clipboard in front of him. "And you are?"
Kate was prepared, when she had called the staff would tell her nothing about Caroline as she was not next of kin. "I am her mother, Linda Gibbs."
The guard looked up, looking Kate up and down before he pressed a button below the desk. The door buzzed. "Through there, ask for her at the nurses’ station."
Kate walked quickly through the grey painted corridor towards the nurses’ station. "Can I help you?" The nurse smiled warmly.
"Hi..." Kate stuttered. "I am here to see Caroline Gibbs."
"Ah yes..." She reached down and pulled a file out of a cabinet beneath the desk. "Can I just ask who you are?"
"I am her mother, Linda."
The nurse closed the file and looked up at Kate. "Really?" Her smile faded briefly.
"Look, I need to see her. She is like family to me. I am Kate Bishop, my husband brought her in." Kate pleaded. "Please help me here, Caroline needs me."
The nurse smiled. "Look, I really shouldn't let you see her. In fact I should call security and have you removed." She paused. "But, Caroline has been asking for you all afternoon, in fact she has been quite distressed so I think it would do her good to see you."
"Thank you..."
"She has been sectioned under the mental health act." Kate gasped. "I know, but please don't worry it is not as bad as it sounds. She will be kept in for at least three days to allow us to assess her." The nurse smiled. "She is in good hands. Let me take you through to see her." The nurse let Kate through the secure reception area to a locked door. She held an electronic tag up to a reader and clicked the door open. Eventually they reached a door, the nurse unlocked it and held it open. Caroline was sitting up on the bed staring out of the barred window. "I can only give you half an hour. Just press the call button when you are finished."
"Thank you, I really appreciate it." Kate waited until the nurse shut the door. "Hello Caroline." She walked towards her. "How are you doing?"
Caroline turned around, her eyes red. "Kate!" She leapt towards her hugging her tightly. "Thank you for coming." She sobbed. "I'm not mad..." She paused. "Am I?"
Kate paused. "Caroline you are unwell. The nightmares you are having the woman you are seeing. The doctors are going to help you. They will make it go away." Kate smiled. "I want to have our Caroline back as soon as possible. Come on, sit down. Let me tell you what happened today."
Kate sat and chatted for well past the half hour that the nurse had suggested. It was only when she looked at her watch that she realised how long they had been talking. Caroline had become more animated and relaxed as they had talked. "Look I had better go. But I will come back tomorrow." Caroline looked crestfallen. "Come on. You will be out of here really soon." Kate hugged her again before pushing the call button." The nurse opened the door and Kate said her final goodbyes to Caroline. She had only walked a few steps before bursting into tears.
"There, there..." The nurse took her hand. "Lots of people get overwhelmed when they first come here." She opened a side door revealing a small sitting room with a sink and fridge. "Look it's my break time, come and have a cup of tea with me before you go."
"Thank you..." Kate sobbed, accepting a tissue from the nurse. "I am sorry..."
The kettle clicked and the nurse poured two mugs of tea. "I have put two sugars in, it will help. Don't worry about being upset, this is a very frightening place." She paused. "Caroline will recover, she has had an MRI scan today the doctors think it could be related to her accident, she may have had a head injury which was not obvious when she was in before."
Kate sighed. "I hope she is okay. She is so important to us all. Our yard is like a family everyone is worried about her. We all just want her to be well."
"She will be in good hands with us. I will look after her and I know the other staff will too."
***
"Adam?" Kate stepped into the cottage, she looked around but it seemed that Adam was not at home. The sudden bleep of his mobile phone made her jump. She looked down at the phone, she trusted Adam totally but he had been acting strangely over the last few days. Curiosity made her pick it up. She knew that she should not read his texts but still found herself pressing the menu button, she gasped as the words flashed up on screen.
'Pay the money you owe now or we will harm your wife. Do I make myself clear?'
Cold fear flooded her body.
"Hello there..." Adam opened the front door and stepped inside, she reached to hug Kate but was shrugged away. "Whoa?. What's wrong?"
Kate turned around slowly, she had scrolled through his messages and seen the others he had been sent. "What the hell is this?"
Adam pushed past her and sat down heavily on the sofa with his head in his hands. "I was stupid..."
"What?" Kate snarled. "Tell me why someone is threatening to injure me."
"I took out a loan, we needed the money to pay the bills. Kate I needed to pay the feed bills, the wages..." He looked up at Kate. "I thought they were above board, I found them on the internet and it looked professional."
"And?" Kate stared at Adam.
"They suddenly demanded payment, when I couldn't pay they doubled the interest rate, tripled it. They threatened me."
"So we go to the police..." She gasped as Adam unbuttoned his shirt and turned to show her his back. The welts had turned into black lines of bruises which criss-crossed his back covering almost every inch. "This was the last warning."
"You didn't tell me..." Kate whispered.
"I was trying to protect you?. I thought that I could handle it."
"You should have told me..." Kate picked up her bag, turned on her heel and walked out slamming the door behind her."
Adam slumped in the sofa.
Chapter 5
June 1974
Linda wiped her eyes and put the telephone receiver down.
“How bad is she?”
“It’s bad Hilary.” Linda sighed. “She is in a coma...” She sobbed, shuddering. “She has pretty bad head injuries and a number of broken bones.”
“Good grief!” Hilary sighed. “I am so sorry. Poor Tracy, what a terrible accident.”
“It wasn’t an accident!” Linda suddenly snarled.
“What?”
“The girth was cut. It was a brand new one, I had just bought it a week ago. It had been cut.”
“What on earth?” Hilary gasped. “But who would do that?” She stopped. “Oh god no!”
“Yes...” Linda slumped down in her chair.
“She has to go...”
“She should be arrested, but the police just said it was an unfortunate accident and that I had better be careful accusing people.”
Hilary raised her eyebrows.
“I am going to sack her.” Linda. “This could be the end for the yard you know.”
“You are doing the right thing.” Hilary stepped across and hugged Linda.
***
Linda stepped into the tack room, she gestured to the assembled staff. “Leave us for a moment please.” They started to put down the tack they were cleaning. “Not you.” Linda grasped Susan by the arm. “I need to speak with you.”
“No, piss off.” Susan sneered.
Linda slammed both her hands into Susan’s sho
ulders knocking her to the ground.
“Oh we are being big and strong now.” Susan stood up brushing the seat of her jodhpurs. “But if you want a fight...” She laughed.
“You hurt a friend of mine. “
“Yes?” Susan shook her head. “I am sorry I don’t know what you mean.”
“Shut up. I want you out of here.”
“Okay, I will leave you alone.” She reached for the tack room door handle. Linda pushed the door shut.
“No, you are fired. Leave and don’t come back.”
“Okay... You know I will have to tell my father.”
“Is that some sort of threat?” Linda shook her head. “I can’t let you get away with this, I know that the police will not touch you but I know what you did. If that means I lose the stables, well so be it.”
“Oh you may lose more than that.” Susan smiled.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I will make sure you lose everything.”
“Oh shut up!” Linda sobbed. “I want you gone by the morning.”
***
Linda locked the office. “Come on, let me take you for a drink and some supper. I don’t think you should brood alone at home and I don’t want to be around Susan tonight” Hilary smiled.
“Okay.” Linda paused. “Look, I should have got rid of her a long time ago, you were right. And if I had...” She burst into tears.
“Come on...” Hilary hugged her. “She is leaving now. You did the right thing.”
Susan watched from the feed shed as they left. She smiled, Linda was a weakling but it seemed the worm had turned, well the stupid bitch would get all she deserved . She looked around, the staff would be upstairs having dinner and then they would be busy with other matters. She chuckled to herself fingering the empty box of laxatives in her pocket, their beef stew would have them fighting for the toilet tonight, a nice leaving present for them.
Susan pulled out a key to the office, she had stolen Caroline’s key some weeks before and had a copy made, she smiled she would get her revenge on Linda, she pulled open the steel vet cupboard and started rustling through the bottles and packets until she found the one she was looking for. She grasped the small brown bottle which she had seen weeks before, it was pesticide and years old, no doubt banned and thoroughly unsafe by the number of grim warnings and the word poison moulded into the neck of the bottle.
She gingerly took out the bottle and unscrewed the rusted lid, she could see the white powder contained within. She placed the bottle on the desk and pulled out an apple, quickly she took a knife and cut out the core leaving a hole which she filled with the white powder before shoving the core back in.
“Perfect!” She giggled. She shoved the empty bottle back in the cupboard, slamming the door shut before leaving the office.
The night was warm, the sun slowly setting and the horses were hanging their heads over their stable doors or tugging at hay nets. She approached the back yard and the last stable in the block, the horse within snorted as it saw her.
“Hello Magpie.” Susan sneered. Magpie was Linda’s horse and as such Susan had often been cruel to the piebald gelding. “I have a treat for you, ugly animal.” She held out the apple. The horse turned away, walking to the back of his stable. “Look it is a lovely apple.” She pulled the bolts aside and swung the stable door open. “Come on!” Magpie raised one of his rear legs to try and kick her. “You nasty bastard!” Susan slapped the horse. “Here, take the bloody apple.” Magpie stared at the offered fruit and turned back to his hay net. “Oh you ignorant brute! It’s fine.” She raised the apple to her lips and took a bite. “There..” She offered the apple again to Magpie, he snuffled and crunched the apple.
Susan smiled. “You stupid horse.” She spat out the mouthful of apple.
***
Linda woke, she rubbed her eyes glancing out at the weather, it was sunny and already the day was warm. She bathed and dressed, pausing to eat a bowl of corn flakes before stepping out to her car. It was a short drive to the yard, when she arrived she found a handful of staff preparing feeds.
“Morning!”
Claire looked up, she was pale and groaned as she stood up to greet Linda.
“What is wrong with you?”
“Food poisoning I think.” She grasped her stomach. “Most of the staff were sick. Oh it was horrible.”
“Oh I am so sorry...” She paused. “Let me feed Magpie and then I will help you out. We can muck out later if necessary.”
Linda grabbed one of the feed bowls and walked across the yard, she leant over the stable door. “Hello sleepy.” Magpie was lying down in his stable. “Come on...” She pulled the door open. “Get up then ...” Linda stopped throwing down the feed bowl. “No... No!” She knelt down and looking into her horse’s glazed eyes. “Magpie!” She felt his chest and realised there was no movement. She screamed out in anguish.
***
Susan laughed. She was watching from the shadows. She shushed herself as other members of the staff came running Oh this was wonderful, she had found a way to hut Linda so totally, she could see her weeping all over a stupid horse. Claire spoke quickly to Linda and then ran back across the yard.
Linda walked out of the stable and fell to her knees sobbing, Hilary came running towards her. “Oh God Linda I just heard.”
“Oh Hilary...” Linda sobbed. Hilary hugged her briefly before stepping into the stable. She came out a few minutes later.
“Have you called an ambulance?”
“Yes, but I think it is a bit late.” Linda looked up.
“Come on.” Hilary helped Linda stand up, let’s go somewhere else, away from here.”
Susan watched as they walked away giggling to herself, an ambulance for a horse. Oh dear they had both finally gone totally mad! She stepped out of the shadow and onto the empty yard. There was the stable, she glanced inside there was the horse, laid out, tongue lolling from his still mouth. She smiled. Oh this was the perfect revenge.
It was then that she noticed something behind the body of Magpie, she shrugged, stepping into the stable peeking around the dead horse. It was there she saw the other body. She cried out.
***
The ambulance left the yard and Hilary closed the gates. She had hung a closed sign across them, apologising that lessons today would be cancelled. She could see Linda sitting in the office, she sighed and walked back across the yard.
All was quiet, she had sent the other staff away, the horses had been fed and could be left to have a day off in the circumstances. The back yard was silent, they had moved the other horses to the paddock, she could not bring herself to walk back to Magpie’s stable and stood motionless in the middle of the yard.
Susan stared at Hilary, she stepped out from behind the door and walked towards her. Hilary ignored her, her head down tears spilling onto the concrete of the yard, when she was just a few feet away she suddenly looked up, looking wildly around the yard. Susan stood in front of her, mouth open ready to speak, not that she was sure what to say.
Hilary shuddered as if suddenly cold despite the warmth of the day and walked forward. Susan gasped as she suddenly was upon her and then in a moment walking behind her. Susan span round, Caroline was walking up the yard.
Susan stood silently suddenly realising what had happened, what she had done.
***
Linda opened her cottage door, she had refused company, stating that she needed to be alone. She was exhausted and pushed the door open, dragging off her boots before stepping into her front room intending to slump on the sofa and consider her day. She flicked the light switch but there was nothing. She sighed, the evening was still quite light and she could not face dealing with a power cut on top of everything else.
She walked into her front room and hit a wall of darkness.
***
Linda woke with a start, she was in agony. She scrabbled to her feet and found that she was in a confined space, rough walls
on each side lined with steel rods. She panicked trying to fight her way out but it was clear from the distant light above her that she was deep in a hole. She screamed, yelling for help.
A shadow crossed the mouth of the pit. “Miss Gibbs.” Linda immediately recognised the voice as Harry Thompson. “Do you remember what I said would happen to you if something happened to my daughter?.
“Mr Thompson, Sir!” Linda pleaded.
“Shut up!” Thompson yelled. “My daughter is dead!” He paused, sighing deeply. “I hold you responsible Miss Gibbs.”
“Mr Thompson... I did nothing.. She killed herself.” Linda cried out.
“I told you to shut up! I cannot get her back, but I can punish those involved. I can punish you. So you have about eight hours before the contractors start pouring concrete into this foundation pit, after that.” He paused. “Well after that I will be able to pass this bridge...” He stopped before saying some words to the men at the top of the pit. The light was extinguished as a board was dropped over the hole.
“Help! For God’s sake... Please...” Linda screamed...
Chapter 6
Present Day
Jacqui stepped into the kitchen. "Kate?" She paused. "What are you doing here?"
"Hi Jac's." She smiled. "I stayed here last night, it was pretty late and I didn't want to disturb you guys."
"What's wrong Kate?" Kate wiped her eyes shaking her head. "Come on... You can tell me."
"Oh Adam has done something stupid. I got cross... I think I may have been stupid." The words tumbled out.
"Are you okay?"
Kate took a deep breath and sighed. "I will be fine." She smiled faintly. "Married couples go through these sort of things." Kate paused, it may well be the case, Adam and her had argued in the past but not like this. She had never walked out. Perhaps it was the shock of his injuries as much as what might happen to her. She was incensed by his stupidity, how could he go to a loan shark to get money and now they were both at risk. But how much was it her fault, she had left him to do everything to do with the business, perhaps she should have helped him more. "What do I do?"
Jacqui turned around, she was in the kitchen making tea. "Sorry Kate, did you say something?"
"No..." She took a deep breath. "Nothing."
Adam was just across the yard unlocking the tack room. He had seen that Kate had left their car in the stable's car park so it was likely that she was around, but he felt it was better to give her just a little more time. He realised how stupid he had been but at the time had seen no other way out. Of course with hindsight he would have realised that something was wrong but it was take out the loan or have to admit that they could not feed the horses that week.
