by El Edwards
“Soil samples.” I spoke the words confidently, hoping that in doing so I’d convince everyone of my brilliance and they’d not ask too many questions.
“Soil samples?” Norma looked confused. “What will you want those for dearie?”
“I’m looking for any connections between the dog’s location and areas she might have been. Rob and Declan are going to take soil samples from several key locations around town so I can send them for analysis.” I crossed my toes, mentally willing Rob, who’d followed me into the front room, not to choose that exact moment to ask me what the hell I was raving on about.
Norma looked at Rob. “Soil samples?” She repeated.
He smiled. “That’s right Norma. It’s very important we build up a methodical record. So when do you think he can start?”
“Well I don’t know. Shall I ask him to call you?”
“Perfect!”
Two cups of tea later we made our apologies and Rob drove us home. As soon as we were safely back in the car Rob turned to me.
“Would now be a good time to ask you what you’re really playing at?”
I smiled and took a deep breath.
THIRTY-ONE
I spent the next few days on pins, waiting to see if Rob could pull off my stunt with Declan. Every time my phone pinged I jumped, so much so that in the end I decided to put it on silent. It wasn’t like he would ring me with news anyway, Rob and I had agreed to make no contact. Instead, I was to meet him at the bottom of the hill that led to the hotel at lunchtime, three days later.
“I know you think I’m totally crazy to even think about including the hotel,” I’d said to him when we were arranging our rendezvous, “but just humour me. If we’re going to go to all this effort, we might as well do it properly.”
To his credit, Rob had decided against arguing with me and so here I was, three days later, back in Burry Port. After parking the van near the harbour and walking the short distance to where we’d agreed to meet, I was delighted to find him waiting for me.
He grinned when he saw me and glanced at his watch. “You’re early.”
I smiled. “I know. Makes a change eh. Thanks for coming.”
“Anything for you, although …”
“Please don’t say it again. You’ve made your feelings on the subject perfectly clear.”
We crossed the road and started walking up the hill. He offered me his hand. “Just in case.”
“Just in case what?”
“We’re madly in love, in case you’d forgotten. Got to keep up the ruse.”
“I doubt we’ll see the same man again.”
“But just in case?” He offered me his hand again but I swatted it away.
“Forget about it,” I said, smiling. “Tell me what happened with Declan.”
We walked up the hill as he spoke. “Nothing I’ll tell you will be any great surprise I’m sure. He’s a shifty one. Asked me loads of questions, tapping me for info. I didn’t tell him anything,” he added hastily. “Just in case you wondered.”
“Course not. He’d sell his own mother for a quick buck. Wouldn’t expect you to trust him. That’s why I didn’t want you bringing him up here.”
Rob laughed at this. “As if this place holds the key to your whole case, got to keep him off the scent? Phew! You dodged a bullet there Charlie.”
“I’m not joking Rob. What if I’m not crazy and this place is key? And if he’s as dodgy as we both think he is, there’s no telling who he might go crowing to.”
Rob shrugged. “I suppose so. Anyway, we got the soil samples. They’re with the lab now.”
“How long?”
“Couple of weeks probably. It’s not like it’s urgent.”
“It is for Tortoise. And poor Beverly, she’s lost without her little companion.”
“She’ll get over it. I’d prefer to save my favours for when we really need them. Besides, she has her hands full with Shaun right now.”
“Fair enough. You told them you’d have one more.”
“Yep.”
“And what are they looking for exactly? How much did you tell them?”
“Full chemical analysis, with an eye to identifying any matches between the samples.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, they’ll tell us what’s in them and if any of the samples look to have traces of the same compounds.”
“Perfect! Thanks Rob.”
When I’d come up with my brilliant idea, I wasn’t entirely sure what I hoped to achieve from looking at the soil from around town. That hadn’t stopped Norma and Ted from being delighted of course, they were so desperate to see their tearaway son come good, they’d clutch at any straws, even ones that were nonsensical and probably a complete waste of time. It wasn’t until the drive home that I’d realised I might actually be on to something, hence why I wanted Rob to meet me here.
“This place gives me the creeps,” Rob said. He pulled his collar up round his neck and pretended to shiver.
“Don’t be such a baby. Who’s the one who told me this place was uninhabited? If there’s no-one here, what’s to be afraid of?”
I increased my speed and raced past Rob, keen to show him that I wasn’t scared, even if he was.
“I’m not afraid. It’s just a bit eery.”
I couldn’t argue with him there. There was something about the hotel that didn’t sit right with me, but it had nothing to do with things that go bump in the night. I’d heard the stories local kids told about this place and I didn’t buy them but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something not quite right about it. I just wished I could have a decent poke around inside. I felt sure that if I could just look the place over properly, the answer would be there waiting for me, staring me in the face.
“Don’t even think about it,” Rob called to me. He’d slowed his pace a little and as a result I was high above him.
“What?”
“Just wait there, I’ll catch you up.”
I’d already decided that if he told me one more time it wasn’t safe, I was likely to explode. I tapped my foot on the ground impatiently. “Come on then slow coach.”
When he finally reached me I didn’t stop to let him catch his breath. It was time the fit policeman proved what he was made of. I turned and carried on walking up the hill and he kept pace with me the whole way.
When we reached the top he stopped. “Where do you want to take it from?”
I looked around, keen to find a patch of earth we could disturb without making it obvious that we’d done so.
“What about over here?” I led him to what looked like it might once have been a herb garden.
The plants grew wildly, spilling over the edge of the bed and onto the path. I stooped down and rubbed a leaf between my fingers.
“Basil.” I breathed in deeply. “I love basil.”
“Enough with the gardening lesson Charlie. I’ve got the sample. Let’s get out of here.”
Before I could protest, Rob led me back down the hill, his grip firm on my arm.
“Get off, you’re hurting me.”
He let his hand drop. “Sorry. I just didn’t want to get into another debate about how you might get in. We got what we came for. Let me get this sample off to the lab and we can take it from there. Okay?”
“I guess it’s going to have to be.” Without saying another word, I stormed off in the direction of my van, grumbling and complaining under my breath the whole way. If Rob thought we were a team he had a funny way of showing it. Someone needed to teach that man some manners, I decided. I just wasn’t sure if I was ready for that someone to be me.
THIRTY-TWO
I fussed about with putting my seatbelt on and started the engine, putting my foot on the brake so Rob could see that I was ready to go but waiting for him to pass me first. As he drove past, I smiled sweetly and waved, keen not to make him suspicious. If caught even a hint of what I was planning on doing next he’d turn his car around and insist he escort me h
ome. I had to play it cool, my case depended on it. I watched as he drove away and, once I was satisfied he was completely out of sight, switched off the engine, got out of the van and headed back up the hill to the hotel. I kept up a swift pace, keen to get on with it before I changed my mind, and by the time I reached the hotel I was out of breath. Ignoring the side entrance that I’d tried last time, I headed to the large imposing front door and turned the doorknob. Much to my delight, it turned and the door swung open. If I’d been less excited about the prospect of finally figuring out what was bothering me about the hotel, I might have been suspicious, but as it was I stepped through the front door without a second thought.
The door opened into a part of the hotel that we hadn’t ventured into last time. A large staircase loomed ahead but any ideas I might have had about exploring upstairs were soon banished when I looked up and saw the state of the stairs. If I was Indiana Jones I supposed it might have been possible to somehow lasso myself across the dilapidated structure and magically explore but I’d left my whip and explorers boots at home so I abandoned that idea and instead pushed my way towards the back of the building.
As I walked deeper into the building I felt myself getting warm. I knew I was a bit out of shape but the walk up the hill hadn’t been that strenuous. I slipped off my jacket and tied it round my waist. I wanted to keep my hands free, just in case. I pushed open another door and was hit with a wall of heat. It was like someone had turned the radiators on full blast in the middle of August. The air felt suffocating and I felt my throat tighten. It was only then that I started to wish I’d told someone where I was going. Tripping around inside an abandoned hotel all alone maybe wasn’t the smartest move ever, I was forced to acknowledge, but it was too late now. I was here and I was ready to find some answers.
It was only after I’d walked halfway into the room that I realised the heat seemed to be coming up from the floor. I bent down and touched the floorboard and, sure enough, it was warm. I glanced across at the windows and it was then that I realised what felt so off about this place: the floor was too high. From outside the hotel it hadn’t been as obvious, but stepping in and looking back out through the windows, I cursed myself for not having noticed sooner. It was like the whole of this downstairs was at least two feet too high. The windows didn’t match because, by contrast to the floor, they were too low. What could anyone want with a raised floor?
With a sudden rush of clarity I realised exactly what the smell was that I hadn’t been able to identify before; cannabis. Shit! I mentally calculated the size of the hotel’s footprint and, assuming my instincts were right and there was a basement or similar under my feet, how many plants could be squeezed in. Fear gripped me. Although I didn’t personally use the stuff, I wasn’t one to condemn growing for personal use, but an operation of this scale, we had to be talking industrial. And I knew what happened to people who got caught poking their noses into illegal operations. I needed to get out of there, fast!
I turned round, took two or three steps back in the direction I’d come, but before I could get any further, I heard the sound of wood splintering and felt the ground give way beneath my feet. I screamed as I fell and then landed heavily, all the air knocked out of my lungs. For a moment I just lay there winded, unable to move, but adrenalin soon kicked in as I took in my surroundings. I’d landed in what appeared to be the centre of the operation. A plastic tent covered one area. I didn’t want to stick around to find out what was under the tent but if the smell and the lights were anything to go by, I knew exactly what I’d find if I chose to look. I got up and picked my way across the room. By some miracle, the place where I’d landed was deserted. If when they got back, whoever was in charge decided to look up at the ceiling, they’d easily see that they’d had visitors but, for now at least, it looked like luck was on my side. All I had to do now was get myself back out of the hotel without being seen and I could be home free.
I spotted a ladder at the side of the room and decided that that was probably my safest route out. I certainly couldn’t go back the way I’d come. I climbed the ladder and when I got to the top I found a trapdoor. I gave it a shove, crossing my fingers that my luck would hold, but it didn’t budge. I shoved again and this time it lifted a little. I shoved it again and this time I heard something scrape against the floor above as it moved. I kept shoving and pushing as if my life depended on it and finally the trapdoor swung up and open, a heavy chair toppling over as it did so. Without waiting to find out if the noise had alerted anyone, I climbed out and moved as quickly as I could back towards the front door. With one last glance behind me, I closed the doors and ran down the hill, not daring to stop until I was safely locked inside my van. Only then did I notice my hands were shaking. I started the engine and drove home. I didn’t know what any of this had to do with a poor defenceless little sausage dog but one thing was certain, the game was on.
THIRTY-THREE
The stench hit me as soon as I opened the front door. Missy was going mad, dancing around in circles while simultaneously barking, so my first instinct was to blame her for the odour. I stepped over the letters on the mat by the front door and rushed through to the back of the house to let her out into the garden. I scanned the house for evidence of canine mess as I went but found nothing. With Missy safely outside I retraced my steps and it was only then that I found the source of the offensive smell. A letter from the mat by the front door, which Missy had dragged into the front room. Someone had tried to be clever, wrapping the offending article in layers of clingfilm and bubblewrap before stuffing it into the envelope, but cling film and bubblewrap were no match for my dog’s nose. The package may have got past whatever security the post office employed but Missy was not to be fooled. She knew the contents were organic and determined it was up to her to save me from whatever peril lay within.
What Missy could never have anticipated was that by choosing to attack the package, she’d in fact only succeeded in making a foul mess. I covered my nose with my jacket and gagged as I pulled a note out of the envelope. It was covered in dog excrement and it took all my strength not to simply dump the whole lot in the outside bin. Ever the investigator though, I pulled on a pair of gloves and took the contents outside.
The note was constructed using pieces of newspaper, with the letters cut from the headlines. Stop or the dog gets it! Despite the unpleasantness of the situation, I couldn’t help but smile. It was almost farcical. Whoever had done this had even gone to the trouble of cutting out an exclamation mark to add to the end of the note. It was quite ridiculous. I’d had my fair share of threatening letters before, but this had to rank as one of the smelliest.
Leaving the contents outside, I called Missy and took her back into the house while I found my phone. I needed to document this as evidence, even if I wouldn’t bring myself to keep it or hand it over to the police. It was then that I thought of Rob. I knew this almost certainly counted as something he wouldn’t want kept from him but I was still smarting over the drugs.
He must have known about the cannabis, I’d decided during the drive home. Why else would he have tried so hard to keep me away from the hotel? What I couldn’t understand was why the police would be allowing the industry to carry on, right under their noses. I’d talk to Rob about it soon, but not until I’d had chance to formulate my own theory. What was obvious was that somebody somewhere wasn’t happy about my interest in Tortoise. How that connected to the cannabis factory I didn’t know, but if there was a connection I was determined to find it.
As I walked into the house I heard the front door slam and Grace calling out to me.
“Mum? You here?” She walked into the kitchen, her hand over her face. “What the hell have you done?”
“Hello to you too!” I smiled but, aware of what I’d been handling, didn’t lean in and give her a kiss. “Why do you automatically assume that this is me?”
“Have you seen you? This has you written all over it. But all I really want to know right
now is what you’re going to do about it?”
“Charming.” I looked over Grace’s shoulder. “Is Louise with you?”
Grace shook her head. “She’s coming a bit later on the bus.”
I glanced up at the clock and noticed how early Grace was. “Mark?”
“Yep. Was going to invite him in but then I saw you were back.”
“Am I that terrifying? On second thoughts, don’t answer that. Let me get finished with this then you can tell me all about your day.”
“Actually, I was going to take Missy out. Unless you’ve already walked her? Fancied a bit of fresh air.”
“If you can wait ten minutes I’ll come with you.”
Grace’s cheeks flushed with colour. “Do you mind if I take her on my own?”
I knew better than to pry. “What time will you be back?”
“Oh I won’t be long. Hour maybe. Two at the most. Just enough time for you to get rid of whatever is causing that stink!”
“I was thinking of going out for dinner if you fancy it.”
“The Bont?”
I smiled. The Bont Inn was the local village pub and our favourite place to eat. “Of course.”
“You’re on!”
I watched as Grace skipped out of the kitchen, calling Missy as she went. Missy leaped around in circles as she followed Grace’s voice and the two of them were soon out the front door. I glanced out of the front room window and saw Mark waiting for her patiently at the end of our path. He was a nice lad and I was glad Grace had decided to treat him as more than unpaid taxi driver.
With Grace and Missy safely out from under my feet, my thoughts returned to the messy situation in front of me. As much as I wanted to preserve the evidence, I knew the whole lot would need to be bagged up and thrown in the bin. I spent the next few minutes carefully photographing the envelope, hopeful that if it ever came to it, closeups would prove good enough for handwriting analysis. For the briefest of moments I considered cleaning the note so I could keep it but had to satisfy myself with shots from various angles instead. The whole lot was a disgusting mess and the sooner I could be rid of it, the better. The one thing I refused to think about was who would want to send such a revolting letter in the first place. The less I thought about that, the better.
