by Olivia Swift
After a meal, they watched a little bit of television, and Ben sketched out the start of a plan for the prehistoric garden until they heard the sound of the others returning.
15
With cars out of sight and everyone settled in the trailer, they switched off all lights and talked in whispers about the planned garden and the barbecue.
Marie told them that she worked in a bar but really wanted to work outdoors.
“I might go to college and train to be a gardener,” she told them, “or maybe something to do with trees and forests.” She looked at Ben. “I am quite happy to help with the garden because it will all be good experience.
“Sounds good to me,” Ben answered. “On the next client garden that starts next week, I might be able to pay you something if you would like it.”
“Oh, I would love it. Thank you. Maybe this whole nasty fright will be the start of a whole new way of life.” They looked at Ben’s rough sketch of the garden plan by the light of their phone flashlights, and then Kat held her hand up.
“Shhh. There is somebody coming.” They all waited and just when it seemed she was wrong, they heard the muted sound of voices.
“Two men,” Dex whispered in Ben’s ear. Ben raised his head gingerly to the level of the window and saw two figures shining flashlights on the ground. It was clear that they thought the place was deserted because they didn’t make much attempt to be quiet. The flashlights shone over the ground in front of the landscape garden where the red painted stones were. One of them pointed the light at the stones and laughed. Then they moved around to look beside the house and beside the trailer.
Nobody in the trailer moved a muscle in case it rocked or made a noise, but Dex slid up beside Ben and looked out.
“No car in sight. Two of them and five of us. Let’s jump out and challenge them.”
Flashlights at the ready, they all tensed themselves and Ben opened the door, leaped out and shouted out to ask who was there. Flashlights shone on the faces of the two figures.
“You’re trespassing,” Dex shouted and set off at a run. The others all joined him and the two men took to their heels and headed for the entrance. There must have been someone waiting in the vehicle because the engine was running. Doors slammed and the motor accelerated. The five pursuers arrived panting at the gate to see the taillights disappear around a bend in the road.
“Didn’t get a plate number. The car was already moving off,” Carly said. “But I saw their faces.”
“And one of them was the man who grabbed me on the street,” Marie said and they all looked at her.
“You sure?” Ben asked, and she nodded. “We should tell Detective Gomez.” They walked back to the trailer; Kat started some coffee and some of them accepted a cold drink. Ben took out his phone.
“Do you want to report it?” he asked Marie, and she nodded.
“He should be behind bars.”
It took a little while to get through to the detective, who was not on duty, but his deputy was. The man told them to stay in the trailer and they would come out to see them. It was a considerable time later when the police had all the information they could collect and a promise from both Marie and Carly to come to the precinct to look at photos the next morning.
Dex and Carly said they would drive behind Marie until she was safely home, and they left Kat and Ben alone.
“They won’t come back tonight because they know there are people here,” Ben said, and Kat added that the builders would be around through the day as well.
“But if we lock up, we can just keep an eye out in case,” she suggested. “They never went over to the far side. Maybe they think we got rid of the stones.”
With the door secured and the television on, they found throws to cover themselves and settled on the long seat together. He swung his legs up and Kat moved as far as she could to give him room to relax. He put his arm around her and she wrapped hers around his waist. She giggled and told him that they were quite mad to lie on one seat when there were two but Ben’s answer was to hold her very tightly and say that if she thought he was giving up the chance to be this close, she was really crazy.
There was the odd time when a noise outside made them both strain their ears for intruders but Kat never sensed anyone arriving and eventually the excitement and the stress of the day took over and they both slept for the few hours until dawn pushed the first fingers of light through the window.
“I should really thank the intruders for letting me have you here all to myself.” He smiled.
“You don’t need an excuse,” she answered and started the day with a kiss.
The builders arrived and everything seemed to swing into place. It was hard to remember that two men had come in the middle of the night to steal a pile of stones, when a whole team of men were starting to add the roofing. A second truck arrived with the windows stacked on board.
After the excitement of seeing the work start again, Ben and Kat sat in the trailer and he pulled out a sheet of paper.
“What do you think?” he asked as he sketched a rough outline of a circle of standing stones and a block in the center to catch the light between the two at the eastern end. Then he put in tree ferns and other plants between the stone and added beds in the inner circle, and a seat. “The plants in the inside part would be to give it a tropical look with large leaves, even if they were just hostas and other everyday plants that have that exotic look about them.”
Kat leaned over his shoulder and looked out of the window to see in her mind the way it would fit into the outside scheme of things.
“You wouldn’t see it from here because of the landscape garden?” she asked, and he nodded.
“I’ll make a path that goes around the rockery part and makes you want to explore, and then you would suddenly see what looks like a prehistoric picture.”
“It’s great,” she said enthusiastically.
“If I can get the backhoe back today, I can overturn the painted stones and put the standing ones into position. If Dex will come and use his surveying skills to make a circle for me, we can make a start.”
“That would be absolutely so good. Call the backhoe company. See if they can spare the machine.”
Ben, encouraged by her enthusiasm, picked up his phone. After a brief conversation and an explanation about the paint, the man on the other end said he could have the backhoe there just after midday. Kat clapped her hands and did a little happy dance.
“Magnetic stones, your powers have been exposed.” She looked at him. “Call Dex.”
Dex said that Carly had gone to the precinct to see photos of people, who might be the intruders, but he would come over and he would tell her to come to at Eagle’s Cry when she was finished. The builders had stopped for a break. Ben and Kat went to talk to them and saw that one group had started the ground floor windows.
“Two days,” Marcus told them. “The boss says that we have to finish in two days. You can plan your barbecue after that.”
“It really looks like a house now that the windows are in,” Kat declared. She waved Dex over as he drove up in his car and unloaded survey instruments to work out the space they needed. They told the builders about the two intruders in the night, and said they were going to use the stones in the garden.
“Why would anybody want a pile of stones so much that they run the risk of going to jail?” Marcus wondered.
“Loonies,” Kat said, and he laughed.
“But they might be nasty loonies,” Ben said. “We’ll just be very careful.”
“If they do anything to spoil this house, they will live to regret it,” Kat said decisively as she left the builders to their work. She linked her arm into Ben’s. “Let’s make a prehistoric landscape.”
Dex was already using an electronic device to measure distances. “Pace out where you want the circle roughly to be‒or would you rather say where the stone structure is to stand in order to catch the rising sun? We can do a circle around that point.�
� Ben showed him the drawing and paced out how much space he would need for beds of plants. They scribbled it down in notes on the plan, then Dex started at the center and marked out the circle with spray. They were looking at the pile of stones to find suitable pieces, when the backhoe arrived and the driver offered to stay and do the lifting for them.
“That would be great,” Ben said. They also pointed out suitable stones, which were then expertly carried to the circle, and surprisingly looked immediately as if they had been there for centuries. The man then turned all of the painted stones upside down or back-to-front to hide the paint, and the whole place looked like a miniature landscape again.
As the paint was being disguised, Carly arrived at the garden, and Marie with her.
“Oh, Ben. I love the standing stones. It will look like a tropical forest with ancient ruins.”
“But what happened at the precinct?” Kat asked the girls, and they looked at each other.
“It was really weird,” Marie said.
“While we were both in separate rooms, we picked out the same man.” Everyone waited for more.
“And he was dead,” Marie said. There was a silent second as everyone took that piece of information in and then they all asked questions at the same time.
“I’d murder for a coffee,” Carly said, and as the man with the backhoe was finished, they thanked him and he set off back to the depot. They helped themselves to coffees in the trailer and Dex brought a box from the car.
“Evan’s brownies,” he said and handed them round.
“Detective Gomez checked and double-checked, and we were both certain that we recognized the face. It was recorded that the man died several years ago at the age of thirty-five.”
“But that would be impossible,” Ben answered.
“Unless he didn’t really die but just laid low,” Kat added.
“Or took a whole new identity,” Marie joined in. “Detective Gomez thought that was likely, because the man was on the run.”
“He had conned an old lady out of her money and then attacked her when she complained.” Carly added by way of extra information.
“So not a nice man, but why would he want those stones?” Ben wondered. “And will he try again?”
“We can just keep a look out,” Kat said. Carly asked if they could go back and look at the garden again, and they walked back around to the now-standing stones. The magnetic ones were in a pile at the side. Ben showed her the plan.
“Look,” Carly said, as she delved into her huge bag and brought out a plaque made from the tumbled pieces of rock. “I added some sparkling crystal to catch the sunlight, and if it is any use, you can use it.”
“Oh, it’s beautiful,” Kat said. “It would have to go at the front to catch the sunlight.”
“Can we try building some of it?” Dex asked, and Ben told them to bring some ordinary stone first. He stacked that as a base, and then they brought over the magnetic ones and laid them on top. The ones facing the east had the plaque added to them, and then they rubbed soil into all of the spaces.
“That would look good planted with sedums and other things that grow on walls,” Carly said.
They stood and admired their handiwork and took photos on their mobiles.
“It feels right for the stones somehow,” Kat said. “I know that sounds a bit crazy.”
“It looks right as well,” Carly said. “I’d best get back and let Jazz out of the shop. She has the two little ones in there as well.”
Ben said he would be in touch about the barbecue.
16
Ben and Kat walked around the circle of the standing stones.
“It looks really authentic,” Kat said, and Ben added that he would have to make sure they were secure. He pointed out where the planting beds would fit into the pattern and took her hand.
“Thanks,” he said as they stood in the newly made stone circle.
“For what?” She smiled and leaned against him.
“For saying you would go out with me and giving this whole project excitement, and, and—”
“Magic,” she finished for him. “Well, maybe the stones aren’t magic, but they certainly are special.”
“They have somewhere they belong now,” he said as he looked at them. “I had planned lots of the garden but this extra bit would never have occurred to me. Let’s just walk around where the paths would lead.” They walked back around and left the ancient garden behind. It led to the natural landscape.
“This will turn into a wall that will prevent you from seeing the modern garden, and between here and the house will be a naturalistic old English type of garden with a wide variety of plants.”
“So, the view from the house will be pretty?” she asked, as they looked back at the building. “Come on. Let’s look inside.” They went over to the new building and as he helped her up the two feet of space to the doorway, she noted that the veranda and steps could all be part of the planting ideas.
“The house could be a picture for people to see as well. It would give ideas for porches and front steps.”
“You see, you are doing it again. Making the place come to life,” Ben said as they climbed the ladder to the upper floor.
“There’s a roof. It’s under cover,” Kat cried and did a little dance on the floor.
“Tomorrow, the rest of the windows and doors‒and their job will be done. I can’t do any more until the next part of the mortgage comes through.”
“But it’s a house and the rest will get done in time. We can have the barbecue.”
Downstairs, they examined the new windows and went back outside.
“It is quite beautiful,” Kat said, and he draped an arm around her shoulders.
“I guess I will have to start work on the next client garden after tomorrow, but it has been a good break.”
“Yes, I will have to get back to work as well. We got a lot done here.” She reached up and kissed his cheek. “We still have tonight and tomorrow to ourselves.”
They climbed into the trailer and settled in with sandwiches and drinks to watch some television.
“I love these times when there are just the two of us,” Kat confessed.
Ben was agreeing with her, when she put her finger to his lips.
“Listen,” she said, and the sound of a car driving into the garden could be heard. They both looked out of the trailer door and saw a slick-looking vehicle pull up outside. A tall woman with blond hair swept up into a topknot climbed out and came over to them. She wore a long, flowery maxi dress and had a lightweight scarf that lifted in the slight breeze, to add to the effect.
“Sorry to bother you,” she said. “Are you Ben Carruthers?” Ben said that he was and asked how he could help.
“I am Melanie Mandragora,” she said. Kat clutched his hand. “I have a small business with concoctions that people buy to cure aches and pains. I look after the antiques shop for Art Melvich when he is away.”
“And he is away just now because the police are after him,” Kat answered.
“Yes. Silly man that he is, he got himself involved with some girl or other and apparently things got very nasty. He has money in South America and I am guessing he has gone there,” Melanie told them. “Some things in his shop belonged to me and I am trying to find them.”
“Why come here?” Ben asked. “I don’t think you’ll find people keep antiques in a trailer.”
“They are not antiques and it is quite a story.” She obviously waited to be asked inside, but instead, Ben stepped outside and Kat followed.
“You are talking about stones, aren’t you?” Kat asked. “Stones that people think are magic.” The woman nodded, and explained that she had kept the stones in a building that was demolished.
“I heard that you bought the stone and wondered if you had them. I am quite willing to pay you for them even though they were mine in the first place.”
“The stones were here,” Ben answered. “Somebody stole them and the police
found them and brought them back here.”
The woman threw her hands in the air in a theatrical gesture and then held them out in a plea.
“Please say that I can buy them from you. I know it sounds silly but they mean a lot to me.”
“If you had arrived earlier, we may have been able to say yes, but the builders have incorporated them into the foundations of the house and they are quite inaccessible,” Kat told her as she felt Ben tighten his fingers around her hand.
“Two stories on top of them now, I’m afraid,” Ben added and followed Kat’s lead. “And the roof went on today as well.”
The woman looked as if she would burst into tears and for a fleeting moment Kat felt a pang of guilt at lying, but then the sense that she had felt of the woman being up to no good returned.
“Why are they so important?” Ben asked. “They are just stones. Pretty stones, but just stones.”
“No. No. You are so wrong,” Melanie cried. “They have magical powers. They make my spells work.”
“Spells?” Kat queried. “Are you a witch? What spells do you make?”
Melanie took a deep breath, managed to look outraged and told them that she was a white witch who only tried to do good with the powers that came from mother nature.
“My customers trust me to cure their ailments and make them feel good.”
“You’ll be selling me love potions and voodoo dolls next,” Ben said sarcastically.
“Laugh all you like but it works. It works better with the stones around me as I work. Now you have buried them under a house.” She dramatically allowed a tear to roll down her cheek and wiped it away.
“I might have known you wouldn’t understand, but I thought you might sell them. Now you’ve spoiled everything.” She turned, rubbing at her eyes and swept back to her car. As she drove away, Kat let out a breath.
Ben took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.
“Tell me what was happening there,” he said.
“She feels like a witch all right but she was keeping secret more than she told us. There was an air of something else and I can’t figure it out. It frightened me even though she offered no threat.”
