No Holds Barred

by Lyndon Stacey

  ‘Yes, it is. Gavin and I made a prenuptial agreement. The farm stays in my name.’ She looked anxiously at Daniel. ‘Are you shocked by that? Some people are.’

  He shook his head. ‘Surprised maybe, but no – not shocked. It’s a sensible precaution when you’ve got so much to lose.’

  ‘He was quite persistent – Liam, I mean.’

  ‘So, why’s he so keen to have it? Hasn’t he got enough land with that huge house next door?’

  ‘Actually, there’s not all that much with the manor. Nothing like there used to be. The last owner sold it off piecemeal to try to keep his head above water. When Liam bought it, there wasn’t much more than fifteen acres left with the house.’

  ‘Enough, I would have thought,’ Daniel mused. ‘Considering he’s probably hardly ever there. What does he want more for?’

  Jenny shrugged. ‘He says he fancies farming, though I doubt that would last. Anyway, I told him I had no plans to sell. The farm’s been in my family for three generations, you see, and I always thought that Harry might … But of course, he’s way too young to know what he wants. It’s just that sometimes, after what happened to Gavin and with all the stress about the business, I just feel I’d like to walk away from it all and live a normal life.’

  ‘Don’t let him bully you into it,’ Daniel advised. ‘And don’t rush into anything. You’re tired at the moment; you don’t want to make a decision you’ll regret later. A lot can change in a very short time.’

  ‘Don’t I know it,’ Jenny agreed. ‘Are you taking Piper out? Have a nice ride.’

  ‘I will, and, Jenny … normal’s seriously overrated, you know.’

  She responded with a wistful smile. ‘You’re probably right.’

  TEN

  Daniel was to remember his words, a few days later, with a strong sense of irony, when events in his own life had taken an unexpected and tricky turn.

  All in all, things had seemed to be settling into a fairly steady routine after the violent events of the weekend. Summer Haulage was managing to meet its targets in spite of its reduced workforce, Taylor Boyd had pulled his head in and made no further attempts to confront or intimidate Daniel, and Daniel had got his car fixed.

  The first interruption to the status quo was the sad disappearance of Reg’s Jack Russell, Skip, while on his early morning walk in the woods behind their home. Reg suspected the little dog might have gone to ground after a rabbit and become stuck, and took a day off to search for him with no success. In the evening, Daniel offered the services of Taz, to try and track him, but although the German shepherd started eagerly enough, all at once he seemed to lose the trail and cast about randomly in a vain attempt to pick it up again. As dusk fell, they had to admit defeat, Reg disconsolate at the loss of his companion.

  Daniel tried to offer words of hope and comfort, but felt hypocritical doing so, with the knowledge of the many other missing pets uppermost in his mind. If Woodsmoke was right, he feared that Skip might well have signed his own death warrant when he chose to bite Taylor Boyd. The way the little dog’s trail had suddenly petered out suggested to him that Skip might well have been picked up at that point, and memories of the net used on Taz gave a clue to how it might have been accomplished. He very much feared that Skip wouldn’t be found alive.

  The next ripple on the pool of life came in the form of news from the hospital.

  Arriving for work on the Thursday morning, Daniel found the drivers’ room abuzz with speculation.

  ‘Mrs Summers has been called in to the hospital,’ Boyd told him. ‘Looks like the boss might be waking up. Get him back at the helm and we’ll start to see things done properly. Haulage is no business for a woman.’

  Daniel was surprised to find Boyd so enthusiastic at the prospect of Gavin Summers’ possible return. After all, it would surely put a crimp in his extracurricular activities.

  ‘Even if he is coming out of the coma, it might be a long time before he’s fit for work again,’ he pointed out.

  ‘On the other hand, he might just wake up and be right as rain. Happened with the son of a friend of mine,’ Boyd replied. ‘That lad who got knocked out in the ring – you remember, Macca? You trained him.’

  Macca replied with a nod and a grunt, not bothering to lift his eyes from his dog-eared copy of Amateur Boxing magazine. Across in the armchair, Reg sat with a cooling cup of tea cupped between his hands, taking no interest in the conversation. He looked as though he hadn’t slept.

  ‘Be interesting to hear what he has to say about the assault or whatever it was that put him there,’ Daniel mused. He watched Boyd as he spoke, but the other man appeared unmoved by the prospect.

  ‘Probably won’t remember a thing,’ he said dismissively.

  ‘No doubt the police will be waiting by his bedside in case he does,’ Daniel said.

  ‘Nosy buggers!’ was Boyd’s surly response. ‘Hope he tells ’em where to go.’

  ‘Why would he do that? Surely he’d want them to catch whoever it was who clobbered him.’

  Boyd appeared to find the idea amusing.

  ‘OK. So, what’s funny?’ Daniel asked.

  ‘Yeah, right. As if that lot could find a nun in a bloody convent!’

  Daniel shook his head and went to make himself a coffee. In his pocket, his phone chimed twice. It was a text from Jo-Ji.

  Can you talk?

  He sent back a negative, promising to call back later, but before he’d finished making his drink another text came through. Amanda, this time. He remembered guiltily that he hadn’t returned her call and was surprised, too – she wasn’t known as an early riser.

  You didn’t answer my text so assume OK. Will be there 5.30. A.

  ‘What?’ Daniel exclaimed under his breath. ‘I didn’t get any bloody text!’

  ‘You’re popular this morning,’ Dek commented. ‘Chick trouble?’

  ‘Hardly. Ex-wife, actually.’

  ‘Didn’t know you’d been married.’

  ‘No reason you should.’ Daniel wasn’t in the mood for casual conversation. He was trying to figure out what Amanda could mean by be there 5.30. Be where? Surely not at the farm? And, if so, what reason could she have unless it was to hand Drew over to him. It was the only time they ever had contact these days.

  A small worm of unease started turning in Daniel’s mind as he recalled an unfinished conversation they’d had just before he had left for Wiltshire. She’d said something then about him having Drew for part of the holiday, and he’d told her he couldn’t make any firm plans until he’d at least got to Maidstone Farm. Predictably, she’d protested, there had been heated words and the issue had remained unresolved. Or so he’d thought.

  Taking his coffee with him, Daniel went outside to try to ring her back.

  Frustratingly, his call went straight to the answering service and a call to her landline produced no better results. He left a message for her to ring him as soon as possible and went back inside. One way or another, whatever her plans, she must be made to see that it was impossible for him to have Drew at the moment; it just wasn’t safe – even if he hadn’t had to work all day. She wouldn’t be happy – that was a given – but she’d understandably be a great deal more annoyed if she made the journey from Bristol to Great Ditton before she found out.

  As the day wore on, Daniel began to suspect that Amanda was actively avoiding contact. All he could get on her house phone or mobile was an answering machine message. After lunch, with visions of her and Drew setting out, he tried calling Drew’s mobile, but he had no joy there, either. It looked as though he was powerless to stop them coming, if indeed that was the plan.

  In a dark corner of Daniel’s mind there lingered a tiny spark of hope that he’d got the wrong end of the stick and his nine-year-old son wasn’t on his way to stay with him, but it wasn’t much more than a faintly glowing ember and it was effectively snuffed out by the sight of a silver sports coupé parked in front of Jenny’s house when he returned at the end
of the day.

  ‘There’s no one in,’ were Amanda’s first words as he stopped the lorry and jumped down from the cab. She was standing beside the car, dressed in skinny, pale pink jeans and a lace-trimmed vest, sunglasses perched on her short, pixie-cut blonde hair. Drew stood on his side of the car, looking a little sulky. Daniel guessed the journey hadn’t been wholly harmonious.

  ‘There wouldn’t be,’ he told her. ‘Jenny’s been at the hospital all day, and I imagine the kids are with her mother. Hi, Drew. How’re you doing?’

  Drew shrugged and tilted his head in a non-committal way and said nothing, but his mother had picked up on one particular word.

  ‘Jenny?’ Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

  ‘Jenny Summers, my boss. Her husband’s been in a coma for weeks and he’s finally showing signs of waking up. That’s why I’m here to help out, remember?’

  ‘Meanwhile, you’ve been keeping her company here?’ She fixed Daniel with a gimlet gaze.

  He looked at her immaculate make-up and the perfect bone structure of her sharp face and wondered, not for the first time, how he’d ever found her attractive. Talk about double standards – she’d not gone short of company since the break-up, from what he’d heard.

  ‘Meanwhile, I’ve been living in an empty cottage in the woods on the other side of the farm,’ he countered calmly.

  ‘Cool! Is that where I’ll be staying?’ Drew put in, showing his first sign of interest. A slight boy, with his mother’s bone structure and his father’s generous mouth, hazel eyes and wavy brown hair, he had an intense, sensitive nature, and his parents’ break-up had affected him deeply.

  ‘Look, Drew …’ Daniel began, hating to disappoint him.

  ‘I imagine so, darling,’ Amanda cut in, going round to the back of the car to retrieve a sports bag and a rucksack. ‘Sounds deadly to me, but no doubt it’ll be right up your street.’

  ‘Amanda, can I have a word?’ Daniel asked, quietly fuming.

  ‘Only if you’re quick,’ she said, dumping Drew’s luggage by the car’s front wheel and looking pointedly at her watch. ‘I’ve got a plane to catch.’

  ‘A plane?’ He felt control slipping away.

  ‘Yes, that’s right. You know – big red and white thing with wings.’

  Daniel ignored her flippancy.

  ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘The Maldives,’ she said, adding defiantly, ‘For two weeks.’

  ‘Who with?’

  She raised an eyebrow. ‘I don’t see that’s any of your business.’

  ‘Not Paxton?’

  That shocked her; she stared. ‘How the … ? No. With Yvonne and Paul, actually.’

  Paul ‘Jono’ Johnson was one of Daniel’s colleagues from his policing days at the Bristol Met, and Yvonne, his wife. They and Amanda were welcome to each other, he thought. Like Daniel’s ex-wife, Jono had proved to be less than loyal when he had needed support, and his wife was a plump, painted doll who cared only for money and status.

  ‘When was this all organized?’ he demanded. ‘And why didn’t I know?’

  ‘You did know!’ she retorted. ‘I told you, weeks ago, that I was thinking of going and you said you’d be happy to have Drew.’

  ‘In principle, yes, but always depending on commitments. You knew that. We never talked specific dates, never settled it. It was only ever a possibility, as far as I remember, and I didn’t know what the situation would be here at that point.’

  ‘Oh, that’d be right. You don’t want me, either,’ Drew said, leaning on the roof of the car and looking sulky.

  ‘No, it’s not that, Drew. It’s just that it’s taken me by surprise and it’s really not the right moment.’

  ‘It’s never the right moment,’ Drew complained, turning away and scuffing the gravel with his trainers.

  ‘I emailed you on Saturday,’ Amanda stated.

  ‘But I haven’t got the internet. There’s no landline at the cottage,’ Daniel told her. ‘Didn’t you wonder why I didn’t reply?’

  ‘How was I to know you’d hidden yourself away in the backwoods?’ she snapped. ‘I thought you’d have soon told me if it wasn’t all right, so I assumed it was.’

  ‘No internet?’ Drew turned round. ‘What do you do all evening?’

  ‘You’ll find something to do,’ Amanda said impatiently. ‘Go out looking for your bloody owls, or something. Look, this is pointless. I have to be at the airport at eight thirty. If I don’t go now, I’ll miss my flight.’ She walked over to Drew and gave him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. ‘You’ll be fine. See you in a fortnight. Bye, darling!’

  Before Daniel could think of anything else to say in protest, she was settling back into the driver’s seat of the silver car. Starting the powerful engine, she lowered the window.

  ‘I’ll text you in a day or two,’ she called, as she put the car in reverse and backed out, and Daniel wasn’t sure if she was talking to Drew or to him. A wave of a small, neatly manicured hand and the car swept out of the yard and away up the hill.

  Drew continued to scuff his toe in the stones, but after a moment he looked up under his brows at his father, saying nothing.

  Feeling sorry for him, Daniel swallowed his frustration with Amanda and smiled.

  ‘Well, it was a bit of a surprise, but a nice one. It’s good to see you, Drew,’ he said warmly.

  ‘You don’t mean that.’

  ‘Of course I do. I’m not mad at you – it’s your mother. She always winds me up. I tried to ring you earlier, but you didn’t answer …’

  ‘Mum took my phone away. I was playing games on it and she said the noise was giving her a headache,’ Drew said, pulling a face. ‘So what do you do in the evenings?’

  ‘Well, actually, the last few evenings I’ve borrowed a horse from Jenny and gone riding,’ Daniel told him. ‘You could come with me if you like …’

  Drew’s answer was to purse his lips and shrug his shoulders once more, and Daniel didn’t pursue the subject. He knew Drew liked riding but guessed he wasn’t in the mood to be overly enthusiastic about anything just at the moment. He couldn’t blame the boy; he must have felt that neither of his parents wanted to be bothered with him.

  ‘OK, well, let’s put your bags in my car and then you can come and help me hose the lorry down,’ Daniel suggested. ‘Taz’ll be pleased to see you. See, he’s looking out the window.’

  Knowing there was little food at the cottage, Daniel treated Drew to a pub meal. Remembering that Boyd and his cronies frequented The Fox and Duck, he decided in favour of The Crown, at the opposite end of Great Ditton. Taylor Boyd would find out about Drew’s arrival soon enough, even if the village grapevine hadn’t already alerted him, but Daniel wanted to delay the inevitable meeting until he had at least had a chance to speak to Drew.

  A part of him still hoped he could come up with an alternative and safer solution to the problem of what to do with Drew for the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, however, he needed to impart a few carefully chosen words of caution on the subject of the Boyds – enough to make the lad wary, without scaring him.

  Their meal was interrupted by two phone calls: the first was from Jenny at the hospital. She sounded exhausted and said that Gavin’s condition seemed to have stabilized once more and that the doctors were unsure whether the increased brain activity he had briefly shown was the harbinger of changes to come or just a blip.

  ‘It’s the not knowing,’ she told Daniel. ‘You feel you could cope if you just had something definite to focus on, but this uncertainty drains you. I’m longing to come home and be with the kids, and yet I feel I have to be here just in case he does wake up.’

  There was little Daniel could offer in the way of comfort. All he could do was promise to keep an eye on things at the farm while she was at the hospital.

  The second call was from Jo-Ji Matsuki.

  ‘Hi, Joey – sorry, Jo-Ji.’

  ‘Joey’s OK. I’m used to it,’ Jo-Ji said with de
ep resignation.

  ‘I tried to ring you earlier but no answer. What’ve you got for me?’

  ‘Well, I did some digging on your Boyd family, and I find they are very well known to our lads in your neck of the woods. Farm theft, aggravated assault, possession of firearms, receiving of stolen goods, suspected arson, harassment and threatening behaviour, to name but a few things they’ve been had up for. In fact, it would be quicker to list the charges they haven’t faced. The family has been linked to a number of robberies at stately homes in the area, and the younger son, Ricky, currently has an ASBO served on him.’

  ‘That doesn’t surprise me in the least. And they’re all still walking about scot-free because … ?’

  ‘There’s never enough evidence to make the charges stick,’ Jo-Ji said disgustedly. ‘The family you know is only a small part of a Boyd dynasty that covers most of the south-west. Some of them are travellers; some, like your little lot, have put down roots and settled. No one messes with them – or if they do, they don’t do it a second time. Their names come up again and again, but when push comes to shove, witnesses change their stories, evidence disappears and alibis are cast iron, whenever called for. Most of the cases never get to court. Are you getting the picture?’

  ‘Clear as day,’ Daniel replied. ‘And have you found anything to link the Boyds to the Butcher Boys?’ He lowered his voice as he said it, casting a quick glance round at the clientele of The Crown, but it was, as Sue had suggested, an eatery more than a traditional local, and most of the diners were chattering family groups or loved-up couples.

  ‘Now, that’s the interesting thing,’ Jo-Ji said. ‘I haven’t found anything as such, but take a guess what Lynda Boyd’s name was before she married your friend Norman.’

  ‘Aha, not Butcher, by any chance?’

  ‘Got it in one. And the Butchers – as a family – are right up there with the Boyds at the top of the local police’s Most Wanted list.’

  ‘Well, well,’ Daniel mused. ‘I suppose the name could be a coincidence …’

  ‘Not when you take into account that three members of the Butcher family were had up for illegally owning fighting dog breeds – as recently as last year.’