Chapter Three
Murder
It was twelve o`clock on a cold Tuesday night when Rob Hinds finally arrived back at his apartment, he was exhausted after spending seven tiring days tracking down a government clerk. The clerk`s department chief had been sure the man was going to sell a set of plans, that he had found to be missing, of Britain’s Astute class of submarines, and the proposed buyer was supposed to have been the Chinese government. In fact the clerk was on a walking tour of the Austrian Alps and the plans had only been misfiled, and by the department chief. This caused Rob to curse and swear when he eventually found out; he was now rather foot sore and tired.
He was looking through his mail, well his junk mail and bills anyway. Right at the top of the pile he found the note from Christina asking him to call her, and it also told him of her trip back home and the reason why. Rob decided that Wednesday morning would be soon enough to call, as she would more than likely be asleep at this time in the morning, just as most civilised people should be.
It was ten o`clock the next day when he pulled his mobile phone out and put a call through to Christina`s mobile, but for some reason she appeared to have switched it off. Rob decided to call round at her flat to see if her roommates could find her address book, this was sure to have her home phone number, somehow Rob had never got around to making a note of it. He was in luck for Polly Birkenshaw was in, she was a young woman who always seemed to have a scowl on her face whenever he called by. Reluctantly she looked for and found the book, but when he tried the home telephone there was still no reply. Rob frowned, but after a moment decided that they were probably out somewhere, he would phone again later. He spent the rest of the day very busy at the office, catching up on a week`s work, and it was eight o`clock before he got around to calling Christina`s mobile again, but still without any luck there or on the landline. Rob was beginning to get a little worried, and he dug out the short note that Christina had left him and read it once more.
‘Mum called and she has got it into her head that the village is full of weirdoes and insists that I come down to see them, Rob, I miss you lots please phone me when you get back, love Christina xxx.’
Maybe the weirdoes were a little more than plain weird, Rob thought, he decided to drive down early the next morning, he was due for some leave anyway so he rang his chief, Sir Willoughby Brown, who insisted that he take as long as he needed to sort out the home front.
He arrived in Lower Boulding just as the church clock was striking nine o`clock the next morning, and was knocking on the door of Christina`s family home just two minutes later. When no one answered his knocks, he began to feel even more worried, for he fully expected them to be in at this time in the morning.
Rob knocked at the houses on either side but got no answer, they had all left for work, but as he stood in front of one of the gates, a woman approached him.
“Are you looking for Mrs Ryman? I don`t think that anyone is in.” The woman said almost apologetically.
“I`m Christina`s fiancé, she left me a note to call her but I`ve been unable to contact her. Have you seen her or her family today?” Rob asked as worry began to gnaw away at his vitals.
“No, but I did see Mrs Ryman and her youngest daughter getting into a car late on Tuesday night. No wait they each got into a different car, they must have been going to two different places. I thought it strange at the time, for Penelope doesn`t normally go out at such an hour. Unfortunately I didn`t see who was driving the cars, I couldn`t really see any of the group that she was with, you see I only had my reading glasses on and everything looked a little blurred. Mind you they did seem to be a little awkward getting into the cars, you know, they appeared to make hard work of it.” The woman replied. Penelope of course was Mrs Ryman.
“Christina said in her note that her mother was worried about the number of weird people in the village, do you know anything about them?” Rob said. This was his only lead, although he didn`t have any idea as to how valuable a lead it might be, if at all.
“Penelope got it into her head that the new owner of the manor house, a Mr Bourbon, wasn`t a very nice person, maybe because of all of his strange callers. They were mostly foreigners and were definitely a little odd.” The woman said in answer to his question.
“Foreigners, do you mean from abroad or from London.” Rob knew that there were still isolated villages that thought a person from another county was foreign. The woman smiled.
“There are so many foreigners in Britain nowadays that it could be either, but I have heard some of them talking together and they were certainly originally from abroad, and from more than one country.” The woman said and then laughed. “We are getting quite cosmopolitan here in our tiny village.” The woman looked up at Rob to see if she could be of any further help.
“Well thank you for your help Mrs ....” Rob said fishing for a name in case he needed to speak to her again.
“Mrs Marjory Jenkins, I live at the far end of this road, number two if you need me. Well I hope you find them, they`re probably living the highlife somewhere, in Winchester maybe?” With that, she laughed again and rushed off to catch the bus that had just come around the corner.
Rob booked into a hotel, by coincidence it was the Vista hotel, it was only around the next corner and so close by, Rob then returned to the Ryman family home. He had decided to enter the house to check that they weren`t inside, but for some reason unable to come to the door. He made short work of the lock and entered the house, but apart from cups that needed washing up he found nothing to indicate foul play. But Christina`s mum would only have left them there in the sink if an emergency had come up. The neighbour had said that she had seen Cassie and her mother leave the house in two cars late Tuesday evening, why two cars? Moreover, where were they going to at such an hour, to Christina presumably? Rob immediately thumbed through the copy of Yellow Pages that was sitting on a rack beneath the telephone. He wanted the telephone numbers of the local hospitals and when he found them he rang them all, but without any luck, if that was the correct word to use at such a time. He then called the local police station, but again without turning up anything. Rob`s worry was growing into the size of an elephant, so he decided to ring his office and asked a colleague to check into the background of this Mr Bourbon, he didn`t sound too enthusiastic about it, saw Rob as just another worried boyfriend chasing after a reluctant woman, but he agreed to give it a whirl. At midnight Rob finally gave up and returned to his hotel. The next day came and he officially reported them missing at the local police station, they too didn`t appear to be all that interested but they filled out the missing persons form.
Rob now decided that some sort of action was required, he still couldn`t get in touch with Christina and was not getting anywhere with his search, so he decided to look into the weirdo lead, and this took him out to the manor house and Mr Bourbon.
A giant of a man answered his ringing of the doorbell, a giant more suited to a character in a horror story, or a James Bond movie.
“Who are you and what do you want here?” The giant asked with just the trace of a French accent discernible in his quiet educated but very unfriendly voice that threw Rob for a moment, obviously this man wasn`t Lurch.
“My name is Rob Hinds and I would like to speak with Mr Bourbon, if he is available?” Rob asked politely.
“Why do you want to speak to him?” The giant demanded to know and moved closer to Rob who although six feet tall had to look up to see the other man`s face now.
“I`m missing some friends and I was hoping that Mr Bourbon might point me in the right direction.” Rob said still politely although his patience with the Gallic gorilla was wearing thin at the man`s obvious attempt at intimidation.
“Wait here.” Rochelle replied with contempt almost visibly dripping from the two words. With that, the giant stepped back and turning disappeared into the house. The gorilla that went by the name of Guy Rochelle approached Bourbon; he was busy in his library reading one
of the many expensive looking leather bound books that lined the bookshelves of the room.
“There is someone asking to see you Sir, a Mr Rob Hinds, he says that he is looking for some friends of his, and thinks that you might help be able to help him, shall I take him to them?” Bourbon raised an eyebrow, Rochelle shouldn`t be so ready to assume things, especially about such important matters as his two guests.
“Not yet Guy, where are your manners, first I must speak with him to ascertain just who exactly is calling upon us.” Bourbon was not a fool; if his caller was indeed looking for his reluctant guests then he needed to see what sort of man was searching for them and what danger he posed to Bourbon, if any.
“Although you may well be right in your assumption Guy, he might well be looking for the Rymans, but equally he could be from one of the other covens and is here for another reason entirely. Show him in here please Guy, and I shall speak with him.” Bourbon closed the ancient book that he had been reading and put it back into to a bookcase filled with similar looking books, all of them looked to be of great antiquity.
Rob was led into the large library and greeted by its owner; he immediately felt an unexplainable dislike for the man. The gorilla stepped back against one of the bookcases that ran along the entire length of both sides of the library.
“Mr Hinds, how do you do. My employee tells me that we might have some friends in common, tell me who they are and I will try to assist you in finding them.” Bourbon said cordially moving across the room and taking Rob`s hand shook it firmly. Rob gently disengaged his hand and smiled.
“I`m seeking the Ryman family, they appear to be missing and I was hoping that maybe you might know of their present whereabouts.” Rob replied cordially in turn. Bourbon looked quizzically at him.
“The Ryman family, do we know the Rymans, Guy?” He queried turning around to ask the gorilla who shook his head slowly.
“No Sir, I don`t believe that I am familiar with the family.” Guy looked very apologetic, and Rob almost believed that he was, almost that is.
“I`m sorry Mr Hinds but we don`t appear to know of your friends, why on earth did you think otherwise.” Bourbon asked sardonically now that he knew his caller`s business.
“I have just returned from abroad and waiting for me was a note from my fiancée. It asked me to hurry on down here to Lower Boulding, as there was something odd happening in this charming village. The note mentioned you by name and of my fiancée’s intention to call on you personally. Unfortunately it is impossible to contact me by phone when I`m away on business, or Christina would have spoken to me directly.” Rob said stretching the truth to almost breaking point.
“Really Mr Hinds, I thought that in the twenty first century being out of touch was impossible. I`m sorry Mr Hinds, but your fiancée never called on us, whatever her intentions.” Bourbon said softly but mockingly. Suddenly the room became very oppressive and Rob began to feel a little light headed, it took just a moment for him to realise why, Bourbon was trying to hypnotise him. Rob had no idea as to how Bourbon was doing it, and he certainly wasn`t using any sort of the usual tools to assist him in his endeavours.
One other problem was making its presence felt. All the while that Rob had been in the house he had kept a watch on the gorilla, and especially after the giant had stepped back out of his line of sight. The glass in the bookcase doors behind Bourbon allowed Rob to keep him under covert surveillance, and now he saw the giant smirk behind his back as he moved forward towards him. Rob was sweating profusely now, but found that he was unable to respond to the clear danger behind his back, sweat was even running down his face, for some reason he was in danger of losing his life and he needed his brain to work, now. He had always kept a small penknife in his jacket pocket and he attempted to reach for it while he still had possession of his senses, but his hand didn`t want to work. He was near to panic when Christina`s face sprang into his mind and Rob focused on it, anything to break the spell that he was under. His mind cleared as the thought of Christina in serious trouble somehow returned the control of his hand, although his eyes were no longing focusing, he found the knife and quickly opened it within his pocket. He then pushed his finger against the tip of the sharp blade, the pain brought his mind back into focus instantly along with his sight, and much to Bourbon`s surprise Rob smiled at him.
“When I`m away on Her Majesty`s business I am only available to my chief, this is due to security precautions, however you are correct in your statement regarding my present circumstances, my department knows exactly where I am now.” Rob kept his face from showing his concern about the gorilla`s intentions, but he was very relieved when he saw Bourbon`s quick shake of his head as he stopped the gorilla`s imminent attack on him. That his presence might be known to a senior person in the government meant that Bourbon would have to deal with this annoyance in a more discrete manner.
Rob made it a rule to keep his occupation a secret from everyone, but on this private assignment, his fiancée`s life and that of her family might well be in danger. In these circumstances he was quite happy to hint at his occupation, if in doing so it kept him alive long enough to carry on his search for them. Rob decided to cut this visit short. He could feel the sweat over much of his body, something that had never happened before, no matter what the danger, and he needed time to re-evaluate the situation and then to return to carry on his investigation, but during the hours of darkness.
“Well I mustn`t keep you Mr Bourbon, I see that I will just have to continue my search elsewhere, goodbye.” With that, Rob turned away from Bourbon and retreated for the front door, leaving a bewildered gorilla in his wake, for he had envisaged a different end to the meeting.
Kidnapped and Bound for Hell Page 9
