“Well, I always thought it was too close to home for him to be operating from.”
“Oh well thank you, DI Jones, for your wisdom after the fact. You would do good to shut up and try and find where he is dealing from.”
***
I could hear raised voices from the office as I approached, I thought about waiting but needed to have the horse list for my next lesson so pushed open the door and stepped inside. Liz was standing facing Anne and it was clear that they had been having a heated conversation.
“Sorry to interrupt.”
“I was just leaving.” Anne scowled pushing past me leaving the office in a huff.
“I just needed the list.” I picked up the sheet of paper, Liz sat with her head in her hands.
“Are you okay?”
“And what’s it to you? No, no… I’m sorry… Anne just wouldn’t listen to me.”Liz sighed.
“About what?”
“Oh, it’s stupid. I’ve noticed something weird about the muck heap.” She glanced at her watch. “Shit! I have to go. I’ll tell you later.”
I watched as she left the room in a hurry.
***
Anne pulled out her phone and started rapidly typing a text message. She paused for a moment before hitting send. Just a few seconds later there was a beep and a single word text message.
“Done…”
***
“And go large…” I glanced at my watch. “Okay… That’s your hour and then some.” There was a chorus of groans from my after school riders. “You’ve had an extra half an hour, you’ll get me into trouble!” I laughed. “When I have my own riding school you can all come and ride there and I’ll give you extra time, but, while I’m not the boss I don’t make the rules!”
The horses were being fed and the yards swept, Sue gestured for me to finish early and have a shower. The evening was warm and a cool shower was refreshing. Changing into clean clothes I stepped out into the living room just as the other staff walked in. “Hi guys, get ready and I’ll serve up dinner.” Slowly the girls settled around the dining table and I started to serve up ladlefuls of pasta in a watery sauce. “Where’s Liz?”
“I’ve not seen her since lunchtime.” Sue looked around.
“No, she hasn’t been around.”
“Oh well, she is missing this delicious meal!” I laughed. We all started to tuck into the bowls of steaming pasta.
***
A quiet night in front of the television followed before, one by one, the girls went off to bed. I noticed Liz had not returned, so I settled into my bunk for a night of restless sleep. When she had not appeared to help to feed and mucking out I approached Anne.
“Have you seen Liz?” Anne leapt as I touched her shoulder.
“Oh…” Anne looked down. “She asked to leave. I can’t make her stay.”
“She’s gone?” I gasped.
“Yes, people move on Amanda.” Anne tutted. “I know she was your friend.” She turned on her heel and walked away quickly.
***
“Anne’s being funny…”
“So what, she might have an act at the comedy club.” Sue snorted and went back to grooming the skewbald pony.
“No, not that sort of funny.” I paused. “She seems, different. Nervous. And, where’s Liz. Anne said she’d left.”
“So she’s gone. She couldn’t take the permanent enjoyment of the equine Shangri la!”
“No, she would have said something to us. Surely she wouldn’t have just left. And, all of her stuff is here. I checked.”
Sue put down the dandy brush she was holding and walked towards me. “There could be a lot of reasons. People like us, well, sometimes things catch up with us and we have to go. Sometimes that has to be in a hurry and we don’t have a chance to say goodbye. It’s just the way of the world. I’m sorry, I know you’re upset. She won’t have done it to upset you.”
“Okay…” I sighed. “I’m being stupid. I apologise. I just hope she’s okay.”
I went through the day, trying to put thoughts of Liz from my mind, hurt she had left without saying goodbye, and concerned she felt she had to leave that quickly. I just hoped that she was safe.
***
It was cold and dark, Anne was chewing her nails, staring at the dark arches, hoping all would remain silent.
“Miss Rawston… Are we clear to move?”
Anne turned around nervously. “Yes. I’ve made sure that the staff will not trouble us. Just please, get this done quickly.” A large lorry reversed into the yard before stopping beside the muck heap. The driver stepped out of the cab and started tipping the load. Tonnes of manure spilt onto the heap. Anne leapt forward as a black plastic object dropped onto the concrete, she threw it into the flow and it was quickly buried.
“Well done!” Patrick looked up from his phone. “We wouldn’t want to lose anything now would we?”
“Just get this done please.” Anne looked around in the darkness. “It scares me.”
“The only thing you have to be scared about is not conforming to our agreement. If you keep my boss happy, then everyone will be happy. I am sure we have an understanding.”
“Yes…” Anne pauses, biting her lip. “The girl…”
“Thank you for telling us.”
“But what happened to her?”
“Look, don’t ask questions you don’t want an answer to. Let’s just say you have helped her find new, overseas employment.” Patrick laughed, waving to the lorry driver to leave. Soon Anne was left alone standing in the darkness.
9
Missing Persons
“Oh, God.” Sue gasped clutching her stomach. “What the hell is wrong with me. My head feels terrible and I feel sick as a pig.”
“Shhh…” Michelle groaned. “Not so loud.”
“We didn’t drink anything, why are
