31
Calling The Cavalry
Our two working pupils were ecstatic to see us when we arrived back at the yard, despite the late hour. When we had vanished without warning, they had looked after the horses and kept the stables running as best they could, however, you could see how relieved they were to have us back, in charge.
We had travelled by train into London and nervously collected my car, glad I had parked it some distance from the club. The long drive had given me time to speak with Adam, I had to admit I didn’t have a clear plan. We needed to try to protect ourselves as best as we could. I would not think it would be long before Patrick and his cronies came after us again. The accident was a miraculous escape, however we were unlikely to get a second miracle.
Adam had told me to go to the police, so we had driven that night to the local police station. As we sat waiting, I wondered what I should say.
“Good evening. My name is DI Anderson, the desk sergeant tells me that you have been involved in a kidnapping?”
The disbelief in his voice was telling. We had arrived in a local Cumbria police station, late at night, beaten up and exhausted, saying we had been involved with serious criminals. I could understand why he must have thought we were mad. I started to slowly tell my story as he took notes and asked questions.
“Okay, I am aware of Edwin Smith and his activities. To be honest, most Coppers are, he was put away recently, wasn’t he. A real nasty piece of work. He was running most of the drug trade in the South. He had millions in class A drugs.”
“Yeah… I didn’t know it at the time.” There was the same look I’d got from May. The disbelief that said ‘how could you not know that your boyfriend was a gangster’. “Look, I realise, that may sound unbelievable, maybe I was totally naive, but he just never spoke of what he did. I thought he owned restaurants. Needless to say, if I had known what he really did…”
“Sure…” Anderson let the word hang.
I spoke for hours, well into the night. Trying to explain what had happened with Patrick and the accident. Anderson had left at that point and returned with a print-out.
“Was this the vehicle?”
I stared at the photographs, it seemed like a lifetime ago. Oh God, seeing the blood. I pushed them away. “Yes.”
“Well, you were lucky to walk away from that. And, you didn’t think to call the police at the time?”
I shook my head, I hadn’t thought to call anyone, I was in shock and just wanted to get away. Adam said the same, what could we do. We wanted the relative safety of home, however, that was a laughable notion. I’m not sure if he believed us, there was a time when I thought we would be arrested and held, for what I don’t know. Anderson just kept a solid eye contact with me. Eventually, exhausted, he said it would be best if we went home. Leave it with him and he would be in touch. We eventually stepped out of the police station as dawn was breaking.
It was late in the afternoon when a car pulled up. Our cavalry had arrived in the guise of DI Anderson this time accompanied by his colleague DCI Raab. I discovered Anderson’s name was Dan and his colleagues was Holly. It seemed that he had spent some time looking into what had happened, his initial coldness seemed to have somewhat melted. Perhaps once he had seen our stories were true, he could see we weren’t loonies looking to waste police time.
We sat around the dining room table and I told them both again what had happened. They looked at each other carefully.
“I spoke with colleagues in the Met about Edwin Smith and his associates. They told me that Patrick is a dangerous piece of work. It seems you were amazingly lucky to get away and not just from the accident. You’re in a whole lot of danger here. They know where you are and it seems they want to punish you for what has happened. Last night you mentioned money. Tell me again what happened there.”
I told him it had been taken, I didn’t admit that Annie and I had received some of the funds as he had spoken about the proceeds of crime and how those assets could be frozen. It would be a bridge I would have to cross if and when I got there.
It seemed like hours before they left, unsure what they could do to protect us, but telling us that they would add extra patrols and Dan gave me his card with both his mobile and personal numbers, just in case.
Adam had left the room sometime before, so I went to find him. He was not on the yard but I found him leaning on the fence between our land and the bay, he was looking across the water lapping at the shore as the tide was in. “You really loved her… Didn’t you?” He turned to face me, a deep sadness in his eyes.
“Enough to let her go…”
“Please go, run, hide, protect yourself…” I pleaded with him.
“Sis, I’ve been through this much, I’m going to stand by you.”
“Thank you. I think you’re a bloody idiot, but thank you. I need you here.”
***
“What do we do?” Adam sat opposite me at the dining room table. The evening had grown dark, reinforcing the isolation of our location, there were a few lights across the bay and the dim lighting on the stable yard but apart from that, we were alone.
“I think we should let the working pupils go.” I held up
