As I turned the corner I saw the large courtyard of stables, Sally was there as I walked onto the yard, grooming a bay thoroughbred. She swore loudly as she turned having heard me approach.
“So, you found me?”
“Yes, thanks for the clear directions, it’s almost as if you didn’t want to see me. I’m sorry Sally, I don’t want to cause you any trouble. I just want to speak with you.”
“Okay!” She shook her head. “Let me put him away and then we can talk.”
She led the horse to its stable and bolted the door closed. Sally led the way to the tack room. I looked about in awe, it was immaculate, better than our own home let alone our scruffy tack room, it was filled with the most expensive tack and equipment. She filled the kettle and switched it on, taking two mugs from a cupboard under the sink as I looked at the saddles and bridles.
“This is a lovely place.”
“Yes, they have money to spend, which makes a change. I just have to keep their hunters fit and drive the horsebox for them for meets. Otherwise, I am pretty much left alone. Excuse me for a moment.” Sally stepped from the room, I let my eyes wander around the room daydreaming of one day owning such expensive, handmade tack. “Sorry about that, I was out of sugar.” She poured the now boiling water into the mugs and handed me one of them.
“Sally, I want to speak to you about Adam. Look I’m sorry to bring it up. But I know he didn’t… Well, you know?”
“You are saying, you think he didn’t kill that poor girl in cold blood and bury her body in a shallow grave. Is that what you are trying to say?”
“Well… If you must put it like that… It’s just, I saw the CCTV and, look I think it proves it can’t be him?”
“How?” Sally looked up shocked.
“It’s the tool shed. Specifically, the doorway. Didn’t he hit his head the first day on the yard? It’s just the CCTV images seem to show someone who is shorter than the doorframe.”
“Really? Is that it? That is your winning clue which will let your murderer husband go free?”
“Well…”
“I’m sorry, about what happened… You’ll excuse me for not wanting to believe you.”
“Sally. I am sorry to bring this up. You have to understand I am doing this for Adam. I just can’t believe that he would do this. It isn’t like Adam, he was such a caring man. I need to believe he couldn’t be capable of doing something so, well, so shocking.”
“But Kate. He did. I thought he was a nice guy too, but then he hit Olivia. I watched that back on the CCTV, what he did was totally brutal. It shocked me. Kate, more than that, it scared me. If he was capable of doing that to an innocent young girl, what could he do? Well, it seems he went and finished up the job. I’m just glad they caught him before he killed Hilary, or me… Ugh!
Kate, you are lovely. So innocent and trusting. He was a monster. He could have killed you. Have you thought about that? He just saw red and hit that girl and then, late at night, planned to stab her through the heart. The thought of it gives me goosebumps. I only knew him for a short time, well, like you. Maybe neither of us really knew him, or what he was capable of?
You have to understand, with all I have been through I needed to move on. I needed to escape, the memories of that place, seeing Olivia’s face as she was stabbed, how she cried. Her body, buried there in the…
Sorry…”
Sally wiped her eyes. I sat in silence for a minute or two, unsure what to say to her. He had hit Olivia, perhaps she was right? We both sipped our tea, Sally staring at me as I drunk the hot liquid.
“Now, please Kate drink up and get out. Leave me alone. I beg you.”
I slurped more of the tea. “God Sally that’s really sweet!” I swigged the final mouthful, feeling my tongue becoming strangely numb.
“Yes, it needs to be sweet. The sugar masks the taste of the sedative.” Sally sat down opposite me gazing into my eyes. She was no longer crying, in fact, now she was grinning. and shaking her head.
“What?” I looked down at the last dregs of tea in my mug, realising my mouth was now totally numb, my speech slurred.
“Yes, there’s enough Sedaline gel in your mug to knock out a Shire horse. Certainly enough to make sure you will pose me no further risk.
I stuttered, my tongue seemed to be large in my mouth. I blinked, trying to focus my eyes. Sally leaned in close to my face.
“You see Kate, I wish you could have just left things alone. But no, you had to try and find me, and then despite everything you manage to turn up even when I give you a chance to get lost and give up. That little voice in your head said ‘leave it alone Kate’. You should have listened to it. Your husband will be convicted, as he should be. You could have moved on without getting hurt.”
“Oh…” I tried to stand up but my legs buckled beneath me, the mug slipped from my fingers and smashed
