Caroline was in the feed shed as I came down. She greeted me briefly and went back to dishing out the feed bowls which the other girls started to take around the stables. I grabbed a pile and started to feed hungry horses, and so started another day.
* * *
The door opened, light spilling into the near darkness.
“There you are, Hilary.” A loaf of stale bread was flung across the floor. “Where is she?”
There was a flurry of movement as Sally stepped into the doorway, I slamming my body into the door which hit Sally hard knocking her from her feet. I took my chance and leapt over her, bursting into the open doorway.
“Come on!” I yelled, reaching out for Hilary.
There was a split second of silence and then a terrifying crack. I fell to the ground screaming in agony. I watched as Sally slowly got to her feet, carefully brushing the dust from her breeches. She stepped towards me as I lay on the floor reeling from the sudden pain which had caused my muscles to convulse.
“Isn’t it funny Kate what you find in an old dairy. You see I found this.” Sally pulled out the object, it was like a large fork with metal prongs at the end of a long handle. She forced it onto my shoulder, pressing the trigger. The shock was blinding, I screamed, my body convulsing again as I writhed in agony. “It’s a cattle prod, but I think you guessed that. Now, I’m sure it hurts a hell of a lot on that setting, which is, number four. Shall I see what happens if I turn it up to the maximum?” I gasped, sobbing, snot dripping from my nose pleading with her not to make me experience the shocking pain again.
“No! Leave her! You monster. What the hell happened to you?” Hilary sobbed.
“What happened to me?” Sally smiled, walking towards Hilary, holding the prod outstretched towards her.
“No… Please! No…” The electricity was like a thunderbolt to her body, she screamed struggling to escape the charge, falling at Sally’s feet.
“You happened. You pathetic bitch…”
Sally grabbed my collar, dragging me back into the room. I was totally helpless, my muscles refused to obey me and pain still echoing in my skull.
“Right, that’s the last food you get. You had better make it last.”
The door slammed shut, there was the sound of bolts being pushed firmly closed.
“Oh, God Kate… Are you okay?” Hilary scrambled towards me, gripping my shoulders as I clutched my stomach.
“Oh, Hilary… I’m getting stomach pains…” I was doubled over in agony.
“Well, that shock and we haven’t eaten…”
“You don’t understand. I’m pregnant… What if I lose the baby?”
30
Three’s a Crowd
I took the folded sheets of paper and sat heavily on the bunk. Amanda had tried to be tactful, how was I? Was I coping? They had high hopes that they may have some evidence that could help my case. All positive stuff, and then, on the last page the bombshell.
‘Please don’t worry, but Kate has gone away. We’re not sure where she is, but we are doing all we can to look for her. I’ve gone back to Glebe Farm to look after things with the girls so that things will be in order when she returns. I’m sure she just needed some time, she’ll come back so soon.’
But, what if she doesn’t come back. I had seen the newspaper headlines about Kate but thought it was nonsense, the same sort of lies they were saying about me. But, what if it was true? Oh, God what if something had happened to her or she had done something to herself? What could I do? I knew that Amanda would be doing her best, but I couldn’t just leave Kate out there, lost. But there was nothing else I could do… I sat with my head in my hands.
* * *
“You’re pregnant?” Hilary stared at me her eyes wide. “But… But… Oh, God!…”
I nodded, it was clear that, even when she had thought that there was no way in which our hopeless situation could get any worse, I had managed to find a way. She stood up, running towards the door, slamming her fists into the wood, yelling and screaming at the top of her lungs.
* * *
I looked at my phone, it was an unlisted number. I pressed the button and said hello.
“Amanda!” My heart sunk.
“Adam, how are things?”
“Where the hell is Kate? What’s happening. Look I don’t have long, but tell me what’s happening to my wife!”
“Calm down. Look, she left the yard, she went to Devon. No, listen. It’s where Sally is now, she managed to find where she went. Hilary had tried to tell us something about the CCTV, we know it’s not you coming out of the toolshed with the pitchfork. Kate went to ask Sally about it. I know she was there, but then… Well, no one has seen her since. I know… But what can I do? Yes, of course, I have the police involved. Yes, I went down there… No… No, I don’t think she would have done that. Look, be strong.”
We managed to say goodbyes before the line cut off.
* * *
“For fuck’s sake Hilary! You have been screaming for over an hour now. No one can hear you except me, and I don’t give a fuck, I thought I’d made that clear. So, do yourself a favour please, roll over and die.”
“She’s pregnant you bitch!” Hilary grabbed Sally’s shirt, before falling to her knees before her. “Look. Do what the hell you want to me.
