“Have you finished? First, I intend to do what I want to you. I hope to make you suffer and Kate’s suffering is all your fault. This is all your doing. It’s no better than if you had done it to her yourself. And as for heart, you broke mine, so please, don’t expect me to have any remorse for either of you.”
Hilary stood up quickly, lunging for Sally, but she was too fast, slamming the baton into the side of her head with a sickening thud. Hilary crumpled on the ground.
“I am very sorry this is happening to you. But, it’s out of my hands. Now, unless you want to both die sooner, get her to be quiet, when or should I say if she wakes up. Her yelling is giving me a headache.”
The door slammed shut.
* * *
“What the hell do we do Dan?”
“Mandy there isn’t much we can do. Devon and Cornwall have her details and a missing person’s report has been filed. Her vehicle hasn’t been tracked on any major roads since the last ANPR hit we had. The police are doing what they can, but there isn’t much more anyone can do.”
“But, if her vehicle hasn’t been tracked again, she must still be in Devon? I need to go back down there.”
“To do what? What do you think you can do down there? The police are looking for her…”
“I don’t trust the groom. I’ll go back there. I need to speak to her again.”
“Mandy, no! She made it clear you weren’t welcome. She’s been through a difficult time, I can understand why she doesn’t want to be reminded of what happened. Where she is working is private property, you can’t just keep going there uninvited. Please, let her live her life.”
“But, the invoice. It proves Kate was there, and at the pub, they said she was there.”
“So, she went there. She saw the groom, so what?”
“But she lied to me…”
“Mandy, you arrived unannounced, the sister of the person accused of killing one of her close colleagues. Damn it she found the girl’s body, of course, she doesn’t want to be reminded of it, now if Kate went to see her and then you arrived without warning. I can understand why she reacted that way. Please, leave her alone now. The fact Kate was there doesn’t mean she is there now. Speaking with the groom may have been the last straw for her. I told you there are only traffic tracking cameras on major routes down there but she may have driven somewhere else.” He stopped speaking for a moment. “Look, Mandy please leave it to the police.”
“Right… But why can’t they search the place Sally works?”
“What? You want them to get a search warrant for the house and massive grounds of a famous film star just because Kate visited their groom and she told her to go away? That is not probable cause, there is no way they would get a warrant. Please just listen to yourself? Mandy, be sensible?”
“Dan… I’m sorry, you’re right. I apologise. I’m worried about her, that’s all.”
“Honestly, we’re all worried about her.” She sighed. “Okay. Tell me, how are the stables doing?”
I realised he was trying to distract me, but felt it was better to play along and so we chatted about my day and the horses sharing small talk before wishing each other a good night and disconnecting the phone call.
* * *
I cursed the stupid woman. It had started to rain when she had arrived at the pub so she’d refused to mount the horse I’d spent hours preparing. Instead, she got back into the car and had been driven away leaving me standing there clutching a pair of reins and an equally confused horse. I’d cursed her silently as I led the horse into the back of the lorry, preparing to return home.
After the short drive, I leapt down from the cab. It was quiet in the yard. Hilary’s yelling earlier had worried me. The likelihood of my holier than thou mistress coming to see the stables was minimal, but I would struggle to explain the distant sound of screams. I hoped that she would remain quiet, maybe I had hit her a bit hard. It would disappoint me if she had got away that easily.
I busied myself unloading the horses, I’d exercised them in the morning so I basically had a free afternoon, maybe things weren’t as bad as I thought. I was in the tack room, putting away the kit boxes when I felt a presence behind me.
“Elizabeth.”
“Oh, Sir…” I turned slowly. Smiling coyly.
“You know you don’t have to call me sir. But you know I do rather enjoy it when you do…” He stepped towards me, one hand reaching for my waist, allowing it to slowly slip downwards across the seat of my breeches.
“I must be respectful to the lord of the manor. Sir.” I turned towards him, dipping my head down, avoiding eye contact.
“Now, have you been a naughty little groom?”
“I don’t know what you mean, sir?” I gave him my most coquettish look, batting my eyelashes, he was a sucker for that.
“Oh, I think you do…”
My heart fluttered as he took me in his arms, kissing me roughly. I could smell his cologne and feel the rough tweed of his jacket as he ran his hands across my chest.
“Oh, not here… Sir!”
He smiled as I took his hand, leading him from the tack room, he paused to collect a riding crop from the hook by the door. I pushed open the door of an empty stable, the floor laid with a thick
