No Going Back (6 page)

Tamzin put a pepper on her chopping board and began to slice it. ‘So why all the secrecy? What's he trying to hide?'

‘I think he's scared of what they might say – I mean, he made damn sure I didn't get close enough to Elena to speak to her.'

‘Oh my God! You don't think they're being abused?' Tamzin turned round with a pepper in one hand and a knife in the other, her face twisted with disgust.

‘I don't know. It's one possibility, but there are others. Tell me, would you have said that Kat was English?'

‘No, she wasn't, but that's the norm for this industry. Almost all the lads who come through the yard are Eastern European or Irish. I'm becoming multilingual. I can say, “Get a move on with that stable!” and, “Stop mucking around!” in six different languages. Kat speaks pretty good English, but Rafa – that's Rafail – says she's Romanian. I asked him.'

‘I thought she might be. I'm pretty sure Reynolds and his so-called brother are too. I'm wondering if the authorities know they're here. That might explain the nervousness about getting involved with the police.' There were other possible explanations too, but he decided to keep them to himself for now.

‘Will you go to the police now you've seen her?'

‘And tell them what, exactly?'

‘Well . . .' Tamzin hesitated. ‘Yeah, I see what you mean. So what now?'

Daniel shrugged. ‘Think again, I suppose.'

‘I wish I hadn't told Kat you were coming. I'm sorry. It was stupid.'

‘Don't be daft – you weren't to know. I expect she was afraid Reynolds had sent me after her. She might even have seen me with him on the moor the other day.'

‘I wonder where she'll go, poor kid. She won't know anyone.'

‘You say she seemed competent with the horses?'

‘Oh, yes. She's been around them before, without a doubt.'

‘Well, she might get out of the area altogether, but if Elena
is
her sister and she's close by, I have a hunch she'll stick around. I might try leaving word at all the local stables. If it's what she knows, it's just possible she'll try again. After all, she's got to eat.'

‘I can have a word with the one in the village,' Tamzin offered. ‘And also the trekking centre over at Goats Tor. I know Hilary quite well, and she's usually looking for staff with Easter coming up.'

‘Thanks, that'd be great.'

Tamzin turned back to her chopping board but made no attempt to continue with her preparation.

‘Why are you doing this?' she asked after a moment.

‘Doing what?'

She swung back to face him. ‘Going to all this trouble to find the girl? I mean, most people would have given up and forgotten about it after this Reynolds guy said she was back home. Why not you?'

Daniel shrugged. ‘I told you. It just didn't feel right. The more I thought about it, the less I liked it. I couldn't just do nothing.'

‘Some people would.'

‘Yeah, well . . .' Daniel didn't know what to say.

‘OK. You don't have to answer this, but what did you really do before you started working for Fred? You said you were a civil servant. Policemen are civil servants, right? Were you a policeman?'

Slowly Daniel nodded. ‘For ten years.'

‘So why all the secrecy? You're not undercover, are you?'

‘No, nothing like that. I'm not in the force any more.'

‘Am I allowed to ask why? I mean, I thought it was normally a lifelong career thing – a calling.'

‘It is.' The horror, tragedy and humiliation of his last weeks on the force flashed uninvited into Daniel's mind, and with an effort he closed the memories down, saying tersely, ‘I left. Stress basically.'

Again a half-truth. He was getting too good at those.

‘Well, that's nothing to be ashamed of. It must be a terribly stressful job,' Tamzin said with a note of relief. ‘I know I couldn't do it. But I wish you'd told me sooner. I was imagining all sorts of things! I mean, I even wondered if you'd been in prison or something.'

Her easy acceptance of his white lie made Daniel feel uncomfortable, but if the alternative were unpalatable to him, how much more so would it be to her?

When Tamzin and Daniel had finished their meal, they retired to what Tamzin called the snug, but which was in fact the cottage's only sitting room. There they sat on a blanket-covered leather sofa, wedged between two of Tamzin's three dogs, drinking wine in front of the small wood-burning stove that heated the whole building. Taz had been brought in from the car and now lay in the doorway, one eye sleepily fixed on his master.

Daniel sighed with rare contentment, and Tamzin slanted a look at him.

‘I think that's the first time I've known you be really relaxed,' she commented. ‘When we're out anywhere, you're constantly on the watch. You probably don't know you're doing it, but your eyes are everywhere. If someone moves, you see it. If someone new comes in, you watch them. It puts me on edge too.'

‘God, I didn't realize I was such bad company,' Daniel said. ‘Sorry. Old habits, I guess.'

‘It's OK now I know. But all the same, it's good to see you kicking back.'

There was silence for a moment, punctuated by the sound of a log collapsing in the burner.

‘What'll you do if you find Kat?' Tamzin said then, pulling her feet up on to the sofa and leaning against him.

‘I don't know. I'll have to play it by ear, I guess. If she does turn up, we must be careful not to scare her off again. Best tell people to say nothing and just ring me.'

‘OK. But before you give your phone number to half the females in Devon, how about putting another log on the fire and then giving me a cuddle?'

‘We-ell.' Daniel made a show of looking at his watch, pursing his lips and shaking his head – ‘I should really be going . . .'

‘You ain't going anywhere with half a bottle of wine inside you, mister!' Tamzin told him. ‘You're gonna have to stay right here, like it or not!'

‘Well, I suppose I could be a gentleman and pretend to like it,' he said generously.

THREE

‘
D
aniel! Wake up! Dan!' Tamzin's urgent tones penetrated the stark horror of Daniel's dream and finally achieved their aim.

‘What? What is it?' He scrambled to a sitting position, images from his nightmare mixing confusingly with the unfamiliar reality of Tamzin's under-the-eaves bedroom. She had put the light on, and in the room below, the dogs were barking, Taz's deep voice among them.

Blinking sleep away, Daniel focused on the worried face beside him.

‘What's the matter?'

‘You tell me,' Tamzin suggested. ‘You're the one who woke me up, yelling blue murder. You've even upset the dogs.'

Daniel frowned. ‘Sorry, I must have been dreaming.'

‘Well, I'm glad I don't have dreams like that. Are you OK?' she asked. ‘That was pretty full on.'

‘I'm fine. Did I say anything? I mean, anything that made any sense?'

‘Not really. You kept saying “Put it down,” over and over, and then you shouted out.'

Daniel grimaced. ‘You should have woken me sooner.'

‘I tried, believe me!' Tamzin reached out a hand and stroked his arm. ‘Do you want to talk?'

‘Not really.' He wanted to forget it not drag it all out again.

There was silence for a long moment. Then Tamzin said, ‘Well, the offer's there. Look, come here and give me a hug and let's try to get back to sleep, shall we? I've got to get up in an hour or two.'

She switched off the bedside light and obediently Daniel slid over and wrapped his arms round her, laying his cheek against her silky hair and breathing in the warm smell of her. Her closeness was comforting, and after a minute or two of staring into the grainy darkness, he closed his eyes and hoped for peaceful oblivion.

Tamzin murmured something unintelligible and within moments her deep and steady breathing showed that she had gone back to sleep, but Daniel could only lie awake and envy her. Every time he let his mind relax, fragments of the drama that had been playing in his head rushed back to haunt him. Whirling from the darkness came the wild-eyed teenager with the knife held in his shaking hand and the terrified girl gazing at Daniel – begging, pleading, imploring him to
do
something . . .

The minutes dragged by, measured out by the faintly ticking second hand of the alarm clock on Tamzin's bedside cabinet. Gradually the darkness gave way to pre-dawn grey and Daniel was able to make out the contours of her sleeping face. Her long, blonde hair was tumbled across the pillow and with his free hand he smoothed aside a lock that lay across her eyes.

Stirring at his touch, she rolled away from him, and unable to bear the inactivity any longer, Daniel slid out of bed, pulled on his clothes and trod quietly down the spiral staircase to the snug.

He was met by four sleepy dogs, who nevertheless happily followed him out into the lightly frosted garden when given the option, showing no surprise at the oddness of the hour. Locking the door behind him, Daniel crossed the yard, where one or two of the horses whickered in anticipation of an early breakfast, and set off for a walk across the fields, the sharp air clearing his mind and raising his spirits.

When he returned, he found Tamzin in the kitchen, freshly showered and making coffee, face bare of make-up and hair twisted into an untidy knot.

‘Thought you'd done a runner and stolen my dogs,' she commented, and she was so totally different from Amanda that he wrapped her in a hug and then kissed her soundly.

‘Sorry about last night,' he said awkwardly.

She looked up at him, her skin golden against the white towelling robe. ‘Don't be daft! As long as you're OK.'

‘I'm fine.'

‘Why don't you ride out with us this morning?' she suggested, handing him a mug. ‘On exercise, I mean.'

‘Because I haven't ridden since I was a kid,' Daniel responded. ‘And I hardly think exercising a racehorse is the best way to ease back into it.'

‘Nonsense – it's like riding a bike. It'll come back to you. You could ride Rex – he's as good as gold.'

‘He'd need to be,' Daniel said with feeling. ‘Look, thanks for the offer, but I'd better get on.'

‘Oh, OK. Didn't realize you were busy.' Her disappointment showed.

‘I'm seeing Drew this afternoon – picking him up for lunch.'

Daniel saw his son once a fortnight, and on the one weekend in six that he didn't work on Saturday, Drew sometimes joined him at the flat, staying Friday and Saturday nights.

‘Oh, I see. Well, why don't you bring him over? He might like to see the horses.'

‘Thanks, he'd love it, but he's in Taunton and we've booked a bowling lane for the afternoon.'

After an early breakfast, Daniel remained long enough to see Tamzin ride out on exercise with her string: seven blanketed horses, muzzles snorting steam, eager to be on the move. Tamzin rode at the back, sitting easily on a brown gelding that jiggled sideways and tossed its head impatiently. She raised a hand in farewell as she passed Daniel, and he thought he detected a certain wistfulness in her smile. He had an uneasy feeling that their ‘no strings' relationship was assuming a more serious nature, and half regretted his weakness in staying the night.

Leaving the yard, with a couple of hours to spare before he needed to set out for Taunton, Daniel turned the wheels of his red Mercedes estate towards Stack Bridge. He was sure Taz wouldn't turn down the chance of a second walk, and he wanted to take another look at the place in broad daylight.

The car was a scruffy, high-mileage example of the marque, bought when he was in the Dog Unit, primarily for the purpose of transporting his dogs to and from his base, where he would pick up his van. When they broke up, Amanda had claimed the smart sports saloon they'd jointly owned, but he wasn't precious about what he drove. At least there was no need to worry about dirt or the odd scratch on this one, and very little chance of it being targeted by thieves. His colleagues at work had joked that a full tank of petrol doubled its value.

Stack Bridge car park on a sunny Sunday morning was somewhat more populated than it had been on the Friday evening Daniel met Reynolds there. Parking the Mercedes next to a gleaming new sports car whose owners looked as if they feared that such decrepitude might be contagious, he let the dog out, calling him immediately to heel. Leaving the car park, he retraced the route he'd taken with Reynolds.

Moments later, a black 4x4 approached at high speed, barely slowing to take the rise of the bridge so that its seconds scraped the tarmac briefly on the other side. Within seconds it had rounded the bend and disappeared from view.

In his haste to pull Taz to safety, Daniel had missed getting the number plate, but as the car flashed by, he'd caught a glimpse of the driver, and unless he was very much mistaken, it was none other than Reynolds's surly ‘brother'.

Well, well. So they were still around, were they?

Daniel moved on down the road to where, the week before, the dog had picked up the girls' trail. The more he'd thought about it, the less he'd been convinced that the girls had ever been in the car park at all.

As he'd suspected, the track they'd followed was mirrored by another one on the opposite side of the road. Perhaps Reynolds or his brother had followed the girls on foot until they lost them and then driven to the car park before making the decision to call Daniel.

The trail on the lower side of the road appeared to follow a fairly straight path, as far as he could see, heading for a dark line of trees several hundred yards away.

According to his map, the wooded area was about half a mile from one side to the other, and beyond it were fields and then a road flanked by what looked like a scattering of large properties. If the girls had followed that path, could they have started out from one of those houses?