Shepherd's Cross (15 page)

12.30pm:
Cara Jones cut a sad and lonely figure as she made her way across the crowded
village green, looking for all the world like she’d just been diagnosed with a
terminal illness. Her thoughts were dominated by events at the Station; events
that would have shocked even the most experienced Police officer, let alone a
wet-behind-the-ears rookie like her. Up until that point, her fledgling career
had moved along at a leisurely, predictable pace: she’d steadily expanded her
portfolio of investigations, cautions and arrests; developing the necessary
skills and experience that would enable her to eventually slot comfortably into
a more demanding city posting. It was fair to say that she hadn’t exactly been
thrown in at the deep end – a few hours earlier, she wouldn’t have believed
Shepherd’s Cross to have even
had
a deep end - but what was so wrong
with that? She was perfectly content with the shallow gradient of her learning
curve; plodding her way forward under the capable and supportive supervision of
Sergeant Jennings. Why force the pace?

She was also worried about the effect
that this would have on Jennings. She was aware that he’d been around the block
a few times, that he hadn’t always been a friendly local Bobby patrolling a few
peaceful villages in the remote countryside, but she also knew that he had a heart
of gold. Something like this would hit him hard, and she would need to be there
to support him and help him pull through it, just like he had supported her
during the previous four months. She only wished that she hadn’t accepted his
decision to go alone to Moorland Farm; she should never have allowed him to go
up there by himself. What if Carter lived up to his hot-headed reputation?
Jennings wasn’t getting any younger, and while she had confidence in her
superior’s ability to handle almost anything that was thrown at him, there were
no guarantees that he would be safe up there by himself. She just had to cross
her fingers and have faith in his experience.

And if that wasn’t enough to worry about,
to top it all off she had a best friend who was seeing ghosts in her bathroom
and hearing things that go bump in the night. Whatever the reason for her
erratic behaviour, whether it was due to fatigue or cabin fever or maybe even
sleepwalking, it was simply not like Bronwyn to act like that; she was far too
level-headed and self-confident to go around behaving in such a way. She
certainly wasn’t the type to seek attention - her good looks and warm heart
ensured that there was no shortage of that in her life - nevertheless, her
creepy claims only added to Cara’s growing sense of unease that all was not
well in Shepherd’s Cross.

Her concerns were abruptly kicked into touch
by the impact of a well-aimed snowball smashing against the back of her head;
ice-cold fragments sliding down her neck and under her shirt collar. The shock
caused her to scream, but her voice was drowned out by over-excited children,
relishing the opportunity to pelt each other with hardened snow in the name of
fun: begrudgingly supervised by shivering parents and grandparents, who
appeared more preoccupied with how soon they could return to the comfort of
their warm homes than the extent to which their little darlings were enjoying
themselves.

She turned around to see who had dared
to throw the snowball at her: intent on informing the guilty party that she was
not in the mood for fun, and that the next throw would be their last. She was
greeted by the sight of an apologetic Ben Price, his sheepish face and hands
behind his back incriminating him beyond any doubt. Cara’s expression quickly
changed from one of anger to one of undisguised happiness. If nothing else, it
provided her with the chance to temporarily shift her thoughts away from
darker, more serious matters.

‘Whoops!’ he said, his coy smile not
managing to disguise his obvious pleasure at seeing her. ‘Sorry about that,
Cara. I thought you were someone else. Please accept my most humble apologies.’
He feigned a deferential bow as if addressing royalty.

‘Get up, you idiot!’ she replied,
laughing as he straightened up and moved closer towards her. ‘You thought I was
someone else? How many people do you see walking around here in a bright yellow
jacket with POLICE stamped over the back?’

‘Ahh...the calculating mind of a high-flying
inspector! I should have known you would be too smart for a lowly criminal like
me.’

‘One - I’m not an inspector; and two –
you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to tell by the look on your face that
you’re up to mischief, Mr Price. I have a good mind to charge you for armed
assault on an officer of the law.’

‘Well, maybe I wouldn’t mind being
arrested by you.’ He blushed, conscious that he was flirting with her again;
enjoying once more the natural chemistry that had passed between them the
previous evening.

Cara felt her cheeks reddening,
wondering what she must have looked  like to anyone watching her. In spite of
everything else weighing her down, she couldn’t deny feeling flattered by his
attention. He was certainly handsome - there was no escaping those penetrating
blue eyes that bore straight into her, and the cheeky grin that was just the
right side of sexy – but it was more than that. Most people she met never
seemed to be able to see past the uniform, treating her as a Police officer
first and a woman second. Which in most cases was exactly how it should be. But
it was different with Ben – it was so refreshing to be with someone who was
more interested in the person than the job.

‘You’re in luck,’ she said. ‘I’m not in
the mood for arresting people today. To be honest with you, I could do with
this weekend being over and done with.’

‘Really? Why’s that? Tell me to bugger
off if you think I’m bei-’

‘Bugger off!’

‘Ha ha - if you think I’m being nosy,
but you seemed miles away when I was watching you cross the green. Is
everything alright?’

‘Why were you watching me?’ she asked,
secretly delighted, if a little self-conscious at the thought of him eyeing her
up.

‘Errmm…why wouldn’t I?’ He grinned,
impressed with his reply.

Cara’s eyes dropped to the ground. ‘Look,
Ben…’ She was uncharacteristically lost for words. She couldn’t pretend that
she wasn’t attracted to him, but there was so much going on at the moment:
Luke, Bronwyn, Jennings; not to mention the fact that she was only two months
away from her next posting. As much as she was enjoying the attention, now was
not a good time to be getting involved with anyone.

‘It’s alright,’ he replied, sensing the
change in her reaction to him. ‘I’m sorry; I guess I’m a little rusty at
flirting. If I’m being perfectly honest with you, it’s been a while since I’ve
had the urge to try it out on anyone.’

‘Yeah, right. I bet you say that to all
the girls.’

‘Yep, and normally it works too!’ He
winked at her, trying to keep the mood light and casual. ‘Anyway, I thought we
were talking about you?’

‘Were we?’

‘We were. I was just saying that you
appeared to be in another world. Is everything alright?’

She smiled at him, flattered that he
cared but not to the extent that she was prepared to let him in to that other world.
‘Oh, I’m fine,’ she said. ‘There’s just so much going on at work, the roads are
snowed off so I can’t get home tonight, and it’s bloody freezing! Apart from
that, I guess I’m just tickety-boo.’

‘Are you staying at the Youth Hostel
again tonight?’

‘Yep.’
Actually, I’m on my way over
there now to check on my friend. You wouldn’t believe this, but she thinks she
saw a dead girl in her bathtub last night! Oh, what fun we had laughing about
that, I can tell you. I can’t wait to see what joy tonight has in store for us!
Maybe we’ll dust off the Ouija board and have ourselves a séance. Would you
care to join us?
You never know who we might meet!
-
‘It’s
not that bad, really. It’s just…I don’t know about you, but I like my home
comforts. And seeing all these kids running around having fun makes me miss my
son Luke even more than usual. Still, I bet he’s enjoying himself far too much
with his dad to have time to worry about his fretting mother!’

‘You’re married?’ he asked, slightly
taken aback by the mention of another man.

‘Happily,’ she replied. ‘He’s six foot
five, looks like Brad Pitt and teaches combat training in the SAS. I’m sure
he’d love to hear all about you trying it on with me.’ She couldn’t stop
herself from laughing as she saw the expression on Ben’s face change from
genuine concern to relief at realising he was the butt of her joke. ‘Only
kidding. Actually, we’re divorced. We’ve been separated for nearly a year now.
He’s on childcare duty this weekend: a stroke of luck, really; considering the
fact that I’m trapped in this place. Anyway,’ she smiled, ‘what’s it got to do
with you?’

‘Errm, nothing really. I guess I was
just being my usual nosy self. I’m sorry if I offended you. Curiosity, I
suppose.’

‘You didn’t offend me,’ she said. ‘Anyway,
what about you? I’m assuming you haven’t always lived by yourself in that big
house. What happened to Mrs Price?’

Ben was about to tell Cara that his
wife, Jane, had left him almost two years ago, when he felt something tugging
at the hem of his coat. Looking down, he was met by the smiling face of his
daughter Chloe, her cheeks raw and pink from playing in the snow. She reached
her arms up towards him. He lifted her up, pulling her close to him, delighting
in the fact that at six-years-old she still needed his love and protection.

‘Look at the state of you, young lady -
you look like a giant icicle. I think we need to go home and get you into some
nice, warm clothes, don’t you? We can come back out after lunch if you like?’

Chloe nodded her head in agreement. ‘Daddy,
after lunch will you help me to build a snowman – a giant snowman with a carrot
nose?’

‘If you want to, darling.’ He was
looking at Cara, who was smiling at him and Chloe, appreciating the close
relationship they had with each other. ‘Chloe, do you remember PC Cara Jones?
She came to our house last night to ask daddy some questions.’ Chloe threw Cara
a quick, nervous glance, before burying her head into Ben’s jacket and nodding.
‘What’s wrong, darling? It’s not like you to be shy. You needn’t worry – she’s
not going to arrest me.’

‘Not unless you throw another snowball
at my head.’ Cara said. ‘Look, I better be going. I need to get back to the Hostel
for a quick bite to eat before embarking on yet another afternoon of heroic law
enforcement. It was nice to see you again, Chloe. Try to keep your daddy out of
any more mischief, will you?’ Cara’s gaze shifted from Chloe to Ben. ‘And it
was nice to see you again too,’ she added. ‘You two have a lovely afternoon –
might as well make the most of the snow.’

‘Cara,’ said Ben, stopping her as she
turned to leave. ‘Listen…I was wondering …what with you being stranded here
tonight and everything…whether you might care to drop by for dinner later?
Nothing fancy – my cooking skills can guarantee that – but it would be nice to
continue our conversation. To be honest, I would be glad of some adult company…no
offence Chloe. I understand if you’re busy…you’ve probably got a wild night at
The Fallen Angel planned…but if you-’

‘No,’ she replied. ‘I mean…I haven’t got
anything else planned. I would love to come round. It’s very kind of you to
offer.’

‘Wow…errm…okay. How about half past
seven?’

‘Can we make it closer to eight? I’ll
probably not be able to finish work that early.’

‘Eight o’clock it is,’ he replied. ‘Is
there anything in particular you don’t like to eat?’

‘Yes – Tina Radcliffe’s dodgy bar food
and Bronwyn’s microwave ready-meals. Why else do you think I’d accept your
invitation?’ She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him like a joking
schoolgirl, prompting all three of them to start laughing. ‘Seriously, the last
thing I am is a fussy eater. The only thing I can’t abide is caviar.’ She was
about to say it was because caviar gave her gas, but decided to think better of
it and held her tongue. He seemed to like her sense of humour, but that
particular gag so early into their friendship might have pushed things a step
too far.

Ben smiled. ‘Damn, and to think I’ve
been saving my best Beluga for such an occasion. Never mind, we’ll have to make
do with beans on toast instead.’

‘Now you’re talking! And now I really do
have to be getting along. I’ll see you both later.’ She gave a final smile to
Ben as she turned to leave; a warm, genuine smile that filled him with a heady
cocktail of happiness and lust. More than anything else, however, he was
feeling excited: excited at the prospect of having dinner with a woman whom he
found attractive and funny; and excited at the fact that someone like Cara
found him interesting enough to actually want to spend time with him. Having
his wife leave him had dealt a severe body-blow to his self-confidence.

‘Daddy,’ said Chloe, her eyes following
Cara as she walked away. ‘Why did you ask PC Cara to come to our house tonight?’

‘Well,’ replied Ben, ‘I asked her
because I like her. I think she’s funny and pretty - just like you. What do you
think of her?’

‘I think she’s nice, daddy. But I don’t
understand – if you like her that much, why did you invite her to our house for
dinner?’