The Beast of Bracksley Woods (10 page)

As they became aware of their surroundings they still clung together. “That was the most wonderful experience I have ever had.” Paul said hoarsely.

“Please don’t go Paul,” Debbie begged. “Stay here with me. Let’s spend the night together,” she whispered kissing him again.

“Of course I’ll stay. I have to go before it gets light though,” he whispered softly. They made love again until at last Debbie fell into a deep sleep in Paul’s arms. When she woke again it was still dark and Paul had gone. She got out of bed and crossed to the window. Looking out Debbie saw that his car had also gone. She went back to bed snuggling under the covers again and drifted off to sleep thinking about Paul and their lovemaking.

When Debbie woke again the shrill ring of the telephone was echoing through the small cottage. Glancing at the time she saw that it was only eight o’clock. The sun was barely up as she stumbled down the stairs still half asleep wondering who on earth could be ringing her at this time in the morning.

“Hello,” she said sleepily expecting Paul to answer her. Instead she heard Jeff’s sobs as he choked “Debbie … Oh Debbie … Something awful is happening.”

“Jeff. Whatever is the matter?” Debbie asked stunned to hear him so upset at such an early hour.

“Debbie, please help me. The ambulance has just taken Sheila to hospital. The doctor thinks she has had a heart attack. They have taken her to Cambridge hospital… She is very sick and I am so worried. Can you come?”

“Oh dear,” Debbie exclaimed with horror. “Of course I will come. I’ll be with you as soon as I can. Just you hang on in there Jeff and try not to worry. Maybe things are not as bad as they seem,” She said trying to comfort him.

When Debbie finally put the phone down after trying to calm Jeff, she ran back upstairs, had a quick shower and dressed. As soon as she walked into her sitting room her eyes fell on Mike’s photograph. She could feel the reproach in them as a feeling of guilt swept over her. She had been wantonly engaged in being unfaithful to his memory while his poor mother lay sick and near death, at least according to Jeff. She sat down heavily on the sofa where the very night before she had been kissing another man. A sob rose up out of her as she breathed “Oh my dear heavens. What have I done? Mike, I wish so much that you were with me. I never meant to be unfaithful. Is this the way You are punishing me? I’m so sorry. It must be all my fault.

With an effort she pulled herself together and started gathering up a few things. She fed the kittens and got a cup of coffee and some toast which she forced down herself. She grabbed the phone and rang the Vets’ to let Paul know that she had to go away for a couple of days. Angela answered. “Hello. No Paul is out on a calfing,” she told her when Debbie asked to speak to him.

“Can you pass the message on please,” “of course. No trouble,” Angela assured her. She replaced the receiver muttering “I am not your messenger boy lady.”

Then she rang Greg but Betty Brown answered so she left another message.

By ten o’clock she was ready to leave having got the kittens safely loaded into a carrier. She locked up and drove away. She reached Sandy by eleven o’clock to find Jeff in very low spirits.

“Come on,” she said determinedly, “Let’s put some coffee on and make you some toast. I bet you haven’t bothered to eat this morning. You will feel much better when you have something warm and nourishing inside you.”

She bustled round finding things and preparing something for Jeff to eat. With a good bit of encouragement Debbie managed to get him to eat the toast and drink the coffee. When he had finished and she had cleared away she sat down and said “Right. You tell me what’s been happening.” “Well, Sheila has been having quite a bit of trouble lately. Her heart has been bothering her for some time and she has been under a specialist. We didn’t say anything at Christmas because we didn’t want anything to spoil the holiday because you were so kind letting us stay and it would have worried you if we had told you to. Now it looks as if I may lose her,” he finished sadly.

“Well we won’t give up yet. We will go to the hospital this afternoon and see the doctor,” Debbie said trying to sound confident and as if she had everything under control.

“May I ask you a great big favour? Do you think you could stay for a couple of days or just until the danger is over and Sheila starts to get better,” Jeff pleaded. “Of course I will stay. I haven’t anything booked in this week so I am free.

By two o’clock they had reached the hospital and on inquiring found Sheila in a quiet room alone. Sheila appeared to be asleep with an oxygen mask over her face. While Jeff seated himself by the bed Debbie whispered that she would go and find a nurse and ask to see the doctor. Jeff nodded his agreement and Debbie slipped out of the room. A nurse bustled towards her and asked if she was a relative. “I am Mrs Richards’ daughter-in-law and I have just left my father-in—law sitting quietly by the bed while I tried to find the doctor who is treating her.”

“I’ll fetch him for you if you would just wait,” the nurse replied helpfully as she hurried further down the corridor to where the nurse’s station was situated. In no time at all a white coated figure came towards Debbie introducing himself as Doctor Sheldon.

“I am afraid that Mrs Richards is very sick,” he began in answer to Debbie’s first question. I have to warn you that the outlook does not look good. If she has a further heart attack the situation would be very grim. Be careful not to excite her too much when you visit. Any excitement could prove serious. Just ring the bell if there is any change or if you are worried at all while you are here. I’ll see you again so keep your chin up and we will all hope for the best,” he finished cheerfully as he walked quietly away.

Later that evening Debbie text Paul. At the time he was busy with a patient in the surgery leaving his mobile in the dispensary where Angela was sorting out drugs. She heard the bleep and idly picked the phone up. Grimacing as she glared at the message. she pressed delete before texting back. All a mistake. Must stop seeing you. Don’t contact again. Sorry, Paul. She smiled as she sent the text and replaced the phone back where she had found it. Debbie could hardly believe her eyes when she received Paul’s text. Oh No! Debbie could hardly understand what she was reading. How could he do this to her after the other night? She asked herself fighting back tears.

She was deeply wounded. However, she bit back her tears and bravely decided that she couldn’t possibly deal with this at the moment. this was not the time to sort out such betrayal. She had to concentrate on Jeff After all, she was still feeling really bad about Mike so she would have to try and make it up by doing all she could for Jeff.. The next two days were very busy for Debbie. Sheila was very ill and on the third day she quietly slipped away. Jeff was heartbroken. Debbie did what she could to comfort him and to help him. She decided very firmly that she would have to stay at least another week. There would be funeral arrangements to make and a great deal of sorting out to do. She could have done with some help but right now she needed to let relatives know what had happened, she got on the phone. Mike’s cousin Tony was the only one to ask Debbie if she needed some help. He had been particularly fond of his aunt and could hear how distressed Debbie was from the tone of her voice. Debbie remembered that Tony was the one who stepped forward offering help when Mike passed away. “I certainly could use some help. Thank you for the offer,” Debbie said gratefully. “There are all the funeral arrangements to make and Jeff is in such a state I can’t rely on any help from that quarter. “Stop fretting Debbie. I’ll be with you later today,” he assured her, “I’ll just settle things this end before I leave. I have to come from Devon but it shouldn’t take me too long as long as the traffic isn’t too bad,” He said. She had left home in such a hurry she hadn’t packed enough clothing and other things she might need. She hardly expected to have to stay a week, nor did she dream that Sheila would die so suddenly. With Tony here, she could pop back to Bracksley and sort a few warm clothes out because the weather had turned very cold again. She needed to think what to do about Jeff. When everything was settled Debbie thought that maybe he might like to come and stay with her for a little while to get used to not having Sheila around.

Tony was a huge help. He did the driving to the various offices that had to be notified. He sat and chatted to Jeff while Debbie was busy in the kitchen. He ran errands and did a hundred other kindnesses. Debbie found out that Sheila and Tony’s mother were sisters and that Tony was just a year older than Mike. He was very much like Mike. Tall, fair hair and athletic. He too was a tennis player so they had a lot in common and got on extremely well together. Tony mentioned how much he missed Mike. They had been great friends and often practiced together. They had grown up together and gone to the same schools so Mike often figured largely in Tony’s conversation. His likings were much the same as Mike’s. He liked flashy cars and was the owner of a Jag.

During the short time Sheila was ill, followed so suddenly by her death, Debbie hardly had time to give much attention to personal matters as she tried to cope with Jeff’s grief. She pushed Paul to the back of her mind but she badly needed to return to Bracksley but wished to avoid running into him. she wondered how she would face him if she met him somewhere and what on earth was she going to say to him about his text message. As it happened, The following day after Tony’s arrival, he offered to drive her over to Bracksley to collect whatever she needed. She was so grateful. If she left late enough, it meant that she would be able to avoid the danger of running into Paul without warning. Surely, it couldn’t be true. How could he possibly tell her not to contact him again. It was inevitable. Bracksley was a small place and Paul was often in the village or at Greg’s. She really needed the job at the kennels and she had already made up her mind to take it. She was bound to have quite a lot to do with Paul. Maybe he wanted things put on a more business-like footing she thought. Anyway, one way or another she was bound to run into him sooner or later. Ah well, she sighed miserably, I shall just have to do the best I can when the situation arises because there just has to be a mistake. Paul would explain everything once they had chance to speak to each other. She still felt the same as she did on the night they had spent together making love. She agonised over the words of love he had whispered to her that night and she just could not believe that he had changed his mind so soon. For the moment, at least, she had to give her full attention to what she was doing. There were plenty of legal matters that had to be sorted apart from the funeral before she could return home with Jeff. Debbie tried not to imagine what kind of reception she might get when she finally caught up with Paul.

Later, in the evening of the same day that Debbie had left Bracksley, Paul had dropped by the cottage and found it In darkness. He just concluded that she had a dinner party on and decided to catch up with her the following day. He started to get an uneasy feeling in his guts the next morning when Angela breezed into the surgery and told him that she had seen Debbie in a pub the previous evening having a high old time with a hunk of a man she could have gone for in a big way. “Oh, that’s funny,” Paul replied, “You must be mistaken. I think she was working all night so it couldn’t have been her you saw.”

“Well, it’s not often I forget a face,” Angela answered huffily. Pausing a moment she said, “Do I detect a certain interest in Debbie Richards?” Angela said slyly. “And what about us, Paul?” she asked throwing him a look, her eyes suddenly flashing. “and there was me thinking that I was the only woman in your life,” she spat. “Get away Angela, it was never like that with us,” he laughed.

“I was under the impression that it was. We’ve been out together a few times. I really thought we had it going.” She paused before saying bitterly, “I think you better look out Paul. Debbie doesn’t strike me as the sort of woman who would go for a man like you. You are just an ordinary vet. Don’t forget that. A vet who puts his arm up the backside of cows and walks around in wellie boots stinking of cow shit and pigs in a white coat. She is used to a more refined type. Sporty, good looking, well-travelled and most of all rich. No,” she concluded, “Can’t see her wading through mud in wellies. Stick to your own kind Paul. Someone who doesn’t mind getting their hands dirty, that’s the kind of girl you should be looking for and let’s face it, you must be at least ten years older than she is,” she finished just to make sure he got the point. Paul tried not to show his feelings of alarm as he bent his head to concentrate on what he was doing.

“I don’t think there are many people in Bedford like Madam money bags. I wonder how much it cost to do that cottage up. Do you know, my niece tried to buy that but couldn’t raise the capital. It needed such a lot doing to it to make it inhabitable. No wonder it went for a song. It must of cost the earth to do up. It needed the roof repairing, rewiring done and the plumbing fixing apart from the interior decorating. Even the gardens and drive needed seeing to. You have never seen such a mess!” Angela finished flinging her arms out to indicate how big the job must have been. My niece has found herself another house in Northampton. Eh what! Talk about rich and spreading it about. Debbie Richards,” Angela sneered, “Pulling up outside our door in a Mercedes and Swanking about in here in a fur coat pretending she was just popping in to get those kittens of hers jabbed when all the time she was really looking for you. I’ll tell you what that lady needs shall I? She should watch a video of seals being culled then perhaps she would think twice about wearing a coat made from seal fur..”

“Stop it Angela. I don’t like the way you are speaking,” Paul said hotly, “You should not be saying such things especially about clients. Anyway, How do you know so much about Debbie?” Paul asked “I didn’t know you had even met her.”

“Your friend Kevin O’Sullivan told me all about her. You had a damn Good Christmas by all accounts. And do you know what really choked me,” she said looking at him with a face like thunder, “you never even asked me. Kevin told me how she had cooked the dinner for you and what a marvellous time you had and how well you seemed to be getting on together. He also told me that you have offer her the kennel job out at Broadmead Farm with Greg Turner. I suppose it never crossed your mind to run it past me first. I am a partner in this practise and I should have been consulted since it concerns the workload here. What’s this I hear about lending our veterinary nurse for the kennels and does that mean you expect her to do the grooming and clipping down there?” she spat angrily before adding in a more sarcastic tone “I hasten to point out that she has no experience in animal welfare or anything else to do with animals. In my opinion, she is completely wrong for the job. If you had bothered to ask me first I could have found you someone with vastly more experience than Debbie Richards.” She said.