"Wake up!" Kate was shaken roughly awake. She was tied in a sitting position on a wooden chair, her captors had removed her gag. "Good morning!" Kate was surprised, normally she had been treated more roughly than this. "We have been told that you are not the person we need. . ."
"So are you going to let me go?" Kate's voice was weak, she stammered out the few words.
"No. . . I'm sorry but now you know too much. I'm afraid that we can't just let you go straight to the police."
"I won't talk. . .." Kate smiled briefly.
"If only it was my decision. You are going to keep us company for a while."
"And then what?"
"Believe me you don't want to know!" He walked out of the room laughing. Kate sighed. She was past being upset now, she was even past tearful outbursts, the panic had subsided, and now this was just a painful realisation of the inevitable.
Now she knew that it was too late. She hadn't even spoken to her parents for at least three years. It had started a long time ago, after an argument at home, only something silly really. She had crept out of the house the next morning and just run away, never to go back. She now regretted her childishness, and thought of her parents. Now more than ever she wished she could turn the clock back.
Adam walked back to the office. His first clients would be soon be arriving for their lessons. Amanda hadn't turned up yet, but it was still early and she was probably tired after the long drive yesterday. The first car appeared along the driveway, Adam recognised the driver as one of his clients, grabbing his riding hat he stepped outside to greet her.
He would have liked to give up all his normal work, but things had to carry on, if they didn't the bank would reprocess. It was strange, Amanda had been a millionaire. She could have bought anything she wanted, but she settled for a small rural riding school and a modest cottage. She wasn't someone who felt good about possessions, they had both started with none. Adam shuddered as he remembered the home. They had been abandoned, he was just a baby, Amanda had been a few years old. He knew nothing about his mother, not her name or even a description. They had almost been separated, but fate had thrown them back together again, now Adam knew why she had left and what she had done. She had never spoken about it before, never even told her brother what she had been through.
Now he knew. But back then there had been tears, she had left him. He only knew where when she wrote back to him some days later. Addressed to a shop in London, she used to collect the letters from a friendly newsagent. That way no one would really know where she was, and so she couldn't be taken back to the home. Then there had been the letter telling him that she had bought a yard, he was to meet her at a railway station at a certain time if he wanted to get away. . .
Adam remembered waiting on the cold platform at a silent station miles away from anywhere. Clutching the letter, constantly checking and re-checking the time and place. Amanda had been late, so late that Adam was about to get onto the next train, go back and give up hope of ever seeing his sister again, when she arrived. After the hugs and welcomes, she told him that she was now Amanda King, and that he should tell nobody that they were brother and sister. He had argued, but she would not tell him why, and would not let him join her unless he agreed. . . A small price to pay.
He stood by the car door and smiled.
"Hello. . . You're riding Pegasus today. . . Do you know where his stable is? Good! If you get him out I'll see you up in the school."
Adam walked up to the sand school.
Amanda sat up. Her head was spinning. She rubbed her temples, there was a lump on the side of her head, she touched it briefly sending a stabbing pain across her brain. She looked down and saw that there was an electric flex wrapped round her feet, she looked around and saw that behind the door was a fallen standard lamp. Now it was becoming clear, something had knocked over the standard lamp and she had tripped over the cable. But what had knocked it over? Something pounced on her shoulders, Amanda squealed. Pinkerton jumped down from her shoulder into her lap.
"Oh Pinkerton! Did you knock the lamp over?" The kitten purred as it rubbed his head on her knee. Amanda clutched the mantelpiece to steady herself as she walked to the kitchen Fumbling in one of the cupboards she took out a bottle of aspirin. After swallowing some tablets the pain in her head dulled slightly. Amanda walked back through to the living room and picked up the lamp. "Come on then Pinkerton. . . Do you want some breakfast." The cat meowed.
Adam tramped across the school and back onto the yard. He saw Amanda step into the office. Adam followed.
"Hello!" Adam sat down in front of Amanda. "Oh what's that lump on your head?"
"I tripped over a cable last night, banged my head. I'm fine, really I am." Adam stood up and walked to a map of the moor on the wall, coloured map pins were dotted across it. Blue showed pubs and hotels where they could take hacks for lunch. Yellow showed nice outlooks and views, and red, there were red pins across the map. The red pins were the most important, they showed the danger areas, the cliffs, the bogs that could drown a horse and rider, and the military areas. Everyone who took rides out across the moor had to know where every single danger was, and how to look out for them. . .. Adam looked across the map, he toyed with a spare red pin before sticking it in the centre of the stables on the map.
"You have to be more careful!" Adam shook his head.
"Don't patronise me!" Amanda yelled. Adam remained silent. "Sorry. . . I'm sorry. . . I'm frightened Adam. . .. They’re going to get me. . . They'll kill me. . . I don't want to die."
"They can't get you. . ." Adam held her tightly. The office door opened and Karen stepped inside.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to disturb you. I just needed to know what horses are being used for the next lesson."
"Of course, that's fine. . . Adam handed her the diary, Karen flicked through it and put it back down on the desk.
"Okay. Thanks." She walked out of the office.
"I have to teach another lesson. . . Are you going to be okay?"
"I'll be fine. Really I will!"
Adam picked up the tack for his horse and walked from the tack room. The rain had started to fall steadily. Stepping into the stable Adam was engulfed by warmth, he stroked the horse's ears as it snuffled in his jacket pockets for pony nuts and mints. As Adam led the horse out of the stable, Caroline walked past leading a horse out onto the yard.
"Hello Caroline!" Adam smiled warmly. "I thought Karen was going to be escorting this ride with me?"
"She said that she didn't want to do it."
"You shouldn't let her push you around you know."
"I didn't. . ." Caroline paused. "Okay. But I really didn't want to argue. I could do with getting out of the yard."
"So long as you're sure. . . How many customers do we have?"
"There are three booked to come out, but the weather might put some off." Caroline turned round in her saddle and saw three other horses being led out. "Of course I may be wrong." She chuckled quietly.
"Never mind. We still have to ride for two hours whether we have one or three, so we had better make the best of it." Adam turned round and faced the other riders. "Right. Are we all ready! Girths all tightened? Okay? Right lets go!" They rode out onto the moor. They trotted out of the yard and up to the top of the hill. Adam paused for a moment and looked around, Caroline rode up beside him. "I was just wondering where we might ride to today?"
"I don't know? What about going to the river and back?"
"That's a great idea." Adam pushed his horse into a canter and the ride went down the hill.
Amanda watched the ride come back onto the yard.
"You're running a bit late?" Amanda walked over to Adam who dismounted and handed his horse to Karen. "We went a bit further than we expected." Caroline blushed. "I think our navigator needs a few more geography lessons!" He laughed.
"I'm sorry!" Caroline handed her horse to one of the younger grooms.
"Don't worry. . ." Adam smiled. He walked with Amanda to the office. They both stepped inside and sat down. "What do we do now?"
"What?" Amanda frowned.
"What are we going to do about Kate? We can't just sit around." Adam shook his head. "What can we do?"
"You tell me. . . What do we know?. . . We're presuming that she has been taken by James's associates. But where are they? And how can we find her, and if we do find her what do we do then?"
"Tell the police!"
"I did, just after you were attacked. You know what they thought. They just said that Kate had attacked you."
"Tell them everything. . . Tell them about the money, tell them about James."
"They wouldn't believe us. And what if the gang have access to the police, they would kill me. . . They would kill or you." Amanda sobbed.
"You can't run forever. . ." Adam paused. "What made you think that they had Kate, why didn't you believe what the police told you?"
"Well the obituary. . . And this." Amanda held out the match book, Adam took it and looked at the writing on the outside. He threw it back down on the desk. "It's from the Blue Moon."
"I can see that. . . Where did you find it?"
"I came into the office, after I had taken you to hospital, I saw it lying on the floor."
"What in here?"
"Yes it was just lying on the floor here. By the filing cabinet." Amanda pointed to the floor.
"But why? How could it have got in here." Adam looked round. "What do you keep in there?"
"That's where I keep the personal files for everyone on the yard, all the staff." Amanda stood up. "I always keep it locked.." She pulled the drawer which slid open. "What? I'm sure I'd locked it." Adam looked through the tabbed files. Each tab had a name typed onto it, the name of a staff member.
"Your file is missing."
"I don't keep my details in here, just in case this ever happened. Everyone else's are in there." She sighed. "It didn't help though..."
"We have to stop them?
"But how? I mean, how do we even find them?"
"I don't know. . ." Adam held the office door open. "Come on I'll walk you home."
When they reached the cottage Adam waited at the front gate.
"Aren't you going to come inside, just for a moment?" Amanda unlocked the door.
"No thanks, I had better get back to the yard." Adam smiled. "You'll be okay."
"See you in the morning Adam." Amanda watched as he walked off into the darkness. She stepped into her cottage. She clicked the light switch, but nothing happened. "Oh!" Amanda stumbled forward. She heard a noise coming from the kitchen. "Pinkerton? Is that you?" In the half light Amanda saw a person standing, waiting for her. "You? What are you doing. . .?" Amanda's sentence was cut short.
~~~