Adam had not been able to sleep, he stood watching the lightning streak across the dark sky. The rain fell heavily, chilling the air. He thought only of Kate worrying that she would die, he hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye, or to tell her that he loved her.
Adam thought back to the first day that they had met. Kate had come from Cornwall, where she had spent her life working on her parents farm. She was pretty, blond and slim. Adam had been attracted to her from the very beginning. He remembered the first time her had talked to her, the way she had smiled coyly. The time he first took her to the pub, and how they walked home together.
Now she had gone. If only he had looked after her more, if only he had walked round to the back yard with her. If only. There were always so many ifs and buts. He glanced at his watch, three o'clock. Perhaps he should try and get some sleep. Adam walked across the yard, just before he got to the flat he saw a shadowy figure go upstairs. Adam paused, perhaps someone else couldn't sleep either, as he went upstairs there was no one around. Adam shrugged his shoulders.
Adam went down onto the yard. The other staff had started feeding already. He went into the feed shed.
"Hi Adam!" Caroline clattered a feed bucket down onto the floor and started filling it with pony nuts and bran. "Did you have a good night?"
"I didn't sleep much." He looked outside the door. "No Amanda again?"
"No. Not yet."
Kate woke up. There was another person in the room. Bound with a large quality of nylon rope. Currently the person was lying on the floor facing the opposite direction. Kate gasped as the woman rolled over.
"Amanda what are you doing here?" Kate tried to shuffle her chair towards her. Amanda's eyes widened, a cloth gag stopped her from saying anything. The door of the room burst open.
"Ah! I see you have met your friend again." He smiled at Amanda. "I'm so glad you could join us. We have been expecting you. . . "
Adam paced up and down. It was lunch time and Amanda had not turned up for work. He decided there was only one thing to do. Grabbing his jacket he started off down the driveway. He ran nearly all the way to the cottage, slamming the door-knocker hard when he arrived, there was no response, he rattled the door again. Still no response.
Pulling out his bunch of keys Adam found the one that opened the front door of the cottage, Amanda had given it to him, in case of emergencies. He was sure that this was an emergency. Opening the door he saw Pinkerton rushing towards him, meowing loudly, he picked up the kitten and put it on his shoulder, Pinkerton clawed him.
"Amanda! Are you there?" Adam looked through the kitchen and the living room, and then he dashed upstairs. Amanda's bed had not been slept in, he looked in the cupboard there were her clothes hanging up ready to be worn. "No. . . No!" Adam yelled. He ran back downstairs. As he stepped off the stairs he saw a small white cloth pad, he picked it up and sniffed it, the powerful chemicals made his head spin. Looking down he saw a line of muddy footprints, Amanda always took her boots off before she came into the house, she got paranoid about people making a mess of her cottage. He could only presume the worst. They had put two and two together, and quite frankly it would not have been too difficult to work out. Adam felt so guilty. He sat down. Pinkerton leapt from his shoulder and meowed again. "Oh I'm sorry are you hungry?" Adam walked through to the kitchen and dished out some cat food from an open tin. As the kitten ate, purring quietly Adam sat beside it. "If only you could talk. . . You could answer this. . . If only." That famous 'if' again. . . It was always if. Adam waited for the kitten to finish before picking him up again and grabbing some cat food. "You're going to have to live with me for a while. . . I hope it's only a while." Adam sighed.
Adam opened the door, looking down he saw a plain white envelope lying on the doormat. He picked it up, shuddering when he realised that it was addressed to him, he ripped it open roughly. The letter consisted of newspaper cuttings.
Adam Bishop,
If you want to see your sister alive you had better find ten million pounds. You will be contacted regarding collection.
Adam almost laughed, ten million pounds, that was stupid. He looked at the envelope, perhaps the postmark would give him a clue. . . There was a stamp, but no postmark. He folded the letter and put it in his pocket.
Adam picked up Pinkerton and some tins of cat food and started to make his way back to the yard. As he returned he saw Caroline standing outside the office.
"Hello Caroline." They both walked inside.
"Hi Adam.. And who is this?" Caroline took Pinkerton off Adam's shoulder, the kitten purred loudly.
"This is Pinkerton he is Amanda's kitten. . . I wonder could you look after him for a couple of days you see Amanda is. . ." He paused, watching the change of expression on Caroline's face. "She is a little unwell, so I think she has enough to do looking after herself."
"Okay! I'd love to!" Caroline beamed. Adam opened the desk drawer and placed the letter inside.
"That's strange?" Adam frowned.
"What's up?"
"I had a book of matches in here, and they seem to have gone."
"Oh sorry about that." Caroline pulled the match book out of her jacket pocket. It was open and there was a match missing. "The pilot light on the gas cooker isn't working, I know there are usually matches in the drawer."
"Don't worry about it." Adam looked down at the match book. On the inside there was a set of letters and digits written onto the cardboard in biro. "Now that is strange." Adam looked at the writing. "S..X..6..2..0..6..3..5. Does that mean anything to you?"
"What? No.. It doesn't mean a thing to me?" Caroline shook her head.
"Never mind. . ." Adam sat down at the desk. Caroline left the office. Adam toyed with the matchbook. Perhaps the writing was a clue? But a clue to what? He put it back in the drawer. Now he had to work fast to try and save Amanda and Kate. . . But he had to know where to go, and what to do
Amanda's gag had been removed, her hands tied above her head. She strained against the ropes.
Adam had to take out another hack. Caroline led out a horse.
"Why are you riding out today? Where's Karen?"
"It's Karen's day off." Caroline mounted.
"I really wanted you to stay back here and look after the yard." Adam sighed. "But I suppose that it will be okay running itself. . . I need someone good escorting this ride, we've got a load of people. I really don't know where they all come from!" Adam smiled warmly.
"Lets go then." Caroline walked her horse out of the yard.
The weather had been fine when they started out, but by the time they had ridden for two hours the rain was pouring down. Adam dismounted and handed his horse over, he walked into the office with Caroline. Lighting the gas heater.
"I hate this weather!" Adam dragged his wax jacket off and hung it on a hook. It dripped, forming a puddle on the floor. Caroline pushed her hair back. The office door opened and one of the customers walked in.
"Excuse me?" The woman walked into the office. "That was a great hack Thank you!"
"That's fine, I'm sorry that the weather wasn't so good."
"I was just wondering? Could you tell me where the pub we stopped at is? I would like to take my husband there, but I don't think he would like to ride there!" She laughed.
"Well, let me show you on the map." Adam stood up and walked over to the large map on the wall. Adam traced his finger across the green and grey until he found the small pub. "Ah it’s not really close to much.. How can I explain where it is."
"I'll take a map reference for the place, I can find it on one of my maps." She wrote down an eight digit number. "Thank you. . ." Adam looked down at the paper.
"Could you explain that to me?" Adam pointed to the number.
"Yes of course. There is a grid running across the entire country, it's marked on the Ordnance Survey maps. It allows you to find any place using a reference number. If you look at this number, the first two digits, 'SX' tells me what map to look for. In this case 'SX' is the Dartmoor map, the next six digits correspond to the grid on the edge of the map."
"If I gave you a reference could you point it out for me?" Adam smiled.
"Yes of course!" The woman smiled.
"Could you look at this?" Adam showed the woman the number written on the matchbook.
"Of course. Let’s see, it’s in the Dartmoor area, because of the SX. And so it is. . ."The woman looked across the map and then pointed to a small box on the map. "There it is! It’s that small farmhouse."
"Oh great!" Adam reached across and put a green map pin onto the map. "Thanks that's really great." The woman smiled and left the office.
"What was all that about?" Caroline looked at the green map pin.
"It might be something I'm looking for." Adam smiled.
"Come on. . . Let’s have some dinner!"
~~~