Adam woke early, dressed quickly and went down to the yard. Pausing at the feed room, he made up a single feed and silently walked across the yard to feed his horse, before walking back to the office where he started to write a note.
About an hour later, Adam was mounting up. He glanced at his watch; it would be at least an hour before the rest of the staff would come down. That would give him a good head start. He knew most of the way and could guess the rest. Adam rode off into the darkness. . .
Caroline unlocked the office and stepped inside, she saw the envelope addressed to her, picked it up and opened it. There was a sheet of paper inside and another envelope.
Caroline,
I have something to do. I have taken a horse and will be out on the moor for most of the day. Please do not try and follow me, I don't want you involved in any heroics.
If I don't return by the end of the day please give the enclosed envelope to the police. Otherwise, please don't open it.
Thank you Caroline. I know I can trust you to do the right thing.
Adam.
Caroline looked at the second envelope. There was the temptation to open it, to discover what was going on, but Adam had trusted her she folded the envelope and placed it in her pocket.
"Hello Caroline! What's up?" Karen stepped into the office and sat down at the desk opposite Caroline who shrugged her shoulders and handed her the letter.
"I think he's trying to find Amanda and Kate. . ."
"What?" Karen went pale. "Why would he think they would be on the moor?"
"Well, it's strange. He found some sort of map reference on a match book."
"A match book?"
"Yes. . ." Caroline opened the desk drawer and started fumbling around. "It's not here. Adam must have taken it with him."
"What did it look like? Do you remember?"
"Yes, he showed it to me. It was black and had blue writing on it. What did it say?" Caroline sat down at the desk. "I remember it was the Blue something... The Blue. . ."
". . .Moon?" Karen turned round and looked out the window.
"Yes! That's right! How did you know? Did Adam show it to you?"
"Yes. . ." Karen paused and turned round. "This is very serious; Adam could be in a lot of trouble. . . We have to go after him."
"What! But Adam said that we shouldn't!" Caroline picked up the letter and waved it at Karen.
"We would be helping him. We have to do it!" Karen frowned.
"Well if you're sure that is what he would want us to do. . .?” Caroline stood up and looked across the map. "But where do we find him? The moor stretches for miles."
"What was the map reference?"
"I don't know. Wait he put a pin in the map. It’s a green one." Caroline scanned across the pins.
"Don't worry about that, can you tack our horses up." Karen watched as Caroline walked across the yard. She picked up the telephone. ". . .Come on! Come on. . . Yes, it's me, there's a problem. You have a visitor on the way. Yes. . . That's right. I have another one here who wants to act like a hero.” She paused smiling. “No don't worry, I'll deal with her." Karen put the receiver down.
Caroline ran to the deserted tack room. She stepped inside and paused, what was she doing? Sniffing she pulled a tissue out of her pocket to wipe her eyes. "Pull yourself together girl." She told herself aloud and grabbed the tack for their horses. In her rush, she didn’t notice the envelope falling from her pocket as she stepped out of the tack room.
"I found the pin!" Karen smiled as Caroline stepped back into the office.
"Are you sure that is right?" Caroline frowned. "Are you sure you've got the right place?"
"I am sure that it is right. What are you saying?" Karen scowled. "Do you want to help Adam or not?"
"I'm sorry. . . I'm just on edge. . . You understand, I'm sure."
"Of course. . . Shall we get ready?"
"Okay! Let me just leave a note to the rest of the staff." Caroline opened the bottom drawer of the desk. "What's this?" She pulled out a newspaper. "Someone's cut a whole load of letters out of this paper?"
"Oh! Someone must be having a joke!" Karen took the paper, screwed it up and threw it into the wastepaper basket. "We should be getting ready if we want to catch up with Adam. . ." Karen held the office door open.
"Okay?" Caroline grabbed her riding hat.
"You go on. I'll be out in a moment."
Adam folded the map and put it back in his saddlebag. The place he was looking for was on the other side of the moor. He just hoped that he wasn't going to be too late.
The rest of the staff had wanted to know what was going on when Caroline and Karen had ridden off onto the moor. They galloped over the hill and into the valley on the other side. Karen slowed her horse to a trot. Caroline pulled up beside her.
"You're going a bit quickly." Caroline breathed heavily.
"We have to get going. If we hang about it might be too late for them. Could you live with that?" Karen clicked her tongue and pushed her horse into a canter. Caroline shrugged and pushed her horse on.
Caroline was wondering about Karen. She had told her that they should ride out alone and not bring along the rest of the staff. She watched as Karen cantered on in front of her, she seemed to know exactly where she was going; she hadn't looked at the map once.
Caroline sighed, she had been bullied again, she hadn't wanted to go riding across the moor to try to save Adam. Her first instinct was to call the police, let them deal with whatever was going on. Caroline was normally more apt at ducking out of trouble, back when she was at school she had been bullied constantly by the older girls, every day without fail they would steal her dinner money. That had been why she had played truant, she had started by just hanging around, but then she had started to help at a local riding school. That had been where it had started, she spent more time at the yard than at school.
She could still remember the arguments on the day that the truancy officer had arrived on their doorstep. Her parents had shouted and yelled, Caroline had sat silently in her room, listening to the argument filtering through the floor. She had been forced to go back to school, soon after she had left again and started working with horses. Caroline wiped her eyes. Perhaps she had made a mistake, but then perhaps she was happy being bullied. She had known nothing else. She pushed her horse on.
Amanda still had her arms tied above her head. She couldn't tell how long she had been tied like this because she had blacked out many hours before. They were still in the tiny stone built room; Kate was lying on the floor, her hands and ankles tightly bound. Amanda felt tears welling in the corners in her eyes. It was not for herself, she had cried tears for herself before, and it hadn't done anything for her. These tears were for Kate, she was here for a reason she would probably never understand, or know. Amanda shuddered, if they were killed, she would have condemned Kate to death.
There was no way out of this situation. No one knew where they were, including herself.
Adam rode on as fast as he could, checking the map once more. If he had everything right, there should be a small farmhouse on the other side of the next hill. He galloped up the slope until he was on the brink. He stopped his horse and dismounted, tying its reins to a small tree. Slowly he edged down through the heather until he was crouching within fifty yards of the farmhouse.
Built from the native grey granite, one storey high and slightly ramshackle. Perhaps this was the wrong place; maybe he had ridden across the moor just to find an empty farmhouse. The door opened, Adam lay flat against the ground and peered through the heather. The person went back into the building. Adam breathed a sigh of relief. There was a click, and something was pushed into the nape of his neck.
"Don't try anything stupid. Just stand up and turn around with your hands up." The voice was rasping and harsh. Adam stood up slowly and turned round. He shuddered as he saw the gun.
"Please I'm only riding here. . ." Adam pleaded. The man sneered and swung the gun towards Adam's head.
Karen dismounted. "This is it."
"This is what?" Caroline dismounted and walked to the edge of the quarry where Karen was standing.
"I'm sorry Caroline. This is where it all ends, for you at least."
"What? You're making no sense."
"Perhaps I should explain." Karen grasped Caroline's shoulders and pushed her towards the edge of the quarry. Caroline glanced behind her, below her a dizzying drop with only rock and a small clump of brambles to stop her if she went too far.
"What are you doing?" Caroline shuddered. "This isn't funny you know."
"I liked you Caroline. Don't get me wrong, if you hadn't got involved in all of this we could have got on quite well. But no. . . . You got involved. You know too much!" Karen sighed.
"What do you mean? Got involved in what? You're frightening me Karen!"
"I can't tell you Caroline, you just made a mistake. A mistake you will never know about. It’s better that way." Karen turned Caroline towards the quarry. "It's a lovely view isn't it?" Caroline gulped. "What's up Caroline? Are you afraid of heights . . .?”
"No. . ." Caroline whispered.
"I'm glad. Goodbye Caroline." Karen pushed Caroline back, she screamed flailing trying to grasp at anything to stop her fall... "Pleasant dreams. . ." Karen watched as Caroline slipped over the edge and tumbled down into the quarry below.
Karen re-mounted and galloped off across the moor
~~~