In the village of Oakvale-On-Roe – (024) Tearstained and Breathless

 

Despite the fact that Hannah Wells and Joe Macbeth were eager to continue where they left off on the day of the robbery but after 3 weeks it still hadn’t happened as she was snowed under at work as her colleague Aoife was on sick leave after breaking her wrist in a car accident.

So, one day early in October they had actually managed to arrange to meet for coffee in Nettlefield.

Joe hadn’t left the village very often since his mother died and he hadn’t been into Nettlefield since her estate went through probate.

 

The reason that Hannah had managed to free up some time was because the farm theft case had been solved and the gang of culprits were in custody.

It came about when a 17-year-old youth named Wayne Preston was caught following an incident where he rode a trail bike through the Kingfisher Shopping mall in Nettlefield and thanks to a member of the public, who threw a shopping basket at the rider causing him to crash into a shop display.

He was then detained by security until the police took him into custody, he wasn’t previously known to police, but when he was fingerprinted, he was a match for the break in at Macbeths.

It didn’t take long after a search of his phone and residence to start joining the dots, the phone led them to two people who were known to Police, and a search of their farm unearthed the trailer used to take the Quad away, that led to other suspects, other phones, other vehicles and other suspects, in all they made 15 arrests.

So at the same time Joe and Hannah were meeting for coffee PC Ross Grant was in Oakdale on his way to the stables to give them the good news, and he had just turned into Farmers Lane when he was flagged down by a car coming in the opposite direction, it was the Vet Oliver Rudd.

They pulled up alongside each other, and both wound down their windows.

“Hi Oli” the PC said

“Are you heading up to Macbeths?”

“I am, why is there something wrong?”

“I just had to give Clare some bad news I’m afraid” Oliver said

“I had to put down her mother’s horse”

“Oh, that’s not good” Ross said, “Is she alright?”

“Not really, and as I was leaving, she galloped off up Old Manor Lane” he said “I’m concerned about her”

“Thanks Oli”

Ross drove on up the lane but instead of going into Macbeths Yard he turned sharp left and went along the Old Manor Lane which was now little more than a muddy track, fortunately because he worked a rural beat and often encountered such lanes and tracks he drove a 4x4, but even then parts of the track were heavy going.

Because it was muddy he could clearly see fresh hoof prints ahead so he kept going as far as he could, but the Lane soon became impassable, so he stopped the car and donned his boots and set off on foot. 

 

He walked for almost half an hour and continued to follow the hoof prints and the woods either side on the path were getting thicker and thicker and darker and darker and then he saw a glimmer of light though the trees and the path was leading him towards the source of the light, which appeared to be a small clearing.

As he got closer, he could see that Clare was in the clearing, the colt was tied to a tree, and she appeared to be holding his neck and comforting him.

But as he moved a little closer, he could see she was actually sobbing against the horse’s neck which caused Ross to hesitate.

He was not well versed in comforting crying women and were it not for the fact that he had feelings for Clare he would probably, to his shame, have tiptoed away unnoticed.

So, under the circumstances slipping quietly away was not an option so he considered his next move as he looked at Clare standing beside the tethered beast, still wearing her riding hat and he was standing on her blind side.

He walked slowly across the clearing, closing the distance between them and as he got closer, he could hear the sobs accompanying her trembling shoulders.

Ross was a couple of paces from her when she suddenly became aware of his presence.

“Oh Ross” she said and threw herself into his waiting arms and buried her face in his chest, because of the height difference she only just reached his chest.

“What’s the matter Clare?” he asked although he already knew the answer.

“Come on now, don’t upset yourself, and tell me what the matter is.”

At first, she just stood stock still against him, but when she tried to tell him what was wrong it was completely incomprehensible.

“Ok don’t talk honey just cry it out” he said and ran his hands up and down her back.

All he could do was hold her and utter soothing words while she cried her tears and her whole body shook within his arms with the force of her heartbreaking weeping.

After about ten minutes when her breathing slowed and her sobs had subsided, he asked again.

“What’s the matter?”

“Aspen is dead” she said, “Mums horse is dead.”

Then she started crying again so he held her close to him again

“I know, Oliver told me” He explained.

“That’s why I came to look for you.”

“You were looking for me?” she asked quietly.

“Yes, I was worried.”

“About me?”

“Yes of course”

“I didn’t think you’d give me a second thought” she said.

“I think about you all the time” Ross said.

“All the time?” she asked in disbelief.

“Yes, all the time” he confirmed.

Clare pushed herself away from his chest and looked up at him and a smile spread across her tearstained face and then she leapt up and wrapped her arms around his neck and said.

“Me too”

She was hugging his neck tightly and didn’t ever want to let go but the next thing she knew he was sitting her on top of fallen tree.

“No don’t let me go” she begged.

“But I have to” Ross said.

“But why?” she asked desperately.

“So that I can do this” he said and kissed her trembling lips which met with no further protestations.

 

Afterwards they walked back along the path with Clare holding the reins in one hand and Ross’s great paw of a hand in the other, he with tears stains on his uniform and she with mud spattered up her jodhpurs.

When they reached his car, after the briefest of kisses, she mounted the colt and he watched her trot away on her chestnut horse, her pert mud spattered little bottom bouncing on the saddle before getting in the car and following on behind her.

He was only halfway through his shift, so he stopped at the end of the Lane he turned left and got out and waited while Clare stabled the horse.

As he had to get back on his beat and her brother Joe wasn’t back from Nettlefield, he didn’t want to leave alone so he phoned Sarah Cooper.

Sarah stabled her horse Snowflake at Macbeths, and she was friends with Clare, and she only lived around the corner.

Clare smiled at him when she emerged from the stables and walked up to him and kissed him, they were still kissing when Sarah walked into the yard.

“Well, we definitely have something to talk about” Sarah said as she held up a wine bottle.  

In the village of Oakvale-On-Roe – (023) Clerical Affairs

Reverend Toby Bishop was a short stocky thirty-four-year-old hard-working cleric, with mousy hair and brown eyes, who some might have accused of being too eager to please, but the fact was that he was dedicated to his calling and had a heart as big as the moon.

He had two distinguishing features, a sometimes-frowny countenance and protruding ears, and one overpowering weakness, Steph Baldwin.

However, he had reluctantly come to accept that she was a lost cause romantically.

 

Having had her eyes opened by Kitty and Erin she decided to go for a long walk to clear her head and get her jumbled thoughts in some kind of order, she was on a day’s leave, so she had time.

It was normally a 40-minute walk from the Shepherds Row area of the village to her cottage in the Vicarage Terrace, which were at one time Alms houses, it wasn’t a huge cottage, but she loved it.

However, that day she took a very unconventional route as her brain was not concentrating on geography, so it took longer, not that she noticed.

She was recalling every meeting, each verbal exchange, to see if there was something she’d missed that others hadn’t.

In truth it didn’t reveal anything but then she had never been very good at reading the signs.

As she turned a corner, she spotted PC Grant outside the corner shop talking to another customer, but he didn’t see her and she didn’t make herself known she just pressed on past the shop and reengaged the viewer in her head.

Then she picked up the walking pace and performed an assessment of Toby Bishop, first of all she liked the name, Toby had always been one of her favourites.

He was also a kind hardworking cleric who was well loved and respected in the parish, he was not the best-looking man in the world, with a sometimes-frowny countenance and protruding ears but his face like his demeanour had character.

A definite plus was his short stature, she was only 5 foot 2 so men tended to tower over her, the addition of four-inch heels helped but she didn’t like wearing heels and she wouldn’t need to with him.

The sound of a car horn ended the deliberations in her head, and she suddenly snapped back to reality, and realised it was getting dark, so she took a few moments to get her bearings and rushed homeward wishing she was home already.

Then as she rushed headlong round a corner she met someone coming the other way and they both ended up on their backsides on the pavement.

“I’m so sorry” she said getting quickly to her feet and proffering a hand to the prostrate figure which they took, who turned out to be the Curate.

“Nonsense” he replied, “I wasn’t looking where I was going, my mind was elsewhere”.

“Mine too” Steph said “are you ok? Are you hurt?”

“Only my pride” he replied

They dusted themselves off and there was a brief moment of awkwardness.

“Anyway” he said “Duties to perform, things to do”

“Yes” she agreed and launched herself at him and kissed to within an inch of his life

“I’m sorry but that was a thing I had to do” she said while he was still catching his breath and then she wondered if she’d gone too far

“I hope it was something you wanted to do too”

She got her answer when he gave her a dose of her own medicine.

 

When they parted company, less clumsily than the way they had come together, he went on his way because he really did have things to do and on her journey home she mused on what had been a remarkable few hours, she had gone from complete indifference towards him to not being able to wait until she saw him again, not that she would have to wait long as they were meeting for a drink that evening. 

In the village of Oakvale-On-Roe – (022) Welfare Check

 

Detective Sergeant Steph Baldwin was a five-foot two inch natural blonde and weighed no more than six stone-soaking wet, but she could wrestle a suspect twice her size to the ground without breaking a sweat.

She was on the attractive side of pretty with hypnotic green eyes that made her very alluring, and she was a genuinely placid natured girl who never allowed anything to faze her but, cross her and you would feel her wrath.

She was 32 years old, unmarried with no significant other in her life, but she was not a wall flower and had plenty of male attention, but most men didn’t measure up to her ideal, but she had hopes.

Since the murder of Dominic Mackay in August Steph made regular welfare checks on the housekeeper Kitty, who had discovered the body, and who was still living in her deceased employer’s 8-bedroom former home in the affluent Shepherds Row area of the village, Steph was born and raised in Oakvale and knew Kitty very well.

Kitty along with his secretary Erin Hope had been kept on by the estate executors, Kitty to keep the house in good order and Erin to deal with his personal and business documents.

They were to remain in post until after the trial when his estate would finally be wound up.

Sometimes she literally just popped in, but at the end of September she had a day off so she could spend longer.

When she arrived at the house Steph walked into the kitchen, she was invariably in the kitchen and found her sitting at the kitchen table and found herself feeling a little disappointment not to find the Curate Toby Bishop sitting with Kitty, he more often than not was.

“Hello Kitty” she said and kissed her “How are you doing?”

“Not too bad Steph” she replied stoically

“How is it having Erin in the house?”

“Oh fine” she replied “She’s been so nice, and so forgiving considering I accused her of murder”

“That’s good,” Steph said and smiled

She spends quite a lot of her time keeping me company in here” she explained “And I have other regular visitors”

“No Curates Egg today” she chuckled

“Oh, Steph you are cheeky, you shouldn’t tease him so, he’s a really good man, and he really likes you”

“Oh, I don’t think so” Steph rebutted

“And I think you like him” Kitty said and in response to Steph pulling a face she added “You’re like a schoolgirl knocking a boys cap off to get him to notice you”

“Nonsense” she scoffed

“Deny it all you want, but it’s obvious to everyone” she said with a chuckle “Now would you like a cuppa?”

“Thanks Kitty” Steph said “That would be lovely”

“Morning sergeant” Erin Hope said as she walked in

“Hello Erin, you can call me Steph”

“So, what have I missed?”

“Kitty was telling me that the Curate “likes” me” she said, “How ridiculous is that?”

“Oh, I agree, Toby’s soppy about you” she said

“What! not you too?”

“And you obviously like him too” Erin said

“See I told you” Kitty chipped in

“It’s a conspiracy” Steff said and laughed

 

When she left the house, she was confused, how could everyone know something that she didn’t even know herself, she was a detective for God’s sake.

She only knew Toby Bishop a little from Church, she did know that she made him feel uncomfortable and she knew she liked that, but she gave him no reason to like her. 

In the village of Oakvale-On-Roe – (021) Sideswiped

 

The day after the robbery at Macbeths Stables Scenes of Crime Officer Aoife Shannon was on her way to the station to pick up the van before attending a crime scene and had just got off the Netherfield Ring Road in her car and onto the slip road when a white van undercut her and, in the process, sideswiped her off the road.

The airbag deployed the moment the van made contact, and she closed her eyes and stamped on the brakes as her momentum carried her almost sixty yards before she came to a halt in a ditch.

She was dazed and bleeding from a head wound, and her left arm hurt like hell and then she passed out as she saw the van drive away. 

   

When the ambulance arrived at the St Augusta’s Hospital in Nettlefield, they took her straight into A & E, and she was immediately assessed before being attended to by Orthopaedic Doctor Jeanette Kenny and ER Nurse Tim Blake.

 

DC Verebes sat down next to Aoife’s bed while Tim Blake, a skinny freckly nurse with straw coloured hair stitched the cut on her scalp.

“Do you know who ran you off the road?” Detective Constable Krisztina Verebes asked, a hit and run wouldn’t normally warrant a Detective, but Aoife was one of their own, and a friend.

“Do you know who ran you off the road?” she asked

“No” She replied

“Can you describe the van?” he asked

“White”

“Make? Model?”

“Volkswagen, Caddy” she replied and winced

“Index?”

“No” she said shaking her head

“Keep still Aoife” Nurse Blake said

“I have a dash cam, forward and rear facing” she said and winced again

“The CSI’s have it already” Kriszsie responded

“And that will definitely help”

Doctor Jeanette Kenny returned at that moment

“Time to get that arm sorted” she announced and gave the DC a look

“I’ll come back this evening and get a proper statement” DC Verebes and patted her hand

“Ok” she replied with closed eyes

As the DC walked away Doctor Kenny leant in close and whispered

“She’s a dish”

“I have enough trouble getting a bloke, and even if I did play for the other team Kriszsie is well out of my league” Aoife said

“I play for that team and she’s out of my league too” she said with a chuckle and squeezed Aoife’s hand

 

Aoife had a mild concussion, a broken wrist, bruised ribs and a number of cuts and contusions so they admitted her overnight for observation, and it was upstairs on Willow ward where DC Verebes went to take her statement.

Aoife Shannon was a senior Scenes of Crime Officer and was a fiery thirty-two-year-old red head, tall and willowy who led her SOCO team by example and relied heavily on her instincts, which rarely failed her.

But laying in that hospital bed she looked pale and insignificant.

Kriszsie knew there was no significant other in her life, but she didn’t know that she had been married for nearly 10 years when her husband betrayed her, and she hadn’t been able to trust a man since.

It didn’t take long to take Aoife’s statement as she was very together and very precise, and she gave her statement it a way that made it easier for her to transcribe later it meant the interview would be over far too quickly.

When she had finished Kriszsie handed her the statement for her to sign, and after she had scrawled her Monica on the tablet she stayed and kept her company for the next hour and was still there when A&E Nurse Tim Blake looked in on her.

In the village of Oakvale-On-Roe – (020) Scene of Crime

 Hannah Wells was very excited when Aoife Shannon took the call for Macbeths stables, but then Aoife said

“Ok I’ll be there in a couple of hours”

While she watched Aoife get her kit together, she thought it was like getting a treat and then having it snatched away at the last minute.

She took a deep breath and totally out of character she somehow summoned up the courage to say, well blurt out really

“Let me do this one”

“What?” Aoife replied  

“Let me do it”

“You’ve just got back from a job, it’s my turn” she said

“But…”

“What’s in Oakdale that’s got you so forceful?” Aoife asked “Or is it someone? Come on out with it” 

 

Scenes of Crime Officer Hannah Wells was a plain emaciated looking girl, stick thin with straight shoulder length blonde hair and as she never wore make up at work she looked five years older than the twenty-six, she actually was, but she had the most stunning eyes.

She also wore masculine looking clothes to work, and the gossip in the department was that she was a lesbian, the truth however couldn’t have been further from the truth, if anyone outside of her closest circle ever saw her outside of work she would not have been recognized.

Even though her features were plain there was something about her that shone through from within and as a result of that she was never short of a date, not because she was an easy lay but because she was good company, she had in fact only had four lovers in her life, as of that moment there was no one special in her life.

But feelings had been reawakened in her that had been lying dormant for many years, until the previous month when she was last in Oakvale gathering evidence in Farmers Lane, when she saw Joe Macbeth walking down the lane.

They had been at university at the same time and were in the same  first year accommodation block, but although they socialised in the union they didn’t get together, even though they had a drunken kiss on New Years Eve and she wanted more, but after the first year they went into different rental houses and only saw one another periodically. 

He didn’t recognise her in the lane as she was wearing a paper suit and she didn’t speak to him because she was busy working, but now thanks to Aoife and some burglars she had a second chance.

 

Ross Grant was still at Macbeths when she drove up in the van

“Hi Hannah, I was expecting Aoife”

“Yes, change of plan” she replied enigmatically

“Ok come inside and I’ll show the point of entry”

They walked across the yard where Ross knocked on the door and walked in

“Joe this is….”

“Hannah Wells!” he exclaimed “As I live and breathe, I haven’t seen you since uni”

“Hello Joe” she said shyly

 

After she had seen everything, she needed to inside they stepped back into the yard

“I take it Joe was the reason for the change of plan?” He asked and she blushed

“It was for operational reasons” she rebuffed

“Of course,” he said and then Ross showed her the route from the house to the barn and the barn itself and then as they walked back to the van, he said

“There’s also some nice tyre prints about 20 yards from the gate, it looks like a trailer has gone onto the verge when they were reversing up toward the gate” he said

“Ok thanks I’ll take a look” she said

“Oh, and good luck” he called when he reached his car and she blushed again

 

When she had finished fingerprinting and making casts, Hannah got everything back in the van and removed her paper suit and overshoes, and after closing the door she pondered whether or not she should go in and say goodbye to Joe, but in the end she lost her nerve, but when she had her hand on the driver’s door handle a voice called from behind her.

“Are you all done?”

“Yes, just finished,” she replied  

“Have you got time for coffee?” Joe asked

“I think so” she replied after consulting her watch and was smiling as she followed him back into the house and spent a pleasant hour sat in the kitchen drinking coffee and reminiscing about their time at university.

But neither of them mentioned the elephant in the room, the passionate alcohol fuelled New Years Eve kiss.

They may have gotten round to it but as it was the reunion was cut short when her phone rang.

“Hannah Wells” she said “Yes I’m on my way back now, see you soon”

“Duty calls” Joe said when she had hung up

“Sorry I have another job”

“That’s a shame, I’ve enjoyed catching up” he said

“Another time maybe?”

“Yes, I’d like that” Hannah replied

“Good” he said “Perhaps we should exchange numbers”

“Good idea” she said and handed him her phone, and she smiled as he entered his number.

In the village of Oakvale-On-Roe – (019) Robbery at the Stables

 

The village of Oakvale-On-Roe is in the north of the relatively small English county of Downshire, situated between the old market Town of Nettlebridge, and their more affluent neighbour Roespring, and about a mile from the affluent Shepherds Row area of the village were  the Macbeth Stables owned and run by siblings Clare and Joe Macbeth.

Clare was the eldest at 29 and Joe was two years younger, they inherited it from their parents after their father was killed in the car crash that left their mother brain damaged and paraplegic, which occurred when they were both at university.

As soon as she graduated she took over and ran the stables while Joe completed his own course and then he joined her and they split the work, she dealt with the riders and the horses while Joe dealt with the business side, but they worked together a lot as well such as hay and feed deliveries.

She was a small, slight girl with fine shoulder length hair tied in a ponytail, blue eyes, an attractive everyday face which turned beautiful when she made an effort.   

They ran the stables together very successfully and Clare split her time between work, Church and visiting her mother at the Waterside Hospice and Perpetual Care Home in Roespring and had no time left for anything else in her life apart from riding, and although her mother had died the year before she hadn’t been in the right frame of mind since for anything other than work.

Her brother Joe was muscular and ruggedly handsome, blue eyed and blonde like his sister, and whatever free time he had he preferred to spend walking the forested hills rather than on horseback.  

They lived together in the farmhouse, an arrangement which suited them both and they both found the other easy company.

Clare was always first up and tended to the horses and when she had worked up an appetite completing her chores she would return to the house where Joe would have a cooked breakfast waiting for her.

However, one morning in September things didn’t go quite according to plan, she got her work done as usual and was heading back to the house in a timely fashion, when she saw Sarah Cooper from the village walk into the yard.

“Hi Clare” she said brightly

“Morning Sarah” she retorted “Are you coming in for coffee when you’re done?”

“Absolutely” she replied cheerily

Clare smiled as she watched her walk away to muck out and groom her horse Snowflake, she had known her for many years, and they had become good friends.

She was smiling because she had a spring in her step since she got all loved up with a Detective Inspector following the murder the month before, but her smile was soon replaced by a frown when feelings of jealousy surfaced.

“Why can’t I have that?” she said to herself before turning towards the house to console herself with a full English.  

However, when she went inside, she was shocked to find her breakfast was not on the table waiting for her and Joe wasn’t even in the kitchen.

She took her boots and coat off by the door and was just about to sit down at the table when he walked in and was on his phone

“Yes, we’re here all day” he said as he hung up

“Who was that?”

“The police” he replied

“What are the police calling you for?”

“I called them”

“Why?”

“We’ve had a break in”

“What? Where?” she exclaimed “Did they take anything?”

“They broke into the office; they got my laptop and the keys to the Quad”

“Is they Quad gone?”

“Yes,” he replied

“Thank god, now we can get a new one with the insurance” she said, “We do have insurance?”

“Of course,”

“Oh shit! What about the stuff on the laptop? the accounts, customer details, suppliers and stuff?”

“It’s all on the cloud” he replied

“Is that a good thing?”

“It’s a very good thing” he replied, “And the laptop is encrypted so it’s useless to the thief” 

“So why do we need the police?”

“We need a crime number for the insurance” he replied

“Oh ok, can I have breakfast now then”    

 

It was two hours later when PC Ross Grant drove into the Macbeths yard, he was thirty years old and was a quite shy, quiet unassuming man, very calm and a very capable officer who Detective Inspector Cutler decided have “act up” when the need arose, acting up, being a euphemistic term for a temporary promotion or secondment, to cover holiday’s, sick leave or to make up the numbers on specific operations, and his super power was that he was blessed with a very analytical mind, ideal for searching for needles in haystacks.

Unfortunately, as much as DI Cutler would have liked to make his promotion to Detective permanent but was unable to at that time which was why he was back in uniform.

He was tall and slim, standing just short of 6 foot 3 and was in his own opinion, ordinary looking with thick corn coloured hair and was more than a little nervous.

He had been up at the Stable’s back in August and interviewed Clare Macbeth to get a statement to verify Sarah Cooper’s witness account and to clarify the timings in that account and he was smitten.

As Oakvale was on his beat so to speak, he had seen her in the village, at church, in the pub, at the shops or just walking, and he had admired her from afar, but when he was actually talking to her, she took on a whole new dimension.

Ross lived at Roeside Farm with his parents and siblings on the opposite side of the village from the Macbeths and although they both attended the same church, they had only had the one interaction prior to him driving into the yard on that September morning.

 

He parked the car and walked over and knocked on the door and when it was opened, he said

“Good morning, Miss Macbeth”

“Oh, I wasn’t expecting you” she retorted

“Well, your brother phoned us earlier”

“No, I mean I didn’t expect it to be you” she explained and chuckled

She was almost a foot shorter than him, so he towered over her and she looked up at him like an expectant child, and she had him hook line and sinker, he had to fight the urge to lean down and kiss her.

But instead of taken him in his arms, he just looked down at her because she made him feel like a little boy.

The trance was broken when a voice from behind her called out

“Is that the police?”

“Yes Joe” she replied

“I’ll send him in”

“Go through” Clare said “I’ll see you later, maybe”

 

Joe showed Ross where the thief got in, the broken window, the desk where the computer was taken from and the route, they took between the house and the barn.

“Ok if you can keep away from this area and leave it exactly as it is I’ll get a SOCO out,” 

“Really! I thought you’d just give us a crime number and that would be it” Joe said

“We’ve had a spate of break ins across the north of the county so any new evidence we can gather will help us find the culprits, we might get some prints off the glass, there may even be blood or DNA” Ross said

“Will it be out of bounds for long?”

“I don’t think so, I’ll call them now”

 

After arranging for a Scenes of Crime Officer to attend later that day he took his leave and headed across the yard and out into the lane and was just checking for signs of a vehicle when he became aware of movement behind him and when he turned, he saw that it was Clare on her colt.

She was trotting along and he could see her braless breasts jiggling inside her shirt, and below her riding hat the find strands of blond hair were dancing around her shoulders.

Ross stepped to one side to watch her pass, and she slowed to a walk as she passed him and gave him a coy little smile.

“Goodbye Constable” she said as she trotted off down the lane on her chestnut horse, her shirt tucked inside her jodhpurs, her pert little bottom bouncing on the saddle, rhythmically rising and falling in synchronicity with the beast below her and he instantly felt guilty.

He shouldn’t be lusting after a victim of crime, especially when he was still on duty.

 

He thought to himself that he would definitely want to pursue her when he was out of uniform and she was out of the saddle he thought as he watched her ride away, and then she glanced over her shoulder and smiled to herself because he was still watching her and then she galloped off.