In the village of Oakvale-On-Roe – (028) Hospital Visitor (Part 2)

 

Tim Blake was correct and Aoife was indeed discharged the next day, and her friend and colleague Hannah Wells picked her up and drove her to her house in Nettlebridge.

The accident had occurred in mid-September during a spell of Indian Summer but it was the first week of a October when she got back to her house on a damp and dreary day and the house felt damp and unwelcoming, so the first thing she did was put the heating on while Hannah boiled the kettle and put away the bits of shopping they had picked up on the way home. 

Hannah stayed and had coffee with her and made sure she was comfortable before she left her to it.

 

Once she was on her own, beneath a blanket on the sofa in front of her large screen TV it suddenly dawned on her that she would be wearing the cast for at least another three weeks maybe even a month so that “Coffee Date” was somewhat distant.

After a half hour sulk, she decided to distract herself with chores, sitting down chores obviously, but chores, nonetheless.

She had already started the claims process with the insurance company, DC Kriszsie Verebes had provided her with a crime number for the hit and run so that helped, but they had been dragging their feet, they had received the police report, they had done the inspection, they had written off the car, but no payment had been forthcoming, so she lit a fire under them.

PC Ross Grant had very kindly gone to the police pound and recovered all her personal belongings from the car and gave them to Hannah to drop off at the house, so she went through the box, and there were a few things damaged in the crash, a camera, front and rear dash cams, a sat nav and some CD's, so she added them to the claim.

“You should have provided this information when you started the claim” an officious voice told her

“I realise that, but I’ve been in bloody hospital” she snapped

She didn’t suffer fools gladly and she was known to be feisty

“I'll add them on” the operative responded

After hanging up she opened her laptop and did some admin, online banking and paying some bills then she started looking at cars, which was tricky as she didn't really know what her budget was until the insurance was settled.

By the time she had finished it was getting dark, so she got up and drew the curtains and went to the kitchen and made another drink and took some pain killers, then half an hour later she decided she was hungry, so she ordered a pizza.

 

After she had eaten too much pizza she thought she would catch up on some of her favourite shows which she had missed while she was in hospital but after a while her mind returned to the “Coffee Date”, in the end after an evening of deliberation she finally ran out of steam and went to bed.

But when she was under the duvet she decided she should open up a text dialog with him the next day.

 

Aoife woke late following the first night in her own bed for three weeks and after awkwardly performing her ablutions and eating the leftover pizza for breakfast she sat down with a cup of coffee and composed a text, half an hour and several redrafts later she pressed send.

Tim replied almost immediately and they exchanged text messages regularly throughout October, she sometimes didn’t get prompt responses because he was working, but when they did connect, they were lengthy and informative exchanges.

Then came the day when she received her appointment at the fracture clinic, it was for November 4th.

 

In the village of Oakvale-On-Roe – (027) Hospital Visitor (Part 1)

After visiting hours were over on Willow ward, and Oliver and Kriszsie had gone Aoife had one further visitor, ER nurse Tim Blake, who had attended to her in A&E after the accident.

“Hello Aoife”

He was 34 years old, medium height, slim build with thinning straw-coloured hair and grey eyes and he popped in to see her a few times since she was admitted, he didn’t stay long, but she was grateful, and she liked him, he made her laugh.

“Hi Tim, why are you still here this late, wasn’t your shift over hours ago?”

“I’ve been visiting my sister in maternity, I’m an uncle”

“Congratulations” Aoife said

“Thank you” he said and smiled broadly

“Now I have some good news for you, but you didn’t hear it from me, but rumour has it they are discharging you tomorrow” he said in a hushed whisper

“Thank God, I miss my own bed, my wide screen TV and my wine rack” she said and laughed

“I shall miss our little chats though”

“Me too, but I’ll see you when you come in to have cast removed hopefully” he said and took a pen from his pocket and wrote his phone number on her cast

“Give me a text when you have an appointment” he said

“Perhaps we could grab a coffee if I'm working that day”

“Yes, I'd like that”

“Great, I'll say goodnight then”

“Ok, night Tim”

She was feeling quite pleased with herself after he had gone, firstly because she was going home the next day and second because he invited her for a coffee date. 

In the village of Oakvale-On-Roe – (026) Hospital Encounter

 

Tall and willowy, Senior Scenes of Crime Officer Aoife Shannon, was a fiery thirty-two-year-old red head and was admitted to St Augusta’s Hospital in Nettlefield overnight for observation following a hit and run incident where she was run off the road.

She suffered a mild concussion, a broken wrist, bruised ribs and a number of cuts and contusions, but she was still in hospital 10 days later because of an infection.

Lying in bed for so long with nothing to do did not suit her at all and she had far too much time to think, although she had plenty of visitors as she had no shortage of friends, but when she watched the other patients at visiting time they all had significant others.

She had been married for nearly 10 years when her husband betrayed her, she hadn’t been able to trust a man after that, she had been content with that, but lying in bed feeling sorry for herself, she had regrets.

 

It was Sunday afternoon when Oliver Rudd stepped into the lift at St Augusta’s Hospital, he was an unambitious vet who had found his niche as a country vet. he was a tall muscular thirty-four-year-old with auburn hair and intense eyes.

Oli was a single man despite his good looks and the effect he had on women, he desperately wanted a wife and family, but he had not met the person with which to full fill his wish.

The doors were just about to close when he heard a voice call

“Hold the lift please”

Oli reached out and hit the button to open the door

“Thank you” she said

“You’re very welcome”

The grateful woman was one of Aoife’s regular visitors, Detective Constable Krisztina Verebes who was a junior detective in DI Cutler’s squad in Nettlefield.

She was twenty-eight years old and she had only been on his team for six months and had already broken every heart in the building, male and female.

A stunningly attractive slim brunette it amazed almost everyone how she was still single, but she was a single woman, which everyone put down to her ambition to succeed when in fact she was just fussy.

She had never disclosed it to anyone, because she jealously guarded her private life, but had decided at an early age what she was looking for in a partner, but she was yet to find them, the result on the onlooker was to give her an air of the mysterious.

“Which floor?” he asked

“2nd Please, I’m visiting a friend on Willow ward” she said but didn’t know why she elaborated.

“Me too” he said “but not to see a friend”

“Oh”

“It’s my cousin, she was in a car accident a couple of weeks ago” he explained “She was run off the road”

“She’s not a fiery redhead by any chance” Kriszsie asked

“She is” he said and laughed “How do you know Aoife?”

“We work together” she replied

“Are you a CSI as well?”

“No, I’m a DC” Kriszsie said

 

They were laughing together when they walked onto Willow ward and after kissing her, Aoife said

“What a nice surprise seeing you both at the same time”

“We met in the lift” Kriszsie said

“What just the two of you?”

“Yes” she replied

“Did he ask you out?” Aoife asked

“I’m standing here you know” he said

“No, he didn’t” Kriszsie giggled

“Would you have said yes if he had?” Aoife persisted

“I might have” she replied coyly

“There you go then” Aoife said to Oliver

“Have you finished” he retorted

“Not by a long way” Aoife replied and she and Kriszsie laughed

“It’s so much fun watching him squirm”

 

After Oliver and Krisztina left Aoife’s bedside they went for a coffee on the ground floor and found out a little about each other such as the fact that she lived with her parents in Tipton while he had a cottage in Stone Bridge Lane, Oakvale, and he was a Vet and she was a Police Officer.

They also found out that they had several interests in common the chief of which was Golf.

In the village of Oakvale-On-Roe – (025) First Dates

 

Hannah Wells and Joe Macbeth spent an enjoyable 90 minutes at the Copper Kettle in Nettlefield and the time flew by, but they only covered general reminiscences, and neither of them broached the subject they most wanted to, the New Years Eve kiss.   

But what they did talk about was a date on Saturday night at the Blue Orchid though neither of them called it a date and the encounter ended without an embrace.

Ross Grant and Clare Macbeth also had plans for Saturday, the matinee performance at the Magic Lantern Cinema followed by dinner at the Boars Head, and their encounter very definitely didn’t end without an embrace.

 

As Ross Grant lived on Roeside Farm, which was on the Nettlefield side of Oakvale, it would therefore have made more sense Geographically for Clare to have picked him up on route, but as it was their first date he wanted to begin as he intended to go on and do the gentlemanly thing and pick her up, so that’s what he did.

They watched a rather mediocre movie at the Magic Lantern, but they didn’t mind as they sat in the dark holding hands.

It had been a gloriously sunny autumnal afternoon when Ross drove into the Kingfisher Shopping Mall Multistorey carpark, but when they left the Cinema, it was dark and cold, so they rushed arm in arm across the square and into the Boars Head.

 

Hannah Wells had her own flat in Nettlefield so didn’t need picking up by Clare’s younger brother Joe and at the same time Ross and Clare were crossing the square, Hannah and Joe were meeting by the fountain on the main concourse of the Mall.

There was a moment’s hesitation from both parties as they deliberated whether or not to go in for a kiss, in the end he decided he should but only managed to clumsily kiss her on the cheek.

“Well, that’s a start” she thought to herself.

 

After a very enjoyable meal at the Blue Orchid Hannah and Joe left the restaurant and shivered the moment their feet steeped onto the pavement as the temperature had dropped substantially so they wrapped up against the cold and hurried arm in arm towards the warmth of the Kingfisher.

Clare and Ross arrived at the Mall slightly ahead of the others and they were glad to get out of the cold, they had also enjoyed their dinner, and each other’s company, and were holding hands as they walked slowly towards the escalators.

 

“Isn’t that your sister up ahead with my colleague Ross?” Hannah said as they stepped through the sliding doors.

“Yes, it is” he agreed.

“I didn’t know they were a thing, did you know?”

“Yes, but it’s only been a couple of days” he said and got distracted by a display in a shop window.

“Well, it’s clearly going well” Hannah stated.

“What makes you think that?” he asked still window shopping.

“Well, because they’re snogging.”

“They are?” He said, “So they are, good for them.”

“Yes, it’s great” she said, “But can you explain something to me?”

“Sure, ask away.”

“Why aren’t we doing that?”

“That’s a very good point, well made” he said.

“So, I think we should give it a try.”

“I agree” Hannah said and immediately occupied his mouth so he couldn’t speak again.

 

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.