It was raining heavily by the time Daniel and Zoe returned to the field on the moors at half-past midnight and in the meantime they had given Taz a run, returned to the nearest village, found a pub in which to get a meal and phoned Zoe’s mother.
It wasn’t the easiest of conversations. They had decided not to add to Lorna’s worries the knowledge that they were, to all intents and purposes, horsenapping the mare and she was understandably somewhat confused by the turn of events and most especially the plan to bring the mare back from Wales in a borrowed trailer.
Daniel gained the impression that she would gladly have forgone the chance to recover the money her daughter had lost, if only she could permanently disentangle her from the unwelcome association with the Travellers. It said a lot for her trust in Daniel that she accepted his dubious assertion that it was probably the best course of action and he ended the call hoping against hope that her trust in him wouldn’t turn out to be badly misplaced.
Now as they slowly drove up with no lights, parked the car close to the trailers and listened to the rain drumming on the roof, Daniel shook his head slightly in renewed disbelief at what he’d allowed himself to be dragged into.
‘Come on, then,’ Zoe said.
‘I don’t know how the bloody hell we’re going to find any horses in this, let alone the right one!’ he replied, looking at the complete blackness beyond the windscreen.
‘Shane said he’d left a head collar on the mare so we should be able to pick her out quite easily.’
Daniel wished he had her confidence. In his experience, horses and ponies were flighty creatures on the whole, and the more so at night. Throw in wind and torrential rain and he could imagine all six ponies careering around the field with no intention of letting them anywhere near.
When he had quizzed Shane about the ownership of the field, the Traveller lad had replied with untroubled conscience.
‘The bloke’s got so much land, he hasn’t even noticed the ponies are there. And anyway, it’s only grass – it’ll grow back.’
‘Daniel?’ Zoe was fidgeting.
‘OK, let’s do it,’ he said. ‘There’s an old waterproof in the back. Chuck that on or you’ll get drenched.’
‘What about you?’
‘I’ll be OK. The leather’ll keep it out for a bit.’
The leather did indeed keep the rain off his upper body but it didn’t stop it running in rivulets down his neck or soaking his denim jeans to leg-hugging heaviness. He had a bush hat in the car but was pretty sure the wind would have snatched it from his head in very short order. Glancing sideways, he could just make out Zoe trudging at his side, her slight figure lost in the voluminous folds of the borrowed stock coat. They’d be lucky if they managed to get anywhere near the horses with that thing flapping wildly, he reflected.
His first inclination had been to hook the car up to the trailer ready for loading the horse once they had caught it but the downside of that was that if by any chance they were interrupted by one of the Travellers, a quick getaway hauling the trailer would be impossible. He elected to unlock the tow bar and position the car in advance but then catch the mare and hope that Zoe could hold her while he linked the tow bar and coupling.
At the field gate, Daniel took a small torch from his pocket and switched it on. The padlock was a good quality one but with the key in his hand, that presented no problems. It seemed ironic that they would take such care to lock the gate to a field to which they had no claim whatsoever. He swiftly dealt with the padlock and left the chain hanging.
‘OK. Stay close to me,’ he said, stepping out across the field. The grass had clearly not been grazed for a while and effectively soaked the lower legs of his jeans within a few strides. He wondered if the farmer had intended to get a late crop of hay off it, in which case he would have little empathy with Shane’s comment that it was only grass and would grow back. With six animals grazing it, there wouldn’t be a lot left standing to cut after a few days.
As the ground sloped away from the rise and the Travellers’ vans in the hollow, Daniel risked shining his torch across the field, his first pass illuminating not only the silver rods of rain lancing down at a forty-five-degree angle but also, by a stroke of luck, the ruby and emerald gleams of four pairs of eyes, low down among the grasses.
Zoe clutched his arm, excitedly.
‘Daniel!’
‘I see them. Have you got the rope and the carrots ready?’
‘Yes, here.’
‘Right, steady does it, then. I think it’s probably better to talk normally, rather than try to creep up quietly, what do you think?’
‘Probably …’
‘I’m surprised they could trot at all with their bellies full of this stuff,’ Daniel observed as they waded on through the soaking grass.
‘It does seem a bit risky,’ Zoe agreed. ‘They could easily get colic, I would have thought.’
As they drew closer to the grazing animals, Daniel risked shining the torch ahead again. This time, three of the four swung their heads up and one of those, he saw with relief, was wearing a head collar.
‘That’ll be her,’ he said to the girl.
‘But the one with its head down has a head collar, too,’ she responded.
‘Shit! Well, that’s torn it.’
Two of the ponies began to back away as they approached and as luck would have it, one of those was wearing a collar.
Daniel instinctively began to coo softly under his breath. ‘Give me one of those carrots,’ he said holding out his hand to Zoe.
She handed him a large carrot and he broke it, hoping the snap would be a sound that the horses would recognize. Now three of the animals held their ground, pricking their ears inquisitively at Daniel’s voice, and he moved slowly forward, still cooing.
‘It’s the one on the left,’ Zoe told him, raising her voice just enough to be heard over the wind and rain. ‘The other one’s coloured, and I know his mare isn’t.’
Daniel knew that by coloured, she meant of a broken colour, black or brown and white, piebald or skewbald, and could see, now his eyes had adjusted to the very low light, that all but two of the animals met that description. That made life easier. He transferred his attention to the pony on the left of the group, holding out the carrot as he stepped ever closer.
He was unhappily aware that for ponies in a field of long grass the meagre offering of a carrot was probably not high on their list of temptations, but surprisingly, all the ponies except one stayed where they were, two even reaching out questing muzzles as Daniel came within touching distance. He broke the carrot again, handing out pieces to the two boldest ones and suddenly they were all pushing forward demanding their share.
In the melee, Daniel managed to get a hand on the head collar of his target animal and then clipped on one of Taz’s spare leads that he’d taken with him for the purpose. With only a token pull back as she found herself caught, she followed him obediently away from the other ponies, who had now begun to pull rank and squabble upon discovering that there were no more carrots to be had.
‘Well done!’ Zoe exclaimed falling into step beside him as he headed for the gate.
‘Let’s just hope she loads OK,’ he replied.
‘At least no one’s likely to come checking on them in this weather. No one with any sense would be out in it!’
‘You’re not wrong there,’ he agreed with some feeling.
The ponies they had left behind made no effort to follow, so Daniel and Zoe had no problem negotiating the gate and, leaving Zoe to hold the mare, Daniel set to work freeing the trailer from its security lock and hitching it to the tow bar of the Mercedes. Inside, the trailer had rubber matting on the floor and a three-quarters full haynet hanging from a ring in the front.
Daniel let down the ramp and adjusting his torch so it hung like a small lantern to illuminate the interior, went back to where Zoe was waiting.
‘All ready,’ he reported. ‘Let’s try her, shall we?’
Zoe nodded, leading the pony towards the enticing shelter of the trailer, but as soon as her hooves touched the slatted slope of the ramp, the mare threw up her head and swung away, towing the girl with her.
‘You’d think she’d be glad of a chance to get out of the rain,’ Zoe remarked, bringing her round for a second try.
This time the pony jibbed before she got to the ramp, wheeling round and barging into Zoe, so that she slipped on the wet ground and almost fell. Having caught her off balance, she then towed her for several yards before Zoe recovered enough to dig her feet in and attempt to slow the animal down.
Swiftly, Daniel followed, reaching for the pony’s head collar and bringing her to a halt.
‘Let me try,’ he said.
‘Gladly,’ Zoe said, crossly. ‘She’s already stood on my toe!’
‘It might help if we knew her name. I should have asked.’
‘Oh, I did ask, it’s Juno.’
Daniel took hold of the improvised lead rein and turned the mare back towards the trailer. Instantly, she dug her feet in and would have swung away if it hadn’t been for his firm hand on the rein.
‘’S OK, Juno. Come on, girl,’ he said, soothing her, but her head was up and her ears flicking back and forth. With his free hand, Daniel scratched the still dry fur under her mane. ‘Atta girl. Come on. Come with me, little one,’ he went on and once again began the cooing sounds that had apparently calmed the ponies earlier.
After a moment, it seemed as though it was doing the trick again; Juno’s head lowered and she snuffled Daniel’s sodden leather jacket.
‘Good girl. Come with me, there’s a good lass.’
Gentle but steady pressure on the lead rein met only slight resistance before she gave in and followed him to the foot of the ramp. Here she stopped again but with a little encouragement she placed her front feet on the slope and, apparently finding it no cause for alarm, stepped forward at Daniel’s side and into the dry calm of the trailer.
‘Shall I put the back up?’ Zoe had followed them and was now standing at the bottom of the ramp.
‘Yes, please, but gently,’ he told her, tying the mare to the string from which the haynet hung. Moments later, the teenager quietly opened the small door at the front of the trailer.
‘I don’t know how you did that,’ she said softly as he bent to come out through the door, himself. ‘It was seriously impressive!’
‘I’m not really sure, myself,’ Daniel admitted. ‘It’s kind of instinctive but it seems to work.’
‘You could make a mint as a behaviourist.’
‘I’d be a fraud,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘And anyway, dogs are more my thing.’ He checked on the mare again and found her pulling at the haynet with apparent contentment, closed the door and headed forward to the car.
‘That’s not what it looked like to me,’ Zoe said as she took off the overlarge waterproof, turned it inside out and slid into the passenger seat, stowing the wet garment at her feet. ‘My feet are absolutely squelching.’
‘My feet are dry but I’m not sure these boots will ever be the same again,’ Daniel said ruefully as he eased the car forward, feeling the unaccustomed heavy pull of the trailer behind. He was only using sidelights and could barely make out the edges of the uneven stony track that would take them, eventually, back to the road. ‘I hope the old girl can cope with the extra weight,’ he said then. ‘She’s not in the first flush of youth.’
‘She won’t break down?’ Zoe sounded alarmed.
‘I sincerely hope not.’
As the track dipped, Daniel risked switching to headlights and five bumpy minutes later the Merc’s tyres found the blessed smoothness of the road and both Daniel and Zoe breathed a sigh of relief.
Ten minutes later, cruising along the main road, Daniel glanced across to his passenger and found her fast asleep with her head against the side window. He shook her arm to wake her and gave her one of Taz’s fleece blankets he’d pulled from behind the seat.
‘It’s a bit hairy but it’ll be more comfortable than glass.’
‘Thanks.’ Zoe folded it up, positioned it under her head and moments later was asleep once more.
Daniel heaved another sigh, this time of resignation, and concentrated on the road ahead. At the safe speed for towing, it was going to be a long old night.
It was, in fact, half-past five in the morning when Daniel stopped the Mercedes at the gates of Abbots Farm and got out to enter the security code for the gates. It was still raining, as it had been for the whole journey; a steady, unremitting drizzle that starred and spread every light that hit the windscreen, and Daniel’s eyes felt stretched wide with concentration. At just over halfway, they had stopped at the motorway services for a break and to give the mare some water.
Unlikely as it was that anyone would steal a horse, on a service-station forecourt at a quarter to four in the morning, Daniel had nevertheless taken no chances and he and Zoe had taken it in turns to go into the brightly lit building for coffee and loos.
Thankfully, Juno had been quiet, probably tired, Daniel thought, from having to adjust her weight and balance over so long a period. She drank gratefully from Taz’s bowl with only a momentary hesitation at the strangeness of the vessel.
Taz had been liberated for a few minutes to stretch his legs and attend his own call of nature, and caused a startled flick of the mare’s ears when he peered in the door to see where his bowl was being taken.
With sleepy eyes, Zoe stayed awake just long enough to drink coffee and eat a doughnut before dropping off again. Daniel discounted the idea of taking a nap himself, unable to relax sufficiently, even though the probability of pursuit was low.
With a strong coffee inside him, he was just about to set off once more when he caught sight of a police car cruising up and down between the rows of parked cars. As it approached his position, Daniel held his breath and prayed that it wouldn’t stop. It wasn’t that he expected them to be on the lookout for a stolen trailer – he was pretty sure the Travellers were more in the habit of sorting out their own problems – but it was more than possible, if they weren’t on other, more important business that they might notice that the trailer registration number didn’t match that of the car, and that could make things very awkward.
His prayers weren’t to be answered and his spirits sank as the police car slowed and stopped behind him. He watched in his wing mirror as one of the officers got out of the vehicle and approached the back of the trailer. A moment or two later he came down the right-hand side of the Mercedes and bent to look at Daniel through the side window.
Daniel turned towards him, eyebrows raised in query and lowered the window.
‘This your trailer, is it, sir?’
Daniel put a finger to his lips and pointed meaningfully at Zoe before opening the door and getting out of the car.
‘No, mine’s got a problem with the axle,’ he said, then, ‘Borrowed this one from a friend.’
‘Pretty late of a night to be trailing horses round the country …’
‘Yeah, well, it wasn’t supposed to be this late but it took a while to get hold of another trailer. Such a pain,’ Daniel said matching his expression to the words. ‘You offer to do a favour for a friend and everything goes wrong.’ He fervently hoped that Zoe wouldn’t wake up and inadvertently give the lie to his concocted story.
‘Your horse, is it?’
‘No. Belongs to Zoe’s mother. Polo pony. Probably the best you’ve ever seen! Turns on a sixpence and so light in the hand. Got a great career ahead of her. With a bit more training she’ll be worth a fortune! Amazing. You wouldn’t believe what people pay for them. Anyway, I was coming up this way so, naturally, I offered to pick her up. That was before I realized my trailer had a problem, of course—’
‘You need to change the registration plate,’ the officer pointed out, cutting him off. ‘The trailer and the towing vehicle should match. Where are you heading?’
‘Devon. Tavistock,’ Daniel said. ‘Sorry. With everything else that was going on, I flat forgot about the numberplate. To be honest, I was just so pleased that we’d found a trailer we could use.’
‘Yeah, well, get it sorted when you get back, before you go anywhere else with it,’ the policeman said. ‘Drive carefully.’
‘I will, and thank you,’ Daniel said, and with a final look into the trailer at the champion polo pony, the officer got into his car and it moved on.
Daniel went round to the back of the trailer, ostensibly to check on Juno, but actually watching the squad car’s progress. It seemed, however, that its occupants now had only one thing on their minds and that wasn’t Daniel or his trailer. They reached the front of the car park, found themselves a space and headed into the service-station buildings with every appearance of two men in search of much-needed refreshment.
Back in the car, Daniel found Zoe stirring. She looked sleepily at him.
‘I heard voices. Who was it?’
‘The police.’
‘What?’ Her eyes snapped open.
‘It’s OK. He wasn’t looking for us but, sod’s law, he noticed that the plate on the trailer didn’t match the car. I bent his ear with a story about the mare being a polo pony. Gave him so much detail that in the end he couldn’t wait to get away. All he really wanted was a coffee,’ he finished with a smile. ‘I was just hoping you wouldn’t wake up and say something awkward. Anyway, they’ve gone now and we should get back on the road.’
Zoe nodded and Daniel started up, easing the Merc into motion and heading back down the slip road onto the motorway once more. By the time he had rejoined the sparse flow of traffic, Zoe was asleep and he drove on through the darkness, hoping he wouldn’t encounter any more eagle-eyed traffic policemen in the last couple of hours of the journey.
Now, as he slid back into the driver’s seat and pulled the door shut, Zoe opened her eyes and blinked first at him and then at the gates, illuminated in the headlights.
‘We’re home,’ she said. ‘That didn’t take long.’
‘Went by like a flash,’ Daniel agreed drily.
‘I think I may have slept a bit.’
‘I think you may have slept a lot.’
‘We had coffee,’ she said as the gates began to swing open and Daniel eased forward. ‘And there was a policeman. I remember that.’
‘Mm. Well, that was nearly two hours ago.’
‘Seriously? God, I’m sorry. I haven’t been much help, have I?’
‘Not much you could do anyway.’
‘I could have talked to you to help pass the time.’
‘I’m used to driving and night shifts, so it wasn’t a problem. And anyway, I thought you probably needed the sleep,’ he said.
They trundled slowly down the drive towards the house and as it came into view could see lights on in some of the windows.
‘Oh, God! Mum,’ Zoe said as the reality of the homecoming settled on her. ‘This isn’t going to be easy, is it?’
‘I imagine not,’ Daniel said. ‘But I guess we need to get this little girl settled in first, so you’ll have a few minutes to prepare yourself.’
‘I could do with a few days,’ Zoe said with feeling, as the car and trailer continued past the house and down to the stable yard.
They had, in fact, only been in the yard a couple of minutes when Lorna appeared, wrapped in a waterproof coat against the persistent drizzle, but instead of commenting on either the pony Daniel had just unloaded or even Zoe’s behaviour, she clearly had other matters on her mind because her first words were of heartfelt relief.
‘Oh, Daniel. Thank God you’re back, it’s been awful!’ she exclaimed, and as she came into the lighted interior of the stable he was settling the mare into, Daniel could see that she looked even more stressed than the last time he’d seen her. She glanced around the stable and outside. ‘Where’s Zoe?’
‘I’m here.’ Zoe came out from behind Juno, her expression a strange mixture of defiance and apology.
‘Oh, Zo!’ Lorna exclaimed with a sob in her voice. She stepped forward and pulled her into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head. ‘Don’t ever do anything like that to me again!’
‘Lorna, what’s been going on? Have those men been back?’ Daniel asked sharply.
‘No, but they rang. It was horrible – so frightening! And the police …’
‘What men?’ Zoe asked.
‘The police? What did they want?’ Daniel cut in, tying the mare to a ring in the wall.
‘To tell me they’ve found Harvey’s phone,’ she said, over her daughter’s head.
‘That’s a bit odd. They’re not normally in the business of returning lost property. I wonder why they took an interest.’
‘Well, Stephen rang them about Harvey, yesterday. I told him we’d decided not to for now but he wouldn’t listen. He kept saying he might have been in an accident or something, although someone would have called us if he had, wouldn’t they? But he said the police should know, anyway, and that it would look suspicious if we didn’t report him missing. I’m sorry. You know what he’s like.’
‘It’s all right,’ Daniel said. ‘He’s probably right. It’s been a while now. You should have heard something. What did the police have to say – anything else? Where did they find the phone, did they say?’
‘Apparently some boy they picked up for something else had it but he claimed he just found it by the side of the road. I don’t think the police believed him.’
‘And about Harvey?’
‘They are going to come round and see us later this morning.’ She freed a hand from hugging Zoe and ran her fingers through her hair, pushing it off her face. ‘It’s all a nightmare.’
Zoe pulled away from her.
‘Is someone going to tell me what’s going on? What did you mean about “men” calling? What men?’
Lorna looked at her and then glanced at Daniel, as if just remembering that she had meant to keep it from her daughter.
‘Some men came looking for your dad – for Harvey,’ Daniel told her. ‘We don’t know who they are but they weren’t particularly pleasant.’
‘The other day?’ Zoe asked. ‘When Mum was upset and I found you hugging her?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Well, for God’s sake! Why didn’t you tell me what was going on?’
‘Because we don’t really know,’ her mother said. ‘And I didn’t want to worry you. I thought it must all be some horrible mistake and that Harvey would turn up and sort it out.’
‘But he hasn’t,’ Zoe stated, flatly. ‘So what now?’
‘I don’t know,’ Lorna admitted helplessly, looking at Daniel again.
‘I guess now the police are involved it’s out of our hands, really.’
‘Do we tell them about the men who’re looking for him?’
Daniel nodded.
‘If they’re watching this place they’ll know you’ve spoken to the police, so there’s nothing to be gained by keeping quiet. Anyway, Harvey’s been back for three weeks now and hasn’t been in touch so you have to think that he either isn’t intending to or he can’t, for some reason.’
‘You mean, he could be dead?’ Zoe asked flatly.
‘Oh, Zoe!’ her mother sounded shocked but Daniel felt it was more at her daughter’s bluntness than at the idea itself, which would have almost certainly occurred to her at some point.
‘I’m sorry, Mum, but it’s possible, isn’t it? It’s what we’re all thinking.’
‘It’s possible,’ Daniel agreed. ‘But it’s not the only possibility. Let’s wait and see what the police have to say, shall we? Now, can you get me some hay for our champion polo pony, here?’
‘A polo pony?’ Lorna asked, interested in spite of her anxieties.
‘Not really. Just a story I spun for an over-interested copper we met when we stopped at the service station on the way home. I gave him way more information about her imaginary prospects than he wanted. You should have seen his eyes glaze over!’
Lorna subjected the pony to a critical survey, seeing, in the glow of the stable light, a well put together chestnut mare of about fifteen hands with a deep chest, sloping shoulder and a pretty head.
‘Well, she’s a nice-looking animal,’ she said. ‘I suppose that’s something.’
‘Yes, and she seems to have a pretty good temperament. She’s been very well behaved considering she was dug out of her field in the middle of the night in a rainstorm, boxed up and carted halfway across the country!’
‘Oh, goodness! I’d almost forgotten you’d been up all night. You must be exhausted! I still don’t really understand why you didn’t wait till morning but never mind for now. I’ll get you some breakfast and then you must have a sleep. There’s a bed made up in the spare room.’
‘Well, I could do with getting my head down for an hour or two, but the sofa will be fine,’ Daniel assured her. ‘Did the police say what time they’d be coming?’
‘No, just “in the morning”,’ she said, as Zoe came back bearing a full haynet and a fresh bucket of water.
‘Should give us a couple of hours, then,’ Daniel said, glancing at his watch.
‘I’ll go and put the kettle on. Bacon and eggs OK? There’s plenty of toast.’
‘Sounds wonderful.’
Lorna paused in the stable doorway. ‘I’m afraid Stephen’s about …’
Daniel smiled.
‘Nothing’s ever perfect.’