Nothing But Lies Page 20

  ‘They won’t,’ Daniel said. ‘Trust me. There’s a show tomorrow, if Boo’s going – and she told Tami she was, when we saw her last – she’ll leave early in the horsebox. Around six, I imagine.’

  ‘Spencer likes her to keep riding. He loves the horses, too, and she said he didn’t want his illness to stop her competing. He used to go and watch but she says he tires too easily, these days. You don’t think Boo will smuggle Dennie out again in the horsebox?’

  ‘She may do, but not tomorrow, I think. If she’s going to the show, she’ll head for the M4 and turn towards Reading, not the coast. I’ll hang back till I hear from you. If she does go to the show, I wouldn’t mind having a little chat with her, maybe rattle her cage a little in the most innocent way. If I’m wrong and she heads the other way, we may have to shout for help.’

  At six fifteen the next morning, when Daniel was on his way to pick the lorry up from Natalie’s yard, he got the call from Chris. He could hear the sound of rushing traffic in the background.

  ‘You were right,’ she said, speaking loudly to counteract the background noise. ‘She’s on the M4 heading east. And Daniel – she has someone with her. I couldn’t get a good look, but I think it may have been Harrison.’

  ‘That’s unexpected. What are they playing at, I wonder?’

  ‘I don’t know, but it’s possible it’s just as simple as him going along to help with the horses. She used to have a girl who helped in the stables but I imagine that would be a bit awkward at the moment. Harrison’s not interested in the horses anymore but he was brought up with them, so maybe he’s been roped in to help. Anyway, I’ll go back and keep an eye on the house now, just in case there’s any activity there.’

  Daniel continued on his journey, and within the hour, he and Tamiko, Inga and Jahan were also on their way to Reading. He could have done without Harrison Allen being at the show. He had hoped for an opportunity for a few words with Boo on her own, but that wasn’t going to be easy with her son hanging around.

  In fact, he underestimated just how difficult it was going to be, and by lunchtime, Daniel had begun to suspect that Harrison had guessed what he was after and was actively ensuring that he didn’t have a chance to speak to her. The only time he wasn’t at his mother’s side was when she was actually riding, and halfway through the afternoon, in desperation, Daniel asked Tamiko if he could warm Babs up for her.

  ‘You want to ride her, here?’ she was taken aback.

  ‘Could I? Look I need to talk to Boo, and Harrison is sticking to her like glue. If I could just borrow Babs for five minutes I could get close to her without him breathing down our necks.’

  ‘But what is it you want with her? You can’t ask her about her husband.’ Daniel hadn’t told Jo-Ji and Tamiko the details of his meeting with Chris Haynes. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Jo-Ji, but he was afraid that if he knew more, he would feel obliged to take what he had learned to his superiors, and Daniel knew that, whoever he told, the information would find its way to DI Paxton.

  ‘I just need to talk to her about her half-brother,’ he said with a grain of truth.

  ‘Well, I suppose it will be OK,’ Tamiko said, imperfectly hiding her doubt. ‘But be careful, here Babs is not like she is at home; she is more excitable.’

  ‘I’ll be careful,’ Daniel promised. He altered the length of the stirrups, climbed aboard and trotted away to the practice ring, where Boo was circling at a walk on her grey horse. Cutting in front of another rider with an apology, he brought Babs alongside her.

  She turned to look, her face instantly registering shock and unease.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ she hissed at him, glancing around as if to locate her son. He was nowhere to be seen. ‘You’re not competing.’

  ‘I just wanted to talk.’

  ‘What about?’

  ‘Why you’ve been avoiding me all day for a start.’

  ‘Avoiding you? I hardly know you. Get over yourself! Anyway, I’ve been busy with the horses.’

  ‘Last time you made a point of talking to me. Today, every time I get near you, Harrison is somehow in the way.’

  ‘When I spoke to you last time, I was being friendly, nothing more,’ she said. ‘Now please, leave me alone. You’re not supposed to even be in here.’

  ‘What are you hiding?’ Daniel asked bluntly, and had the satisfaction of seeing tension tighten the muscles in her jaw and neck.

  ‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

  ‘I went to see Ricky Cardew.’

  Boo kicked her horse into a trot and then a canter, and Daniel followed suit, feeling Babs snatch at her bit and toss her head with excitement. They circled the practice area once but then, finding Daniel still by her side, Boo cast him a look of daggers and slowed back to a jog.

  ‘Leave me alone or I’ll call the steward,’ she hissed.

  ‘Ricky says he’s never been to your place. He says you’re not even on speaking terms.’

  ‘OK. So I lied about him. I was covering for someone else.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘What business is it of yours?’ she demanded angrily.

  ‘If Tamiko was nearly killed because of who she saw, it’s very much my business,’ he stated.

  She reined her horse in, sharply. The unease was plain to see, now.

  ‘That’s ridiculous!’

  ‘Is it?’

  Other riders grumbled at the stationary horses blocking their path but Boo didn’t seem to notice. She looked down at the grey’s mane and Daniel could almost hear her brain churning.

  ‘All right, it was my lover. Was. We’re finished. There’s nothing to tell now, and it’s certainly got nothing to do with anything that happened to Tami.’

  ‘Then why so upset by it? Why so defensive?’

  ‘Because he was married, OK? And that’s all you’re getting, so fuck off and leave me alone!’

  The collecting ring steward called Boo’s number and she rode across to the ring entrance without a backward glance.

  Aware that he’d been a lot longer than the five minutes he’d promised Tamiko, Daniel turned Babs and headed back to the lorry, almost riding down Harrison, who was standing by the entrance to the practice ring.

  ‘What were you doing in there? What were you talking about?’ he asked suspiciously.

  ‘None of your business,’ Daniel replied. He was sure their conversation would be relayed to him as soon as Boo left the ring, but he derived great satisfaction from the words, anyway.

  Dropping the mare back at the lorry with Inga, Daniel collected shades and a denim jacket from the living quarters and then turned and headed away once more. Having given the ants’ nest a vigorous stir, he wanted to be within earshot when mother and son discussed his interference.

  ‘Daniel …!’ Inga’s voice followed him and he felt guilty ignoring her, as she was no doubt finding it tricky looking after Jahan as well as helping Tamiko with the horses.

  He waved his hand. ‘Yeah, sorry. Back in a minute.’

  He knew where the Rufford Manor lorry was parked, as he had loitered within sight of it several times already that day, hoping to find Boo alone. This time, after buying a can of beer and a baseball cap on the way, he sat on the grass, leaning against the wheel of a neighbouring lorry with the peak of the cap tipped low over his shades and waited for Boo and Harrison to return.

  It wasn’t difficult to discern what the topic of their conversation had been since she’d left the ring. As they came within earshot, Boo was saying heatedly, ‘Well, what was I supposed to do? He was following me around the bloody practise ring!’

  ‘Is that all he said?’

  ‘Yes, I told you it was.’

  ‘Do you think he believed you? About the lover, I mean.’

  ‘Yes. No. I don’t know, do I? He’s not stupid. If he went to the trouble of tracking Ricky down, he’s not going to take my word for anything now, is he?’

  ‘But why did he do that? I
don’t understand why he did that in the first place.’

  ‘Because of bloody Cal, that’s why.’ They had arrived back at the horsebox now and Boo dismounted and ran her stirrups up, while Harrison stood behind her, kicking the turf with the toe of his canvas shoes. ‘If that bloody psycho had just left well enough alone, nobody would have asked any questions and we wouldn’t be in this mess. I know your father’s known him a long time, but someone needs to explain to him that this is England not South America, and you can’t just remove people who get in your way and expect to get away with it!’

  ‘For God’s sake, Mum!’ Harrison hissed, glancing around in panic. ‘Not so loud!’

  Daniel kept his head down. He was in the shade of the lorry, just on the edge of Harrison’s eyeline and hoped he would escape his notice. It appeared he had, for after a few moments’ silence, during which Boo removed her horse’s saddle, Harrison spoke again.

  ‘So what are we going to do about this Whelan bloke?’

  ‘Nothing!’ His mother rounded on him, dropping her voice until Daniel could scarcely hear it. ‘Nothing! There’s been too much done already. This has to finish now. Your father and that imbecile he brought with him must go back where they came from. It was a crazy idea to come in the first place and if he’d asked me, I would have told him so.’

  ‘He wanted to see Spencer. You can’t blame him for that.’

  ‘And that wasn’t such a great idea, was it? The whole thing was completely selfish. Spencer thought he was dead, he’d done his grieving, and now he’s grieving all over again for a father who chose to abandon him.’

  ‘It was either that or go to prison,’ Harrison said. ‘He’ll come round, given time.’

  ‘Well, he’s not going to get time, is he? I want them out. Now.’

  ‘All right, all right. Calm down. It might take a day or two to arrange. It’s not like catching a bus, is it?’

  ‘I don’t want to know the details, I just want it all to be over.’

  A phone started trilling in the cab of the lorry and Boo hurried round the side of the vehicle to retrieve it. She passed within feet of Daniel, who kept his head down, hiding his face, with the beer can on the grass beside him, hoping that if she thought about it at all, she would think he was asleep or drunk, or both.

  Under his brows, he watched as she opened the door of the cab, stepped up and leaned in to pick up her phone.

  ‘Yes? Oh, hello, Samantha. Is everything OK?’

  There was a pause as the unknown Samantha spoke and then Boo asked, with a noticeable tremor in her voice, ‘When? When did this happen? Did he say anything?’ Another pause, before she said, ‘OK. I’ll be back as quickly as I can. No, you did right. I’ll be as quick as I can. Let me know what the doctor says.’

  ‘What is it?’ Harrison had followed his mother.

  ‘It’s Spencer.’ Now Daniel could hear tears in her voice. ‘He’s gone unconscious. Samantha says he was complaining of feeling tired and wanted a drink, and when she went back with some water, he was …’ Her voice cracked. ‘Oh, God! I should have been there! I should never have left him.’

  ‘You weren’t to know.’

  ‘But he said he was tired this morning.’

  ‘He’s often tired. And anyway, he wanted you to come, he said so. It’s not your fault.’ Harrison sounded shaken, himself. He tried to put his arms round his mother but she shook him off and almost ran round to the back of the lorry, saying, ‘Not now! We must hurry. Come on. Quickly, Harry!’

  In almost frenzied haste, they loaded the grey horse, threw his saddle in through the groom’s door and within minutes the big diesel engine was fired up and with Harrison at the wheel, they were rocking and swaying away across the field towards the exit.

  Daniel uncurled from his position and stood up.

  ‘Has Boo gone?’ a voice asked. ‘They’re calling her for second place in the main ring.’

  A petite, perfectly made-up blonde girl was watching the departing horsebox with a mystified expression.

  ‘Bad news from home, I think,’ Daniel told her.

  ‘Oh, no! Her son? Poor Boo!’

  Daniel thought back over all he’d heard and could only agree.

  THIRTEEN

  On the way home, Chris contacted him with the news that while there had been no suspicious departures, Rufford Manor had been visited by several cars, among them a paramedic’s vehicle.

  ‘Looks like poor Spencer has taken a turn for the worse,’ she concluded. ‘As you probably know, Boo came back, hotfoot, mid-afternoon.’

  ‘Yes, I was there when she took the call,’ Daniel confirmed. ‘I heard quite a bit more, too. I’ll ring you when I get back.’

  ‘I feel very sorry for poor Boo,’ Tamiko said, when Daniel switched off the hands-free. ‘To know your child is dying and there is nothing you can do must be a terrible thing. What did she tell you about the half-brother, Ricky?’ she asked, remembering Daniel’s earlier conversation with Boo.

  ‘Well, she admitted it wasn’t Ricky you saw,’ Daniel told her. ‘But then, she couldn’t really do anything else once she knew I’d seen him. She said she lied because she was covering for a lover, but I’m not so sure.’ He was very conscious of Inga’s presence, and didn’t want to say too much.

  ‘She keeps a lover in her stableyard?’ Tamiko opened her eyes very wide, and Daniel laughed.

  ‘Well, I don’t know. I suppose he could have been waiting for her there because she didn’t want her family to see him.’

  ‘Other people have very odd lives,’ she observed.

  ‘You should be a copper,’ Daniel said. ‘Then you’d see just how odd!’

  Chris Haynes was quietly jubilant at Daniel’s report that their suspicions had been confirmed. He was ringing from the horsebox, which was parked in the lane outside the cottage while Inga helped Tamiko unload her horses.

  ‘Police, yet?’ Chris asked.

  ‘We’ve still only got my word for it,’ Daniel said, ‘and my word is worth less than nothing in some quarters. I think we should stick to the original plan of waiting till they run for it before we shout for help.’

  ‘I still think that’s a bit risky.’

  ‘Very,’ Daniel agreed. ‘But in my view, less risky than going through official channels. I can see us being taken in for interviews and to make statements as the bureaucratic wheels start slowly turning and they check out our credentials, too. Meanwhile a little bird tweets in Dennie Travers’ ear and he packs his red spotted handkerchief and is gone. Anyway, I think, from what Boo was saying to Harrison, they’ll be on the move pretty soon, anyway, and when they do, we’ll be right behind them, and that’s when we’ll call the police – when we’ve flushed him out into the open.’

  ‘You really don’t have a very good opinion of your old colleagues, do you?’

  ‘Just one or two in particular,’ Daniel said. ‘And I do have my reasons.’

  ‘You can tell me about it over a cup of coffee one day,’ she told him. ‘OK. If you’re sure, we’ll do it your way, and on your head be it if he sails away into the sunset before we can stop him!’

  ‘Have you anyone who you can trust to help keep an eye on the place?’ Daniel asked.

  ‘Yeah, I’ve got a mate who owes me.’

  ‘They’re the best kind.’

  ‘The thing is, Dennie could leave in almost any vehicle. Covered up in the back of a car or Land Rover, for instance. I’d never know.’

  ‘I know, but we know he won’t go without Cal, and the thing is, they don’t know we’re onto them, so Cal’s got no reason to hide. When I spoke to Boo, I asked her what she was hiding, but she’s hoping she’s covered it with this lover story. I said enough to put the wind up her, but not so much that they think I’m actually on to them. After all, if I was, wouldn’t I call the police?’

  ‘Yeah. And I’m still not convinced we shouldn’t,’ Chris put in.

  ‘If it all goes pear-shaped you can say, “I told you so”
,’ Daniel consoled her.

  ‘That’s all very well, Daniel, but I’m doing this for Stella, and I don’t want to let her down after all this time.’

  ‘And I’m doing it for Tamiko and her sister,’ he said soberly. ‘Sorry if you thought I was taking it lightly. I’m not. Look, if nothing happens in a day or two, I might have to push a bit harder but I honestly don’t think it’ll be long.’

  When he arrived back at the cottage after returning the horsebox, Inga and Samson to Natalie’s yard, he gave Jo-Ji a brief update on the day’s events.

  ‘She actually mentioned Dennie Travers by name?’ Jo-Ji asked.

  ‘She said “your father” and she was talking to Harrison Allen,’ Daniel said. ‘In fact, she said “your father and that imbecile he brought with him”, which clearly means Cal McAllum. And she mentioned South America.’

  Jo-Ji looked thoughtful. ‘It looks as though you were right, but it’s still only hearsay. I want to help you, but the problem is with Ropey on leave for another two days, I’ve more or less got to take it to Paxton because if I don’t, I’ll have some very awkward explaining to do.’

  ‘To be honest, Joey, the more I think about it, the less I think we should say anything until they actually make a move,’ Daniel told him. ‘If Chris is right and someone tipped Dennie off last time the police had him in their sights, what’s to say it won’t happen again. It’s only been a couple of years – if he had contacts then, he might still do.’

  ‘Whoa!’ Jo-Ji said. ‘That’s pretty major. I suppose there’s no prizes for guessing who your prime candidate might be?’

  Daniel shrugged. ‘He’s got previous. I know that, even if no one else will stand up and say so.’

  ‘Hey, I told you before, some of us believed you, but what could we do? No point in throwing our jobs away, too. One sacrificial lamb is enough, otherwise there wouldn’t be any good guys left!’

  ‘Yeah, sorry. But basically what I’m saying is that once Dennie makes a run for it and it’s not a matter of trying to root him out of hiding, he’s going to be far more vulnerable, and I think that’s when we should try for him. If we can get him on the move, will you be able to mobilise the troops?’