By the gate, p.1
By the Gate, page 1
part #2 of River View Series
By the Gate
River View Series, Book Two
Jeanette Taylor Ford
Copyright © Jeanette Taylor Ford 2018.
No part of this book may copied in any way except by prior consent from the author
This is a work of fiction. The characters came from my imagination and any similarity to anyone, living or dead, is entirely accidental.
My sincere thanks must go to my editor Angela, whose work was really cut out with this one!
Also my friend Lee West and to Adam Rigby for their help and advice regarding matters of the law and procedures of court and to Anthony Davis who advised me about records of cars pre-dating the DVLC
Once again, thank you to my awesome cover designer, Dave Slaney
By The Gate
Now that Spring is in the air
I wonder if you will be there
If I go along the river, and wait
At our place, by the Gate?
Now that summer is in the air,
Will we walk without a care?
And as the warmth touches my face
Will you hold me in your embrace?
Now that Autumn is in the air,
Will we still feel the love we share?
I’ll take your hand and look into your eyes
For real love we cannot disguise.
And so, as we remember the past,
When we vowed that our love would always last
In my winter, will you still wait
And look out for me, by our gate?
J.T.F.
Chapter 1
“Oh, my back!”
Elwyn Price stopped digging and straightened up with a groan. I’m definitely not as young as I used to be, he reflected. I should have got the lads to do this. He moved his head slowly round, feeling it crack, attempting to bring relief to his neck and shoulders.
The holes were for a new fence, since the old one had been destroyed in a gale and shortly he would have to move his herd outside. At present they were overwintering in his cattle sheds. The fence was to make sure his cattle were not tempted into Mrs Baxter’s garden. That young woman had been very gracious over his daughter Glynis’ cruel stupidity and had never let it get in the way of her neighbourliness. When his Mary had been ill a while back, Lucy Baxter had been really kind, making bread, pies and all sorts ‘to keep you men going’ as she said cheerfully.
Lucy was a chef and a baker and ran a business called ‘Aunt Bea’s Pantry’ that specialised in all kinds of jams and pickles. She also owned the land on which his herd grazed and several fields around her house, the remains of River View Farm. Much of it had been sold off years ago and had expanded the tiny hamlet of Sutton-on-Wye, now exalted to village status. Lucy had fallen in love with Kenny, who owned the garden centre and nursery, built on some of the land that had belonged to River View Farm. And that had been the trouble with his Glynis, he reflected. Before Lucy had come along, Glynis had been infatuated with Kenny and became jealous when Kenny started looking Lucy’s way.
Glynis had never been an easy child; he remembered how she always had to ‘get back at’ her brothers and had often been quite vicious. He wasn’t at all surprised to hear what she’d been up to in order to frighten poor Lucy, egged on by the lies and empty promises of Lucy’s ex-fiancé. He was sorry and embarrassed. At one time he feared that Lucy might decide to take the field from him. But Lucy was not like that – she wouldn’t punish him for his daughter’s misdeeds and in fact she made a special effort to befriend them.
Elwyn resumed his digging, and,thinking about Lucy, he really understood why Kenny Baxter loved her. The farmer was a taciturn man, didn’t get on all that well with people, but he understood love. When he first clapped eyes on his Mary, he thought she was the prettiest girl he’d ever seen. There had never been anyone else after that. Mary seemed to understand him and could always get him to do things that others couldn’t. It had hit him badly when she was ill. She’d caught pneumonia and had to spend time in hospital and took longer to convalesce but Lucy had done her very best to help. Oh yes, Elwyn knew why Kenny loved Lucy; she was a girl in a million.
When his spade hit something hard, it brought the man’s thoughts to an abrupt end. “Hello, what’s this?”
Upon closer inspection, his heart plopped in his chest. Sliced in half by his spade was a bone and near it, sticking out of the side of the hole, was what he was sure was a skull, a human skull.
For a few mad moments, Elwyn was tempted to ignore it, fill the hole in and dig somewhere else without letting on to anyone. However, his conscience nagged at him that this was probably a person who had gone mysteriously missing, and someone, somewhere, might need closure. Although a pleasant spot, it was definitely not somewhere a body should have been buried, with nothing to mark the spot - suspicious, of course.
Cursing under his breath, for he knew his fencing would be seriously delayed, he put his spade over his shoulder and stomped his way out of the field.
Chapter 2
Lucy Baxter hummed to herself as she went about her housework. Her little boy, John, was having a nap and she was trying to achieve as much as possible while she had the chance. John was just toddling and he kept her constantly on her toes, entertaining and keeping him out of trouble.
She had just switched on the washing machine when there was an urgent knocking on her kitchen door.
“Mr. Price!” she said, surprised to see the farmer looking agitated. “What’s the matter? Has something happened to Mary? Come on in.”
He stepped inside and took off his woolly hat.
“Thank you, I won’t come in any further because of me boots.”
Lucy glanced down at his mud-covered wellingtons and nodded.
“I hardly know how to tell you, Miss Lucy, but I was in your field digging ‘oles to put up a new fence – you know, the gales flattened the old one – and bless me in there weren’t a body in one o’ them!”
“A body? Do you mean to say you’ve found a corpse in my field?”
Lucy was wide-eyed at the thought.
“We-ell, not exactly a corpse, more a skeleton, but it’s an ‘uman skeleton, I’m sure. It shouldn’t be there, Miss Lucy, that field has never been a graveyard, to my knowledge. For generations it’s been farmland.”
“My goodness, we must inform the police. Can you put a cover over it or something? I’ll call them.”
“Yes, I’ll do that now. I’ll leave you t’ call ‘em then, shall I?”
“Absolutely. I’m sure you will hear from them shortly. I’ll do it now before John wakes up.”
Elwyn pulled his beanie back on his head and stepped outside. Lucy watched him stride away before going indoors to fetch her phone.
*****
Kenny Baxter was also busy working. He owned the garden centre and nurseries that were near to River View Farmhouse grounds, but not that close, there being a couple of fields between them. When his phone rang, he stuck his spade in the ground and pulled it out of his pocket.
“Hello, Lucy, my love, what’s up?”
When he heard what his wife had to say, he called to a man working near him.
“Joe, mate, tell my mother that something’s come up and I have to pop home? I’ll be back shortly.”
“Okay, gov. I’ll do that.” Joe downed his fork and set off for the shop where Sheila, Kenny’s mother manned the till.
Ken hurried along the river path in the direction of his home and in a few minutes he came to the field where Elwyn had been digging. He made his way over to where the hole was, now covered by a piece of wood. He lifted the plank and peered inside. Elwyn was right; he could indeed see a skeleton there, or part of one. The rest was still hidden. He replaced the wood and hurried to the farmhouse.
*****
They had to wait a while for the police; it was at least a twenty-minute drive from the city and a skeleton was not exactly an emergency. However, when Ken took them to the spot, they took a look and put the plank back.
“And who found this, sir?” The constable who seemed to be the senior of the two asked Kenny.
“Farmer Elwyn Price. The field belongs to our property but he rents it for his herd of Herefords. He was digging holes to erect a new fence. His farm is across the river; there’s a bridge a bit further past my nursery. It’s called West Bank Farm. I expect you’ll want to speak with him?”
“Yes sir. But you say this is your property?”
“My wife’s actually. She inherited it a couple of years ago from her aunt.”
“So, Mrs Baxter hasn’t been here for very long? About three years?”
“That’s right.”
“And how long did her aunt own the property?”
“Around forty years, I think, but she only lived there full time for the last few years of her life. Until then, she was caring for my wife Lucy in Lucy’s father’s home in Hereford.”
“I see.”
He snapped his notebook shut.
“We’ll go and speak to Mr Price. We may well want to see your wife at some point, sir.”
“Of course. Can I see you to your car and then I can give you directions to West Bank Farm?”
“Thank you, that would be helpful.”
The two policemen walked with Kenny back to River View Farmhouse and, after they had their directions, drove away.
“So, what are they going to do?” asked Lucy as Kenny dropped in to see her.
“They are off to see Elwyn. I expect they will be back.”
“W
“No doubt they will and then it’ll have to be sent for forensic examination.”
“It’s very odd, isn’t it?”
“It is. It must be quite old; that field has been a cow field for as long as I can remember. It’s not been used for crops during my lifetime, I’m sure of it.”
“Been there for a long time then. Poor soul, whoever it was. Do you think we will ever know who she or he was?”
“Well, they can do so much these days, what with DNA testing and all. We’ll have to wait and see.”
*****
When Kenny returned to work, he had to sort a problem for a customer and, as a consequence of that, the incident slipped his mind until the end of the day.
It was his usual practise to call in at the Nursery house to say hello and have a cup of tea with his mum, her husband Tom, who happened to be his Lucy’s father and his granddad, Joseph, who lived with them. His mum, Sheila, always left work earlier in order to get home to get the meal on or to spend time with her husband.
“So, son, what was all that about then? Why did you have to go home? Is Lucy alright?”
Sheila asked as she poured his tea.
“Yes, she’s fine.”
“Oh good…Well?”
“Well what?”
“Stop being obtuse, dear! What was the problem?”
Kenny pondered for a moment; the police had said they wanted no one to know about the skeleton until it was dug up and safely away. But, family was family and surely he could trust them to keep it to themselves?
“Well, I’m not really supposed to say, but, the thing is, when Elwyn Price was digging in the meadow to put the new fence up, he found a skeleton.”
A stunned silence followed his statement, then –
“A skeleton?” Tom was the first to recover.
“What sort of skeleton?” asked Sheila.
“A human one, Mum, or there wouldn’t be any point in calling the police, would there?”
“How did it get there?”
“Well, I have no idea, I’m sure! It must have been there a long time; it’s always been a meadow far as I know.”
“That’s right,” said Joseph. “It was a meadow when I was a lad and I’m pretty sure it was afore that.”
“Hmm, strange,” said Sheila. “What did the police say?”
“They are going to send a team over in the morning to dig it up properly. We will have to wait and see what happens after that.”
Chapter 3
Detective Inspector Dan Cooke, West Mercia Police, entered the station at Hereford the next morning after a couple of days off.
“Morning, sir,” said Sergeant Johnson at the desk.
“Morning, Bert, you okay?”
“Yes sir, just fine.”
“Will you have coffee brought to my office, please, Bert?”
“Of course, sir. Did you have a late night?”
“Oh, we have my wife’s sister staying with us and her baby kept crying in the night. Not used to it, you know. Glad to come in for some peace, tell you the truth! Can you find me some paracetamol or something? Got one heck of a headache.”
“I think I have some, sir. Mind you, coffee won’t do that any good. It’s water you need.”
“In that case, I’ll have water in my coffee. Don’t be long, there’s a good chap.”
Bert grinned behind his boss, then spied a young constable.
“Hey, Rob! Get DI Cooke a coffee, will you please, lad? And take him these.” He chucked a silvery blister-pack to the constable, who caught it deftly.
“Right away, Sarg.”
Not long later, Dan, sitting with his head in his hands, looked up as the door to his office opened and PC Rob Atkins came in with a tray bearing a mug of coffee, a bottle of water, a couple of biscuits on a plate and the tablets.
“Oh, thanks, Rob. I see the sergeant insists that I have water!”
“Yes sir. Did you hear what happened yesterday, sir?”
“No, I’m not with it yet. Enlighten me.”
“A skeleton has been found, sir.”
“Oh yes?” Dan was only mildly interested. “Where was that, then?”
“Sutton on Wye, sir.”
“Sutton on Wye?” repeated Dan “Whereabouts in Sutton on Wye?”
“In a meadow, sir, belonging to a Mrs Baxter, sir.”
Dan’s head shot up and he winced.
“Really? What’s happening about it?”
“A team is going out there today to dig it up and bring it back, sir.”
The detective hurriedly popped a couple of pills into his mouth, downed the coffee, which fortunately wasn’t as hot as it should have been and grabbed his coat from the peg on the wall.
“Find Grant and tell him to bring the car right away. I’m going out to Sutton to see what’s going on.”
The constable exited the room immediately. Dan followed at a more leisurely pace after tucking the water bottle into his pocket. Bert was right about drinking water for his headache but he hadn’t time to wait.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the body out at Sutton on Wye, Bert?”
“You were in a bit of a state, sir, I thought I’d let the tablets kick in first.”
“Oh well, I forgive you then. I’m going out there as soon as Grant comes with the car.”
“I thought you would sir, after what happened out there a couple of years ago. Seems the body has been found right in that lady’s property, sir. She seems fated, doesn’t she?”
“Looks like it. Ah, here’s Grant. See you later, Bert.”
With that, he exited through the double doors and the sergeant returned to his computer.
*****
Twenty minutes later, they pulled up outside River View Farmhouse. The kitchen door opened and Lucy appeared, looking impossibly young with her hair tied back in a pony-tail. On her hip was a small boy. A small white dog, which closely resembled a hairy hearth rug, danced around the Dan’s feet and he bent to make a fuss of her.
“Hello Clarry, I think you remember me.”
“Detective Inspector Cooke! How nice to see you again – and Detective Sergeant Grant. Come on in. Would you like something? A freshly baked scone?”
Stepping into Lucy’s kitchen was a gorgeous, aromatic experience. The smell of freshly-baked bread, mingled with that of new scones just out of the oven immediately made his mouth water. Regretfully, he shook his head.
“Sadly, no, much as I’d like to take you up on your offer, for I know your scones are wonderful. We should get out to the field and see what’s going on. I knew nothing about this until this morning, I’ve had a few days off, being visited by my sister-in-law and family. Glad to get back to work, I have to say!”
Lucy laughed; it was a delightful sound. Lucy was like a breath of fresh air. Thankfully, he felt his headache lifting; obviously the tablets were doing their work – or was it this young woman chasing away his cobwebs?
‘Now, now,’ he chastised himself. Lucy was such a nice girl, who could help but like her?
“Can you be able to show us where we should go? The team isn’t here yet, I take it?”
“No, I don’t think they are. Hang on, let me get my boots and coat on and wrap this young man up and I’ll be right with you.”
The two men watched as she stuffed her son into a padded all-in-one suit.
“What’s his name?”
“John, after his granddad,” she said in answer, smiling. She pushed little boots onto the child’s feet and set him on the floor, where he stood, eyeing his feet. The boots were green and looked like frogs; obviously the child was fascinated by them as he turned first one foot and then the other. A few moments later Lucy was zipped up in her jacket, her own wellies on and ready to go. Dan looked ruefully at his shoes.
“I have some spare boots if you two would like to borrow them? Kenny has several pairs.”
“Thanks, much appreciated.”
Once the two men were appropriately shod, the little party set out for the field. They went via the river path to the wide gate to the meadow. Although the gate itself still stood, there was a large gap beside it where the hedging had been blown down; the roots torn and broken and even large branches lay on the ground where the gale had whipped them from the trees. There had been a couple of gale-force winds that winter. Elwyn had obviously decided to erect the new fence slightly behind where the hedging had been and angle it to meet the gate.
