Ponies at Owls' Wood (9 page)

‘Won't they expect you to go with them?' asked Hannah.

‘I'll be ill,' said Jess, ‘I'll get a stomach ache and go to bed early. I can start looking bad during the day and try and suggest it might be catching. I can't think what else to do.'

‘Right,' said Hannah with a confidence she didn't feel, ‘we'll try that. And I'll leave home at eleven. Dad should be fast asleep by then and Talia and Liam won't notice. Should be simple!'

They laughed, but both knew that it was not a laughing matter and that it wouldn't be simple.

By the time they got back to Hannah's field it was already half past two. Grace's cake had long worn off and, as usual, Hannah was starving.

‘You'd better get back,' she said, ‘and I suppose I'd better go home. Will your gran and Cyn mention me being with you today?'

‘I should think so,' said Jess, ‘or Cyn will anyway. But he can hardly complain that I've got a friend.'

Hannah felt uneasy. ‘But if Pete sees me he'll know me from when we met in the wood,' she protested.

‘He won't see you,' said Jess with confidence.

As Jess and Bridget trotted off, Hannah took Polly into the field and led her over to the shed for a good rub down and a treat or two.

‘You've been a great pony today,' she said, ‘and I love you very, very much. Actually,' she went on, looking at Polly with a critical eye, ‘you're looking thinner too.'

She turned to where Jack was standing by the hedge.

‘Thanks to you, Jack, for helping to eat the grass. Now, both of you, please,
please
keep out of sight of the gate. And don't talk to anyone wearing lycra shorts.'

Neither pony looked worried. Polly wanted her supper and Jack was happy to have her back in the field with him again.

8

Distracting Pete

Hannah had forgotten Tom, who came out and stood by the gate.

‘You've been hours,' he complained. ‘I thought that man must have got you and put you in a box.'

‘Sorry,' said Hannah, and then she thought,
help, what shall I tell him?
She'd forgotten his very existence whilst she was with Jess, but now remembered promising him an explanation and also happily suggesting he should spend some of his day talking to Jack.

‘How did you get on with Jack?' she asked, her mind spinning as she also remembered that she hadn't consulted Jess, or even mentioned Tom to her at all.

‘We're friends, as a matter of fact,' said Tom, ‘it's lucky we weren't waiting for you for our lunch though, wasn't it?'

‘All right,' said Hannah, ‘I'm
sorry.'
She hesitated. ‘I do want to tell you about today,' she said, ‘but I need you to promise to keep quiet and not keep talking about calling the police. Really, I mean it. If you won't promise I can't tell you a thing.'

Tom looked at her with interest, his cool expression disappearing as he smiled. It crossed Hannah's mind that he was actually quite good looking.

‘I promise,' he said.

‘Well,' Hannah began, ‘first, have you got anything to eat?'

Tom sighed. ‘Why don't you come over to mine? Mum's not in, but there'll be drinks in the fridge and I think there are some crisps.'

Hannah was curious to see Tom's house. They went in the back door, and as they went Hannah decided just to tell Tom everything and hope Jess would forgive her. It would be harder to tell half a story and then have to remember which half she'd told.

The kitchen was big, and tidier than Hannah had ever seen a room before. Gleaming surfaces and stainless steel cupboards. Microwaves and shining ovens. A fridge the size of a phone box. Hannah thought of her own comfortably untidy kitchen with affection. She didn't think she'd like to live anywhere quite so clean. She realised that she'd never actually seen Tom's parents, except as shadowy and insignificant figures, driving off to work or to the shops. He seemed to have a solitary time of it.

They brought the drinks and crisps back over to the field, and sat on the verge outside.

‘Go on then,' prompted Tom.

So Hannah started from the point where she'd got Jess's note and biked over to meet her in the wood. When she came to the bit about the ponies in the shed Tom's eyes grew wide and he stared at her in horror. But when she told him of her meeting with Pete on the way back, he was angry.

‘How dare he grab you like that! That's outrageous! You wait till I meet him.'

Hannah didn't like to point out that Tom already had.

‘So we're going tomorrow night,' Hannah finished her story, ‘we'll bring them back here then call the police. They've got to believe that the horses are stolen, and don't belong to Pete. Do you want to come with us?'

‘Try and stop me!' cried Tom, ‘I'll wait for you coming up after eleven then I'll get out of my window and join you. I've climbed out before and it's a cinch. Have you had any news about your friend's pony?' he asked.

Hannah hadn't spoken to poor Charley all day, but she'd thought about her and hoped she might ring with some good news.

‘I'll ring her this evening,' she said, ‘but I know she'll contact me if she hears anything. And if I don't get home soon they're going to come looking. I'll see you in the morning, OK?'

‘No,' said Tom, ‘Mum wants me to go out with her again tomorrow. She's decided she should be doing stuff with me and has taken a few days off work – it happens every year. She'll spend most of the day on her iPhone but I'll have to go. I'll be back in loads of time though.'

‘See you tomorrow night then. Text me if there's a problem.'

Hannah had a lot on her mind as she cycled down the hill to her house. First of all, she was surprised at how Tom seemed to be changing into something like a normal human being. That was good. Then she thought about Charley and the anxiety and fear she was suffering. That was bad. Finally, she worried about the fact that she'd told Tom all about Jess and the horses, without consulting Jess at all. That was particularly bad, because it made her feel guilty. Life had become more and more complicated.

For the second day in a row Hannah was late home from the field, and she was seriously hungry in spite of Tom's crisps. She longed for some real food. Her sister met her at the door.

‘You've missed Mum ringing,' Talia said. ‘I told her you were with Polly and that that's all you ever do these days. Mum says to email her and let her know what you're up to. She can pick up messages in her hotel. And,' Talia added, ‘we'd like to know what you're up to as well. You never used to be at the field for so long.'

‘I'm not up to anything,' said Hannah. ‘Is Dad back and has he got my lock?'

‘I've no idea,' said Talia.

Hannah went into the kitchen to find her father putting an instant fish pie onto the table, which was laid with knives and forks. He'd also got some oven chips. Pleased, she sat down. Liam left the sofa for long enough to collect something to eat. He made a beeline for Hannah's plate.

‘That's mine!' she said. ‘Get off.'

‘There's something on there for you pet,' said her dad, pointing. Hannah reached back and took a package off the kitchen unit. Inside was a good sturdy padlock, a chain and two sets of keys.
At last.

‘Thanks Dad,' she said, ‘I'll put it on first thing in the morning, or,' she hesitated, ‘do you think you could run me up there tonight?'

‘Sure,' said her dad. ‘I think we'll all feel happier if we've done our best to make Polly safe. Have you spoken to Charley today?'

‘No,' said Hannah, ‘she said she'd contact me if there was any news, but I haven't heard anything. I'm going to ring her tonight anyway.'

After the meal was over and the plates stacked by the sink, Hannah and her dad were about to drive up to the field when Hannah remembered that her father had no idea about Jack. What
can
she have been thinking of, asking him to take her up the hill in the car? Even with his clueless attitude to ponies, he would surely notice there were two in the field instead of one.

She tried to sound convincing as she said, ‘Oh it's OK Dad. You sit down and have your whisky. I'd rather bike I think. It's such a nice evening.'

Her father looked surprised, but put the car keys back on the table and left her to it. Though exhausted, Hannah got her bike out yet again and set off up the hill.

She didn't see Tom when she got there, but noticed that his parents' cars were both parked outside, and a light was on in the room overlooking the field. She wondered if that was Tom's bedroom but she couldn't see anyone. She fixed the chain around the gatepost and locked the gate with relief. She was turning to go when her mobile rang. It was Jess.

‘I've got a problem Hannah,' she said. ‘Gran's fine about inviting Pete and Cyn over tomorrow night, but she said that last time they came Pete made a big thing about there not being enough booze and also that her DVDs were all rubbish. She said she'd need something to make the evening sound more interesting and also that he wouldn't just come for cake, which is all she's got. We wondered if you could get hold of some meat, then she'll cook them a proper dinner. Even if I bike down to your village tomorrow they mainly sell doughnuts and beans and washing powder in your shop don't they? No proper meat and stuff. I just wondered if you've got anything in your freezer?'

Hannah pictured her freezer, and doubted it.

‘Doesn't your gran want to know why you're asking her to have them for the evening?' she asked.

‘Not really,' said Jess, ‘she may suspect that I'm planning to come down to the village or something, to see you, and that I'm afraid Pete might stop me. She's always on my side. I often hear her say that no one should ask questions they don't want to know the answer to, so I guess it's something like that.'

‘So what do you want me to do?' asked Hannah.

‘I just need some booze,' said Jess, ‘gin or whisky, and a DVD, a horror if possible, anything with violence and murder in it. Pete's favourite is
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
but he's seen that loads. And will you look and see if you've got any steak in your freezer?'

‘Steak!' said Hannah, ‘now you
are
joking!'

‘But surely you must have that sort of thing,' said Jess, ‘you've got a family, you must have food?'

‘You've got completely the wrong idea,' replied Hannah.

The DVD wasn't a problem, as she knew that Liam kept a stack of scary films under his bed, and he'd never miss one or two if she borrowed them. But she was appalled at the thought of burgling her father's store of alcohol.

‘Please,' begged Jess, ‘if we can't get Pete out of the way it'll be hopeless. But if we can keep him in Gran's caravan until midnight, we'll be on our way. I don't think we can risk going earlier in case we meet any cars when we're leading the ponies, and once we get to your field there'll be nothing he can do. But I said I'd help Gran get stuff together. She finds it hard to get out and she doesn't drive anymore.'

‘I'll see if Tom can help,' said Hannah, and then she remembered.

‘Jess,' she said, ‘there's something I should have told you yesterday and I forgot. Don't freak, but I've told the boy who lives over from my field what we're going to do.'

‘What?'

Hannah found it difficult to explain. ‘Well, I used to think he was a pain but he's been all right lately and he's opposite the field so he knows about Jack. He even got talking to him yesterday while I was at yours. I'm positive he won't tell anyone,' she added, ‘but I'm sorry. I know I should have asked you.'

‘Whatever,' Jess said, though she sounded put out. ‘Only just don't tell anyone else, all right?'

‘I won't, honest,' said Hannah. ‘And I'm sure he'll be a help.'

‘Will you try and get some things for Gran then?' Jess asked again.

‘I'll see what I can do,' promised Hannah, ‘but don't you think we could just wait till Pete goes to sleep tomorrow night? Then we wouldn't have to involve your gran.'
And I wouldn't have to nick Dad's whisky,
she thought.

‘And what if he doesn't go to bed until 2 in the morning?' asked Jess. ‘On Friday nights he often stays up really late and he's got ears like a bat. He'll hear me creeping out for sure. I'd feel much safer if I knew he was in Gran's caravan. By the way, I went to the shed after dark last night,' she went on, ‘Pete told me to check on the chickens and while I had the chance I ran down there. The moon was bright so I didn't need a torch. I want the mares to get to know me, so they'll come quietly tomorrow. Those foals are really thin. I let them all off their ropes and gave them some fresh water. Pete gets mad when he knows I've been there but he doesn't care enough to make a really big fuss, so long as I keep my mouth shut.'