A Country Affair (12 page)

“You’re right there, Phil.”

“You couldn’t speak up for me, could you?”

“As a friend, there’s nothing I would like better, but honestly, I have told you before about your lack of hygiene and I’m afraid that on that basis I would have to be truthful. I couldn’t support your selling milk.”

“Ah, well. I understand. It’s only right. But I know it’s good milk. I’ve got proof. There was a baby in the village not thriving, premature she was, and the doctors couldn’t find a remedy for her. She was sinking, slowly I admit, but sinking. Her mother started giving her milk from my cows, in desperation I’ll grant you that, and the blessed little thing began to put weight on and now she’s running about like a good ’un. What better testimonial can you have than that?”

Scott shook his head. “None.”

“It doesn’t make sense. I’ll be off. Where’s my billhook? That sparky young lass took it off me. She’s a grand girl, she is. Spirit she’s got, that’s what I like in a woman. Spirit. Same as my Blossom.”

Mr. Parsons took the billhook from Kate and gave her a wink—well, she thought he gave her a wink; it was difficult to tell.

“Bye-bye, Mr. Parsons. Nice to have met you.”

“And you. At least I’ve livened up your morning.”

“You have indeed.”

Mr. Parsons wagged a finger at her. “You could do worse than that Aussie. He’s a grand chap.”

The big outer doors were shut this morning because of the cold and they all waited until he’d closed them behind him before they began to laugh. The laughter ripped through the reception area like a whirlwind, swirling and twirling back and forth, bubbling and frothing, clearing away the panic and the fear. Joy had to wipe her eyes and Stephie was taking great gulps of her coffee to help her pull herself together. “I have never witnessed anything like that before. Heck! Was I frightened! And you, Kate! You were so brave.”

Joy agreed. “She most certainly was. I don’t know how you dared to speak to him like that.”

Suddenly Kate had gone weak at the knees and had to grip the edge of the desk to keep herself up. “Neither do I. I feel very odd.”

Scott moved a chair up behind her and pushed her down on to it. “You’re a heroine, that’s what.”

Graham and Rhodri sheepishly retreated into their consulting rooms, feeling less than manly at having allowed a mere female to take command.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” Kate rushed out through the back. Scott suggested he follow her but Joy shook her head. “I’ll go in a minute. Leave her alone for now.” She went out from behind the desk to speak to the waiting clients. “Sorry about that. Everyone feeling all right?” She spoke to each in turn, offering them coffee or tea if anyone needed reviving. “It was a nasty shock for us all. I’ll gladly get you something if you would like me to.”

“He needs locking up. The thumping big idiot. Scaring the living daylights out of us! He’s always been a bit cracked, even at school. Poor Scott. You all right, are you, Scott? You’ve Kate to thank. She didn’t half stand up to him.”

“She did. You should take her out tonight for a slap-up meal, to thank her.”

“All in favor?”

They all voted in favor and Scott declared he had no alternative, but dare he take her out? Was he a match for such a tough sheila?

An elderly client, clutching a cage with a sad, almost featherless canary in it, suggested he could take her instead if he liked, if Kate was too much for him.

The clients were still roaring with laughter when Graham Murgatroyd opened his door and called for his next appointment. The elderly client with the canary stood up saying, “Another offer coming in. What it is to be in demand! Where are you taking me tonight, then, Graham?”

“I beg your pardon?”

They all laughed again.

“As I say, it’s better than the theater coming here. You should sell tickets, Joy.”

But Joy had gone to check on Kate.

Chapter
8

T
here were words on the screen and she hadn’t put them there. Kate leaped from her chair in fear. How could they possibly be there when she hadn’t typed them in? She took a sideways look at the screen, too afraid to look straight at it.

TUESDAY. YOU’VE FORGOTTEN YOU’RE MY GIRL. I’LL PICK YOU UP WHEN YOU FINISH AT SEVEN. SEE YOU! DON’T BE LATE!

Kate paced up and down her tiny office. Back and forth. Back and forth. It wasn’t Scott playing the fool, she knew that, because he called her his “sweet one,” never using that controlling phrase “my girl,” and he wouldn’t do that kind of thing anyway, not Scott. Oh God! How had it got there? She hadn’t seen Adam for weeks now, not since they’d met by accident at the mall. Goose bumps broke out all over her skin. Was it a coincidence that they’d met or had he been . . . ?

The door opened and the handle hit Kate in her back.

It was Joy. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t expect you to be standing behind the door. I’ve found the printouts from last year you wanted . . . Why, Kate, whatever’s the matter? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

Kate tucked her trembling hands into her armpits so Joy couldn’t see how upset she was. “I don’t feel very well.”

“I can see that. Look, sit down. These figures can wait awhile. I’ll get you a glass of water; stay there.”

Joy held the glass out for Kate and she managed to stop shaking long enough to take a sip.

“Go on, take another. It always works and I don’t know why.”

“Thank you.”

“Do you feel faint?”

“Not really.”

“Then how do you feel?”

Kate looked up and wondered whether or not to tell. It was stupid. She’d got this whole thing totally out of proportion. How could Adam have put that on her computer? He had no access to it unless . . .

“Would you like to go home?”

Kate answered even before Joy had finished speaking: “No, thanks. I’d rather stay here. Dad’s working and Mia’s gone to an exhibition today, so there’s no one at home. I’ll be all right in a minute. Thank you.” Kate tried half a smile but it didn’t emerge properly.

Joy propped herself against the desk. “You’re as white as the proverbial sheet. If you were to ask me, I’d say you were frightened. Or you’ve had a shock.”

Kate shook her head. “Neither. Must be flu starting or something.”

“Come on, Kate, I’m not a fool. I’m not being nosey; I just want to help.”

“I know and I’m grateful. Please, I’m feeling better now. Thanks for the water.”

“Very well. But I’m here to help, you know. Anytime.”

“Thank you.”

“Give me a shout. I’ll be on the desk if you need me. I don’t want to come across you in a dead faint over the keyboard, you know, so don’t hesitate.”

“I’ll shout if I need you.”

“Good. I’ll leave the door open in case.” Joy kicked the doorstop into place, gave her a generous smile and left Kate to her fears.

Tuesday. You’ve forgotten you’re my girl. I’ll pick you up when you finish at seven. See you! Don’t be late!
She hadn’t imagined it. It was still there. Somehow he’d got in and done this when no one was about. There was too much going on all day for him to have done it when the hospital was open. So it had happened between about eight o’clock in the evening and eight o’clock in the morning. Occasionally a vet could be doing an emergency operation during the night if there’d been a road accident or something, but that was rare, very rare, so his chances of being observed during those hours were slim. Had he a key? That was unlikely too. Joy had a key, and Mungo Price and Miriam had keys, but no one else.

She had to delete it. But before she did, she’d print it out. It rolled out of the printer with her figures in the top half and Adam’s words below typed in capitals and bold print so there would be no missing it. He’d been in here, sat in this chair, her chair, and done it. She’d left it with the screen saver on last night, so he’d known exactly where she’d last worked on the accounts and that she would see it immediately, simply by touching the mouse and clearing the saver. Well, there was one thing for certain: She wouldn’t leave it switched on again. Never. But this wasn’t the end of it, was it? The clock wouldn’t stop ticking just because she’d swiped the screen clear of his words, would it? It would be seven o’clock at seven o’clock as sure as night followed day, wouldn’t it? And he’d be there, waiting.

The memory of his hand tightening on her wrist, the grasping hand on her knee, the smell of onion on his breath . . . Her heart began racing as it had that night when she’d run like hell for the string of lights in Sainsbury’s car park.

Adam’s physical presence loomed in her mind so vividly that he could have been in the room with her. The comforting sound of Joy sympathizing with a client brought Kate to her senses. She’d been famous at school for her common sense and it asserted itself now. She was being completely ridiculous. Adam had something better to do than run about in the night gaining entrance to the office and typing threatening messages on her computer. After all, as he so frequently had said, he needed his sleep with the important job he held. She could hear him saying, “I’ve a big week on this week, got to get some early nights.” Of course Adam, with his rigid timetable, his everything-by-the-book attitude toward life, wouldn’t be tramping about in the night, would he? His mother would have something to say if he did. Kate laughed at herself. Hell’s bells, she could be stupid, she could! She took the sheet of paper from the printer, folded it and put it in her bag.

She pressed the delete key and got on with her work. But somehow Adam’s face kept coming between her and the screen. At one o’clock she should have gone home and then come back at four, but she didn’t. She should have gone out to buy lunch but instead she asked Stephie to bring her something back. Her excuse was catching up on the accounts, but it was all fabricated nonsense so that she didn’t have to leave the safety of the practice. Still, she had not resolved the question of what to do at seven. Inexorably the clock ticked on, and even though the evening surgery was very busy, the problem of Adam was ever present in her mind. Kate knew she musn’t go out to the car park alone if his car was there. Then a thought occurred to her. “Scott’s late back, isn’t he, Joy?”

“Yes. Up to something, I suppose. He is such a naughty boy.”

“Naughty he might be, but you like him.”

“Oh yes! Such fun so long as you don’t take him seriously.” She looked curiously at Kate. “Feeling better?”

It was on the tip of her tongue to confide her problem to Joy when Scott burst through the back door calling, “Hi! Here comes the golden boy.”

Joy and Kate burst out laughing. Joy spoke first. “Honestly, Scott! What are we going to do with you? Golden boy indeed.”

“I am! I slave day in day out. I do more nights than anyone else for a start and I get all the rotten jobs, like Applegate Farm
again
.”

“It was Sunny Boy, wasn’t it, this time?”

“Sunny Boy. Yes. My God, a bull and a half! Why he keeps a bull I’ll never know. A.I. would be much easier and cheaper than feeding that monster. He’s like putty in Phil Parsons’s hands, I swear, meek as a lamb, he is. One look at me, though, and his hooves are scraping the ground and his eyes are rolling. I tell you he’ll be the death of me one day, he will.”

Kate asked what his problem was.

“Infected foot,
again.
But you try getting a peek at it. Oh, mate! He’s dynamite.” He pulled up his trouser leg and showed them a huge, sickening bruise developing on his leg where Sunny Boy had kicked him. “Wonder he didn’t crack my shin.”

“Did you get a peek?”

“I did.” Scott bowed elegantly, hoping for applause. “Any chance of Kate going early?” Ignoring the fact there were three clients still waiting their turn he added, “It’s a quarter to and the place is empty.”

Joy caught Kate’s eye and raised an eyebrow. She nodded and Joy said, “Just this once, and because it’s you asking, she can go. She deserves to go, she’s been working since eight this morning. I’ll finish here.”

Kate said, “Thanks. I do appreciate it.”

Her relief at having someone to leave with was immense but short lived, because when they went out of the back door into the car park, there was Adam, sitting waiting. But what shocked Kate more than anything was that he’d changed his car; it was no longer that nauseating purple thing but a slimy kind of diarrhea color, one even more decrepit than his last. So he could have been following her and she’d never realized.

“What the merry hell is he doing waiting? Have you promised to go out with him?” One glance at her face and the panic registered there and Scott had his answer. “The sod!” He made to go across to him.

“Scott, don’t aggravate him, please, for my sake.” He picked up on her fear and stopped in his tracks. “Get in your car and lock the doors, then set off for home and I’ll follow, and for God’s sake keep control of yourself. I don’t fancy facing Mia if her little joy has been involved in a road accident. Take care.”

The journey home was a nightmare. There’d been an accident with a lorry carrying timber, which had caused it to shed its load across the road so the traffic had to be diverted, and the major road works close to home slowed her down so much that by the time she reached the house, only a very small part of her brain was controlling her driving and the rest was in complete terror. Scott had stayed stuck to her tail the whole time, twice going through the lights at red so as not to lose her. She’d no idea if Adam had followed them, but if he had, her father and Scott together would deal with him and she could get to Mia and safety.

Scott was parked and out of his car by the time she’d picked up her things and unlocked her door. “Come on. He gave up following us at the diversion. When we get inside, you can tell your dad all about it.” He locked her car for her, took a grip on her elbow and led her up the path.

Kate flung her things down on the chair in the hall and called out, “I’ve brought someone home!”

Mia came into the hall from the kitchen. “Oh, hello! It’s Scott, isn’t it? Do come through into the back.”

“If it’s not an intrusion.”

“Not at all. Have you eaten?”

“Not had a bite since breakfast.”

Mia was horrified. “That’s disgraceful; you’re neglecting yourself. You’ll eat with us.” Having got over her surprise at seeing Scott, Mia looked properly at Kate. “Kate! You look dreadful. What’s the matter?”

“Nothing at all. Really. It’s me being daft.”

Mia gave her a hug and said, “We’ll eat first, then you can tell me. It’s soup and salad tonight, Scott, because I’ve been out most of the day. Will that do?”

“Of course; it sounds great.”

Mia called upstairs, “Gerry! We’ve got company. Scott’s arrived, from the practice. Come on down and open a beer for him.” They heard Gerry’s muffled voice call a cheerful “OK” from the attic and in a moment his feet pounding down the stairs.

Mia confided to Scott, “He keeps his train set up there.”

Gerry shook hands with Scott, pumping his hand up and down with great energy. “Good to see you, Scott. What a pleasure. Kate, love.” He offered her his cheek for a kiss and said, “Not got 4X, Scott. Will John Smith’s do or would a lager fit the bill better?”

“A John Smith’s, please. Mia says you have a train set upstairs.”

Gerry’s face lit up. “I have indeed. Are you an enthusiast?”

“No. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to see it.”

“Have we time, Mia?”

“No.”

“Let’s sit down, then, and we’ll have a go afterward. You’ll have a surprise.” Mia laid an extra place and got the glasses for their beer, keeping an eye on Kate at the same time, for she knew things weren’t right, but it wasn’t until Scott sat back after he’d rounded off his meal with two slices of Mia’s apple pie that she spoke up. “Well, then, Kate. You’ve not eaten much and you’ve said even less and I’d like to know, and I’m quite sure Gerry does, what the matter is.”

Both Gerry and Mia gave audible gasps of astonishment when Kate told them about the message on her computer. When she added that Adam was there waiting for her when she and Scott went out to their cars, Gerry said, “That’s it. That is it. He has finally overstepped the mark. Gerry Howard can take so much and then
finito
!” He banged his clenched fist on the table and made the cups jump. “I can’t believe it of him. He’s sat here and eaten meal after meal at our table, been a guest in our house and this is what he does. You were right, our Kate, to say he wasn’t for you, absolutely damn right.”

Mia said in a quieter than usual voice, “I’m not very clever where computers are concerned, but how did he get a message on to yours? How did he do it? I mean, did he have to touch the keyboard to do it?”

Kate nodded.

“You mean he gained entry to the building, sat in your chair and then typed it?”

Scott answered her question with a nod, adding for good measure, “I’ve always said he’s a nutter.”

Gerry applauded his assessment. “You’re damned right. I never suspected that side of him, did I, Mia?”

“You did not, Gerry. Question is, what shall we do about it?”

Scott snorted his anger at Adam’s behavior and suggested, “Beat him up?”

Gerry opened his mouth to agree with him, but Mia got in first. “I find it hard to believe that Adam is behaving like this; it is so out of character. I mean, what was he doing in the mall on the day you bumped into him if he has that promotion? There’s no way he would step so far out of line as to be missing from work. Has he actually
said
he’s got the job?”

Kate thought for a moment and recalled his words. “It was me who said, ‘You’ve got the job,’ and he agreed with me; he answered, ‘You said it.’”

Scott nodded. “That’s right; I was there. He didn’t actually
say
he’d got the job.”

“There you are, then. There’s one thing about Adam, he never lies.”

“But that doesn’t mean he didn’t stay put in the job he already had, does it? I mean, he must still be working. He’s certainly spoken about his job as though he is,” Kate said.