Free Deadfall by Lyndon Stacey Page A

he might have thought he’d imagined it, except that when she’d realised he was looking she’d flushed pink and ducked hastily down to tighten her pony’s girth.
    He hadn’t long to wait. Barely five minutes after he’d left the yard the gate opened and Cara rode out. For once, luck was on his side; she was alone.As she approached the Land-Rover he got out and stood waiting.
    After the slightest of hesitations she walked the pony all the way up to him and pulled up, looking a little defiant and very unsure of herself.
    â€˜Have you got something you want to tell me, Cara?’ Linc asked gently. ‘You know something, don’t you?’
    â€˜No! I can’t tell you . . . Mother would kill me if she found out.’
    â€˜Is there something you didn’t tell the police? Please, Cara. It’s important.’
    She fidgeted with her reins, unwilling to meet his eyes.
    â€˜I can’t tell you,’ she said again. ‘It’s not just me who’d get into trouble.’
    â€˜Do you know who did it?’
    â€˜No! It’s not that . . .’
    â€˜Think of Abby Hathaway,’ he said persuasively. ‘She’s about your age. She’s in hospital now, in a coma. If you know something that could help catch these people, you must tell.’
    Cara nudged her pony forward and Linc fell in alongside, half expecting her to push it into a trot and leave him behind. She didn’t. Her face was twisted with the difficulty of her dilemma but finally she made up her mind.
    â€˜If I tell you, you can’t tell anyone. Not a soul. Promise!’
    â€˜Cara, I can’t promise. Not if it’s important. The police should know.’
    She shook her head vehemently. ‘No! Promise or I won’t tell you.’ She shortened her reins with the obvious intention of kicking the pony on.
    Linc put out a hand and caught the rein.
    â€˜All right. I promise. Nobody will ever know you told me.’ He hoped the qualification would escape her notice and it seemed to, for after a short pause she began to talk.
    â€˜I’m seeing this boy, see. I can’t tell you his name,’ she stated with another defiant look at Linc. ‘Only Mum doesn’t like him ’cause he comes from the council estate down the road. She says they’re a rough lot, but Ricky’s different, honestly he is.’
    â€˜So he came round while she was away?’ Linc hazarded. ‘Did your dad know?’
    â€˜Of course not,’ Cara said scornfully. ‘He’d have told Mum, wouldn’t he?’
    Linc agreed that he probably would.
    â€˜Well, I met him down at the stables that night and we were sitting in the hayshed on top of the hay, talking and stuff. Only it was cold and wet, so I fetched a couple of blankets from the tackroom.’
    â€˜And turned the alarm off,’ Linc put in.
    â€˜Yeah, well, I would have turned it on again after, only these men came and I forgot.’
    â€˜The men who broke in? Did you see them?’
    Cara shook her head. ‘We were up on the hay – right at the top – when we heard them and we kept really quiet. I’d locked the door again and they forced it open, that’s what we heard, and then they started arguing when they found there wasn’t much tack in there. We couldn’t hear it all but it sounded like one of them said, “What the fuck are we going to tell old Barnaby?” That’s the word he used,’ she said defensively, colouring a little. ‘You want to know exactly, right?’
    Linc hid a smile. ‘Yes, please.’
    â€˜Well, and the other one mumbled something and then the first one says, “Well, he’ll have to know, won’t he?” And the second one says, “Are you gonna ring him then? He was running a dog tonight, so he’ll either be out celebrating or in a shitty mood.”’
    â€˜Running a dog?’ Linc