14
Rhett
Mucking out Tourmaline’s stall didn’t normally take a lot of thought or time, but Rhett was dawdling, enjoying the warm June morning. It was her favourite time of day. So peaceful and calm, and she couldn’t help but think about how much the changes to her home were creating changes within herself.
Luther banged on his stall door. His way of telling Rhett to get a move on. Out of all her horses, he lacked patience the most. Florence usually dealt with him, as he had taken to her straight away, which was unusual for him, as he wasn’t much of a fan of people.
Sunray poked her nose over towards Rhett, blowing some air from her nostrils. Rhett knew she wanted to play, as Sunray loved mornings as well. She was the smallest pony and often walked around by herself, even entering the kitchen on occasion. She never failed to make Rhett smile.
‘All right, all right, you lot. Keep your manes on.’
The horses seemed to respond by shuffling and making quiet noises.
‘Let me at least have one slow day. We’ll be busy soon enough now it’s June.’ She leaned out of Tourmaline’s stall to stroke down Sunray’s golden-brown nose.
Smokey meowed as he approached Luther, stretching up as if to say hello to the dapple-grey beast.
‘Hey, what time do you call this, lazy bones?’
The cat ignored her, curling in a ball in some scattered straw.
‘Hmm. Well, okay. You can have a slow day as well.’ Rhett stepped outside the stall to face her animal family. ‘Now, I hope you’re all ready for action. This month we have the city children visiting, tourist season officially begins, and it’s the Isle of Wight Festival, and we all know what that means.’ She raised her index finger in the air. ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. I promise, no drunks will be allowed anywhere near you.’
The memory of a group of festival goers somehow finding their way to Lucky Riding Stables after the event ended was still a mystery. The poor horses were rattled, and Rhett was livid. The police were called to remove the trespassers because they refused to leave, and all hell broke loose when Heath appeared and had to practically fight one man who tried to enter Rhett’s home.
‘Let’s hope we never have a repeat of that,’ she told Luther, who bobbed his head in response. She was pretty sure that was when his dislike towards people had kicked in.
Benton Silver was raised in a violent home, so he made sure his sons weren’t brought up thinking aggression was the answer to problems, but Rhett had seen over the years how Heath struggled in that area when having to defend himself or family. She was just glad the police turned up when they did.
‘Right, let’s get this show on the road.’ She lightly clapped her hands and frowned over at the opened double doors. ‘Has anyone seen Florence this morning?’
Luther murmured, but that was about it. Smokey was asleep, Sunray was staring out at the sunrise, Tourmaline was mooching in the paddock, and Grapefruit, Jade, Woody, and Tiny were all lazing in the field.
‘I’m late, I know, but I have news,’ said Florence, jogging with a hand in the air as she spoke. She placed her hands on her knees and took some breaths. ‘One sec. Ooh, I need to up my fitness levels.’ She straightened. ‘Shame you don’t have a swimming pool. That would help me.’
‘There’s an early morning swimming club that meet at The Old Boat Clubhouse, down the bottom of Pepper Lane. I think it’s on Wednesdays. I’ll check for you if you’re interested. Mind you, they swim in the sea.’
‘Ooh, that sounds wonderful. I’ll definitely check that out. Do you swim?’
Rhett laughed. ‘Not if I can help it.’
Florence started flapping her hands. ‘Anyway, never mind that. I have news about Dennis. That’s why I’m running late this morning. I was up to my neck in emails.’
Just the sound of his name made Rhett’s stomach flip, and not in any good way. She was all for him receiving justice, but she didn’t really want to drag him back into her life, especially now it was starting to show some positive signs for once.
Florence pulled her phone from her overalls. ‘Look at this. The journalist discovered more than he expected. Turns out Dennis is part of a small group of con artists who work together. See.’ She showed Rhett the screen. ‘They haven’t all been identified yet, but these three are wanted by the police, and they think Dennis’s real name could be Lionel Banks. He has a lot of names. Anyway—’
‘Whoa, go back.’
Florence scrolled to the picture Rhett asked to see.
Rhett widened her eyes as her mouth gaped. ‘Oh no.’
‘What is it?’
‘That woman. I know her.’
‘She’s one of his teammates, for want of a better word.’
‘She’s Heath’s ex-girlfriend. Mary-Anne.’
It didn’t take a genius to figure out the reason Dennis and Mary-Anne left town within two weeks of each other was because they were both conning the locals in Pepper Bay.
Florence dramatically slapped one hand over her gaping mouth. ‘Oh, poor Heath.’ She lowered her hand. ‘So, wait… If Dennis robbed you of your savings, what did Mary-Anne steal?’
‘Nothing, as far as I know. Heath’s not said.’
‘Well, that means one of two things. Either she didn’t find anything of value, or she didn’t have time to complete her task.’ Florence frowned, then raised her brow quickly. ‘Unless…’
‘What?’
‘What if she did take something, but he doesn’t know.’
Rhett thought about how long it took her to notice what was going on right under her nose, so it was plausible. ‘It’s probably harder to steal money from the Silvers. With me, it was just me, but with them, there are many. Benton was good with the books. He’d have noticed straight away if anything was amiss.’
Florence sat on a small bale of hay, tapping her boot. ‘Do they have anything of value less obvious than money? A Ming vase, for example.’
Rhett had to laugh. ‘Can’t say I’ve ever seen one of those on the farm.’
Florence turned back to her phone. ‘I’ll text him. Tell him to pop over.’
‘You have his number?’
‘Yes. He gave it to me. For emergencies, he said.’
Stop being silly. Everyone’s got his number. It’s no big deal.
Rhett went back to her morning chores, this time without the light skip in her step she had before news of Dennis came to light along with Heath’s number sharing.
It didn’t take long for Heath to show up. Concern filled his slightly tanned face.
‘What’s with the cryptic message?’ he asked Florence, who was sitting high up on the gate to the paddock.
‘Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean for it to come across that way,’ she replied, jumping down. ‘But we have news about Dennis.’
Heath looked at Rhett. ‘Oh?’
Rhett nodded but let Florence explain, knowing she wouldn’t skip bits or sugar-coat anything.
‘So, now you can see why we’re wondering if Mary-Anne stole something from you that you haven’t noticed yet.’
His brow lifted along with the edges of his mouth. ‘It’s been a while since they both buggered off. I think I would’ve noticed if something was missing by now.’
Florence shook her head. ‘Not necessarily. I knew a lady who used to keep her jewellery in a safe, and her gems only came out once a year for an event she held. Well, one year, they were gone. See. Just like that. Cat burglar, that was. They never caught the thief. Shame.’
Heath shrugged as he petted Tourmaline, who came over for some fuss. ‘I don’t have jewellery or a safe.’
The Silver family flashed through Rhett’s mind, one by one. ‘Come to think of it, none of his family are big on jewellery.’
Florence started to walk back to the stables. ‘I guess she got unlucky with Heath.’ She stopped, looking back over her shoulder. ‘It just seems weird she would bother with him, especially now we know she works in a scam ring.’
Rhett offered him a sympathetic smile, as she wasn’t quite sure how to react to the situation. ‘Maybe she just wanted to be near Dennis.’
Florence didn’t agree. ‘Are you sure you don’t have anything of value at yours, Heath? Something tucked away that hardly sees the light of day.’
‘No, seriously,’ he replied. ‘We’re a garden centre. We farm plants. None of us are into material things, and the most expensive thing in my house is probably the telly.’
‘Something about this seems so off,’ said Florence. ‘It’s niggling at me. Yes, I guess she could have wanted to be near Dennis, perhaps to make sure he didn’t fall in love with his target or something, but I just feel she had her own mission.’
Rhett deflated at the thought of being someone’s target.
‘Rhett, your face says you’re reliving the moment.’ Heath nodded her way. ‘I don’t think this is doing any of us any good. We need to…’ His voice trailed off.
‘What?’ asked Rhett, seeing a moment of horror wash over his face.
‘My great-grandfather’s medal,’ he mumbled. ‘I think it might be worth something. I remember reading a story once about a medal that sold for a couple of thousand.’
‘Medals can be worth a little more than that. Depends which one he was awarded,’ said Florence, nodding.
Heath met her serious gaze. ‘He was awarded the Victoria Cross during the first world war for his bravery. He was one of the first privates to receive such a medal. You can check him out online. It’s all there. The whole story of how he stayed behind with an officer to guard a railway bridge.’
Florence turned to Rhett, as Heath was deep in thought. ‘A Victoria Cross awarded to a private definitely has to be worth something.’ She quickly tapped away on her phone whilst the only noise around them came from the horses mooching.
Rhett wasn’t sure how to comfort Heath. He certainly looked as though he needed a hug, but she felt bad. If Mary-Anne stole his great-grandfather’s war medal, it was her fault. She was the one who brought Dennis home. She couldn’t look at him anymore. It was all too much.
‘Oh my God!’ Florence placed her hand over her mouth. ‘I just found one that sold at auction for over two hundred and fifty thousand pounds.’
They all looked at each other for a second before sprinting off in the direction of Fran’s house.