“All right you two,” Yvonne said as she called up the stairs, “Dinner will be ready in ten minutes.”
“Thanks mum,” she heard both Charlie and Louise call down as she smiled, and went back into the kitchen, looking to the side door as Mark Williamson came back in.
“Hey there,” he said as he kissed his wife on the cheek, “how was the school today?”
“Busy as always,” Yvonne said with a smile, “and the finance world?”
“Can do without me this weekend, that is for certain,” Mark said as he took the freshly made mug of coffee. “I need some down time, pursuing my own thing.”
“Yeah, I can imagine,” Yvonne said with a smile. “Want to tell me what you’re thinking of doing when the kids go to bed?”
Mark nodded as he said “First things first – changed, and then homework help...”
“Good night Dad,” Charlie said as Mark hugged him and Lisa, watching as his wife took them up the stairs. Heading into the kitchen, he took a file from his briefcase, and spread out a number of photos on the table.
“So,” Yvonne said as she came in and opened a bottle of Rioja, pouring some into two glasses, “who are you looking at?”
“This,” Mark said as he pointed to a picture of a tall, grey haired man in a Saville Row suit, “is Edgar de Winters.”
“The barrister?”
“Indeed – but he has a considerable fortune of his own, and has access to several business accounts.”
“Okay – on an ordinary day, that makes him interesting,” Yvonne said as she sipped her wine, “but why did Brian call about him?”
“Because,” Mark said, “some of the clients he represents are persons of interest. So the task from him is to slip some monitoring software into his legal offices. Of course, it means we use that to get some money...”
“Okay,” Yvonne said, “so the family?”
“Wife and two daughters,” Mark said as he showed her the family portrait. “Helena is in her late forties, but looks younger, while Portia is thirteen and Electra ten. They live at a working stable with a live-in au pair, Helga, and Helena’s mother, Olivia.”
“And we are going to visit, at a working stable, on a Saturday?”
“Well, if our research is right, at the weekend it is only family and friends – so we go prepared for surprises, and use all the facilities they have.”
“Good thing the kids are at your mother’s this weekend then – no chance of them getting involved.”
“Any of them – after the last few times, I’ve made doubly sure none of them are going to be there...”
“Okay – so when do we meet the others?”
“Eleven on Saturday morning – at the usual pickup point...”
“Helga? Are you in the kitchen?”
“Yes,” the young Swede said as she stood at the sink, washing the breakfast dishes. She was wearing a white long sleeved top, blue leggings with a red floral print, and brown knee length leather boots, her long blonde hair falling over the shoulders.
She turned and smiled as Electra de Winters came in, wearing a yellow long sleeved top with a picture of a horse and cat on the front, brown leggings and mid-calf black leather boots. A white Alice band held her light brown hair back.
“Have your friends arrived yet,” Helga said as she dried her hands.
“That will be them now,” Electra said as a jeep pulled up outside, and two more ten year old girls got out. One wore a long sleeved pale blue top with a picture of horses on it, taupe leggings and short black boots like Electra, a band holding her dark hair away from her face. The second girl had a Stetson on, and wore a white t-shirt over a long sleeved purple top – again with a picture of horses on the t-shirt – black leggings and knee length black riding boots.
“There you are Annie,” Electra said as he hugged the dark skinned girl, “and you Bobby.”
The girl with the Stetson smiled as she said “so can we go and see the horses?”
“On you go,” Helga said, “just be back in here for lunch. Your sister and grandmother will be back just after that.”
“We’ll be back,” Electra said as the three girls left the kitchen, and went across the courtyard to the stables. Helga smiled as she dried the last of the dishes and put them away, before hanging the dishcloth up.
Hearing the front doorbell, she walked down the corridor, looking at the blurred figures through the frosted glass in the front door itself. “Must be a delivery,” she thought to herself as she opened the door, and said “yes, now may I...”
“Not a word lass,” the man said as he pushed Helga back in, his gloved hand covering her mouth as she looked at him. He was wearing a dark boiler suit, with a black balaclava covering his head, so that she could only see his blue eyes and his mouth. As she watched, six more people came in – five men and a woman – all dressed the same way, with gloved hands.
As the woman closed the door, the man said in a soft North of England accent “now, remain calm, do not panic – so long as you do as we say, nobody is going to get hurt, and everybody gets to have a very special Saturday. Do you understand?”
“Ysss,” Helga said as she nodded.
“Good – first things first. We know everyone except young Electra is out at the moment. Where is she?”
“Shhhssmfrndsshrrtseehrss?”
“If I remove my hand, will you talk quietly?”
Helga slowly nodded, as the man removed his hand. “All right – my name is Jay Edwards, and I and my friends are going to be staying here for a while. Do as we say, and nobody gets hurt. You said Electra has some friends here?”
“Yes,” Helga whispered, “Annie and Bobby. They went to see the horses...”
“Good – Mrs McPhee, take one of the other associates and make sure the girls understand what is going to happen today.”
“Nae problem,” the woman said in a Scottish accent as she and a second man, carrying a bag, went through the house.
“Now,” Jay said as he looked at Helga and smiled, “we need to make sure you cannot spoil the surprise for anyone else. Shall we make you comfortable?”
“She’s a real beauty,” Bobby said as she stroked the nose of the smaller horse.
“Yeah – Mum and Dad say I may get to ride her soon,” Electra said as she looked round, and saw the grey van that had parked to the side of the house.
“I wonder who that belongs to,” she said as Annie looked in the next stable.
“So when does the new horse arrive,” she said as she looked at Electra.
“Two weeks time,” she said as both Annie and Bobby looked in, a number of straw bales already inside.
“Well, I bet she looks very nice in there, Electra.
“Electra?”
As the two girls turned round, they gasped as they saw two adults there, a man and a woman, the woman holding her leather gloved hand over Electra’s mouth as she smiled.
“Hello lassies,” she said in a Scottish accent, “why don’t ye go inside, and then I’ll tell ye why ahm doing this?”
“Oh god,” Bobby said as they slowly walked into the empty stall, the woman walking Electra with her as the man came last.
“Now, stay calm,” the woman said, “you can call me Mrs McPhee, lassies. My friend Jay Edwards is talking to yer au per now, explaining what I am going to tell ye. We need tae talk to yer dad when he gets hame, and get him tae do somefing fer us. To help him, we’ll be keeping all of ye safe and make sure ye come to nae harm – but ye need to do what we tell ye, all right?”
“Are you... Are you robbers,” Alice said as she tried not to cry.
“Aye – bur we’re gonna make this a big game fer all of ye,” Mrs McPhee said, “so if ye do as ah say, ye’ll all hae fun. Now, hae ye ever read the Pony Club books?”
As the two girls nodded, Mrs McPhee allowed Electra to go and join Alice and Bobby.
“Well,” the Scottish woman said, “in ane ae them, the girls get kidnapped – so this morning, I want ye to be the kidnapped girls. Now, that means we need to make sure ye cannae raise the alarm, or spoil the surprise fer anyone else – but do as ae say, and it’ll be fine.”
“What do you want us to do,” Electra said quietly.
“Well, all three o ye,” Mrs McPhee said as the man put the bag he was carrying down, and took out some long strips of leather, “sit on the bales there, and hold yer hands out, palms together.”
As the girls did so, they watched as Mrs McPhee used the thongs to tie their wrists together, wondering what she was going to do next.
“There – now that dasenae hurt, does it?”
The three girls looked at each other and shook their heads, as Mrs McPhee took a wide roll of white tape from the bag.
“Good – now, I’m gonna put this over yer mouths tae keep ye quiet, and then we’ll go back into the house, all right?”
“What happens after that,” Alice asked.
Mrs McPhee tore a strip of tape free, and said “we hae fun. Now, lips together lassie...”