19.

At Bridge End Farm, Matt Cooper looked round for Amy and Josie, then drew his brother across the yard towards the machinery shed, to be out of earshot.

The big shed where the tractor and equipment were kept had always been Matt's territory, and he treated it like a den, a place to go when he wanted to get away from the family for a while. Certainly, the girls had been well taught as children that they had to stay away from farm machinery.

'You know what it's like,' said Matt uneasily.

'No. Tell me.'

'The thing is,' said Matt, 'not everybody has much faith in your lot these days.'

'My lot?'

'Yes, your lot. You know what I mean.'

'The police.'

'Yes.'

'You can say it, Matt. It's not a dirty word.'

'Well, that's a matter of opinion.'

'Oh?'

Matt rubbed the sleeve of his shirt against the side of the big green John Deere, as if trying to wipe away a speck of dirt. It looked a bit futile given the amount of mud caking the wheel arches. The tractor was overdue for a wash.

'Some of the lads ...' he said. 'Well, they don't have anything good to say about the police these days. There have been far too many farms in this area targeted by thieves, and the cops have done nothing about it, except hand out crime numbers for insurance claims. It's no use when you've lost a vital bit of kit, or your best calves have vanished in the back of some toerag's trailer. People are finding that it's affecting their businesses, and their families are getting frightened, and there's no one they can turn to for protection.'

'I've heard all this before,' said Ben.

'Yes. Well you're going to hear it again, a lot more. And it won't just be from me. I'm warning you, that's all.'

Ben could see that Matt was nervous. The fact that his brother was a police officer had always been a bit of problem for him, constantly putting him in an awkward position where he was trapped between a rock and a hard place. The turning point had come last year, when Matt had taken the law into his own hands and shot a burglar in his yard. The moment he was handcuffed and arrested for attempted murder was the point when he decided whose side the police were on.

It was a common enough story. Ben himself felt uncomfortable sometimes when he heard about normally law-abiding citizens who found themselves on the wrong end of the criminal justice system for defending themselves and their property, or who got a speeding fine for doing forty-two miles an hour on an open road. These were the same people who saw burglaries and criminal damage being committed without any apparent effort by the police to investigate, and whose lives were made miserable by antisocial behaviour carried out with impunity.

For months now, he'd been hearing complaints that the Metropolitan Police had been happy to baton-charge peaceful pro-hunting marchers from the Countryside Alliance, but had stood by and watched as rioters burned and looted half the city.

In this country, policing was supposed to be conducted by consent. But more and more often it seemed that the police were losing the support of the public. Whose side are they on? was a common cry.

'I'm sure you're able to talk sense into these lads, if they got the wrong idea,' said Ben.

'Well ...'

'Aren't you, Matt?'

'I've tried. But it's a losing battle. I'm sorry, Ben, but that's just the way things are going.'

'So they won't talk to me.'

'They say they have nothing to tell.'

'Then the conversation won't take long.'

'There are two people still missing, Matt. And Aidan Merritt a did you know him? He got his head bashed in at the Light House the other day.'

'Yes, I know.'

Matt looked over his shoulder, fiddling with the tools on his workbench. Ben found himself beginning to get irritated by the pointless clatter. His brother had called him to the farm, so he must have something useful to say.

'Matt, you understand a it's either me or someone else they'll have to talk to.'

His brother sighed. 'Okay, I can set something up. They've said, as a last resort, that they'll meet you on neutral ground.'

'What is this? Neutral ground? Are we at war now?'

'That's what they said.'

'And these are people who were at the Light House the night the Pearsons were there?'

'At the Young Farmers' do, yes. They were down in the bar part of the time, playing pool. They know pretty much everyone. It's the best I can do.'

'All right, I suppose I'll have to take it. What neutral ground?'

'The old field barn on the Foolow road.'

'I know where that is. Tonight?'

Matt looked at his watch. 'Yes, if you can manage it. I just need to make one phone call.'

Ben nodded. So Matt's contacts were just waiting for the call to come out and meet him. It had all been a bit of play-acting really, that show of reluctance. They had both known the outcome.

Cooper was on a quiet stretch of road half a mile from Bridge End Farm. The road became very narrow and winding here, and the surface deteriorated, as if it was about to peter out into a farm track, the way some Peak District roads did. Only if you were familiar with the area did you know that you had to drive on for a few hundred yards to emerge on to a decent surface again, where the road crested the brow of the hill and began a descent into the valley.

The lights of the town would come into view by the time he reached that point. But here, with the trees overhanging the dry-stone walls, there was no light to speak of.

He glanced in his mirror.

'What the heck ...?'

The car behind him was approaching too fast.

He felt a violent b.u.mp, and the Toyota slewed sideways, the nearside front wheel almost slipping into a shallow ditch just short of the stone wall.

Cooper fumbled to unfasten his seat belt. But by the time he'd opened his door and struggled out of the car, the vehicle that had b.u.mped him was gone, disappearing into the darkness. He knew it was white, that was all. A white pickup. He couldn't be sure of the make, though he vaguely thought it looked j.a.panese. He had no clue about the number plate. It might have been obscured with mud. He might just not have been looking.

He cursed quietly. He'd be useless as a witness. With an hour or so, he'd be wondering whether the shunt had really been deliberate, or if it could just have been an unfortunate accident.

Still shaking slightly from the shock, he got back in his car, reversed it on to the road and carried on. What else was there to do?

The field barn hadn't been used for a while. Not for its proper purpose, anyway. At some time it had become surplus to requirements on whichever farm it belonged to. Too inconvenient for storing hay, too expensive to maintain, impossible to get planning permission for a conversion. So it had stood, damp and deteriorating, half of its roof fallen in, the ground around it scattered with sheep droppings.

Cooper steered the Toyota off the road and into the gateway. He killed the engine, but left the headlights on for a moment as he examined the building. It was big for a field barn, divided into two sections by a brick wall that was completely out of keeping with the pale limestone the building had originally been constructed from. The side nearest the road had been occupied by sheep in recent months. The other half had been used for housing farm equipment, and the doors were high and wide enough to get a tractor in. The roof was more intact too, with only the occasional missing tile that would show light through in the daytime.

Recent tyre tracks ran in from the road. The doors at the far end of the barn stood open, and he looked for the glint of a headlight or reflector that would indicate a vehicle parked partially out of sight. It was difficult to tell in the dark, with his headlights only just reaching, but he thought the barn was empty.

He got out of the car, locked it carefully and took a few paces into the field.

'h.e.l.lo?' he called.

But there was no answer, except for a chattering of rooks in a copse of trees across the road. No traffic pa.s.sed; there were no houses in sight. The field itself was empty too, the gra.s.s looking as if it might have been reseeded and left to establish itself. He turned and looked at the gate. An old chain hung from it, but it was broken off where it had been attached to an iron bolt in the stone wall.

'h.e.l.lo?' he called again. 'Anyone there? It's Ben Cooper, Matt's brother.'

Still silence. He didn't know how many people were here to meet him. He couldn't even be sure of their intentions at second hand. In other circ.u.mstances he would never have come alone, without backup. He certainly would have made sure someone knew where he was going. But this was different. It was more personal.

And someone did know where he was, of course. Matt had arranged this meeting, or had at least pa.s.sed the message on. His brother was complicit in whatever happened. That ought to be rea.s.suring.

He moved forward a few more feet, smelled the odour of sheep from the open end of the barn. There were no sheep here now, but they'd left their mark in more ways than one. His boots squashed a carpet of black pellets underfoot as he moved.

'I arranged to meet someone here,' he called. 'Where are you? Come on out and let me see you.'

No answer. No sound of movement, no light of a torch to let him see where someone stood in the darkness. He took half a dozen more steps. The further he got from the road, the darker it seemed to become. That must be an illusion, because there were no street lights out here. The entire area was deep in that true darkness you only ever got in the countryside, when the sky was overcast with cloud as it was now. No stars, no moon, no glimmer of illumination from a nearby village or lights of traffic on a main road.

'd.a.m.n,' he muttered.

He was standing just short of the open doors now, so close that he would have been able to hear the tick of an engine as it cooled. He knew this must be a test. They wanted to see how he would react, what sort of person he was. It was a typical game to play. He ought to stop at this point, go back to his car, fetch the torch that lay on the back seat, switch the headlights on to light up the building again. But that would look as though he was scared. It would be a retreat. He knew that at least two pairs of eyes would be watching his every movement from somewhere in the blackness. He couldn't look weak, or they might just drive away and he would never get a chance to talk to them and hear what they had to say.

Cooper felt in his pocket for the rea.s.surance of his ASP, the extendable baton carried by CID officers. Folded, it was small enough to be un.o.btrusive, but it extended to eighteen inches of steel with a flick of the wrist.

He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders, thinking, Well, Matt, I hope you know what you're getting me into.

When the two men appeared from the barn, they had balaclavas over their faces and carried weapons in their hands. Cooper was too busy trying to make out their eyes to take in the details of what they were threatening him with. So he missed seeing the first blow coming, and it caught him off guard. The impact in his side sent spurts of agony up his arm and down into his left leg.

'Stop. Back off. I'm a police officer.'

'We know that.'

The second blow came too quickly for him to react. It struck from behind, an impact with a heavy object on his back, throwing him forward. He stumbled as he tried to keep his balance. Don't go down, you mustn't go down.

A third swing from his a.s.sailant glanced off his shoulder and struck his temple. Cooper fumbled for his ASP, twisted his body, struck out at the dim shape looming out of the night. He heard a curse of surprise as the ASP hit home.

But then someone else grabbed him from behind. Cooper jabbed an elbow backwards and felt it sink into cushiony flesh. A whoosh of breath past his ear was followed by a relaxation of the grip on his neck. He twisted his hips and grabbed at an arm, forcing it back against the wall. He was vaguely aware of the size and weight of the body he was heaving against a a billowing torso and clumsy limbs, as if he was wrestling a king-size mattress.

He struggled to get a grip on something, but his fingers slid off the surface of a waxed coat. He could smell the wax itself, and deeper smells ingrained into the fabric. He saw the business end of a baseball bat swinging back for another strike.

Then lights came over the hill and swept across the field, briefly illuminating a corner of the barn.

's.h.i.t,' muttered one of the men. 'Let's get out of here.'

The arms released him, and he dropped to the floor. He heard the confused sounds of running feet, an engine starting up, doors banging, someone shouting.

Groggily, Cooper picked himself up and felt the side of his head. There was no blood, but it was painful, and he could feel a lump developing where the the bat had hit him.

He lifted his eyes at the sound of a vehicle slowing, and peered into the headlights to see a familiar face behind the wheel. The car stopped, a door opened and the driver jumped out.

'Matt? What are you doing here?'

'Thank G.o.d. Ben, are you all right? What happened?'

'What do you think? Somebody jumped me.'

'Why would they do that?'

'Because I was asking too many questions in the wrong place?'

'What questions? Who could be so worried about questions?'

'Actually, I thought you might know, Matt.'

His brother flinched away. 'What?'

'In case you hadn't put two and two together, I was attacked right after you talked to your mates who used to be in the Young Farmers Club.'

'No.'

'Oh yes. It's hardly open to debate.'

'They wouldn't do such a thing,' said Matt.

'I think so. But I'm just wondering whose side you're on.'

'I never wanted for this to happen.'

But Ben could hear the doubt in his voice, and see it in his eyes. He still knew his brother well enough for that. He'd retained some of the ability to read Matt's thoughts in an expression or a small gesture.

'If your friends had nothing to do with the Pearsons, what are they so sensitive about? Why do they object to people asking questions?'

Matt looked distressed.