“I bet she is,” Lindsay mused. “Dick, you’re a real pal. You’re right, I’d better keep a low profile today. Thanks, I owe you one. I better get off now, before the rest of the pack work out where we are.”

“Hang on,” Dick protested. “You’re not going to just – ”

Lindsay gently replaced the phone in its cradle. Much as she liked and trusted Dick, there was a murderer out there. And one way or another, it began to look as if Lindsay was getting too close for comfort.

Chapter 14

14

“The fact that conference observers have no voting rights is no reason not to treat them with civility and respect. Just because you don’t like who they represent (Chamber of Commerce, Conservative Party, You’ve Been Framed) is no reason to attack them, either verbally or physically.”

from “Advice for New Delegates”, a Standing Orders Sub-Committee booklet.

Lindsay put her feet up on the dashboard and wriggled in the seat until she was reasonably comfortable. Her years as an on-the-road reporter had taught her that the secret of sticking out a stake-out was comfort, and although there wasn’t a lot of scope for stretching out in Helen’s cramped car, Lindsay was determined to make the most of it. Sophie was less fortunate; the driver’s seat offered even less room for the reasonable rearrangement of limbs. She put her hands behind her head and a deep bellow filled the air, as if from an appreciative audience.

“You’re sure these aren’t guard cows?” Sophie asked, with an apprehensive glance out of the window.

They were parked in a gateway leading to a field of disturbingly large cattle in varying shades of dun and caramel, with horns that wouldn’t have disgraced the monarch of the glen. Every few minutes, one of the huge beasts would wander across to the gate, chewing, slobbering and studying them with the utter confidence of something that knows it’s bigger than the object of its curiosity.

“Nah,” Lindsay said scornfully. “Some rare breed or other. Like Sylvester Stallone, all front and no bottle.”

“As long as you’re sure. I just don’t want to have to ring Helen and tell her that while we were watching Union Jack’s house, some demented steer infected her camshaft with BSE.”

Lindsay shook her head. “I keep forgetting you’re a city girl,” she said. “I tell you, we’ve got more to fear from Union Jack’s neighbors than from that entire herd of cattle. For one thing, none of them have got a mobile phone to alert PC Plod that there are a couple of suspicious characters lurking up the lane from Union Jack’s hacienda.”

“What neighbors?” Sophie asked sarcastically. “The nearest house must be half a mile away. And frankly, I can see why. I wouldn’t want my expensive Pennine view to include that monstrosity.”