The Windmill Café: Autumn Leaves. Poppy Blake
only describe as a vigorous tickle fight. She averted her eyes, embarrassed at the intimate scene.
‘Hey, you two. You need to get ready. We leave in five minutes!’ Matt’s voice held a note of steel as he strode away from the gathering, his jaw set and eyes narrowed as he started to dismantle the tent. Freddie collected the rest of the equipment together, stuffed it in his rucksack and took a slug from his water bottle, confusion written across his face.
‘Hey, wait a minute! Where’s Rick?’ called Phil, switching his eyes from left to right as he scoured the camp for his tormentor. ‘He’s missing.’
‘What?’ exclaimed Matt, Freddie and Mia in unison.
Rosie scoured the camp site and it was true. There was no sign of Rick or his possessions, just an indentation in the grass where he’d presumably rested for the night. She, and the rest of the expedition members, immediately understood what had happened.
‘He’s sneaked off without us!’ cried Phil, his voice all a-bluster. ‘He wanted to be the only one to witness the sunrise through the arch so he could crow about it at our Myth Seekers meetings for all eternity. Oh God, Brad, we should have realized he’d plan something like this. Selfish to the core is our Mr Richard Forster. Right! He’s not going to get away with it this time. I’ve had enough of his…’
Phil patted the pockets of his utility jacket, searching for his mobile phone. Pushing his glasses up onto his forehead, he squinted at the screen and selected Rick’s number, then waited for his adversary to answer.
‘Either he’s ignoring us or there’s no signal over by the priory. Wait until I get my hands on…’
‘Okay, okay,’ announced Matt, clearly struggling to keep his temper under wraps. ‘We stick together, all right? No one goes ahead and no one lags behind.’
Matt and Freddie strode away from the campsite leaving the rest of the group to scamper after them. Rosie could feel the anger radiating from Matt’s pores and she didn’t blame him in the slightest. He had taken personal responsibility for their expedition, given the landowner his word they would stick together and keep to the previously authorized route. She just hoped that Rick hadn’t done anything else to jeopardize the reputation of Ultimate Adventures. Willerby was a tight-knit community built on trust and mutual respect and she knew Matt and Freddie would be fuming at Rick’s selfish behaviour.
Rosie slipped her arm through Mia’s and together they stumbled along the flint-strewn pathway, their bafflement as to the reasons behind Rick’s solo excursion keeping their tongues still and their brains occupied.
Why would Rick do such a thing?
It wasn’t difficult to come up with the answer. Since he and Helen had checked into their luxury lodges the previous day, Rick Forster had certainly not gone out of his way to endear himself to anyone, wearing his competitive streak like a badge of honour on his chest for all to see. Leaving everyone behind was typical behaviour that perhaps either Phil or Brad, or even Emma, should have anticipated; they were in the Myth Seekers Society with him, after all.
However, what Rosie couldn’t understand was how they had all slept beyond Matt’s alarm call, except for Rick. Her head was clear now but she couldn’t ignore the woolly feeling she’d experienced when she had woken up, and wondered fleetingly if Rick could have put something in their night-time coffee. The thought sent a donkey’s kick of shock reverberating through her chest. Yes! That was exactly what had happened! How dare he! She had to talk to Matt immediately.
Rosie jogged to where Matt was leading the group, his head bent low, his eyes narrowed as he concentrated on the task in hand to prevent himself from exploding with exasperation at Rick’s selfish tactics in a bout of one-upmanship. Freddie offered her a weak smile and, with a look of relief, dropped back to continue the trek with Mia.
‘Matt?’
‘Mmm?’
Rosie swallowed down on the anger that had started to bubble in her stomach. If what she suspected was right, the ramifications went far beyond a harmless caper to ensure a personal ring-side seat at a mystical sunrise – spiking someone’s drink with a sleeping drug was nothing short of criminal behaviour! It was outrageous!
‘I don’t know about you, but when I woke up this morning my head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton wool. Mia said she thought she had a hangover, but not a drop of alcohol passed our lips last night, I promise you. I think, well … I think Rick might have put something in our coffee last night just so he could experience the sunrise alone.’
‘That’s exactly the conclusion I’ve come to. It’s simply not possible that both Freddie and I slept through the alarm without some sort of chemical assistance, and you’re right, the most likely culprit is Rick. It’s exactly the sort of juvenile prank he would find hilarious and another way of belittling the other members of the group. I want to say that we should wait until we speak to him, to give him the benefit of the doubt before making accusations, but I’m so angry that I’m looking at my common sense in the rear-view window!’
‘Do you think we should call the police?’
‘I do, but not before I’ve had the chance to give him a piece of my mind. I think we should keep our suspicions to ourselves for the time being though, because when Freddie finds out what Rick’s done, it’ll be a bit more than a piece of his mind he’ll be sending his way. This sort of reckless behaviour is what ruins businesses like Ultimate Adventures. If any of our clients hear even a whiff of the word “drugs” they’ll steer well clear. I could strangle him!’
Rosie saw the corners of Matt’s mouth tighten as he reigned in his fury, and after a few seconds it was replaced with a glint of his habitual mischief.
‘There’s one positive though.’
‘What’s that?’ she asked, her stomach performing a back-flip at the way Matt was looking at her from beneath his long, spidery eyelashes. She knew they were both wary of embarking on new relationships because of their recent histories, but she enjoyed the familiar pull of attraction that was often close to the surface whenever she was in his company, breathing in the delicious lemony cologne he favoured. Some people just seemed to occupy the same wavelength, and so it seemed to be with her and Matt.
‘At least this time no one was poisoned!’
‘Thank God! What do you think Rick put in our coffee?’
‘It had to be some kind of sleeping tablets, but we’ll leave that to the professionals to work out. Or were you thinking of undertaking the investigation yourself like last time?’
‘Well, we did make a great team … and we got results!’
‘You know, Rosie, before you arrived in Willerby, life chugged along quite nicely. The most excitement to be had in the village was a flight down the zip wire or a stint on the obstacle course after a downpour. But now you’re in our midst we’re dealing with poisoned pop stars and morons who think they can go around lacing people’s coffee!’
‘Are you saying I attract trouble?’
‘No, I…’
‘Look! There’s the Garside Priory!’ cried Phil excitedly, elbowing Rosie and Matt out of the way and increasing his speed to a canter.
‘Keep to the path,’ shouted Matt, grabbing onto the back of Phil’s jacket to prevent him from dashing ahead.
Rosie’s calf muscles screamed their objection to the vigorous early morning workout, but a curl of excitement mingled with her irritation over the potential fallout of Rick’s irresponsible stunt when the priory appeared in the next field. Even though it was almost a ruin, made up of crumbling stone stitched together by ribbons of ivy, the building still held a mysterious presence. She felt privileged to be there, despite missing the spectacle of the sun rising through the arched doorway.
They had arrived at the wooden gate blocking their access to the site and paused to allow Brad and Emma, now bringing