In the event, Terry's plans for a little snide humour at Chris's expense came to fruition with no assistance from him. Upon ringing the police station and mentioning the basics of his reasons for calling - in so far as he knew them, since Chris had told him very little - he was immediately diverted to Inspector Spalding's office. The clipped, slightly pompous tones of the DI came over the receiver rather sooner than Terry had expected, and he was left humming and hawing and increasingly feeling a fool. There was a long pause from Spalding's end of the line.

"Mr Woods?"

"Er - yeah." Left wondering how Spalding had recognised him from a vague series of half-stuttered conversation starters, Terry hoped for the sake of his self-esteem that somebody had given the DI his name before putting the call through. There was another pause.

"And how can I help you? If Chris Tate has got himself kidnapped again, I don't think I want to know."

"No, no. Nothing like that." Terry smiled, despite himself. His feelings towards Spalding were uncertain, since the DI had been extremely short with him at the end of the previous year. He had not been terribly impressed with Terry's attempts to help Zo‘ rescue Chris without police intervention. Terry had found the man rude and unsympathetic, with all the patience of a stick of dynamite at the end of its fuse. Whilst Terry had been shaking after several hours spent tied up in a cellar, Spalding had been more eager to browbeat him for further information than to let him sit back and recover. He had been even less understanding towards the Tates. On the other hand, he invariably treated Chris with such brazen disrespect and dislike that Terry was inclined to feel rather warmly towards him.

"Then what is it?" Spalding might have been interested, but it was hard to tell. He did not often change his tone of voice from one of harsh, sledgehammer questioning - except when he was being really tough - and without being able to see him it was hard to gauge his reaction. Terry took a deep breath, and imagined that he was speaking to Chris. After all, he had had a lot of practice when it came to conversing with flammable types.

"A friend of... mine... has witnessed something. She thinks you might want to know about it." He frowned, uncertain how best to explain, especially since at this point he barely knew more than did Spalding. "She's a bit nervous - doesn't want to get too involved in any police investigations. I was wondering if you could maybe come round." He hesitated. "Send somebody round, that is. Anybody." He didn't add 'Anybody but you', but he was thinking it. He could tell by the faintly amused edge to Spalding's voice that the inspector had guessed what was on his mind.

"I don't think there's any need for me to bother somebody else. I can probably deal with this personally. We might even have the chance for a little chat, Mr Woods."

Lucky me, Terry thought, with absolutely no enthusiasm. He had heard things, working for the Tates - things that he would have had to have been deaf not to hear - but he was not about to go repeating any of it to DI Spalding. He didn't know enough anyway. Just hints that Chris's relationship with Liam Hammond had been very peculiar indeed.

"Where are you? There was the sound of rustling paper, as though Spalding were searching through some files for Terry's address. It was a little off-putting to think that he had had such information to hand before taking the call. Obviously he had known exactly where to find it in the seconds before Terry's call had been diverted to his office.

"I'm at Home Farm." Terry could almost imagine that the silence at the other end of the phone was filled with triumph. "The, er... the person who's witnessed the, er... the thing... is up at the stud farm at the moment with Chris. He said they'd be right back."

"Chris is there is he?" There was something in Spalding's voice that was just too polite and good-natured to be real. Terry wondered when Chris had ceased to be 'Mr Tate', and had become, instead, merely 'Chris'. The name was spoken with the same edge of superiority and dislike that Eric Pollard used, whenever he referred to the incendiary Tate as 'Christopher'. It made Spalding sound like anything but a policeman, for there was no hint of the usual courtesy in his tone. Terry was beginning to realise just why Chris had so wanted anybody other than this particular DI. He had a nasty feeling that he was going to be at the sharp end of some very unpleasant words when all of this was over.

"Yeah. Chris is here." He tried to keep the resignation from his voice, but failed. Spalding laughed.

"Then I'll be right over. What does your friend want to talk to me about?"

"I'd, er... I'd rather not explain it over the phone." He paused, wondering if he shouldn't just hang up now. Spalding made a loud noise of disapproval.

"If I find that you're wasting my time, Mr Woods..."

"I'm not." I hope. He thought of all the unpleasant things he was going to say to Chris after hanging up the phone, and wished that they might actually have their desired effect of eliciting an apology. The thought was a joke of its own, and he smiled without humour at the receiver. "See you in a bit then. Bye."

"Yes, goodbye Mr Woods." There was a calculating sound to the voice now, which Terry found strangely disturbing. He liked his policemen to be well meaning and trustworthy, even if they were spoiling his fun, or getting in his way after a good night out drinking with his friends. At least you knew that they were on the right side, whether that side was yours or not. Spalding, on the other hand, seemed vindictive and cold. Clearly he held grudges. Clearly he had a temper that it was not hard to unleash. It was little wonder, then, that he tended to clash so badly with Chris. Terry hoped that they managed to refrain from clashing today. The last thing that he needed was for Chris to put a foot wrong with the DI and wind up getting himself arrested - for without a shadow of a doubt, he would blame it all on Terry. Getting your boss arrested was sure to be bad for your long term career prospects, and the last thing that Terry needed was to lose another job. Mulling things over in his mind, he hung up the phone and wandered back outside. Chris should be back in a minute, and then there would be some explaining to do. Maybe he should just wait until Chris and Spalding could see the whites of each others eyes. With a bit of luck the temperamental Tate would be too busy fighting with the DI to worry about sacking the man responsible for summoning him. Preoccupied, he found himself wandering down the little covered alleyway that led to the stables. If nothing else he could at least see what kind of a mood Chris was in. If things looked too bad... maybe he could claim to have been taken ill, and then slink quietly off into the background. Not that that would save him ultimately, of course, but it was something to think about.

The stud farm was busy, as it always was with the progression of the morning. An assortment of young men and women dressed in jodhpurs and riding hats led the horses out of their stables for their morning exercise - others were grooming horses, or cleaning tack. Everywhere was a constant buzz of morning chatter, all of the usual sort. Who had watched what programme on television the night before; which horse was likely to father the finest foal. One or two of the stable hands nodded greetings at Terry as he walked through their midst, but none of them seemed to know where Chris was. It almost seemed as though Terry's commander-in-chief had disappeared off the face of the Earth - which was a nice thought, if a regrettably unlikely one.

It was not until Terry had been wandering around the farm for some time that he began to worry. It began as a frown in the back of his mind, but gradually, the more he allowed himself to think about it, it became something more. Chris had not given any indication that he would be long - on the contrary in fact. He had specifically told Terry to call the police, with the inference that whatever was going on was best dealt with quickly. Why then should he have vanished into thin air? Charity had been afraid of something. He remembered noticing it the night before - realising that something was up, and attributing it to her work, and her approaching liaison with Chris. If she was genuinely involved in something awkward, perhaps there had been a rather more sinister reason for her fear. Terry tried not to think about it. After all, what was likely to have happened? It was a crowded place, and any strangers would surely be easy to spot? Unless, his mind filled in, they had arrived early. Maybe followed Charity... He tried to throw the thought away, but it wouldn't go. Too much had happened in this quiet country village over the last few years for Terry to be able to think only good thoughts now. With an increasing feeling of foreboding, he began to search the farm more thoroughly. A few minutes earlier, he realised, he had been dreading the moment of Spalding's arrival. Now he couldn't wait for the man to turn up.