Chapter Twelve – Sweet Deception

Gina sighed as Claude Greengrass bragged on about his cheese for the third time. "If it's going so well Claude perhaps now is a good time to pay off your bill," she said dryly.

Claude's smile disappeared and he blinked repeatedly before chuckling slightly. "Well, maybe not so good," he let on.

The barmaid shook her head and reached for the phone on the counter as it started ringing.

"Aidensfield Arms?" Gina said.

"Gina, it's Maggie," the nurse said sounding very far away when she spoke.

"Hi," the barmaid said cheerfully. "Look, when you see Jo next time could you tell her…"

"That's what I wanted to talk about," Maggie replied gravely causing Gina to have a very foreboding feeling all of a sudden.

"Nick's been in an accident and Jo is sitting by his side. It's quite serious Gina. To be frank I don't know if he will wake up again," Maggie revealed.

"What?" she managed.

"I…could you get Katie home from the Potters?" the nurse asked.

Gina hesitated as she overlooked the pub, full of people. Troubled and torn between being a helping hand to a friend in need and see to her business.

Oscar Blaketon suddenly turned up next to her with an empty pint.

"Just a second Maggie," she said into the phone and covered the microphone with her hand. "Oscar," she said, feeling the need to use first name basis. "There has been an accident, terrible accident. Could you stand in for me at the bar?" she asked bluntly.

Surprised he put down his empty pint on the counter.

"Phil can't help out, he's a police officer and I don't really trust anyone else," she said sincerely. "I have Maggie on the phone, maybe you haven't heard but Nick is in a coma and someone needs to pick up Katie and… and Jo…" she trailed off realizing she didn't make much sense.

"Go, Gina," Blaketon said without hesitating. "Go, I'll take care of things for you."

"Thanks a bundle Oscar!" she returned and turned back to her phone conversation. "I'll take care of it Maggie," she said ending the call.

OOOOOO

"Report," DI Shiner barked as he walked briskly through the door to Ashfordly Police Station.

Mike grimaced as the raised voice cut through his skull. "We found Ted Jones; sarge and I," he said wearily.

"Where is he now?" Shiner demanded.

"He…got away," Phil spoke up hesitantly.

"Nick's in hospital, he's in a very bad way," Alf filled in.

DI Shiner raised questionable eyebrow as he turned his sole attention to Mike. "Maybe we should all start from the beginning?" he suggested in a friendlier manner.

"When you left the area earlier, we decided to have another look," Mike began as he rubbed his tired eyes.

Shiner crossed his arms over his chest and leaned backwards at the counter where complains were brought in.

"Sarge and I headed into the garage and storage area once again. We decided to go through it yet another time. We found a broken tea plate and turned it upside down to look for a marking of some kind, to see if it could hold any value. It turned out to be a very expensive plate, not one that you commonly use in a factory at tea time," Mike explained.

"Stolen goods," Shiner stated.

Mike nodded slightly, though the action hurt. "We caught movement up at the second floor and headed upstairs. We ran into a mutual friend, all dressed in black," he said sarcastically.

"Ted Jones," Alf drawled, earning a glare from the DI for stating the obvious.

"We managed to grab him, there was a commotion and then my memory is a bit hazy. But I do recall the floor giving away beneath us, sending the three of us into free falling to the ground level," Mike filled in and shrugged unhappily as he turned to look directly at the CID officer. "I never saw where he got too, we lost him and we may have lost Sergeant Rowan as well, in the accident."

Shiner nodded slowly, taking in the information given and dry swallowed. "I can't help Sergeant Rowan, but I'd be angry if I'd not been able to nail what seems to be the last member of the antiques gang," he let on.

"I'm afraid other people might be involved," Phil spoke up regrettably.

Shiner's analytical eyes fixed him in a stare.

"A couple of days ago I was sent on patrol and reconnaissance to Hillsdale Farm. The reason was that there had been some unusual activity. During my investigation of the premises I saw several crates laying around, neatly stacked, inside the henhouse. Unfortunately I didn't realize then that those crates contained the stolen goods that we were looking for in the lorry garage," Mike finished.

"Could it not have been hidden there by any of the members present in your custody or our nemesis, Ted Jones?" Shiner asked.

"Maybe so, sir, but there is something that doesn't fit," Mike said.

"A hunch?" the DI wondered aloud.

"One might call it that, and before you say so, sir, I 'm aware that we don't act upon hunches," the young former London copper added.

"I'm prepared to let you play your hunch, PC Bradley," Shiner said cunningly. "On one condition, that you'll go home, get some rest and call in with the district nurse tomorrow morning to certify that you're well enough for duty."

OOOOOO

Maggie exhaustedly sat down in a chair at the hospital lobby, her eyes stinging with tears.

Dr. Bolton quietly walked up to her and knelt in front of her, looking up to study her beautiful face. "Hey," he said softly. "I might not be the company you're looking for at the moment but perhaps I could drive you home," he offered.

She nodded absentmindedly, her mind miles away. Back to a time when Kate was still alive and fighting for her life.

"Maggie?" he said gently.

"I appreciate the offer Neil," she replied with a tired smile.

"Good," he let on with a faint smile of his own.

They walked in silence out to his white MGA. He opened the door for her and then walked around the car, keyed the ignition and pulled into the first gear. Maggie sighed, her mind involuntarily wandering back to when they had first met, that day back in York. She had been a newly assigned nurse and he a charming young doctor. He'd taken her breath away.

She broke out of her musings as he pulled up next to the building housing her flat. He got out of the car and opened the door for her. She nodded and smiled at him, appreciating the company. "Thanks," she whispered. "Do you want to come in on some tea?"

"I would love to," he answered.

She opened the door and let him in, shrugged out of her coat, took off her hat and released her long brown hair. "I'll put the kettle on, why don't you sit down on the sofa for a while?" she suggested.

Neil nodded and hung up his coat as she disappeared through the door to the kitchen. He carefully took a look around the living room, glancing at the framed pictures. On his brief visit earlier he hadn't had the time to notice them. Maggie was smiling on the pictures. One of them appeared to be of her and her older brother that Neil had met only once. Another was of Nick and a blonde woman with Gina, Phil and a few others in the background. He could only assume it had been taken on some party at the village.

"That's Kate Rowan," Maggie spoke up from behind him as she placed two cups of tea on the table.

He nodded and put the photography back on the shelf. "I have heard about her from some of my new colleagues," he admitted. "She was well liked."

Maggie chuckled as she sat down in the sofa. "I remember when I first met her. It was at the hospital, at the casualty section, she had just taken a ride with the ambulance together with an old farmer. Her clothes where dirtied and her hair a mess but she still managed to look graceful and she managed to save the patient from bleeding to death," Maggie paused and a pleased smile appeared on her lips. "Maybe I should add that she was seven months pregnant."

Neil raised a questionable eyebrow. "Surely as a doctor she should have known better than to put herself at risk," he pointed out.

Maggie pursed her lips together. "Ask Nick about what he thought about that," she said sadly.

"What Kate said she'd do she did, the only thing she weren't able to overcome was her sickness," Maggie explained, the last words coming out as a whisper only. "It was so horrible Neil, she looked me in the eye one day and said to me; "let's be realistic, Maggie, I'm going to die," the nurse looked up at her husband with a tear in her eye. "Two weeks later she was dead."

Neil looked at her awkwardly not knowing what to say to comfort her.

"I think she gave up. I just hope Nick doesn't," she finished with a quiver in her voice. "I'm not sure Katie could handle losing her father as well and Jo… she would be devastated."

Maggie took deep, calming, breath. "I suppose it's different for you, you don't know any of them but to me they're not just anyone, they're my friends. I've seen Nick slowly pulling himself together, managing to take care of his daughter, mostly on his own and then find love again, with Jo. For a while there I thought we had something but we would never be able to make it work. His feelings for Kate were so strong and I remember her as a friend. It would have been awkward, it felt like I was stealing something. And then Jo quickly became one of my best friends."

Neil nodded. Now he understood why Maggie was reacting so strongly. She still cared about Nick deeply but in a friendly way. Deep down he was relieved to hear her because it meant there was still hope for him. Maybe someday they could salvage their marriage.

"Thanks for listening," she said in appreciation.

"Thanks for talking to me," he replied softly.

OOOOOO

To be continued

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