Something had been niggling at Stefan’s mind during the conversation. ‘How many burglaries have there been so far?’ he asked.
Cassie looked at him. ‘That’s the fifth one, and all the victims are my clients. People are going to believe that I bring bad luck.’
‘Or that you’re in league with the burglars,’ Rachel said.
‘Don’t be silly,’ Joseph retorted. ‘No one who knows our Cassie would ever believe that.’
‘I hope not, but you know what people are like…’ Rachel stifled a yawn and started clearing the table. Joseph drank the last of his brandy. Whereas Stefan had stuck to coffee, Cassie’s grandfather had been rather liberal with the liquor.
‘Let’s have one last joke before bedtime,’ he insisted.
‘I hope it’s not another of your policeman’s jokes,’ Cassie remarked. ‘We already had three tonight.’
Rachel chuckled. ‘Or another naughty Tarzan and Jane one… I thought Stefan was going to choke on his sandwich because of your double-entendre about bananas.’
‘Give over, Rachel! The lad’s French, and everybody knows that the French are the masters of seduction. Stefan here isn’t shocked by a few risqué puns, are you, son?’ Joseph winked at Stefan, who forced a smile. Master of seduction? Had the old man taken a good look at him?
‘Anyway,’ Joseph added, ‘your Kerry had better get used to hearing more naughty jokes. She’s the one who wanted a Tarzan and Jane wedding reception after all. And who knows? That jungle theme may whip a bit of life into that stuffy fiancé of hers.’
He clasped his hand onto Stefan’s shoulder. ‘Are you ready for another joke, son? I promise there is nothing naughty about this one.’
Stefan seemed to have become the elderly man’s guinea pig for testing his riddles. He hadn’t been able to guess any answer so far, and was starting to feel rather stupid.
‘Here it is. What do cows drive in Antarctica?’
Stefan sighed. Hell, why did Joseph always have to ask him for answers he didn’t have? ‘Hmm… Ice cream floats? Four-hoof-drives?’
He looked at Joseph. ‘How am I doing?’
Joseph pulled a face. ‘You’re not even close.’ He turned to Cassie, Tim and Rachel. ‘Anybody else want to hazard a guess? No? Then here is the answer to my riddle. What do cows drive in Antarctica? Snow-moo-biles!’
Cassie smiled. ‘That’s very silly, Granddad, even by your standards.’
Silly or not, her grandfather’s jokes seemed to have improved her mood.
Rachel got up and yawned. ‘We’ll need snowmobiles tomorrow morning if the weather doesn’t improve! For now it’s time to go to bed.’ She looked at Cassie, then at Stefan. ‘What are you two doing? Do you want to stop here for the night?’
‘Thanks for the offer but I’ll take my chances.’ He glanced at Cassie. ‘However, I’ll understand if you’d rather stay here.’
Cassie shook her head. ‘No. I’ll go back with you. I’m sure we’ll be fine.’
She kissed Rachel, Tim and her granddad goodnight, and put her coat and hat on.
Tim shook Stefan’s hand as they were leaving. ‘Thanks for picking Rachel and Louis up from the hospital. I really appreciate it. I’ll call round at Belthorn in the morning. I’m on snow-ploughing duty with guys from neighbouring farms and the manor house is on my round.’
The goodbyes took a few more minutes, and then he was driving down the farm track with Cassie at his side.
It had only been one hour since Tim had come back but any tracks he might have left earlier were now covered with a mantle of snow so thick it was hard to see where the lane ended and the ditches on either side started. He could have done with one of the snowmobiles from Joseph’s joke, he thought as he focussed on keeping the Range Rover on the road. Snowflakes danced in the beam of the headlights and stuck to the windscreen and wipers, enveloping the car in a white cocoon. Even the noise of the engine sounded muffled.
‘What’s happening over there?’ Cassie pointed to blue and red lights flashing ahead. A police four-wheel drive was parked across the road, and two officers signalled for them to stop. Stefan wound his window down.
‘There’s been an accident, you can’t get to Red Moss this way,’ one of the policemen told Stefan. He explained that a twenty-mile diversion would take them back to the other side of the village, and the campsite where Cassie had left her van. ‘But all the roads in the area are pretty bad, sir, and we can’t guarantee that you won’t get stuck further down.’
Stefan thanked him, and turned to Cassie. ‘The best option is to take you back to the farm. You can always get your van tomorrow.’
‘What about you?’
‘I’ll drive to Belthorn after dropping you off.’
She shook her head. ‘Actually, it would be safer if we both went back to Belthorn together and I stayed overnight… that’s if you don’t mind.’
His heart skipped a beat, but he wasn’t stupid enough to read anything into her suggestion. ‘Are you sure?’
‘I have been so focussed on the wedding reception that I’ve neglected my work for the past few days. If I stop over, at least I can spend some time in Belthorn first thing tomorrow morning before driving to Keswick for my meeting with Piers. Tim said he was coming up, so he can give me a lift back to the campsite on his tractor.’
Of course. The woman was as usual only thinking about her job.
‘I don’t keep timesheets, you know, and won’t report you to Charlie or that estate manager of his if you miss a few days,’ he said, not even trying to hide the temper in his voice.
She sighed. ‘I know, but there’s another reason I’d rather come with you.’ She looked at him. ‘I don’t want you to be driving back on your own. It’s not safe on a night like this. You could get lost or stuck on country lanes.’
He thought for a moment. She did have a point. Being alone on the road in a snowstorm was dangerous, but so would being alone at the manor house with Cassie…
‘Are you sure that’s what you want?’ he asked nevertheless.
‘It’s the only sensible thing to do,’ she replied.
He did a U-turn, and headed back towards the manor house.
If driving down from the farm had been difficult, it was even more treacherous to tackle the lane up to Belthorn. The wheels of the Range Rover kept spinning, and Stefan had to ease off the accelerator several times until the tyres bit into the snow again and the car sprung forward.
‘I knew it would be bad, but I didn’t think it would be this bad,’ he muttered as the headlights swept over the lane, or what should be the lane.
Huge snowdrifts had accumulated on either side, reaching out almost to the top of the Sanctuary Stone. The car slid sideways. The steering wheel spun in his hands, light and unresponsive, and there was nothing he could do. The Range Rover bumped into the Sanctuary Stone with a dull thud, and the engine coughed and stalled.
‘Damn. I don’t believe this. Twice in the same place!’ He turned to Cassie. ‘Are you all right?’ The impact hadn’t been strong enough to deploy the airbags, but she may still be hurt, and he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if anything happened to her.