Dam Head Farm (The Return)

By Terence Goodchild

Dam Head Farm had been stripped of all the drugs Tony Costigan produced, and was purchased by and Italian couple Emil and Kieta Barsarno, the body of the young girl found in Capsthorne had not been identified yet, inspector Tom Arnold was getting grief the his bosses upstairs for results, so it was time to get his team moving, then a bombshell hit him when his boss superintendant Hallett paid Tom a visit with Sir Bernard Devonport from the home office, with news of a new drug on the streets killing teenagers all over Europe and the UK, Hallett had been asked by the home office to work for Interpol to find out what the drug was and how it can be stopped, then Hallett told Tom he would now be superintendant and Interpol had provided a team of agents, from France, Italy and Greece that Tom would command. From that time on Barsarno is linked to many deaths and problems related to his business empire, and now one of Toms best friend's son is in a coma after drinking water laced with drugs, Tom and his team are now on the hunt for whoever is supplying the drugs and why all the deaths are related. Many twists and turns drive Tom mad and now his friend’s son is sick and Tom finds out the body of the girl found in Capsthorne is the daughter of Emil Barsarno and when told has no remorse, which makes Tom very suspicious, then the hunt is on.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Terence Goodchild
• Release date: Dec 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370357390

Terence Goodchild

Terence J Goodchild I am an English writer born in Manchester in the north of England and now live in Tasmania with my wife on a farm with our horses. After travelling in Europe for many years my wife and I came to Australia for a holiday in 1981 and found that we could live in this country, so we migrated in 1988 to Melbourne, but now live in Tasmania. I have been writing for about 12 years, and have written 17 novels of fiction and about 100 poems that I may put in a book one day, I try and make my books somewhere the reader can escape to, and hope they enjoy my stories, I put in a few truths, just for spice to make it more interesting, and a few one liners, I put the characters in my stories of people I have met and places I have travelled to and write how I see things,

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The right of Terence J Goodchild to be identified as the author of this work, has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.

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ISBN 9781540672131 (paperback) Amazon

ISBN 9781370357390 Smashwords

DAM HEAD FARM

The

RETURN

A few months had passed since the demise of Tony Costigan

Taylor and Barker were nowhere to be seen so was Max Costigan’s chauffeur, when the black van was picked up at the airport it was assumed they had fled the country, and chasing them would be fruitless and costly.

Things were getting back to normal at the precinct where Tom Arnold was in charge. The Dam Head Farm had been stripped of all the drugs and closed down and was now up for sale.

Tom Arnold was deep in thought when the phone call caught him off guard. ‘Tom’ The voice said.’ Superintendant Hallett, have you had any results on the body of the young girl found last month in Coldstream we should be getting into it by now.’

‘No, sir me and my team don’t think it is a copy cat killing like the others, that case was cleared up as we know who killed Liam and the girl’s, but we have a tactical meeting this morning I will let you know as soon as we know something.’

‘Okay, Tom keeps me informed, you have a nice day.’ Then he hung up. ‘Nice day I don’t think so.’

*******

9.30am tactical room.

‘Morning ladies and gentlemen, this here is a picture of the girl brought in last month, no id just a tattoo of this on her hip.’ Tom stuck the large picture on the board, ‘Anyone knows what this is.’ A woman pc puts up her hand.

‘Yes, are you not Helen Hunter?’ Tom asked surprised.

‘Yes, sir, I got a transfer from traffic after they heard about my quick thinking in the Costigan case.’ Helen said.

‘Very good, glad you have joined us, now where were we.’

‘The tattoo sir.’ Helen pointed to the wall. ‘Oh yes, you were just about to tell us what it was.’ Tom replied. ‘Ying and yang sir, in Chinese philosophy they are relative terms; they describe the two facets of existence. Like two sides of a coin, yin cannot exist without yang, and yang cannot exist without yin, one positive and one negative.’

The room went quiet. ‘So the girl must be in partnership with someone who bears the same tattoo, is that what you are telling me.’ Tom asked.

‘I would assume so, sir, the other one must be a male, but on the other hand, in this day and age it maybe a woman.’ Helen replied.

‘You are very knowledgeable pc Hunter.’ Tom said.

‘Yes, sir, I studied Chinese philosophy and Fengshui at college, sir.’ Helen replied. ‘Oh, right, now we know what the tattoo stands for, and also someone out there must know who she is, start with the tattoo parlours and see which one has this type on their books, Andrew take pc hunter with you and show her the ropes as it were. Let’s get a result, the upstairs has been asking for an answer so let’s give them one.’

Tom went back to his office and the phone rang. ‘Tom it’s Richard Auger could you come down to my office, I have something that may interest you in regards to the girl with the tattoo.’

‘Sure, Richard will be down shortly, I have a few things to sort out and then I will be down, say 12.30 I will take you to lunch in that nice pub you are always going on about.’ Tom said.

‘That will be nice, see you at 12.30.’ Richard hung up.

Tom had a sneaking suspicion Richard had found out something he did not want to hear, but go he must.

*******

Tom arrived at Richards’s office at 12.15 and went inside, he hated coming here as it meant dead people and Tom did not like dead people, but being copper that is what you sometimes have to deal with, he walked along the corridor until he reached Richards office and knocked.

‘Come in.’ The voice said, Tom entered Richard got up from his chair. ‘Tom, nice to see you again, please sit down.’ Tom sat down while Richard went to his filing cabinet and took out a file put it on his desk and opened it.

‘Okay, Tom, we examined the girl and found out she was a few weeks pregnant, this we did not know until the examination some days later, when we cleaned her up we found she was no white Caucasian, but foreign, maybe Spanish or Italian her skin was darker than most English girls so you may be looking for a missing student or a nurse who came here to work or study, she had been hit from behind with something large and sharp, the cut was long in shape so could be an axe or some kind of sharp object, maybe a spade, anyway that is how she died.

The other thing I wanted to point out to you is when we checked out her fingernails she had some skin under them, when we tested it, we found out it was not human.’ This took Tom by surprise.

‘Not human do you mean, shit I don’t know what you mean.’

‘Yes, Tom it was some kind of animal, at this moment in time we don’t know what, but we have sent it to the lab in town for analyses we should know by tomorrow. So I think I owe you lunch, shall we.’

*******

The two people looking around Dam Head Farm with the estate agent looked very prosperous, the man was about forty two the women a bit younger.

‘What do you think Mr Barsarno is it what you were looking for.’ the agent asked. The man never spoke; he was deep in thought till his wife touched him. ‘What.’ He asked, she nodded to the agent direction. ‘Is it what you were looking for, Mr Barsarno.’ The agent asked once more.

‘Yes, it is we will have to do some alterations to the house, but I am sure you can get the appropriate permission Mr Kent from your local council or whoever you have to see.’

‘Of course leave it to me.’ Kent replied.

‘Then we have a deal now let’s go back to your office and sign the papers, we need to get started right away, our horses are arriving next month the 22nd on the ferry and all has to be ready.’ Barsarno said.

‘Yes of course, but it may take a few weeks to get planning permission for the house renovations, will that be a problem.’ Kent asked. Barsarno thought, and then replied.

‘Maybe, maybe not, but try your hardest Mr. Kent and there will be a bonus in it for you, we need to get the stables built soon the house can wait, we will have to live in a hotel for now.’ Barsarno replied, then went to his car and the chauffeur opened the door for his wife and Barsarno.

‘We will follow you, Mr. Kent, shall we go.’ Barsarno got into the car next to his wife and Kent got into his car, a big smile on his face, the planning applications will be a problem but he had a friend in council and with a bit of a bribe he will get them passed. They signed the deal and Barsarno and his wife left for the nearest hotel Kent rang a number.

‘Jimmy my friend, we need to talk I may have a nice earner for you, meet me in the pub after work.’

*******

‘Okay David what is the earner you so need urgently and how can I help.’ Jimmy asked.

‘Dam Head Farm, some rich Iti has purchased it, well I don’t know if he is Italian but looks like one, his wife his tasty though, anyway getting off the subject they need to build stables for their posh horses and redeveloped the house, what we need is planning permission like now, that is where you come in my friend you know what it takes to make it happen and for that there is an earner for you.’ Kent replied.

‘How much of an earner, you know how hard it is nowadays with all the new local bylaws.’ Jimmy said.

‘If you can get things done quickly you will earn about 500 smackers for your trouble, but it will have to be quick the man’s horses arrive 22nd no next month, can it be done.’ Kent replied.

‘That is cutting it a bit fine I may have to bribe someone else in planning so it will cost you another 200.’ Jimmy replied. Kent thought a bit he knew he was getting 2000 from Barsarno and did not want to give Jimmy any more, but time was of the essence.

‘Okay but make sure you trust the person, as this could get us jail time or even worse, the man maybe Mafia who knows, or may know some nasty people and I don’t want to end up feeding the fishes.’ Jimmy looked at Kent.

‘Bit dramatic don’t you think after all he has only bought a farm for god sake.’

‘You never know who this guy is so tread very carefully and get the job done without any comeback.’ Kent replied.

‘Okay, see you next week here at six on Friday night and maybe I will have some info, until then.’ Jimmy left and Kent had another smile on his face.

*******

Richard rang Tom the next day and asked him once more to come to his office, Tom arrived and went to Richards office and went in. ‘Tom we got the results from the lab the skin fragments are off a horse, what the hell was she doing clawing a horse I have no idea, but that is what was under her skin, so maybe the student thing could be the way to go, she may be studying a veterinary course, but I don’t know of any colleagues in the UK apart from Sandford in Dover but she is a long way from there.’ Richard gave Tom the file.

‘Good luck my friend.’

‘Thanks Richard now we have something to go on and you are right if she was at Sandford how did she end up dead around here, unless a truck driver or some traveler dumped her body to throw us off track, anyway thanks once again, why don’t you come for dinner next week Sandra would love to see you.’

‘Would love to Tom give me a ring next week?’

With that Tom left and drove to the precinct and went to his office, Hallett was waiting.

‘Hello sir there was no need for you to come down I said I would ring you when we had something.’

‘It’s okay Tom this is not official, my wife is having a party next weekend the 14th and she would like to invite you and Sandra, it is nothing posh just some friends of ours who are leaving for New Zealand and my wife said she had not seen Sandra for a long time and would like to catch up.’ This surprised Tom somewhat as Hallett had never shown much interest in Tom and his family before, and being of a suspicious mind, Tom thought it weird, but did not want to upset Hallett.

‘Sure, sir what time would you like us.’ Tom asked.

‘Around seven would be nice; you know our address I assume.’ Hallett asked.

‘No sir I don’t, but being a detective I am sure I will find it.’ Then Tom smiled.

‘Oh yes, Tom very droll, I am sure you know where we live.’ Hallett replied.

‘Yes sir I do, we will see you at seven on the 14th and thank your wife. By the way we have some information about the dead girl, not much but it is a start.’ Tom said.

‘Good keep me in touch, and now I must go, got to see the governor.’ With that Hallett left. Tom rang the front desk.

‘Bert can you get everyone in the incident room in about half an hour something has come to light.’

‘Yes, Tom leave it to me.’ Bert rang off.

‘Okay people here is what we have from the coroner, the girl died from a blow to the back of her head, something sharp, she also had some skin under her nails, and I have been informed it was the skin of a horse.’ They all looked at each other.

‘My thoughts exactly, but Richard then said maybe she is a student at some veterinary school, but the only one he knew of being Sandford in Dover, which like he said is a long way from here.

But she could have got a lift or been brought here in the boot of a car or back of a truck, no jokes about falling off the