Summer of Love by Marie Ferrarella (easy to read books for adults list .TXT) 📕

Her heart suddenly seemed to shrivel up inside her. The thought of never seeing Daniel again was more than she could bear.

Daniel heard his phone ring and guessed that it must be Ruth calling to see where he was. He glanced at his watch, realising with a start that it was almost four-thirty. How much longer was Dawson going to keep them here? he wondered, glancing at the old man, who was standing guard by the kitchen door. He had no idea but something needed to be done to resolve this situation soon.

‘Look, Mr Dawson, I know you’re upset but this is crazy. Keeping us here won’t achieve anything,’ he said in his most reasonable tone. ‘All you’ll do is find yourself in a whole load of trouble and I’m sure that isn’t what any of us wants.’

‘I don’t care how much trouble I’m in. It’ll be worth it to put a stop to what’s going on.’ Harold Dawson raised the shotgun and pointed it at Alistair Grant. ‘If him and his cronies think they can come here and tear up the countryside then they can think again!’

Daniel saw the colour drain from Alistair’s face and quickly interceded. ‘If that’s the way you feel, you need to talk to someone, see if you can get the decision to build this wind farm reversed.’

‘Talk! I’ve talked till I’m blue in the face and no one’s listened to me.’ Harold’s face flushed with anger. ‘No, it’s actions that will get their attention, nothing else.’

Daniel opened his mouth to try again to make him see sense when the telephone rang. Harold Dawson lifted the receiver off its rest. Daniel could tell from what the old man was saying that it was the surgery phoning and guessed that Ruth must be checking up on his whereabouts. He was tempted to shout out that he was there but Dawson must have realised he might do that and swung the gun towards him.

‘No, the doctor left a while ago. No, I don’t know what time it was. I’ve better things to do than keep a check on folk’s comings and goings.’

He went to slam the receiver back on its rest at the same moment that Daniel’s mobile phone rang again. He let it go to voice mail once more, knowing it would be foolish to try and answer it. Dawson’s mood was far too volatile to risk upsetting him any further. He glanced at Alistair and saw the fear in the younger man’s eyes.

‘What are we going to do?’ Alistair mouthed desperately.

Daniel shook his head. Reasoning with the old man obviously wasn’t going to work and using physical force was out of the question when Dawson had that gun. All he could hope was that Emma would call the police when he failed to turn up. So long as she didn’t try tracking him down herself, of course.

The air seemed to lock in his lungs at the thought of her following him to the farm and placing herself in danger. He knew if that happened he would have to do something, no matter how risky it was.

He took a deep breath and his mind was suddenly crystal clear. He would give up his life to protect Emma because he loved her.

It was seven o’clock before the last patient left. Emma hurried through to Reception, not needing to ask if there was any news when she saw the worry on Ruth’s face. ‘Still nothing,’ she said helplessly.

‘No. I just don’t know what to do next, Emma.’

‘You’ve called everyone who’d requested a home visit?’

‘Yes, and they all said that Dr Kennedy had left ages ago.’ Ruth shook her head. ‘Most of them were able to tell me almost to the minute what time he left too. It was only old Harold Dawson who refused to say what time Daniel left his farm but that’s typical of him. A really awkward old devil, he is.’

‘Harold Dawson from Niths Farm, you mean?’ Emma queried.

‘That’s right. He’s always been difficult but he’s got worse since his wife died. He doesn’t have any family and I doubt he’s got any friends either.’ Ruth paused and frowned.

‘What?’ Emma said quickly. ‘You’ve obviously thought of something.’

‘It’s just that when I was hanging up the phone after speaking to him I could have sworn I heard a mobile phone ringing in the background.’ Ruth shrugged. ‘It just seems odd. I wouldn’t have thought old Mr Dawson would be the sort to bother having a mobile.’

‘Maybe he had somebody visiting him,’ Emma suggested.

‘Could be, although I doubt they’d get much of a welcome. He’s not one to mix, believe me.’

Emma sighed. Although it did seem strange, it had nothing to do with what had happened to Daniel so there wasn’t time to worry about it right then. She came to a swift decision. ‘I’m going to phone the police and report Daniel missing. I’m not sure what they can do but we can’t just sit here, wondering what’s happened to him.’

‘I think you should call them,’ Ruth agreed, looking relieved. ‘Daniel would have let us know if his car had broken down or if he’d had some sort of minor accident.’

Emma bit her lip as she reached for the receiver. Ruth was right. Daniel would have contacted them—if he could. She put a call through to the police station and told them what had happened. They promised to check with the various agencies in case Daniel had been involved in an RTA and get back to her. Ruth insisted on staying while they waited for the police to phone back and went off to make them a cup of tea. Almost as soon as she’d gone, there was a loud banging on the surgery door and Emma felt her spirits soar in relief. That had to be Daniel!

Hurrying to the door, she swung it open. ‘And about time too—’ she began, then stopped abruptly when she found Mike Harding standing on the step. ‘Sorry, Mike. I