Secrets to a Happy Ending

Chapter 19

Lydia sounded the Alarm, and it was not long before a large crowd of people formed around Ronnie Ogden as he lay there. From the crowd a man appeared with.a medic bag, asking for some room. He and another man assessed Ronnie as he lay there and gently moved him out onto the grass in front.

"Ronnie, can you hear me?" He asked

Ronnie murmured, in acknowledgement. His pulse was checked and his eyes were opened to see if his pupils dilated. The man turned and faced Lydia saying.

"He has lost a lot of blood, can you call 112, for an ambulance please?"

Lydia called for the ambulance, when she felt someone grab her shoulders, she looked behind her, it was Ben.

"What's happened?"

"Ronnie Ogden has been badly beaten, i'm on the phone to the ambulance..... Yes hello Ambulance please."

Lydia explained the situation and the operator advised an ambulance had been dispatched, and would be there soon. She looked down at Ronnie's face. He was barely recognisable, his face was swollen and badly bruised, bloody was trickling from his nose, he winced with pain, trying to speak, then slipped back into unconsciousness.

"Who on earth would do something like this?" Lydia asked.

Ben was too shocked to speak. Just then Joanna appeared in the midst of the crowd, she looked down and saw Ronnie lying there, filling up with tears, she crouched down and gently took his hand.

"Ronnie, oh my Ronnie. Are you ok? It's Joanna, can you hear me?"

Ben walked over and gently put his hands on Joanna's shoulders, encouraging her to move away from where Ronnie lay.

"Best leave it to the professionals, Joanna."

Not long after the ambulance arrived, two paramedics walked over to where Ronnie was and assessed the information. With broken English they asked for the crowd to give them some room, they brought a stretcher with them, and shortly after Ronnie was lifted, he regained consciousness for a limited time, as he was being taken to the Ambulance he grabbed Lydia's arm, and manage to mutter "No money, there's no money left." Then he was placed inside and taken away.

Lydia looked at Ben, who frowned at what Ronnie just said.

"Possibly delirious?" He said

"Where will they take him?" Lydia asked.

"Possibly Vidin, or a closer town, but Vidin has more equipment than the clinics do. Let's give them some time and we can go afterwards."

Lydia turned and looked back at the back of the town hall building, quietly assessing the window, then she looked around at the crowd to see if there was anyone else she could see. Mark Ross appeared and Joanna ran to him sobbing, she buried her head into his chest. He didn't say anything to her, whilst he held her, looking at the place where Ronnie was found.

Lydia and Ben got in his car and he drove her to his house, which was on the edge of the village. When they arrived, she got out and looked, his bungalow was finished with a yellow render. A windy stone path lead to the mahogany panelled front door. He put his key in the lock and walked inside.

Lydia followed, once inside the layout was similar to the show home she had been shown by Joanna. It was comfortable throughout, lots of artwork was on the walls and comfortable Scandinavian furniture was placed around the room.

"I'm going to make some tea, make yourself comfortable."

Lydia walked over to the sofa and sat down, she placed her bag down on the floor next to her. Ben filled the kettle and placed it on the gas stove, he pulled out two cups from the cupboard and placed them on the bench-top. Lydia looked out of the window down the long road leading to the hotel at the other side of the village.

"Has this ever happened before?" She asked.

"Never while I have been here, it's a shock to many of us. One of the reasons people moved here the crime rate is very low in comparison."

"Who would do such a thing?"

"I don't know, but I bet they find him soon enough."

Just then Lydia's phone began to ring, she pulled it from her bag, it was a Bulgarian number. She answered immediately, it was Gladys from the hotel.

"My goodness Lydia, I just heard about Ronnie, listen I have some policemen here they want to talk to you as I understand you found him?"

Lydia thought about the shock of seeing Ronnie lying in the bush, she felt her hand trembling and passed the phone to Ben.

"Can you, I can't...." She said,

Ben took the phone from Lydia and spoke to Gladys, he had arranged for the police to come to the house so he would be with Lydia while she spoke to them. After ending the call he went and finished off making the tea, he brought two mugs and placed them on the coffee table in front of them.

"It's hot and sweet, they say it's good for the shock." He said.

Lydia smiled, she picked up the cup and took a small sip from it, and put it back on the coffee table.

"The police are coming here?" She asked

"Yeah they just want to have a quick chat with you about what you saw."

"Ben, I need to talk to you. There are some things in the village I think that are going on, and well I need to talk to someone about it."

"Some things going on, what do you mean?" He asked

Lydia felt herself begin to get upset, there was too much to take in and the fact of Ronnie being badly beaten, made it seem all the more real now. She decided to tell him some of what she had discovered, about Julie, the article that had been left in her bedroom, the note left at reception. She was about to tell him about the text message, but she decided against it. Whilst she felt she could confide in him, reality told her that she was not ready to fully trust him.

"So Julie is an alias, and really Marilyn Smythe, didn't she write some books or something."

Lydia nodded. "Yes thrillers, she was well known in the nineties, and early two thousand. Then she stopped producing books and no one knew why"

Ben sat back on the sofa stretching his arms at the back of it, he crossed his legs thinking for a moment.

"Well I guess she just wanted a new life, you know if she was the victim of domestic abuse and all that."

He reached for his cup and took a sip. Lydia watched as he drank his tea. He seemed pretty relaxed about what she had just told him. She wondered if she should tell him more, but decided against it, thinking back to the night of the village hall meeting. She could not be sure who was in that room that night. She heard a call pull up outside and she looked out of the window, it was the police.