Chapter 5 - The Meeting, Part 1

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The Beginning; Prologue - The Attic

Chapter 5
The meeting
Part 1

As they neared their destination the two men could now see, at firsthand, why this desolate location was perfect. For there really was no place to run!

    A mist hung, like a shroud, over the moor as Stark’s Jaguar manoeuvred the windy roads. Granite tors, as if stacked by giants long ago, but shaped, eroded by wind & rain, formed the distant skyline. Beautiful, but all the same, unforgiving & merciless should any stranger stray from path on foot in bad weather. Lose your way in those conditions, in these parts, & you lost your life.

Along the small roads, which climbed to higher ground, flanked on either side by heather & bracken, they continued. The way was broken every now & then by narrow stone bridges over bubbling brooks & streams that rushed away at speed & ghostly empty check points that were rarely utilized. Sheep & ponies dotted the hills, but eerily not a single tree grew on the high ground. The only shelter from the harsh winds that in winter could cut a man in two, were the old Celtic towers, the Tors. To begin with there had been small woods & copses in the approaching valleys, but they had long since given up their cover as the car approached the 600 meter mark.

    The two men were best friends since their days at university. They had roomed together & in most instances shared similar interests. Whilst Hodgkins’ career in medicine had deviated from psychiatric studies to criminal psychology, Stark’s had gone the whole hog from medicine to law enforcement. Throughout this steady transition they had remained close; each unintentionally influencing the other’s destiny.
   
Twenty six year old Doctor Peter Hodgkins stood 5’ 11 & was of slim build. His mousy coloured brown hair was swept to one side, preventing his boyish long fringe from dangling into his brown eyes. He wore studious looking steel rimmed glasses, round in shape, that made him look professor-like, dressed in his customary tweed jacket. He had dressed & looked that way for as long as Stark could remember, ever since they had met. His accent, like his complexion, was clear, but refined. He originated from Cheltenham, middle class in upbringing, much like his friend.

An only child, he had lost his parents after they were killed in a plane crash over the Swiss Alps, when he was nineteen. It happened whilst he was attending University & his roommate of the time -Stark helped him through his grief. In the process their relationship had strengthened to near brotherhood. These days he was recognized most often by strangers in the street, due to his phenomenal success as a writer. He was the Author of three best selling criminal thrillers to date, all of which featured his portrait on the inside back cover. The publisher had suggested it originally, but Hodgkins had not anticipated the level of success that he would achieve at such a young age & more recently it had become a little laborious to say the least. He had decided that he would limit the problem by ensuring that there was no such photo included in his next publication.
             More importantly, Hodgkins was considered to be a leader in his field of expertise & much sought after. He was not just an author, nor a pretty face. His success had enabled him the luxury to pick & choose cases, as he pleased, in between lecturing home & abroad. On this particular occasion the subject was of a more personal nature & he, & Stark had been working on it during their spare time, on & off for the last 3 years. As well as it aiding his friends cause, he reasoned that it could also one day be used as veiled subject matter for some future novel; -with Stark’s consent of course. However, due to its controversy & that it crossed over into their professional domain, it was particularly dangerous, especially for Stark. Therefore it was necessary for them to tread with care, knowing that when the time was right that they could disclose anything that they might find, which could be of use, in the event of the case ever being re-opened. It occurred to Stark that, at this point in time, such a possibility seemed a long, long way off.

Written by T.R.Vinnicombe (aka Dr. Peter Hodgkins) ©2009 all rights reserved & none of the contents of this site can be copied or used in any way without the written consent of the author. Published online by MicroHotStar 2009