Snowdrop Wyatt

Steve and Jack heard his voice from some distance and immediately converged on the road, pointing their shotguns directly at Mrs. Crone. She reached for the basket on the seat beside her. "Don't even think about it they said in unison."

Charlie had gone to the toilet before Crone left and in the sixty seconds that he was away, she had taken her opportunity. Swiftly pulling a silenced pistol from its hiding place in the basket, she shot Snow twice through the heart. It's surprising to hear that a hired killer has any compassion, but Crone couldn't bring herself to shoot Snow in the head to make sure. The bullets through the heart would have to do.

When Charlie got back to the kitchen, Pete was on his knees next to Snow crying his eyes out.

Charlie pushed Pete aside and ripped open Snow's coat, revealing a bullet proof vest underneath. He could see that the bullets hadn't penetrated, but when he bent his ear to her mouth he couldn't hear her breathing. He opened her airway and began to give her artificial respiration. After three breaths she choked and immediately regained consciousness, looked a little bewildered. "She shot me!" she said in surprise.

Having checked her over, Charlie declared that she probably had a couple of cracked ribs and should go to hospital.

By now the police sirens could be heard and an ambulance wasn't very far behind.

*****

Crone knew that the game was up. She also knew that going to prison would be a very short-term future. She had carried out too many jobs for too many dangerous people to survive for very long. So, she decided to ask for protection and tell the authorities everything she knew.

The first that Celia knew that something had gone wrong was when a couple of police cars skidded to a halt outside the front door. Unfortunately for them, she was elsewhere in the grounds, bent over a fence with the Gardener fucking her roughly from behind. When she saw what was happening she demanded that he stop immediately, but David wasn't about to stop and continued with the pounding.

One of the police vehicles left, the other stayed behind.

David didn't know what was going on and demanded an explanation from her. When she told him he was appalled. He had made it very clear that he wanted no part of anything like that.

"You've got to help me get away. I've managed to stash a fair bit of money somewhere safe."

David just stared at her and then, without saying anything he turned around, hopped over the fence they had just been fucking against and began walking towards the house.

"No!" screamed Celia. She picked up an edging stone by her feet and lobbed it at David. It hit him on the back of the head and knocked him out cold. He crumpled to the floor and didn't move. Celia wasn't concerned if she had killed him or not, merely that she had lost his help to escape. She climbed over the fence, painful splinters in her pussy reminding her in the process that David had ripped her knickers off earlier.

Searching the unconscious man's pockets she located his pickup keys. She couldn't leave by the front gate without being seen, but she would be able to coast downhill through the woods to the little used rear entrance and make her getaway from there. Opening the gate, she turned left and roared off down the narrow lane. The speedometer climbed quickly as the hedgerows began to whip past in a blur. As she raced around a right-hand bend she came face to face with the second police vehicle.

The officer driving the car wet himself. He thought he was about to die. Celia's reactions were remarkably fast and she swung the wheel to the left, plunging the car across a ditch and through a hedge. Sheer bad luck brought her through the fence directly in line with one of those vicious looking farm implements that you see lying around in country fields. A matter of five metres on either side and she would probably have made her escape. She died instantly.

*****

"So you were right about Crone all along. I couldn't believe that she was a killer," said Snow.

"Actually, she wasn't. It turns out that she was only posing as Mrs. Crone. She had done her homework though – looked just like her and drove a similar van. She also knew when she would be out and about on her rounds and therefore wouldn't be contactable. Coincidentally, her real name is Wytch. She must have staked out Apple Orchard Farm before I got here. Apparently, she's only in her thirties, but used to be an actor and consequently knows how to disguise herself," explained Charlie.

Snow had been brought home from hospital after only a couple of hours. The diagnosis was one cracked and one bruised rib. They told her that there was nothing to do except rest fro a week.

"What are you going to do now Snow?" asked Pete. "I suppose that you'll be going home?"

She sighed. "It was a home while my father was there. Now it's just a house." Snow thought for a moment and then said, "No, a home is a house full of people you love. I rather think that I'd like to stay here, looking after you lot."

"But you're hardly going to find your Mr. Right here," he said.

"I wouldn't be so sure," she answered cryptically. "I think I may have already found my Prince Charming." She winked at Charlie

The marriage of Snowdrop Wyatt to Charles Prince took place six months later. Charlie continued with his detective work, but gradually learned to do more and more on the farm, which was necessary because Tom had now qualified and was working hard as a vet and was no longer able to lend a hand.

A year later, Snow gave birth to the first of her seven sons. One of the larger, unused barns was converted as a home for her family, but she continued to look after the brothers as well. None of them ever married or settled down. Nobody could ever match up to Snow, after all.

And they all lived happily ever after.