Springbank - 5. Spring Ch 5

“Hello Cooper, how are things in Western Australia?” the voice of Mr Thymes asked, “I am very well thankyou sir, just a little annoyed with what is happening with my former employers,” I replied. “Yes, I have all the information in front of me here, and I have consulted a colleague Barrister at a law firm there in Perth, he is a good chap, and we know each other from University days back in Edinburgh, where I believe you’re ancestor also studied,” Mr Thymes said in response.

“What is his recommendation, as it hasn’t stopped, they stopped by my home in South Perth, while I was at University. Mum told them that I was not home, and over half an hour later they were still parked at the front. I asked Mum to have a recording of the security footage and to send it to me, which she has done,” I replied.

“Oh, ok, that is not good at all, let me get my colleague in Perth to join this conversation…” Mr Thymes said to me, and once Mr Isaac Appleton had joined us, we spent the next fifteen minutes discussing the options, and I was informed that while we were talking, Mr Appleton had written and submitted a court application for all management and staff of the ambulance service to cease contacting me in any form, and he asked me which police station was I at presently,” and once I had told him, he instructed me to stay there and he would see me in half an hour.

I called Mum back, and she told me that the vehicle had finally left just a few minutes earlier. I decided to not go home just in case they may still be in the area, so I waited as instructed in the car park of the police station, and about twenty minutes later I received a new text message. “Isaac Appleton here, I have arrived at the police station.” When I read this I jumped out of my vehicle and looked around and saw a gentleman in a business suit smiling as he gave me a short wave.

Twenty minutes later, after a discussion with the Police Station senior officer with the rank of Senior Sergeant, and submitting copies of all the proof that I had gathered, and submitted an official complaint, and we were told that detectives would look into the matter. Outside the police station, I asked Mr Appleton to follow me to the family home, just in case there was anyone from the private Ambulance service still hovering around the area, and he agreed to do this.

As I suspected there was a vehicle waiting outside the house, and this time I kept driving, while Mr Appleton stopped outside the house, where after a brief discussion and serving them with court papers, they had gone by the time I had done a loop of the block. Mr Appleton informed me that I shouldn’t have any more troubles with them, now they had been served with court papers. I asked him for some advice on a separate matter, and he told me that he would look into it before he left as well.

Two weeks passed very quickly as I concentrated on my studies once more, with Dad making regular trips to the hospital to check on Gramps who was very slowly recovering, and Dad was in the process of selling the station and organising for all of the families belongings been packed up ready to be sent to Perth. I received a text message from Davies, reminding me that the Avon Descent was happening next week, also he asked if I would be coming up this weekend, a week before,” and I sent I reply that I would be there tomorrow.

The following day, I set off for the estate, sending a quick text message to Davies to let him know that I was on my way there to the estate, and he sent a return text with the six-digit code for the gate so I could enter the property. When I did arrive at the front gate, I was very pleasantly surprised at the new entry to the property. As well as a new very long Post and Rail front fence, that has strong wire mesh between each post, there are also very fancy 2.5-metre high double gates, as I pulled up to the post that has the code box on it.

After entering the code, I saw the gates open outwards and once fully open I drove forward where I stopped just inside and waited for the gates to close behind me before I continued onwards. I found Davies standing by his Ute near the main machinery shed, and he smiled as I pulled up beside him. “Good morning, what do you think of the front entry now?” he asked me, “Very impressed indeed, your new mechanic is very talented indeed. How about we do a tour of the estate to see how things are going?” I responded.

After an hour of driving around the property which is quite hilly in places, we arrived at the watch tower, where there were two other vehicles. “I thought that it would be nice to have lunch here, so Leah has put together a feast for my family and you, while the staff have this weekend off and are not on the property, as they will be needed next weekend to patrol the riverside boundary,” Davies said to me as we climbed out of our vehicles and quickly headed inside as it was currently drizzling light rain.

“Morning boss, what would you like to drink?” Leah said when we entered the main living area, “Just fruit punch will be fine thank you,” I replied and after receiving my drink I stepped out onto the front patio, where I was shocked to see that the river level was now about two metres up from the post and rail fence. “Wow, that is interesting, we have part of the river on the property,” I commented, “Yes, indeed we do,” Davies replied as he stood beside me. “Hey Uncle Coop, can we show you the changes upstairs?” Davies’ twin daughters asked me, and them calling me uncle surprised me.

“I glanced over to Davies and smiled, and I just shrugged my shoulders, “Sure young ladies, lead the way,” I replied, and the twins grabbed my hands and tugged me toward the spiral stairs. “Looks like we now have an Uncle,” I heard Giles say, and I heard Davies chuckle, but I didn’t hear what he said in response. At the top of the stairs, the girls led me to one of the back corner rooms, where I saw a square table in one back corner, that had a table lamp on it, and in the other corner was a bookshelf, which is one metre off the ground.

In the centre between them is a rectangular box that is also a metre off the ground, and it has two doors to it. One of the girls opened the doors to reveal a narrow storage space, that currently holds two pillows and two blankets. Once she closed and locked the doors, she stepped back, where the other girl stepped towards it, and released a catch at the top of the wall cupboard, and much to my surprise, the cupboard folded down to reveal a king single-sized bed with fold down legs, and there are straps in each corner of the mattress to keep it in place.

“Holy smokes, now that is a very clever idea,” I commented, “Thanks, I thought of it and had Alex build it for us, and there is an identical one in the other room, but with an upper bunk as well,” Davies said from the doorway. I was able to relax and enjoyed a wonderful lunch with the Carter family, and we even saw some kayakers on the river, practising for the big race next week no doubt. As Leah and her daughters were cleaning up, Davies, Giles and I were relaxing upstairs, overlooking the river nearby, when a phone beeped with a message.

Davies looked at his phone, reading whatever the message was which had him frown, “Is your estate's lawyer in London known as Lloyd Thymes from Thompson, Hudson & Kent?” Davies asked me, “Yes, why is that?” I asked surprised, “Just received an email from them. “Dear Mr Carter, If your boss, Mr Cooper Hudson is with you in the estate, can you kindly ask him to turn on his Mobile phone,” Davies said to me.

“Oops, I must have turned it off after that last text message I sent you earlier, “ I said as I retrieved my phone and turned it on, and a few moments later there was a series of beeps from missed calls and messages. Ignoring them all, I dialled a number and as it began to ring, I looked at the time, which read 1.32 pm, “This may be a little early for them, must be after 4 am there in London, I commented, “Hello Cooper, I am glad that you finally turned your mobile on,” Lloyd Thymes said when he answered the call.

“I am sorry, but I wasn't expecting any calls or messages from you this early in the morning your time,” I replied. “Never mind, I needed to speak to you urgently, as I have received an unusual request from the office of His Excellency, the Ambassador for Canada in Australia, who has heard about your Watch Tower that overlooks the Avon River, I believe his son attends the same university as you.

He will be in Perth for a few days next weekend, and has requested 5 tickets to view the Avon Descent Race from the Watch Tower on Saturday,” Mr Thymes said to me, which was a huge surprise. “How on earth does he know about the Watch Tower?” I asked in shock, “Probably from his son, but also there is a video clip about it on the internet, titled – ‘Awesome view from the tower on private farmland for next week’s Avon Descent’,” Mr Thymes replied, as I saw Giles quickly looking it up on his phone, and he handed it to me.

Together, Giles, Davies and I watched the video clip of footage of the Watch Tower from the direction of the river. “Ok, we have seen the footage, and I am not too pleased about it being on the internet for all to see, but I guess there is nothing I can do about it now. So apart from the Ambassador, who else will be attending?” I said after seeing the footage. “There will be the Ambassador, his wife and son, plus two security guards,” Mr Thymes replied. “Ok, I will allow it, but there will be no weapons permitted on the property, no matter what, and if there are any found, those carrying them will be evicted from the property,” I replied.

“Thank you, I will pass that on to them, and have someone from the Ambassador’s Office in Canberra give you a call for final details, enjoy the rest of your weekend. Goodbye,” Mr Thymes said before ending the call. “Can you ask Leah if she can add five more to the guest list, please? Do we know how many are coming to this event this year?” I asked Davies. “Just you and your family, the staff and my family, as I have decided that with you here, and with your family joining us that 15 in total which is plenty of people here,” Davies replied.

Just fifteen minutes after Leah and the girls had left to return to their home, with just Davies and Giles remaining behind, we were in the upstairs lounge area, at the back, when we heard several gunshots, then the sound of crashing glass, which made all three of us hit the ground for cover and I retrieved my mobile and dialled a number and I was soon reporting gun shorts coming from the south side of the river with some hitting the building on my property on the north side.

After I gave my name and mobile number, the property name and directions to find the place, I was instructed to stay low and try and vacate the area if safe to do so, just as several more shots hit the windows and walls of the Watch Tower before the call ended which had them informed me that the Police were being dispatched immediately and to stay where we are and keep down low. Davies texted Leah to tell her to keep the girls inside and down low as someone was taking potshots at the Watch Tower, but we were all safe.

Davies sent a text message to someone, and moments later he received a text back, “Good, I have Joe and Kurt on their way to open the gate for when the police arrive,” Davies said to me, “Where are they now?” I asked, “Already on their way back to the Estate, as they had only gone as far as Chittering to see a few mates, so they are only twenty minutes away,” Davies replied. Over the next fifteen minutes, there was the occasional shot fired, until we heard the sound of sirens close by, and there were no more shots after that.

We stayed low for a bit longer until Davies received a text message from the lads. “Escorting the police car in now, they say all is clear. Mr Pellini has been arrested and several guns have been secured. We are also escorting a furniture truck with a big delivery for the Watch Tower,” Davies said reading out loud the message. “That would be the addition to the main room downstairs, I am glad that it has arrived,” I added smiling. While the police were taking our statements, photographing all the damage and recovering a few bullets from the rifle, the delivery guys were bringing in the Baby Grand Piano, setting up and tuned, and I gave them a healthy tip for their great work before they left, with the lads leading the way, so to let them out the front gate again.

“Make sure Alex and Mei Ling know about this new arrival,” I said to Davies who smiled and nodded. “On that matter, I had a message from them last night, asking if it is alright for two friends to join them who are singers, and it would be no extra charge,” Davies informed me, “Yes, that is fine, give them the Okie Dokie,” I replied, and Giles laughed. “No one says that any more Uncle,” he said and I just smiled and nodded my head.

“I think it is time to have Mr Pellini evicted from the property, and we take a look at it for the first time,” I said and I sent a message to Mr Appleton to let him know what has happened with the shooting incident and asked him to start legal steps to have Mr Pellini’s lease terminated and him evicted from the property. A message a short while later made ms smile. “Spoken to the police, to confirm the matter, and asked them to inform Mr Pellini of the action been taken to terminate his lease and evict him from the property.

About twenty minutes later, we were on the south side of the river, with the gates to the property, wide open, with the chain and padlock lying on the ground, as we drove in two vehicles. The place was reasonably tidy, but there was a lot of stuff stored in the sheds and also the house, which was a little messy due to the police searching the whole property for any weapons, of which they found five in total. Davies had brought with him a spare heavy-duty padlock, and he locked the gates after we exited the property, with Davies and Giles heading home to the estate, while I headed into town for a bit of a wander around and had a meal at a local café before I too headed for home in South Perth.

I received a text from Davies the following day at about lunchtime, informing me that Mr Pelleni had been given bail to appear in court at a later date, yet to be set and that he had been served court documents terminating his lease of the property and that he had 4 days to remove all of his belongings, and to leave the property in a fit and tidy state. I was glad that this drama was almost over, and that I could return to concentrating on my studies and the upcoming Avon Descent event.

Every time I attend lectures, I have my mobile turned off, and when I exited my last lecture on Tuesday afternoon, I turned my mobile on to see several missed calls and text messages, most of them from Davies at the estate, but also two from Mr Appleton as well. I decided to call the Barrister first. “Mr Appleton, sorry I missed your call, I was attending lectures at university,” I said when the call was answered.

“Oh, sorry about that, I must remember that in future. I had a distressed call from your Estate Manager, who received an unexpected call to make a request and he asked me if I could manage it for him, so this is why I am calling you… We have received a request from His Excellency the Governor of Western Australia, asking for three tickets to attend the function at the Watch Tower on Springbank Estate,” Mr Appleton announced.