Chapter 3: Ding Dong Bell

Monday morning Danny rang his school and told the secretary he couldn’t come in today, but he would be back tomorrow. When asked why he apologised and said it was a personal matter and he couldn’t tell her.

Tom picked him up at half nine. They loaded the equipment in his car. Tom was fascinated to see it. As they drove over to Gerry’s,

Danny asked Tom how he had got on with Amelia after he had had to leave them in McDonalds on Friday. ‘We never stopped talking,’ he said. ‘She is so nice. When we had finished, she had told me where she lived which was about fifteen minutes walking away.’

‘As we came out, I asked her if I could walk her home. She seemed to like the idea and said, ‘Yes.’ I offered her my arm which she took. It was a nice evening, so we ambled along still talking.’

‘When we reached hers, she invited me in for a coffee. I stopped for nearly an hour. By the time I left we knew so much about each other. As I was leaving, I asked her if I could take her out the next day, Saturday. She agreed, then at the door I turned to look at her. She smiled at me, so I leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss on her lips. ‘That was nice.’ she said as I went out.’

‘It wasn’t until I was halfway home, walking on air, that I remembered I’d driven to McDonalds and my car was still in their car park. I changed direction and collected it.’

‘So, what happened on Saturday?’ Danny asked. ‘I picked her up in the car at ten o’clock as we had arranged,’ Tom said. ‘We drove over to the old walled City of Chester on the River Dee. We had a coffee and cakes in a café in the city, then we walked around the remains of the old city walls.’

‘We saw the Chester version of ‘The Bridge of Sighs,’ and went on down to the river. There were boats doing trips up the river with a guide on board, so we did a trip. That was interesting.’

‘Later on, we drove back and when we got nearer home, we stopped off at a restaurant for a meal. That was lovely, it was just like being out with someone I’d known for years. When I dropped her off at home, I walked up to the door with her. She turned and put her arms round me,’ ‘It’s been a lovely day,’ she said, ‘Thank you so much, I hope we can do it again soon.’ ‘I told her I’d love to and kissed her.’

‘We had a lovely long kiss, then I left. We couldn’t go out on Sunday as I was on duty all day, but we’re meeting up for the day next Sunday when I’m off again.’ ‘That’s lovely,’ Danny said, ‘I’m so glad you hit it off.’

They turned into the lane and drove past Gerry’s house. Tom parked in the field entrance like last time.

Danny checked the camera on his phone. He saw Gerry driving out at his usual time so barring any unusual event he should be ok for the rest of the day.

Tom had brought a folding chair which he put at the back of the car. His plan was to sit as if he was reading a book so he could see clearly down the lane.

Danny opened the gate to the field and moved the equipment into the field before closing the gate. He had tied his timber for across the well to his drop weight and left a loop so he could carry them over his shoulder. The camera unit he carried upside down so it could accommodate his drum of rope. Fully loaded, he was able to take everything he needed with him in one trip.

Once he reached the opening that he had made in the hedge by the well, he put everything down and untied the weight. Pulling the loose branches out of the hole, he pushed the weight through and to one side. Then before he went any further, he rang Tom, established a connection with them both on speaker and hung his phone round his neck but inside the overalls he was wearing.

He pushed the camera unit through the hedge after a few more snips with the secateurs. Then he crawled through after it. He studied the back of the house but saw no sign of life. Lifting the lid on the well, he slid it halfway off.

Putting his cross bar with the pully on in place, he managed to get one end underneath the well lid. Its weight would now hold it in place. He threaded the rope through the pulley and tied it to the camera unit making sure he used a really secure knot.

Then he unrolled the drum of rope in a zig zag pattern on the ground, each length of the zig or zag being about five feet. The end of the rope he tied to a thick branch on a nearby bush. He wasn’t going to risk letting the rope slip out of his hands and drop down the well.

He was almost ready. He switched the camera on, then the phone. He checked the camera view was coming through to the phone, then he pressed the video play on the phone. Finally, he switched on the two torches.

He lifted it over the wall of the well, which was difficult to do without putting any pressure onto the crumbling wall. With a bit of a struggle he soon had it hanging a couple of feet down the well. He started lowering the rope. ‘I’m just starting to lower the camera.’ he said. ‘Ok,’ Tom replied. ‘One car came up and went past to one of the other houses, but nothing else.’

As Danny played out the rope it seemed to take ages. Then eventually the rope went slack. That told him the camera unit was either floating on the water or sitting on whatever was on the bottom of the well. He tied a small marker loop in the rope then walked back from the well pulling the rope so that the camera unit came up off the bottom. When he judged he had pulled it up six feet, he tied the rope off.

Then he went to the well, reached over carefully and held the rope going down the well as far below the pully as he could. He pulled it gently and let go. He hoped that that would make the camera unit move about like a pendulum so it would film all of the bottom.

He left it swinging for a full minute, then he started pulling up. ‘I’m pulling it up.’ he said for Toms benefit. ‘Still all quiet here.’ came Toms reply. Although the camera unit wasn’t over heavy, by the time he had pulled it up thirty feet Danny was feeling it.

When the top of the camera unit came into view, Danny lowered it back down about six feet, then tied it to a bush and took a breather. After a couple of minutes, he moved over to the well. He got hold of the rope just below the pulley and pulled the camera unit up towards him. Once he had it in his hands he managed to lift it right out and put it down on the plastic sheet he had spread out alongside the well. He was surprised to see that the bottom of it was still dry and clean.

He wondered about dropping his weight now to get a sample and leaving looking at the camera until he got back to the car. But curiosity overcame him.

‘I’ve got the camera back,’ he said, ‘Are we still clear?’ ‘All quiet.’ Tom replied. Danny lifted the phone out of the water bottle and unplugged it from the camera. Then he switched off the torches and the camera.

He sat down on the grass and played the video. First of all, he saw daylight from when he had lifted the camera assembly over the well wall. Then as it lowered down, he could see the walls of the well going past.

It seemed to go on and on for ages, then he could see the bottom in the torch light. As it got closer, he could clearly see what looked like a human body. Then at the side, there looked like a couple more heads.

As the camera got even closer, he could see that there was definitely a body of a female that looked quite fresh. He had lowered the camera down until it rested on the bottom, but now he could see it had actually rested on the top of the body. Then he saw it again as he had lifted it up the six feet. Then the camera swayed around because of his sideways pull on the rope. That clearly showed all of the bottom of the well. There were definitely two other skulls which looked as though they had been there much longer.