“Hiya, Stan,” said Keya, answering the call.

“The inspector asked me to call you. There’s been a report of a crop circle appearing near Cold Ashton, which is not too far from you, if you’re still in Lower Slaughter.”

“We’ve just left, but we can head over to Cold Ashton. What does the inspector want us to do?”

“Speak to the farmer whose field’s been vandalised, create a report, and log it on the system. He’s worried that now we have our first crop circle sighting, we’ll have a spate of them turning up all over the area.”

Keya finished the call and sighed. “Take the next right,” she told Ryan. “We’ve been asked to investigate the appearance of a crop circle.”

“Aliens,” said Ryan, perking up.

“There’s no such thing. It’s just kids causing trouble.”

“But you don’t know that,” Ryan countered. “Actually, while some people do still think they are caused by aliens, the new age belief is that they are linked to ancient energy and nature, and that they appear in areas near historic ley lines and stone circles.”

Keya moaned, “I hope none appear near the Rollright Standing Stones before the summer solstice. I could do without more people being drawn to the area. Still, I suppose we better investigate.”

CHAPTER SIX

On Friday evening, Dotty picked Keya up from her home in the small Cotswold village of Ampney St Martin, five miles to the east of Cirencester.

Dotty drove a smart metallic-grey Audi A1 and Keya half expected to find Dotty’s large, fluffy grey cat on the back seat.

“How’s Earl Grey?” Keya asked as she climbed into the passenger seat.

Dotty tucked a strand of her bobbed fair hair behind her ear as she replied, “He loves being back at Meadowbank Farm. As the weather’s warmer, he spends most of his time outside, either searching for mice or keeping Agatha, Aunt Beanie’s pig, company.”

After over a year away, Dotty had returned to the Cotswolds and to Meadowbank Farm where Aunt Beanie lived. Ryan had moved into Dotty’s farm cottage when she’d left, but he’d found himself similar lodgings at a farm in Stratton, a village to the north of Cirencester, which had been swallowed up by the expanding town.

“And are you settled back in the cottage?”

“Oh yes. Ryan’s looked after everything well, although Aunt Beanie did mention that Monica came the Monday before I moved back in, and she probably gave the cottage a thorough clean.”

“And how is your course?” Keya asked.

Dotty was taking a business course in Oxford as she prepared to set up her own antique emporium in a barn at Meadowbank Farm. Keya had thought Gilly would be annoyed, but she was actually delighted and said that another local antiques shop would only draw more people to the area.

Dotty had previously worked at Akemans, and learned her trade there, so Keya was relieved that her two friends wouldn’t be falling out over the new business venture.

“I’m just doing the foundation course at the moment, and it’s hard enough. Who knew there was so much to think about with your own business? Do you do your own accounts?” Dotty asked.

“No way. I have too much to do. But Zivah, and now Millie, always check the day’s takings against the customer invoices, and we send everything to a company in Cheltenham who compiles our tax returns. They tell me we’ll need to register for VAT soon, which is a pain. I can’t charge customers more to cover it, but most of my supplies, being fresh food and ingredients, are zero rated, so we won’t be able to offset their costs.”

“You see, that is just the sort of thing I need to know,” said Dotty, indicating right.

They drove along the Fosse Way, an old Roman road which cut straight across the Cotswolds.

By the time they arrived at Dover’s Hill, to the west of Chipping Campden where the Olympick Games were being held, the National Trust’s gravel car park was nearly full. Dotty managed to squeeze into a space, half on the gravel and half on a grassy bank.

“That was lucky,” Dotty admitted. “Otherwise, we’d have had to find somewhere else to park and walk back.”

“I noticed a sign for the Cotswold Way. Did you know Ryan and Millie are planning to run it?” Keya asked as she lifted a small rucksack onto her back, containing her waterproof coat, a water bottle, and snacks.

“No,” Dotty replied, as they joined a steady stream of people making their way up the hill.

Keya spotted the Wimsey family and she and Dotty sat down with them on the edge of a grassy slope overlooking a roped-off area where two men were facing each other. Both were wearing white smocks, and gripping each other’s shoulders, pushing back and forth, and frequently swinging out a foot and attempting to hit their opponent’s shins.

“Ow!” Dotty exclaimed when one particularly vicious kick hit home.

Gilly’s sixteen-year-old son, Thomas, clapped, but fourteen-year-old Olivia turned to Keya and Dotty, who were both sitting on their waterproof coats, and explained, “It doesn’t really hurt. Their trousers are stuffed with straw.”

Keya peered at the men’s legs and realised that one man had stalks of golden straw poking out of his white socks, which were pulled up over the ends of his jeans. She found the whole thing rather bizarre.

“I thought Sujin might be with you,” Gilly probed.

Sujin was the station’s crime scene technician, and he and Keya were friends.

“No, he’s playing at a pub in Stow-on-the-Wold tonight.”

Dotty turned her head and said, “I didn’t know that. Do you want to pop in on our way home?”

“Maybe,” Keya mumbled.

She liked Sujin. Maybe more than just liked, but she didn’t trust her feelings and, besides, she had far too much to do at the moment without getting into a romantic relationship. But then, she wasn’t getting any younger …

“I heard his band, the Celtic Twisters, play recently,” Dr Peter said. He pushed his black-framed glasses up his nose and added. “They’re very good, and I was impressed by Sujin’s fiddle playing. He’s quite the dark horse.”

At work, Sujin was quiet and unassuming, but he came to life when he played his fiddle, or electric violin, for the band, which played a mixture of Scottish and Irish music, folk songs, and ballads.

“It’s nice to see you out enjoying yourself, Dr Peter,” Dotty said. Keya felt her wince as another kick landed on one of the men’s shins. A man in a white coat, presumably the referee, poked one of the men with his long stick and the men parted and stepped back. Then the contest began again.

“It’s so freeing to have Erwin working with me. I don’t know why I didn’t look for an associate earlier,” Dr Peter reflected.

Keya had met Erwin Carter when Gilly had seated them next to each other at a dinner party. Gilly didn’t exactly admit she’d been trying to set them up, but both she and Keya knew she had.

“Because,” Gilly said, “you didn’t believe anyone could look after your patients as well as you can.”

“Well, I’m not sure about that,” mumbled Dr Peter, turning his attention back to the two men who tumbled to the ground.

Gilly rolled her eyes at Keya as the white-coated man walked towards the two men and blew a whistle.

Everyone, including Keya, clapped.

Next it was the turn of two women, both clad in white frocks and black leggings. Their legs looked too thin and uniform to have protective layers of straw, as the men had done.

“I’ve persuaded Aunt Beanie to come with me for the summer solstice at the standing stones. Do you want to join us?” Gilly asked.