They arrived back at the point where they’d begun, having walked completely around all four sides of the large field, and Woody hadn’t registered any reaction, apart from being interested in some of the different natural smells he came across.
‘There’s nothing here,’ announced Andy.
‘Maybe it’s in the middle of the field?’ suggested Jake hopefully, pointing to where the crops were growing.
‘I promised the farmers we’d stick to the perimeters of the fields,’ said Robert.
‘Well, that’s a bit ridiculous!’ snapped Jake. ‘Say it’s out there in the field itself?’
‘Then it’s likely it would have been dug up years ago by a plough or a digger,’ said Robert. ‘Also, if I hadn’t given them that undertaking, they wouldn’t have let us on to their land. They don’t want people walking across their fields ruining their crops.’
‘Maybe the next field won’t have anything growing in it,’ said Michelle.
‘Maybe,’ agreed Robert. ‘Let’s go and find out.’
As they crossed the stile and headed back to the cars, Jake felt hollow. All right, it was asking a bit much for them to strike lucky the first time, but this was Glastonbury. If the books were going to be hidden anywhere, there was more chance of finding one here. And Lauren had listed this field as a likely spot.
They drove out of the country lane and on to the road, Jake keeping his eyes open for any sign of the blue Renault Michelle had spotted, but there was no sign of it. In fact, there was no sign of any cars following them during their trip to the lay-by near a path that led to the second field Lauren had listed.
This site was as empty as the first. This field had no crops growing, so they were able to ramble across the whole of it, but despite Woody covering every square metre of ground with his nose pressed to the short grass, he never gave any indication that there was anything to be found.
‘Maybe they’ve been buried too deep,’ suggested Michelle.
Andy shook his head.
‘Trust me, if it was here, Woody would smell it,’ he said. ‘Either it was never there in the first place . . .’
‘Or someone’s already found it and dug it up,’ finished Robert.
Jake felt gloomy as they returned to their cars again.
‘This isn’t going well,’ he whispered to Robert.
‘Two down, still two to go,’ said Robert confidently.
‘Yes, but say we don’t find a book?’
‘Then we try again another time,’ said Robert.
‘Maybe the dog’s got a cold or a blocked nose?’ Jake whispered, shooting a look at Woody; but he knew he was clutching at straws.
He glanced towards Michelle, who was walking ahead of them, chatting to Andy. Jake suspected she was preparing a story for her magazine about sniffer dogs.
‘If we don’t find one this time, I can’t see Michelle spending any more time on this,’ he said, worried. ‘And we need her to publicise it.’
‘You give up too easily, Jake,’ said Robert. ‘Think positive.’
Jake sighed. It was hard to think positive. He’d been so full of expectations when they’d been planning this. He was sure that Michelle was right, that there would be some of the books buried near to the site of the abbey. And Lauren had been meticulous in her research, locating potential sites for the hidden books.
When they got to the lay-by, Jake looked around at the few cars that were parked there. No blue Renault. And none of the other vehicles looked familiar. Which didn’t mean that they weren’t being followed, just that someone was being very careful about doing it.
When they arrived at the third site, it looked the same as the first two. Another large field, this one had maize growing in it, and hedgerows left wild all the way around the outside: long grasses, flowers, brambles and nettles.
This is a waste of time, thought Jake gloomily. We’ve come all this way and we’re going to find nothing.
Once again, Andy held the piece of old blackened leather to Woody’s nose, and then let the dog amble along the narrow track at the side of the field on the lead, nose to the ground and sniffing, with Jake, Robert and Michelle following. As before, Jake and Robert were carrying spades and a trowel, ready to start digging. They’d gone for only about a hundred metres, when Woody stopped, looked up at Andy and barked excitedly.
‘He’s found something!’ Andy grinned. ‘I told you!’
‘Is it a book?’ asked Michelle eagerly.
‘We won’t know until we dig it up,’ replied Andy.
Woody now ran in small circles excitedly, nose to the ground.
‘He’s definitely found something!’ said Andy proudly. He pulled on the lead, and Woody moved back to sit beside Andy, looking up happily at his master as Andy patted him on the head. Both dog and man almost glowed with pride.