UNWELCOME GUESTS: An atmospheric, suspenseful thriller

by Anna Willett

  UNWELCOME GUESTS

  Anna Willett

  Published by

  THE BOOK FOLKS

  London, 2018

  www.thebookfolks.com

  © Anna Willett

  Out now, a new thriller by Anna Willett

  Mina’s father was a brute and a thug. She got over him. Now another man wants to fill his shoes. Can Mina overcome the past and protect herself? ‘Cruelty’s Daughter’ is about a woman who tackles her demons and takes it upon herself to turn the tables on a violent man.

  http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07D23WP6T

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D23WP6T

  http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07D23WP6T

  Polite note to readers

  This book is written in British and Australian English apart from instances where local dialect is used. For that reason, some spellings of words may differ from North American English.

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  We hope you enjoy the book.

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  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Other titles by Anna Willett

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  Chapter One

  Friday January 13th, 2017

  “What did you say this guy does?” Caitlin knew she’d already asked, but couldn’t remember exactly what Jace had told them. She recalled something vague about security. Looking at the two-storey limestone structure, she wondered how anyone could afford such an impressive house as their holiday home.

  “I told you.” Jace flung a faded green duffle bag down next to her on the pea gravel driveway. “He runs some big-time security firm. He’s got houses all over the place. That’s why he said we could use this one. He’s hardly ever here.” Jace fished a key out of his pocket and dangled it in front of Caitlin’s face. “Wait till you see the inside.”

  Caitlin brushed a strand of auburn hair off her face and glanced over at her husband, Eli. The sunlight picked out a nest of tiny lines around his eyes. Lines born of pain that made her heart ache with loss. He’d been quiet for most of the two-hour drive. She’d hoped a weekend away with Eli’s younger brother would be just what he needed. Maybe it would drag him out of the funk he’d been in since they lost the baby, but so far he’d shown little enthusiasm. The miscarriage had been hard on both of them, for a while she’d struggled to get out of bed, but month by month life moved on, carrying her along with it. She just wished Eli could pull himself out of the fog. The distance between them was growing and she didn’t have the strength to keep both of them sane.

  “What do you think?” She hoped Jace’s enthusiasm would infect his brother, but one look at Eli’s flat expression told her this was going to be a long weekend. When had he become so self-involved? When did the sorrow they shared become only his? The urge to get back in the car and have Jace take her home came and then died just as swiftly.

  Caitlin looked up at the house’s sharply angled rooftop. The sky spread out like an endless dreamscape, pale blue and dotted with wisps of white. He just needs more time. So that’s what she’d give him.

  “I can’t get a signal on my phone,” Eli spoke for the first time since they pulled off the Highway, his voice flat, disinterested.

  “I thought we agreed no phones?” Caitlin tried to make her words sound playful, but resentment stewed in the pit of her stomach.

  Eli dragged his eyes away from the screen. “I know but we need to have the option.” He held her gaze. “For emergencies.”

  “Relax.” Jace stood at the front door. “You can survive without a phone line or Wi-Fi for two days. It’s only a thirty-minute drive to Mandurah, it’s not like we’re in the middle of the Amazon.”

  Caitlin held her breath and waited for Eli to argue. Instead, he nodded and for the first time that day a smile softened his lips. She hated to think of herself as a nag, but talking him into accepting Jace’s invitation had been a good move. Jace always knew how to handle his older brother.

  “Okay, enough standing around.” Jace jingled the key again and then slid it into the lock. “Time for the tour.”

  The oversized wooden door swung inwards reminding her of entering a church; Caitlin hesitated before following Jace inside.

  “It’s incredible, isn’t it?” He turned and walked backwards into a sitting room, his voice bouncing off the stone floor and high ceilings.

  They followed Jace through the cavernous lounge where a reclaimed tree trunk, knobbly and highly polished, stood from floor to ceiling. In front of the beam a large, raw-brick, dome fireplace with an inky-black flue darted up the length of the tree trunk, disappearing into the vaulted ceiling.

  Caitlin stopped and ran her fingers over the gleaming wood of the curved staircase, tilting her head back to see where it wound its way up to what looked like a loft-style second storey. The house was so far removed from the small suburban townhouse she and Eli rented, it seemed impossible to believe someone could afford to leave such an impressive house sitting empty.

  “Don’t go upstairs till you’ve seen the kitchen.” Jace disappeared through an archway leaving her and Eli alone in the sitting room.

  For a moment there was silence, bar the sounds of cupboards opening and closing in the other room. Caitlin wanted to get excited about the prospect of spending the weekend in such a stunning home, she wanted her husband to get excited with her.

  “I didn’t know your brother had rich friends,” was all she could think to say.

  Eli shrugged. “You know Jace.” He looked towards the archway where his brother had disappeared. “Everyone loves him.” Eli and Jace had an on-again, off-again relationship. Sometimes they seemed close, but in many ways Eli treated Jace like a kid even though he was twenty-eight.

  “What do you mean, everyone loves him? You sound pissed off.”

  “Nothing.” Eli took hold of her arm just above the elbow. “Come on let’s go check out the rest of the house.”

  Caitlin hesitated. The windows, set high up in the stone walls cast zig-zags of golden light—light that didn’t quite reach Eli’s face, leaving his expression shadowed and unreadable.

  “Come on,” his voice flat again. “Don’t you want to see how the other half live?”

  Caitlin let herself be pulled towards the kitchen, unsure of what she’d thought she heard in her husband’s voice. They were here now, the three of them together for the weekend, and she was determined to make it a time to remember.

  * * *

  After exploring the house, the ooh-ing and ah-ing wound down. As Jace and Eli carried in the rest of their stuff, Caitlin busied herself transferring the contents of the cooler into the fridge. Apart from a few bottles of water, the shelves were empty. Once more, she found herself wonderi
ng why someone would need an enormous double fridge in a holiday house. When you’re loaded, why doesn’t matter, she thought with a touch of bitterness. The feeling reminded her of her mother and she immediately pushed it away.

  She bent and stacked the beers along the top shelf, then stashed the burgers and buns on the rack underneath. Finally, she dropped the salad into the crisper. With plans to drive into Mandurah for lunch the following day, the only other supplies they’d brought were a few packets of chips and some apples. When the cooler was empty, she stood up and swung the fridge door closed.

  “Wanna go for a swim?” Jace stood in the archway, shirtless and wearing a pair of faded-red board shorts hanging low on his hips. His upper body was tanned and muscular from years of working outside.

  The shock of seeing him appear out of nowhere made her heart skitter. “Jesus, you scared the crap out of me.” Caitlin took a step backwards and kicked the cooler sending it skidding across the kitchen floor. “Don’t creep up on me like that.”

  “Sorry, Cat. I thought you heard me coming.” He held his hands up feigning innocence but couldn’t hold onto the concerned expression, a cheeky smile giving him away.

  “I don’t know why you think jumping out on me is funny.” She tried to sound annoyed, but it was difficult to keep a straight face when Jace was laughing. As always, his sunny disposition was infectious. “Stop it.” She grabbed a tea towel from the counter and tried to whack him across the arm.

  He dodged away before she could land the blow. “You’ll have to be quicker than that.” He laughed and snatched the cloth from her hand then dangled it over his head.

  Caitlin squealed and leaped up trying to grab the towel out of his grasp. They were acting like a pair of children, but it felt good to laugh and have some fun.

  “You’re gonna get it, if you don’t give that back.” She grabbed his upraised arm and tried to pull it lower.

  “Sounds like the party’s already started.” Eli stood in the doorway, a bath towel slung over his shoulder. His mouth drawn back in an amused smile that Caitlin could tell was for his brother’s benefit.

  She let go of Jace’s arm and turned back to the fridge looking for something to occupy her hands. Her eyes landed on the esky, it had slid across the room and hit a narrow door on the far right wall. Making a show of retrieving it and securing the lid, she kept her back turned as the brothers discussed taking a swim and having a barbeque. She didn’t know why, but the thought of meeting her husband’s gaze unsettled her. Maybe because he might see disappointment in her eyes.

  A moment ago, she’d been laughing and horsing around with his brother. She’d managed to let go of the sadness and allow herself to feel happy again, until Eli showed up. She realised his presence alone was enough to suck the joy out of her body and leave her feeling ashamed of herself. Even as the thought crossed her mind, she found herself inwardly shrinking with guilt. Eli was grieving. The loss of their baby hit him hard, did that make him a bad person?

  “Cat, what do you think?” Jace asked, opening the fridge.

  “Sounds great.” She had no idea what she was agreeing to, but it seemed easier to just go along with whatever the two had planned. She picked up the esky and, with her eyes still on the narrow white door, took a breath. “Where does this door go?” She hadn’t meant to ask, the words just slipped out.

  “Looks like a pantry.” Eli stepped around the long island bench that cut a line of wood and marble through the centre of the kitchen. He stood beside her, she could feel his arm brushing against her shoulder as he reached for the round silver doorknob. He pulled the door open and with it came a gust of cool air. “Huh, I think it’s a cellar.”

  Caitlin leaned forward and caught a whiff of something sour mingled with dust. Beyond the door was darkness. She’d never been in a house with a cellar before. It put her in mind of an old horror movie where an evil book hidden under the house had the power to unleash hell. She shivered and tried to block the image from her mind. If they were going to spend the weekend here, she didn’t want to psych herself up into being too terrified to use the kitchen at night. It would only give Eli a reason to remind her he didn’t want to come in the first place.

  “I told you, the guy’s rich. It’s probably a wine cellar.” Jace snapped the tab on a can of beer and took a swig.

  Eli shrugged and pulled the door closed. Just for a second, Caitlin caught a glimpse of a staircase, grey and shadowed. The door clicked shut, cutting off the view.

  “It looks like–”

  “Go put your bathers on.” Eli slid his hand around her waist and guided her away from the door. She wanted to suggest exploring the cellar, thinking it might be more interesting than going for a swim. But there was no mistaking the instructional tone in her husband’s voice, or the pressure of his hand on her waist.

  She glanced over at Jace but he seemed to be reading the tiny writing on the side of his beer can. “Okay. Won’t be long.” Her tone sounded meek, even to her own ears.

  Upstairs in the room Eli chose for them, Catlin replayed the moment her husband ordered her to go and get changed. She’d been doing it a lot lately; dissecting their every interaction as if searching for a way to figure out what she had to do to make him happy. He’d treated her like a confused child and she went along with it. She felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. When had that started? She sat on the bed and pulled some clothes out of the travel bag. Eli had already taken his things out of the bag and placed them on top of a dark wood chest of drawers that stood next to the window.

  His t-shirts were folded and stacked next to a pair of jeans, with underwear and socks piled on either side. She didn’t have to check the ensuite bathroom to know his shaving gear and toiletries would be neatly laid out near the sink. She had no idea why his neatness suddenly annoyed her. No, she corrected herself. It’s not suddenly, it’s always bothered me. Only now he barely spoke to her and when he did it was to give an order, was it any wonder his little habits were wearing on her nerves?

  She sucked in a deep breath and let it out with a tired sigh. Things will improve. It just takes time. Maybe this weekend would loosen them up and she’d see a glimmer of the old Eli. The man who used to call her at work to tell her he missed her, kiss the back of her neck while she cooked dinner. It seemed like another life, a sweeter dreamy time that vanished like a misty morning.

  Catlin poked through the clothes she’d scattered on the bed and pulled out her bikini. She’d lost weight. If she were still carrying the baby, she’d be almost full-term by now. She pushed off the bed and stood, refusing to let that train of thought take her into a dark tunnel of despair. Stripping off her clothes, she focused on the evening to come. A barbeque, drinks, maybe even a few laughs.

  The bikini fit; a little loose in the seat but not too bad. She ran her fingers through her hair and pulled on her t-shirt and shorts, then slipped her feet into flip-flops. She remembered seeing Eli with a towel over his shoulder and wondered if there was a linen cupboard on the second floor.

  The five bedrooms were set out in an L-shape above the sitting room. The linen cupboard turned out to be on the west side of the house almost directly above the entrance. Catlin looked over the array of sheets, blankets, and bath towels. It felt weird to be looking through a stranger’s cupboards, almost like spying. Jace said they were free to use whatever they wanted, as long as they washed it and returned it to wherever they found it.

  She smacked her lips together and grabbed a powder-blue towel off the middle shelf. As it left the pile, the two towels below it tumbled down.

  “Damn.” She dropped the blue towel on the floor and bent to pick the others up, but in doing so, kicked one of the towels under the bottom shelf.

  “What’s taking so long?” There was no mistaking the impatience in Eli’s voice. It echoed up from the lower floor with an urgency that bordered on anger.

  Catlin left the towels and jogged to the top of the stairs. Below, Eli stood in the centre of t
he main sitting room, hands on hips and head tilted up. Even at a distance, she could see his brows drawn together like dark angry lines.

  “I’ll be right down.” She leaned over the banister, breathless from rushing. “Just give me a minute.” Without waiting for an answer, she turned and jogged back to the linen cupboard.

  Once she was out of sight, Caitlin slowed to a walk. A small defiance, but it felt good to make him wait. They had all weekend, it didn’t make sense for him to be yelling up the stairs for her to hurry. A lot of things made no sense lately.

  She reached the cupboard and scooped up one of the fallen towels, folded it and put it back on the shelf. She had to kneel to reach the second towel. The floor under the bottom shelf felt gritty with dust. She slapped her hand around feeling for the towel when it occurred to her there might be spiders lurking down there. She pulled her hand back and lowered her self until her face was pressed against the bare hard wood floor.

  A musty smell wafted up her nostrils. The space under the shelf looked to be a metre or so wide and maybe three-quarters of a metre deep. The towel lay scrunched up near the wall along with a sizable nest of dust bunnies.

  “That’ll need washing,” she spoke aloud even though there was no one to hear her but the dust bunnies. “Cobwebs but no spiders, thank…” She let her words trail off as something on the left side of the cupboard caught her attention.

  The panelling between the lower shelf and the floor had a hole in it. Small, no bigger than a finger, it looked smooth and deliberately cut. She turned her head to the right, letting her cheek touch the floor. The other side of the cupboard looked identical, minus the hole. It could be a pest control thing. She remembered Eli telling her about trap doors and holes cut into floors for pest control purposes.

  She turned back to the hole and slid her hand across the gritty floor, her finger just touching the small dark circle. There could be rat traps and cockroach baits behind the panel. She sucked in her bottom lip trying to decide if opening the trap was a good idea. After all, what did she hope to discover? But that was just it, like the door to the wine cellar, the unknown attracted her. Her pulse raced with excitement.