‘Come on, sweetheart, you have to trust me or there’s nothing left.’
Libby knew he was right. Besides, it would be good for the two of them to be alone for a time. They hadn’t enjoyed any privacy since the kids were born, and a couple of days wouldn’t hurt. ‘Can you spare the time away from the agency?’
‘I’ll make time.’ And he would. For Libby he would do anything.
‘When?’ She felt the need to punish him even though she didn’t know what he’d done to deserve it.
‘Whenever you say.’
‘Let me think about it.’ Standing up, she turned to leave.
‘Libby?’
Without a word she swung round and stared at him.
His dark eyes spoke volumes. Reaching out with his heart, he told her softly, ‘I’m not cheating on you.’
She remained silent, her gaze unfaltering, her arms falling to her sides. Suddenly she came back, letting him hold her, half believing him yet afraid to trust him completely.
Crooking his fingers under her chin, he raised her face and kissed her full on the mouth. ‘You’re everything to me,’ he murmured, and she knew he meant it.
Disentangling herself from him, she smiled up at him. ‘I think we’d better try and get some sleep, don’t you?’
He wasn’t ready for sleep. ‘You go up,’ he said. ‘I’ll be there in a while.’ He sensed that was not the answer she wanted, but right now he needed to stay down here and try to fathom things out, rather than lie in bed not daring to move in case he disturbed her or Daisy.
‘All right, but don’t be too long, or you’ll be fit for nothing in the morning.’ She kissed him then, aching with love, needing to believe him.
Upstairs she stood by the window, arms folded, heart aching. ‘Don’t throw it all away, Dave,’ she whispered. ‘Not now I’ve come to love you more than ever.’
In the kitchen, Dave couldn’t rest. ‘It’s beginning to destroy us already,’ he muttered. ‘But it won’t. Not if I can help it!’
Since the murder of Larry Fellowes, he had wondered more and more about that odd couple, and the more he thought, the more he believed they had something to hide. And he was certain that somehow they were also tied in with the disturbing sequence of events that plagued him. ‘The old man. The lane. The answer is there.’
He had no way of knowing what it all meant, but one thing he did know, it all led back to that night. To that house.
7
Christmas came and went and soon it was as though it had never been. Much to Dave’s relief, he and Libby settled back into a more relaxed relationship, and the question of him being unfaithful didn’t arise again.
On New Year’s Eve, he asked May if she’d stay with the children while he took Libby to a dinner and dance at a local hotel. Being all alone after spending Christmas with an old friend in London, she was only too pleased to accept. She stayed the night and for a time was part of the family.
Dave would always remember that night as being one of the best times he and Libby had ever shared. It was a wonderful evening. They danced the night away and toasted champagne to the New Year. When they arrived home, it was to find May and the children tucked up in bed and out to the world. ‘They looked exhausted,’ Libby laughed. ‘I expect they’ve been playing games the whole night long.’
They crept in and kissed the children goodnight. ‘She probably let them stay up and see the New Year in too,’ Dave remarked. But it didn’t matter.
‘I hope they did see the New Year in,’ Libby said as they went down to the sitting room, ‘Why shouldn’t they, after all?’
Downstairs they relaxed in front of a cheery fire. Dave thought Libby looked lovely, and told her so. Her eyes were sparkling and her cheeks tinged pink with the after-effects of the champagne. The flickering light from the fire gave her auburn hair a warm, golden glow, and now, when she kissed him, he thought he must be the luckiest man on earth.
They made love right there on the rug, drank a little wine and afterwards fell asleep in each other’s arms. Before he closed his eyes, he thought how tonight had been very, very special.
So why did he feel like the prisoner enjoying his last meal?
In the morning Dave woke feeling surprisingly refreshed and optimistic. He showered and sang and even gave a little skip as he came into the bedroom to get dressed. ‘It looks like a perfect day for walking,’ he commented, sneaking a look out of the window. The ground was crisp and clean, and the skies were wide open, flecked with sunlight.
Groaning, Libby turned over, drawing the clothes over her head. ‘Go away!’ came the muffled cry. The cry turned to laughter when he dived on top of her and began tugging at the clothes. ‘Out, or I’ll throw you out!’ he threatened. ‘I still haven’t forgotten what you did to me the other morning, so what’s good for me is good for you. I’ll count to ten, then it’s everyone for themselves.’ He began to count.
Libby surrendered before he got to four. ‘I’ll be glad when you’re back at work,’ she lied. ‘You wear me out.’
While Libby showered, he cooked breakfast, the fullest fry-up he could throw together: eggs, sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon. The alluring aroma brought the children crashing down the stairs. ‘Two sausages for me,’ Jamie decided, seating himself at the table. He ended up with two eggs as well, and a heap of mushrooms. He ate the lot and asked for more.
‘Your eyes are bigger than your belly,’ Dave chuckled. ‘Finish your orange juice and find somebody else to nag.’
Daisy settled for an egg and two slices of toast.
‘What’s wrong?’ Dave teased, half-serious. ‘Don’t you like my cooking?’
Going against everything Libby had taught her, she answered a question with a question. ‘Daddy?’
‘Mmm?’ He felt that tingle down his spine again; the same, uneasy tingle he felt whenever he thought of the other one.
‘When we’ve had our breakfast, will you take me to Miss Ledell’s?’
Libby entered the kitchen, hair wet and a fresh, scrubbed look about her. ‘Sorry, Daisy,’ she intervened. ‘According to your father, it’s a perfect day for walking, so let’s hold him to it. I thought we could walk right across the valley and back through the woods.’ She giggled deliciously. ‘That ought to curb his enthusiasm.’
Tucking into the tail end of a sausage, Dave shook his head. ‘You wouldn’t be able to make it,’ he remarked wryly. ‘We’d get as far as the woods, then I’d have to carry you the rest of the way on my back.’
‘A pound says you’re wrong.’ Making her way to the cooker, she tousled her thick mane of hair, a magnificent sight even when wet.
‘You’re on, but you’ll be a pound poorer afterwards.’
‘No, I won’t. You drive everywhere and I walk whenever I can. That’s why I know I’ll be a pound richer.’
Daisy sat quietly through the banter, but now she made a suggestion. ‘We could go the other way, through Barker’s field and then we go right past Miss Ledell’s.’ Her eyes widened. ‘Please.’
Little by little, Dave’s good mood was being eroded. ‘Not today, sweetheart,’ he told her. ‘You’ll be going for piano lessons in a few days. You’ll see her then.’
Daisy began to cry. ‘I don’t want her to go away.’
Growing impatient, Libby almost threw her plate on to the table. ‘You heard what Daddy said. You’re having a piano lesson in a few days. If she was going away she would have called up and cancelled it.’
Daisy brightened. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’
Taking a chunk out of her toast, Libby smiled. ‘So you can stop worrying.’
Half an hour later, all wrapped up against the cold, they set out down through the village and towards the lane that would take them straight into the valley. Conscious that Daisy still hadn’t altogether given up hope of their going by way of Miss Ledell’s, Dave deliberately steered them in the opposite direction.
For his own peace of mind he intended paying her a visit
himself sometime. But not yet. These few days over Christmas and New Year were for him and his family.
They walked and ran, and played hide and seek in and out of the trees, and when they reached the top of the hill, the children rolled down the bank, laughing and squealing while Dave and Libby watched from the top, enjoying it almost as much. ‘These past few days have been really lovely,’ Libby admitted. ‘It’s been good for all of us.’ She felt closer to Dave now than she had done for a long time – ever since he had taken her to the restaurant for her birthday treat, in fact. Funny that, she thought with a little shock. It should be a good memory, not one she would rather forget.
As daylight slowly turned to dusk, Dave suggested they should make their way home.
In the woods it was warm, almost sultry as they pushed on. ‘Mummy, I don’t like it.’ Jamie had always been afraid of the dark, and suddenly it was closing in fast.
Dave hoisted him on his shoulders. ‘Keep your head down, Jamie,’ he warned, dipping and weaving as he went. ‘Some of these branches are spiteful.’ He cursed himself for not having started back earlier.
‘I’ve never known it get dark so early,’ Libby remarked, peering up through the branches at a greyer sky. Taking a quick glance at her watch, she gasped with astonishment. ‘It’s only half past two!’ Shaking her watch, she followed the second hand as it clicked round. No. It hadn’t stopped.
‘It’s always shadowy in the thick of the woods,’ Dave reflected. ‘Once we’re out, you’ll see. There’s a good two hours of daylight yet.’
Though the way through was clear enough, the shadows lengthened and the children grew restless. ‘Are we lost, Daddy?’ Jamie was close to tears.
‘No, we’re not lost,’ he replied confidently. But in fact the possibility had already crossed his mind that he might have taken a wrong turn.
He pushed on, quickening his steps and keeping an eye on the gathering clouds. The air became oppressive, seeming to choke him. For no apparent reason, he felt threatened. Suddenly she was in his mind, threading her way into his senses, calling him, always calling him.
Frantic now but outwardly calm, he hurried them along, out of the woods and down towards the brook where the daylight still lingered. ‘It’s all right,’ he told the children, and Libby too, because by now she was looking worried. ‘We’re almost home.’ Dropping Jamie on to his feet, he held his hand. ‘All the same, we’d better get a move on.’ He studied the angry sky. ‘Looks like the weather’s changing.’
No sooner had he said this than the rain began falling, big, sploshy drops that soon had them soaked to the skin. ‘You and your perfect day for walking.’ Relieved to be within sight of the village, Libby managed a smile.
‘Look at me,’ Daisy laughed. As the rain ran down her face, she licked it with her tongue. ‘I’m wet through but I don’t care.’ In fact she seemed to be enjoying the grown-ups’ discomfort, and now that they were out of the dark woods, Jamie, too, was beginning to think it all a huge adventure.
Dave looked at Libby and they had to smile. ‘Kids!’ he moaned and their smiles turned to laughter.
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He turned and there, out of the corner of his eye, he saw her. Standing beside an oak tree, she looked exactly as she had looked on that night.
Shock turned to amazement when Libby called out, ‘Who the devil’s that?’
He stopped in his tracks. ‘What did you say?’
‘There.’ For a split second Libby stared at him. When they looked again to where the figure had been, no one was there. ‘She was just there!’ Libby cried. ‘You must have seen her.’
Before he could answer, Daisy said sadly, ‘She was crying, Daddy. You have to help her.’
Angry and afraid, Dave felt himself being sucked into a darker abyss. ‘We’d better get home.’ All he could think of was that Libby had seen her! First him, then Daisy, and now Libby. With the exception of Jamie, his whole family were being drawn into something that was way beyond his comprehension.
Suddenly, it was as though someone had scraped back the clouds. One minute the sky was black, the rain driving down. The next minute it was clear, with the rain giving way to a cold, hazy sunshine. A gentle breeze stirred the trees, and with it came her voice, soft and haunting, like the voice of a child: ‘D… a… v… e.’
He froze. She knew his name. How could she know his name?
Her whisper enveloped him, sounding in his brain like an eerie echo. ‘Tell him… I won’t leave him.’
The blood ran cold through his veins. ‘Hurry!’ Picking Jamie up, he threw him on to his shoulders. Libby had Daisy by the hand and he told her to get in front of him. ‘Run!’ he yelled. ‘Before the heavens open again.’
8
Libby loaded the children into the car. ‘We won’t be long,’ she told Dave. ‘I don’t feel like trudging round the shops but the New Year sales have started, and the kids need new clothes.’ She gave him a disdainful look. ‘And you need a new tie.’
Leaning in the window to kiss her goodbye, he groaned. ‘I’m quite happy with the one I’ve got.’
She tutted. ‘It’s two years old and frayed at the edges. No, I’ll get you a new one, and don’t worry, it won’t be gaudy. There won’t be flowers on it or anything too raunchy, if that’s what you’re worried about.’
‘The raunchy bit doesn’t bother me,’ he chuckled. ‘It’s the flowers that worry me.’
‘Leave it to me,’ she grinned. The horrors of that walk when they had come back like drowned rats were almost forgotten. ‘I might treat myself to a new handbag,’ she mused. ‘My old one’s falling apart at the seams.’
She looked up at his handsome face, thinking how very much she loved him, and how these past days had been wonderful, apart from that walk and the girl whose dark eyes held such profound sadness. Not for the first time she wondered fleetingly whether Dave knew her. Worse, she wondered whether he knew her intimately.
Panic gripped her. ‘What will you do while we’re gone?’
He kissed her, impatient for them to leave now, needing to be alone with his thoughts. ‘I expect I’ll find something to do.’ He was saying one thing and thinking another, and because of it he felt guilty. ‘There’s a pile of paperwork to be gone through, ready for the office tomorrow.’ Winking at the children in the back, he asked, ‘Or would you rather I had a go at the leaking tap in the bathroom?’
Horror spread over her face. ‘Don’t you dare!’ she exclaimed. ‘The last time you had a go at a leaking tap, you flooded the whole house!’
‘You ruined my action man,’ Jamie yelled, ‘and my trainers went squelchy.’
Daisy just sat back in the seat and giggled helplessly.
‘I’d better be going,’ Libby said. ‘I promised to collect May at nine thirty.’ She glanced at the dashboard clock. ‘It’s nearly that now.’
‘’Bye, Daddy.’ Jamie pressed his nose to the window as they drove away.
‘’Bye, Jamie!’ He waved them out of sight, and returned to the house.
Once inside, he made straight for the telephone and dialled Jack’s number. He let it ring for an age but there was no answer. Either Jack was out or he and Patsy were enjoying themselves too much to be disturbed. Dropping the receiver into its cradle, he cursed. ‘Dammit, Jack. If I don’t talk to someone soon, I think I’ll go mad.’
A few moments later he threw on his coat, locked the house, and drove away at some speed, heading in the direction of Milton Keynes. He looked grim and determined as he came on to the open road. Pressing his foot hard to the floor, he swerved round the bend on two wheels, slowing when he realised how he might easily have lost control. ‘It can’t go on,’ he said, his dark eyes burning. ‘Somehow, I have to find a way to be rid of her.’ He couldn’t afford to waste time either. ‘If Libby gets home before I do, she’ll start getting suspicious again, and right now, that’s the last thing we need.’
His first stop was the library, a huge, a
ttractive building on the outskirts of the city centre. After parking his car and obtaining a ticket from the parking meter, he went through the main doors and scanned the board inside. Running his finger down and along, he located directions for the reference section. ‘That’s as good a place as any to start,’ he mused, running up the stairs two at a time. ‘If they can’t help me, they might be able to point me in the right direction.’
The librarian was both extremely attractive and quietly efficient. ‘I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a while,’ she apologised, while at the same time stamping out books for several people. ‘There are only four of us in, and we’ve been run off our feet this morning. Most of the staff aren’t due to return from their holidays until tomorrow.’
‘It’s OK, I can wait.’ Now that he was here, he had no intention of leaving. Besides, he was back at the office himself tomorrow. Once he was caught up in the rush of things, there was no saying when he’d have time to follow this through.
As it was, he only waited twenty minutes before she was beckoning him over. ‘Sorry about that. What can I do to help?’ She smiled sweetly, thinking what a good-looking man he was, and how she might have made a play for him if he hadn’t been wearing that broad ring on his wedding finger. That kind of trouble she could well do without.
He decided to start where he had first seen the young woman. ‘Bluebell Hill,’ he ventured cautiously.
‘Yes?’
‘I want to know everything there is to know about that road,’ he declared. ‘How old is it? Have there been any reports of strange incidents along the lanes thereabouts?’
She was intrigued. ‘What kind of strange incidents? You don’t mean hauntings, do you? Because now I come to think of it, there is something.’ She half-turned to look at the shelves, trying to recall. While she concentrated, she bit her fingernails so hard he heard them split. It made him cringe.
Surreptitiously removing the remnant of a nail from her lips, she suddenly smiled. ‘I’ll check the records,’ she said, ‘and bring over anything I find.’ She tapped her fingers over the computer keyboard, made a few notes and took them with her to the shelves on the far side of the room.
Seeker, The Page 17