by Anna Jacobs
‘What’s that?’ Smith asked.
‘What’s what?’
‘That sound. Something creaked, and it wasn’t from the direction of the door, either.’
‘It’s nothing. How many times do I have to tell you: all old places creak.’
‘Well, I don’t like it in here. It gives me the shivers.’
‘Shut up and finish taking those photos.’
‘There. Done.’ He shoved the camera in his pocket and turned round, so eager to get out he bumped into the partition and knocked Amy’s fairy wand off it.
The wand landed close to Cameron’s foot.
‘I’d better put it back,’ the big guy said. ‘It’s sloppy work to leave things different.’ He bent to pick it up and as he did, his torch played over Cameron’s foot. ‘There’s someone here!’ he yelled in shock.
For lack of anything better, Cameron hurled the sleeping bag at him and luckily, it tangled around his head for a moment. But the smaller man was between him and the door, so he could see no alternative but to slip along the wall and activate the secret panel.
He heard the big one call, ‘Did he run out?’
‘Didn’t get past me. Turn that bloody torch on again and stay in front of those doors.’
‘The torch won’t work.’ He clicked it several times in frustration but it didn’t light up.
By that time Cameron was inside the hole and had started the door closing. It moved painfully slowly and he felt vulnerable as he crouched at the back of the small space.
Suddenly the torch came on again, just as the door was shutting. Cameron watched the thin line of light vanish then sat down on the bench and leaned back against the wall. That had been a close shave.
In the barn the big man swung the torch to and fro but found no one. ‘He must have got out.’
‘He did not! I was standing by the door all the time. It’s barely half open, so I’d have felt him if he’d tried to push past me.’
‘Then where the hell has he gone.’ Once again he played the torch methodically to and fro. Once again, it failed suddenly, and this time didn’t come on again.
Cursing, they moved cautiously towards the door and went outside again.
The door squeaked even more loudly as they closed it, and with backward glances over their shoulders, they made their way back towards the chalets. Smith stopped to smear their footprints in the soft earth of the flower beds.
‘I’ll check on these in the morning,’ he muttered, and this time Brown didn’t object.
At the chalets they stopped to listen but there were no sounds of pursuit.
‘Damned if I know what happened back there,’ Brown whispered. ‘But as long as you got the photos he wants, what the hell.’
Inside the hidey hole, Cameron listened carefully. The two men must have left the barn, because their voices had faded to silence. He waited a while, then decided to go out via the inner secret passage, just to be sure of not bumping into them. He’d almost swear he’d heard soft laughter as he made his way down it. Strange the tricks imagination could play. He grinned. If there was a ghost, it had certainly been on his side.
The two men had definitely been sent by Ray, and given the power of money, Cameron was glad he’d warned Julian that someone might have been bribed to bury or refuse the application for listing.
In the meantime, he doubted the men would be coming out again, so he might as well get some sleep.
Ella woke up as she heard footsteps crunching faintly on the gravel of the yard. She slipped out of bed and went across to the window in time to see two men creeping round the corner of the barn on their way to the chalets.
Just as she was about to get back into bed, she saw another figure appear from the direction of the storehouses. When the clouds slid away from the moon, she saw that it was Cameron. What had he been doing? Had he seen anything?
She switched on her bedside lamp, hoping he’d pop in to see her.
Footsteps came up the stairs and a silhouette appeared in the doorway.
‘You awake?’
‘Yes. I heard someone outside. What happened?’
Cameron came across to the bed, sitting on the edge of it, taking hold of her hand. ‘Two of our guests have been exploring. I was keeping watch inside the barn because they seemed so interested in it, and they came inside to take photos there.’
‘That was far too risky. They might have attacked you.’
‘That occurred to me very forcibly once I was actually shut in the barn with them. But when they found me, I used the hidey hole and secret passage you showed us to escape. I hope you don’t mind.’
‘Of course I don’t. I’d have hated anything to have happened to you.’
He raised the hand to his lips, smiling. ‘So would I.’
‘Tell me exactly what happened, every single detail. Here, you can lie next to me while you talk.’
He moved beside her, wishing he wasn’t tired, and she wasn’t so run-down, and began to give details of the night’s events. When he debated whether he’d seen her female ghost, she gasped in surprise.
‘What did I say?’
‘No outsider has ever seen Jane Turner until after they’ve married into the family. You’ve been honoured.’
‘I’m still not sure whether I believe it was a ghost.’
‘She doesn’t exactly flaunt herself, does she? Just occasionally you can see her clearly, but mostly it’s what you saw, shimmering light. I like having her around, though. I always feel she’s watching over us. Tell me again exactly what you saw?’
But there was no answer. His breathing was deep and even, and his eyes were closed.
With a smile, she pulled the covers over him and snuggled down beside him. She was tired herself.
She felt safe and happy with him beside her, even though they were acting like a brother and sister. Something would happen between them one day, she was sure. The attraction between them was too strong for it not to. She stared at him in the moonlight. His hair was tousled, lashes veiled his eyes, his chest was rising and falling.
Attraction? Why was she skirting round her feelings. It was far more than an attraction already. She’d fallen in love with him. And if she’d heard him correctly, he’d called her ‘my love’.
Sixteen
In the morning Cameron woke up to find himself lying next to Ella, who was sleeping soundly. He smiled at the sight of her, but slid out of the bed and crept back to his own room, not wanting to disturb her rest. He had a lot to do today. He glanced at his watch. Seven. Too soon to ring Julian. He’d go out to the barn and check everything there.
The interior of the old building looked perfectly normal in the soft morning light streaming in through the big double doors. Hard to believe what had happened there last night. Had it happened? Or had his imagination been playing tricks?
The door creaked and he spun round, smiling at his own nervousness. There was something rather awe-inspiring about very ancient buildings, he’d always found. He removed the sleeping bag then locked up again and walked down to the lake, standing by the water and sharing the early morning with the birds. Swallows darted and twittered, carrion crows pecked at the ground at the end of the lake where there was a grassy slope fringed by small trees. It’d been mown a couple of days previously and the crows had been grubbing around there ever since.
He’d have to find out more about birds. He was ashamed of how little he knew. He’d buy some binoculars and watch them. That reminded him of the poem What is this world if full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. He smiled. It seemed appropriate just now.
He took the time to study the wild flowers scattered here and there. He could recognize daisies, of course he could, but there were others he didn’t know the names of. What was that tall rusty-coloured plant, for instance?
A rabbit hopped out into the sun and sat very still. He could see its ears twitch occasionally, but other than that it seemed simply to be enjoying the morning.
There were voices upstairs and Stephanie came down, smelling of soap, with her skin rosy.
‘Good morning, Cameron. I see you’re still in one piece. Did anything happen last night?’
He explained and her smile faded. ‘So those men were here to photograph the insides of the farm buildings.’
‘Seems like it.’
‘Who for?’
He hesitated.
‘You know more than you’ve told me, don’t you?’
He nodded. ‘Yes. But I think I owe it to Ella to tell her first.’
‘Fair enough. But do that as soon as you can – I’m fairly itching with curiosity. Now, let’s get breakfast ready.’
Smith appeared first, taking a single table by the window and consuming his meal quickly and neatly, saying he had to leave early. Could he pay now, then he’d be off?
Just as he was finishing, Brown ambled in, nodding to the other man as if to a stranger. He paused to give Cameron a narrow-eyed frown then moved on without a word.
He ate a huge breakfast, complimented Stephanie on the food and asked for his bill.
He left nearly an hour later than Smith.
‘And good riddance to the pair of them!’ Stephanie said. ‘Oh, there’s the phone. I’ll get it.’
Oliver woke up and went into the living room to find Rose already painting. ‘How long have you been up?’
She gave him a quick smile, then her attention went back to her work. ‘A couple of hours.’
He wandered across and smiled at the painting of a group of fledglings. ‘That’s not one of your specials.’
‘No. But I thought it might sell. I’m a bit over working in a pub. Too old, my feet hurt and I’m having trouble staying polite to idiots.’
‘Don’t work there then. If we move in together, I can pay the rent and—’
A paintbrush covered in beige paint jabbed towards him and he ducked back.
‘I’m not going to be a kept woman. Not now, not ever.’
He sighed. ‘Half the rent and utilities payments, then. That’d be fair.’
She stopped to look at him very solemnly. ‘We’ve not agreed to live together yet.’
‘I thought we had. Have you changed your mind?’
To his dismay tears welled in her eyes. ‘Damn!’ She brushed them away, smearing paint on her hair.
He caught hold of the brush, put it down and hugged her fiercely. ‘Don’t cry. I can’t bear to see you cry. What’s wrong?’
Her voice was muffled against him. ‘You.’
‘What have I done?’
‘Got into my heart again.’ Her voice went up a register. ‘And there’s still no solution to our differences.’
He hugged her close as he said, ‘Trust me. I’ll find a solution. And if I can’t, I’ll stay here rather than give you up again. I missed you every single day, Rose, every single hour.’
Now she was weeping in earnest, but also covering his face with kisses. ‘I can’t bear to give you up, either. But—’
‘No buts. Trust me. I’ll find a way.’
With a sound halfway between a sob and a chuckle she subsided against him and the paintbrush didn’t get picked up again for some time.
Miles decided to ring Ella to remind her he was coming to see his daughter the following day and was astonished to hear his mother’s voice on the other end of the phone. ‘What are you doing at Willowbrook?’
‘Visiting my granddaughter. And how dare you tell me Ella didn’t want me here? I’ll not forgive you for that, Miles! I’ve lost three years of Amy’s childhood because of your lies! Three whole years.’
‘Don’t put the phone down.’
‘Why not? I don’t want to hear more lies from you.’
‘I thought it’d be easier on you to stay away,’ he said.
‘Lame excuse, Miles. You didn’t think any such thing. When did you ever care for anyone else’s feelings?’
He ignored her taunt. Feelings were vastly overrated, if you asked him. ‘How long are you staying there?’
‘As long as Ella needs me.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘She’s very run down, has been overdoing it for years, partly thanks to you not paying maintenance, if I read things correctly. Cunning of you to blackmail her into going without by using the loan. That earned you more money than interest on savings would have done.’
‘Mum! Don’t—’
‘Anyway, Cameron and I are looking after things and making her rest. Amy has a bit of a cold, too. Are you sure you want to come down? You might catch something.’
‘Book me in for tomorrow night. We may as well make a family party of it.’
‘I’ll see if Ella wants to rent you a chalet and—’
‘Damned well book me in. With the money Ella owes me, I should have unlimited access to those chalets and not need to pay a penny.’
This time she did put the phone down.
He stood staring at the handpiece, trying to sort out in his mind what was going on at Willowbrook. Then the name Cameron jumped into his mind. She’d definitely said ‘Cameron’. It wasn’t a common name. Could this possibly be the Cameron he’d seen at DevRaCom, the man who’d been greeted by Ray Deare as if he was an old friend? What was the connection there?
Thoughtful now, he rang DevRaCom and asked to be put through to Deare. He got Miss Bradley instead, and although she was perfectly polite, she refused point-blank to put him through to her employer unless he explained exactly what he wanted to discuss.
He wasn’t such a fool as to pass on this information to a subordinate, explaining only, ‘It’s about Willowbrook.’
‘All your dealings have been about Willowbrook. Exactly what do you wish to discuss? Mr Deare is extremely busy this week and he’s expecting a call from America at the moment.’
‘I’ll ring back later, then.’ He put down the phone, wondering what to do. Then he realized he need do nothing yet. He was going to see Amy the following day. If Cameron – what was the fellow’s surname? – was still there, Miles would know something was going on behind Deare’s back.
The brat was proving difficult, though, refusing even to speak to him politely. She needed a good spanking, that one, even if it was unlawful nowadays to hit a child. He wasn’t going to buy her a big present this time only to have her throw it straight back at him.
Still, you had to give her credit: disabled or not, Amy had spirit. She got that from his side of the family, he was sure. Ella was a naïve fool, credulous and trusting, always had been. She was born to have people wipe their feet on her.
He spent the next two hours worrying about this Cameron fellow, then tried to ring Ray Deare again, without any success.
‘Mr Deare has left for the weekend,’ the starchy secretary said.
That was when Miles decided to surprise his ex – and his interfering mother – by going a day early.
Cameron rang Julian just after nine and had trouble persuading him to take seriously the possibility of someone at DevRaCom bribing local officials not to heritage list Willowbrook.
‘For heaven’s sake,’ he exploded in the end, ‘do you think Deare got rich by playing nicely? He didn’t. He got rich by any means he could, believe me.’
‘Hmm. I’ll have to think about it.’
‘What does that mean, Julian?’
‘Well, there would have to be someone vulnerable to bribery for it to happen.’
‘Then you do believe me?’
‘Not sure. Let me have a chat to one of the HR managers who’s very supportive about preserving our heritage. I’d hate anything to happen to that farmhouse, especially that glorious barn. Leave it with me.’
‘If I can help
in any way . . .’
‘Doubt it. You don’t know the locals like I do.’
Which wasn’t the most satisfying result to Cameron, who preferred to handle important matters himself.
He went upstairs, to find Ella showered and dressed, but still looking wan.
She smiled at him. ‘I can’t believe I found it tiring merely to get dressed.’
‘Once you let go, your body takes over and demands the rest it craves.’
‘It’s certainly demanding it.’ She yawned. ‘I could lie down and have another nap, but I’m not going to. I wonder how those two men are getting on with their employer – I assume it’s DevRaCom?’
‘Yes, it is. I’ve been thinking about them. It was photos they wanted. They made no attempt to damage the place. I don’t know whether that’s good or bad. But it’s out of our hands for the moment. Come and sit in the sun. I have something to tell you.’ His watch beeped at him and he sighed. ‘First, however, I have a phone call to make.’
‘You make a lot of calls.’
‘Tying up loose ends for the big changes in my life. Trouble is, some of the people I need to speak to are in different time zones and work long hours, so I have a narrow window of opportunity if I want to catch them, hence the alarm.’ He indicated his watch.
‘Yet you don’t know what you’re changing to, do you?’
‘I’m beginning to get a few ideas.’ And she was part of them, the central part.
She went downstairs, hugged Amy, who was helping her grandma to cook, and decided to sit outside in the small private patio to the side of the house.
Cameron peeped out a few minutes later after his first phone call ended to see Ella frowning at the water, her book neglected on her lap.
What the hell was she worrying about now?
Then he looked at his watch and muttered in annoyance. Time zone differences waited for no man.
Miles arrived at Willowbrook that afternoon, taking them all by surprise. He breezed into the kitchen without knocking and as Ella had reluctantly gone back upstairs to lie down, found himself confronting only his mother and Cameron.
The two men nodded stiffly when introduced.
Amy hunched down in the armchair, scowling at her father.
