by Helen Phifer
When the call finished, Joe asked, ‘What did they say?’
‘That they’ll get a patrol to drive past and speak to her about Connor.’
‘Oh, good.’
‘Not really. He didn’t seem very interested. He said there was no immediate concern for her welfare if Connor lived in London. So, it wouldn’t be a priority.’
‘Well, at least you’ve told them. If he turns up and Maddy rings them, they’ll be aware of the circumstances. Don’t worry, Stella, it will be okay.’
They got back into the car, and she opened the map on his phone and typed the address in once more. She was scared to face Maddy, but she needed to know that she was fine.
Stella pushed the sinking feeling in her stomach to the back of her mind and hoped the guy on the phone was right. That Connor was hiding in London somewhere, and not on his way to Lake House.
Chapter Fifty-One
T onight, he would put the body in the lake. He hadn’t been back to check, but he was almost certain the guy would be dead. If the head injury hadn’t killed him, hypothermia would have. Last night it had been cold on the fells, and although the summer house was sheltered, it wouldn’t have saved him. Not with an open wound like that. Even if he’d crawled out of there to try to get help, he wouldn’t have known where to go or how to get anywhere. He’d have been concussed, disorientated, weak.
He pushed the plate of toast he’d made away from him, his appetite gone. Who had that guy been, anyway? He’d said he was visiting his friend who lived in the big house. The only big house he was aware of was Lake House, where the city girl was staying, but if she was expecting that guy, there was a risk that she’d be worried about him and would call the police.
He clenched his fists. He’d been careless; he should have thought this through a lot more. Acting on his impulse could have caused more problems for him than he’d anticipated. There was the guy’s car for one thing; he should have taken the keys for it last night. He could have driven it into his garage when it was late, and no one would have been any the wiser. Fool, you’ve thrown away a perfect opportunity! he told himself.
If the guy’s friend reported him missing, the police would be all over the village searching for him. He needed to move the car, and now he was going to have to go back up the fell in broad daylight to retrieve the car keys. How could he have missed such a significant detail? He’d never done anything so stupid before.
At least no one would question him driving the car. He often drove different cars around, and nobody took a bit of notice. They were used to it and him, which was a good job. He wouldn’t mess up like this again; he’d been sloppy. What did sloppy equal? It equalled getting caught.
The police could be onto him right now, breathing down his neck before he knew it. Then what? He hadn’t really considered the consequences of the police realising what he was doing then putting a stop to it. The lake was the perfect burial ground for his bodies. They were deep enough not to float, yet he could still visit them whenever he wanted. The thrill of looking down into the water to see their swollen, pale, dead faces, never diminished.
No one had even connected the missing walkers, even though there had been a couple more this year than in the past. They had put it down to the strange weather patterns the fells were renowned for, and the lack of preparation by people who decided to climb a mountain to take a decent Instagram photo. How many had been rescued because they’d been ill-equipped to deal with the sudden changes in weather? Too many to count.
And the ones they didn’t find were forgotten about soon enough. Loved ones, with no idea where to even start looking, accepted that their family member had come to a terrible fate as a result of their own foolishness. No one would expect a killer to be lurking on the fells, preying on the vulnerable, the injured. Some of them were dying anyway when he found them.
It was the perfect hunting ground for a game of cat and mouse. Not that he’d had to chase them far. They often thought he’d come to save them, and it was such a shock when they realised his real intention. If they couldn’t save themselves, why should he?
Lacing up his boots, he shrugged on his waterproof coat. Despite the warmth of the sun now, the weather was going to change later. A storm was forecast for this afternoon and he didn’t want to get caught out in it. He was the hunter, not the hunted.
Chapter Fifty-Two
M addy arrived at the playpark and breathed a sigh of relief to see the village square. She hadn’t realised just how unfit she was until yesterday, and her ankle was still painful. Hopefully all the walking back and forth would help to strengthen her lungs a little, because right now she was out of breath and they were on fire.
Today there were actual people walking up and down the main street, thank God. She’d been beginning to think she’d moved into the deadest village in England. The pub door was still shut, but she hadn’t really expected Seth to have opened up, as much as she wanted to go and see him.
She let herself out of the playpark gate, bending to check the tunnel and see if Alfie was hiding in there. It was empty. Even Alfie was better company than herself, and she’d never really been into kids. They scared her. Maybe if she hadn’t been an only child, she’d know how to interact with them a little better. As it stood, she did her best to avoid them and her friends who’d decided to have them.
She limped along the main street looking for Glenys’s kooky shop, although she didn’t actually know what a kooky shop was. There was the village store, which doubled as a post office; a gallery which sold strange pottery and prints of the Lakeland fells; and a small second-hand shop which had a hand-carved sign above the door which said ‘Antiques’, which made her smile. The crap in the window looked as if it had all come from an Age Concern house clearance, but she supposed people would buy anything.
A couple of battered cardboard boxes contained an assortment of books, and she scanned them to see if she could recognise the black and yellow spine of her own book. Not sure whether she was relieved that it wasn’t there or not, she walked on towards a shop which had dreamcatchers, crystal balls, and decks of tarot cards in the window, along with some fairy and dragon ornaments. This had to be Glenys’s. It certainly looked out of place, and she wondered if it did any business. For all Maddy knew, it could do a roaring trade, because there wasn’t much else to buy in the village.
She stepped inside and was instantly overpowered by the heady scent of lavender and something that reminded her of an aging, heavy metal rock star. The shop was empty, no sign of Glenys, so she began to look through the books on crystal healing, tarot cards, and teach-yourself-to-be-psychic.
‘Morning, what brings you here so early?’
Maddy looked at her watch, it was almost one. ‘Erm, I was bored and wanted to come and chat to you.’
Glenys stepped out of the back room, her purple hair piled on the top of her head in a messy bun. She was wearing a black T-shirt and black, ripped jeans. She looked a lot more attractive than Maddy had first given her credit for when they’d met yesterday. Her make-up was amazing, and Maddy had never seen eyeliner with such neat wings.
‘Wow, you look incredible.’
The woman began to laugh, a proper gut-wrenching belly laugh which immediately made Maddy join in, even though she had no idea what they were laughing at.
‘I take it I looked dreadful yesterday, then?’
‘Yes. Oh God, no, I didn’t mean that,’ Maddy stumbled for the right words. ‘You were obviously upset yesterday. I love your hair, that colour really suits you.’
Glenys laughed even more, then walked across to where she was standing and put her arm around Maddy’s shoulders.
‘I like you. It’s been a long time since anyone gave me a compliment, so for that I’m going to make us a cup of herbal tea and pull some tarot cards for you.’
Maddy grimaced. She hated herbal teas and didn’t even want to know what her tarot cards said.
Glenys let go of her. ‘I take it you’re not a fan of herbal
tea? I can make a mean cappuccino, if you prefer. Just don’t tell anyone. I’m not being a part-time barista for this ungrateful lot of heathens.’
Maddy smiled. ‘Cappuccino sounds great, and I won’t tell a soul.’
‘Good, they try to make my life a misery, but I don’t care. They can all go screw themselves. They get jealous because I make more money than the rest of them.’
Maddy looked around the empty shop and wondered how that could be possible. She followed Glenys through to the back of the shop where a desk dominated the room with a computer so big it could have doubled up as a cinema screen.
‘Wow, that’s impressive.’
‘It is. I can’t see on a laptop, because my eyes are terrible,’ Glenys explained. ‘I need it because this is where I do most of my work.’
‘Are you a writer?’
She shook her head. ‘God, no. I’m not that clever. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to be one. I just wouldn’t know where to start.’
‘What do you do with it then?’ Maddy’s interest was piqued.
‘I do a lot of video calls. You know, Skype, Zoom, those kind of things.’
For a brief moment, Maddy wondered if she was some kind of porn queen.
‘You wouldn’t believe how popular tarot card readings are. I do a lot of personalised readings with people. Sometimes I do a psychic reading; it depends what they’re looking for. Sometimes they just need someone to tell them their shitty life is going to get better.’ Glenys shrugged. ‘It’s sad, really, and I feel a bit bad charging some of the clients. Then I remind myself that I have to make a living, to support myself and Alfie. It takes away some of the guilt.’
‘Alfie is your son? I didn’t know.’
Glenys was immediately defensive. ‘Why, what’s he done?’
‘Nothing, he’s a good kid. I mean, he’s scared me a couple of times, but not intentionally. I’m just a jumpy person by nature.’
‘And a little crazy.’ Glenys smiled. ‘You’d have to be to think living in Lake House by yourself was a good idea. Crazy is good, though; all the best ones are a little, don’t you think? I mean, life would be boring if we were all sane.’
Across from the desk was a kitchen worktop with a coffee maker almost as big as the computer screen.
‘I live in the poky flat above the shop, so I can drink the kind of coffee which sets my soul on fire.’ She winked at Maddy.
‘Are you sure you’re not a writer? I think you might be missing out on a very suited career.’
‘How would you know?’
‘I’m a writer. I write crime stories. Well, psychological thrillers. Actually, I’ve written a psychological thriller but I’m stuck on the second one, which is why I thought moving from London to live in Lake House would be a fabulous idea.’
Glenys was staring at her open-mouthed. ‘How is that working out for you?’
Maddy began to laugh and found she laughed so much that tears began to fall from her eyes.
‘Honestly? I don’t have a clue.’
Her response set them both off again.
Chapter Fifty-Three
S eth came back from the funeral home wondering how his dad had managed to organise his funeral, right down to the music and flowers, without any fuss. Everything had been taken care of. His body was being released from the mortuary this afternoon.
The pathologist had confirmed he’d died of natural causes; his heart had simply had enough, and he’d suffered a massive heart attack. It had been sudden, unexpected, and somewhat of a relief.
It was all so matter of fact that Seth didn’t know how he felt, if he was honest. It was all a bit of a blur. He’d expected to be heartbroken, moping around crying, and feeling sorry for himself. The fact that he felt relieved it was all over made him feel guilty, if anything. The last thing he’d wanted was his dad to lay in bed suffering, but he hadn’t expected it to be over like this.
He kept wondering if it was his fault: had he pushed his dad too hard the other day when he’d disappeared to visit Maddy? He’d been helping her search for a phantom confetti-thrower while his dad had worked himself into a frenzy. Stop it now, Seth, you know that’s a load of rubbish. Glenys was here to help him, and he didn’t look knackered or complain he was in pain. It was what he wanted, to carry on as normal until the time came when he couldn’t.
Going behind the bar, he poured himself a neat Glenfiddich – his dad’s favourite whisky – and downed it quickly. It burnt his throat and made his eyes water so much he began to cough. Wiping his eyes with his sleeve, he decided to stop moping around feeling sorry for himself. His dad hadn’t, and neither should he.
The pub would be open at three o’clock to serve the regulars. They’d be lost without somewhere to come, drink real ale, and gossip, so who was he to deprive them of their daily routine? He could always ask Glenys to help out if it got too much. But first, he was going to visit Andy and see if he’d managed to fix Maddy’s car.
Even though he’d made up his mind to open up later, he wasn’t quite ready to face anyone just yet, so he slipped out of the pub’s side door and walked along the cobbled streets, cutting behind the main street to get to Andy’s house. Maddy’s Beetle was parked outside, its rear end jacked up. He couldn’t spot Andy anywhere, and the garage seemed empty. He walked up the path and knocked on the front door, but there was no reply. Maybe he’d had to go and get some parts for the car.
Seth turned and headed back towards the village. A familiar voice shouted his name and he turned to see Alfie waving at him from the path which led up the fell behind Andy’s garage.
‘Seth! Seth, wait for me.’
Alfie ran towards him, out of breath. ‘Are you sad today, Seth?’
The boy stared at him in earnest and Seth realised he was asking how he was, in his own way. He nodded his head in reply.
‘Sorry ’bout your dad, Seth. I liked him. He gave me salt and vinegar crisps.’
Seth smiled. ‘I know he did. You’re the only person who really eats them; everyone else prefers cheese and onion.’
‘Will you miss him a lot?’
‘Yes.’
‘So will I. Can I have some crisps now? I’m starving.’
Seth began to laugh. ‘I suppose so. You don’t get if you don’t ask. Come on, you can help me get the pub ready to open up and I’ll feed you. Where’s your mum today? Has she not fed you?’
‘Working. She said I had to keep out of the way and would break my fingers if I touch her new computer.’
‘I don’t think she meant that, but you did mess it up for her.’
Alfie shrugged. ‘She had it all the wrong way, I was only trying to help.’
Seth reached out and ruffled his hair. ‘I know you were, kid, and so does she.’
The pair of them walked back to the pub, Alfie asking lots of questions and Seth doing his best to answer them.
Chapter Fifty-Four
G lenys passed a huge mug to Maddy. The whole time she’d been here the computer had been pinging away non-stop behind them with notifications. At least, Glenys had Internet, which was good to know.
Sitting opposite her, Glenys inhaled her coffee. ‘I don’t know what it is about this stuff, but it really is a magic potion.’
Maddy agreed. ‘So, you’re busy then?’
‘What, that incessant noise from the computer? Yes, it’s good. I’m saving up for a decent house for me and Alf. It drives the locals mad, but the shop does okay. It gets plenty of visitors, but they don’t realise it’s the online stuff keeping it going. I kind of think they want it to bomb so they can say they told me so as they run me out of the village with their burning pitchforks.’
Maddy frowned. ‘Are they that bad?’
‘No, they’re not. I’m being mean. You know Seth, and he’s lovely. One of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, so helpful and thoughtful. He’s really good with Alfie as well, which is a bonus. God knows, he needs a bit of male company in his life.’
Maddy
felt her heart crush; Glenys obviously had a thing for Seth. Who was she to interfere when she’d only been around a couple of days? Talk about awkward.
‘I like Alfie.’
‘Has he been bothering you?’ Glenys asked. ‘I’ve told him to keep away, but I can’t watch him. He won’t stay inside. He loves being out on the fells and exploring and would go stir crazy if I didn’t let him wander. That’s another thing the locals don’t agree with.’
‘Why?’
‘Well, he’s got a few learning difficulties, and he hates school. They think I should keep him cooped up in the flat. If I thought that he was in any danger, I would. But the worst he can do is get lost on the fells, and he hasn’t up to now. He follows Seth around like a lapdog and he knows the area like the back of his hands.’
‘What about you and Seth?’ Maddy asked tentatively. ‘Are you a couple?’
Glenys laughed. ‘Oh no, he’s really not my type. Too male for a start. Do I need to go on?’
Maddy smiled back, a feeling of relief washing over her. So, Seth was fair play. She needed to go and talk to him when she left here.
‘Alfie talks a lot about the lake people, do you know who they are?’
Glenys shook her head. ‘No, I don’t, but he did ask me if people could live underwater the other day. I’ve been meaning to ask him what he means, although he clamps up whenever I ask him anything. He probably talks to you and Seth more than me.’ She paused briefly to sip from her mug. ‘So, how is it inside Lake House?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I don’t know…the atmosphere? Is it scary being there on your own? A lot of the locals won’t even acknowledge that it exists.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know if I should be telling you this, especially when you’re living there.’ Glenys frowned in concern. ‘It’s a bit mean and I don’t want to scare you.’
‘I need to know. I was going to go to the library and do some research on the property, see who lived there and find out the history. It’s such a gorgeous house, I can’t believe it’s been left empty for so long.’
