“Well. I’m glad we sortedthatout,” Danny says.
I glare at him, and then Kiara pulls a face, and then Edwin snorts, and suddenly, we’re all kind of laughing, united in our bafflement.
“We could be triplets?” Kiara says. “Your mum’s baby was stolen, and my mum gave her two of her triplets?” She’s holding up her hands now, searching for inspiration. “Was there a pregnant neighbor? A distant relative? An orphanage nearby?”
“I know we’re old-fashioned out here in the countryside, but we weren’t born in the nineteenth century,” Danny protests. “There’s no workhouse in the village.”
Kiara smiles, then shrugs. “I give up then.”
Edwin stands up. “Can you hear something?”
We listen, and I do hear someone shouting. Behind the house somewhere. We follow Edwin out, through the kitchen, and onto the patio. Two figures stumble from the trees at the back of the lawn.
“It’s Joel,” Edwin says, and starts to run. Danny and I follow at a trot, leaving Kiara standing on the patio. I’m halfway across the lawn before I realize that the person Joel is supporting is Laura. What on earth isshedoing here? As I get closer, I see blood on her head and her blouse, and blood on Joel’s shoulder and hands.
“Call an ambulance,” Joel shouts. I stumble as I look down at my dress; no pockets, no phone. Edwin, who is closer to them, turns toward us, and Danny nods at him, spins around, and sprints back toward the house.
“What happened?” I ask as I reach them. Edwin supports Laura on her other side, and the two men lift her between them and carry her toward the house. Laura’s eyes are almost closed, but she’s moving her lips. She’s dazed and distressed, and not fully conscious.
“I found her by the folly,” Joel says, panting with the effort of supporting her. He has a smear of blood on the side of his face. “Head trauma. Need to get her to hospital.”
“It’s Laura,” I say to Edwin, stupidly, keeping pace with them.
He grimaces, looking as if he might say something and then shaking his head.
Danny finishes speaking into his phone as we reach the patio, and he and Kiara lift a table to one side so that Joel and Edwin can maneuver Laura around into a sitting position on one of the sofas. Laura’s eyes are more open now, and she’s making an effort to focus on our faces, her head smearing blood across the cream cushion as she turns it from side to side.
“Can you get me a clean tea towel?” Joel asks, and I run and grab one from the kitchen drawer.
“Shh. Keep still,” Joel says to Laura, folding the fabric and holding it over her wound.
Laura has fixed her gaze on Edwin now. She says his name questioningly, but it’s a raspy croak.
He kneels down in front of her. “Laura.” He tries to smile. “What happened?”
She shakes her head and winces. “I don’t know. I think... something fell on me from the top of the tower?” She looks around, and her fingers twitch toward me. “Seraphine.” I take her hand and squeeze it gently.
“What are you doing here, Laura?” I ask, but she doesn’t respond. She’s gazing at Danny and Kiara, who are standing side by side behind the table. A fresh trickle of blood runs down her cheek as she tries to sit forward, and my heart thumps painfully.“Stop asking questions or lose your family.”Someone attacked this woman just behind our house. Is this the danger I have put my own family in? Could Edwin or Danny or Vera be next? Or me?
A single strident note sounds from the lane, and Joel hurries into the house to open the door for the paramedics. Laura moans and leans her head back against the cushion. One hand closes over the silver locket hanging around her neck.
The rest of us exchange wide-eyed looks.
“Who did this?” I ask. Edwin, Danny, and Kiara shake their heads with bewildered expressions.
Joel returns with the paramedics, and we stand back as they bustle around, easing Laura onto a stretcher, asking her gentle questions. She murmurs something, but she doesn’t open her eyes again. As they start to carry her away, I pick up a foldedpiece of paper that has fallen from her trouser pocket, holding it out toward their retreating backs, but there’s no point trying to give it to Laura in this state. I decide to keep it and return it to her when she’s recovered.
I hear Joel offering to accompany her in the ambulance, but they say no, the police are on their way and will want to talk to him. We all stand and watch as the ambulance pulls out of the drive and rumbles off down the lane.
Joel turns to me then, calm despite the blood that covers him.
“Do you mind if I get cleaned up?” he asks, and I gesture to the stairs. Edwin goes up with him to lend him some clean clothes.
As I trail after Danny and Kiara, who are wandering back to the patio, I unfold the note from Laura’s pocket. My eyes skip down to the name at the bottom, and my heart jolts painfully. I read it through twice, quickly, trying to make sense of it.
Dear Laura,
I desperately need your help. Please will you meet me at midday on Saturday at the folly at Summerbourne? I will explain everything then, but you know I would not ask unless I really needed you. Come the back way, from the boat hire place. I’ll meet you by the tower.
