Page 112 of The House Swap

‘Careful.’

‘I’m fine.’

That seemed to be Keira’s go-to answer since escaping from the basement and although her tone was light, her voice lacked conviction.

She wasn’t fine. Neither of them were.

The road they were following in the direction of the coast was thankfully downhill, but it was uneven in places, and as the sun dipped lower, dusk quickly gave way to darkness, and with only the moon to guide them, it became harder to see where they were going. The house they had left had long since disappeared behind them and the air had turned sharper too. It had already been a cooler day, but what little warmth there had been had drained away with the light.

‘It can’t be much further,’ Keira said, clinging to positivity.

The sea was closer now, but the road was starting to wind to the right, away from the direction they needed to go.

‘Hopefully not,’ she agreed, keeping her fears to herself that they still had a way ahead of them. Keira had endured enough already. If she needed a little encouragement, then Poppy would give it to her. ‘We’ll be okay. Once we get back to the villa and I can get my phone, I’ll call the police. And Tom arrives later tonight. He’s flying back early. We won’t be alone.’

Saying it out loud made her feel better. More in control. They had a plan. It was something solid to hold on to.

Keira didn’t respond immediately.

‘Good,’ she said eventually, and there was a slight edge to her voice. ‘That psycho needs to pay for what he did.’

Her words sent a shiver down Poppy’s spine. She wouldn’t argue with that.

‘Did he…?’ She hesitated, reluctant to ask the question, but needing to know. ‘Did he hurt you?’

At first, she didn’t think Keira was going to answer, but then she gave a small laugh.

‘Only whenever I tried to escape. Then he manhandled me a bit. But he didn’t do anything else, if that’s what you mean.’

Poppy was relieved to hear it. She had no idea what Martin’s intentions had been with Keira. ‘Do you know why he took you? Did he ever say?’

‘No.’ Keira let out a slow breath. ‘I found him in your room. I was outside and didn’t even realise he was there. I’d gone back in to grab my Kindle, and I saw him going through your stuff.’

Poppy’s stomach twisted. ‘My stuff?’

‘Yeah, he had one of your bras in his hand. He didn’t hear me come in.’ Keira’s voice faltered. ‘I challenged him and asked him what the hell he was doing. That’s when he attacked me. I never even had the chance to fight back. He must have knocked me clean out, because the next thing I knew, I was waking up in that basement.’

Her voice broke a little on the last word and Poppy gave her arm a reassuring squeeze.

They walked in silence as she processed everything, completely creeped out that Martin had been going through her underwear.

It sickened her knowing that she had been alone with him, both in the villa and also out on the boat.

Tom would be horrified when he found out.

And Jem too. If she decided to tell him.

He snuck into her thoughts suddenly, guilt overwhelming her when she remembered thinking he had been the one tormenting her. She had managed to get herself worked up over a connection that probably didn’t even exist.

A sudden noise behind them – footsteps, she thought – made her stop dead.

Keira gripped her arm. ‘What?’ she demanded, her voice tight.

Poppy turned, scanning the empty stretch of road behind them, but all she could see was darkness. Her heart thumped as she waited, listening for it to come again, but there was nothing.

It was probably her imagination and she was feeding her fears. Easy to do out here, even without everything that had happened. It was so quiet and her senses were heightened. Every tiny noise seemed louder than it should be. And the darkness was suffocating.

‘I thought I heard something,’ she murmured. ‘But I was wrong.’