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But as she contemplated that, something inside Tuppence baulked at the thought of selling the farm to someone like Richmond. The house she had grown up in was a part of her now. She couldn’t envisage swapping it for somewhere else. Where would she live? What kind of house would she be able to afford? What would she do with the rest of her life if she didn’t have the farm to keep her busy?
“I won’t be able to live and eat for the rest of my life on a thousand five hundred pounds, that’s for sure,” Tuppence muttered as she turned her attention back to her chores. “Selling is definitely out of the question.”
“Oh, Tuppence!” came the melodic voice again just as she was carrying an armful of hay across the yard. “We can see you!”
“I don’t doubt,” Tuppence snorted but not loud enough for the intruder to hear. While the voice was unnerving, she wasn’t prepared to pay too much attention to what the oaf was doing so long as he kept his distance.
“We will get you,” the voice hissed, and this time was accompanied by more running footsteps.
What alarmed Tuppence was that the footsteps drew closer; so close in fact that she whirled around to peer into the darkness and expected to be able to see someone. Unfortunately, she hadn’t lit the sconces in the barn yet and so couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of her. What she did catch a glimpse of was a darting figure about a foot taller than she, racing toward the side of the barn.
“If you don’t get off this land, I will shoot you. You are trespassing and being an idiot,” she announced loudly, but heaved a disgusted sigh when the wind carried her voice away again.
Hurrying into the barn, she closed the doors, whistled for Baxter to stand guard, and set about lighting the sconces. It was comforting to cast the barn in a familiar orange glow and see the grazing cattle gazing curiously at her, completely unphased by what was happening outside. If they weren’t restless and desperate to get out of their enclosure, whoever was running around outside was nothing more than a nuisance to her.
With one eye on the doors, Tuppence settled the animals down for the night before she reluctantly blew out the sconces and prepared to leave. She stood in the darkness for a few moments to allow her eyes to adjust. It was then that she remembered she had yet to unharness Horace, who still stood patiently in the centre of the yard, his head drooping as his despondency at being forgotten grew.
Because talking to him made her feel less lonely, Tuppence said: “Come on, Horace. It’s time to get you to bed too.”
As she worked around the cart horse, she glanced at the still and silent yard all about her but didn’t relax because she had the distinct impression that she was being watched. She had no idea where the intruder was hiding now, or why the pest hadn’t left. She wished now that she hadn’t gone to town for the provisions tha
t would get her through winter. She had no idea how long the intruder had been nosing around her property, or what he had seen or become familiar with while she had been gone. Further, because she lived on her own, she hadn’t thought to lock the door to her house. It was unnerving to think that he might have been in there as well and might even be in there now.
Suddenly, something large and heavy slammed into the side of the cart. The loud crack of it hitting the woodwork was enough to make Horace jerk awake and shift uneasily as if in preparation to run. Tuppence gasped and tried to soothe him as she tried to look for the source of the flying object. Squinting through the night, she studied the cart but had no idea if she should expect to see a bullet hole or something. It was disconcerting to see the cart was undamaged, but there was a large stone on the ground which hadn’t been there a moment ago, she was sure of it. Tuppence did her best to ignore it and hurriedly finished unharnessing Horace before leading him into his stall in the barn. Once he was settled, Tuppence reluctantly left for home.
When she crossed the yard this time, the footsteps were behind her. Her heart pounded. She glanced repeatedly over her shoulder but could see nothing but impenetrable darkness. When she increased her pace, the footsteps behind her sped up too. Panic threatened to overwhelm her. Because she couldn’t stand to be chased to the house, Tuppence stopped off at the storeroom.
Slamming into the small room, she bolted the door and peered out into the night through the small grimy window beside the door. It was unnerving that nobody appeared to be out there. Hefting the shotgun off the wall, Tuppence checked it for shot before rummaging around in the drawer for the key to the side door of the storeroom. Baxter was already in his place in the barn where he would keep a watchful eye over the cattle, and bark furiously if anybody disturbed him. With her livestock safe, Tuppence now had to make sure that she wasn’t hurt while she tried to get home. She could only hope that whoever was prowling around her farm lost interest in tormenting her, and left just as soon as she was in the house, and that the he didn’t break in to any of the outbuildings or try to cause any damage to her property overnight. If he did, she would at least know where he was and which way to point the gun.
Bracing herself, as Mr Richmond had warned her that she would need to do, Tuppence eased the side door open. While inside the storeroom, she had put the key into the lock and so was ready. Tiptoeing cautiously outside, she eased the door closed as quietly as she could, twisted the key, and turned to face the house. Immediately, the footsteps started again, this time at the side of the barn. Tuppence began to run. Her heart pounded, but through the rhythmic thumps, the intruder’s footsteps grew louder. She felt him close behind. She could hear his rasping breath and the heavy pounding of his boots on the gravel of the yard. Without stopping to look behind her, Tuppence ran for the house as if she had the Hounds from Hell nipping at her heels.
“Get off me!” she squealed when she felt a hard tug on the back of her jacket. She didn’t stop to think about the gun in her hand. Later, she would wonder why she hadn’t thought to slam to a halt with it pointed at the trespasser. For now, her mind couldn’t focus on anything other than how close he was. When she felt another tug on her jacket, Tuppence twisted around to tug herself free. Her arm lifted, as if instinctively reminding her that she was armed. Cocking the gun, she pointed it into the darkness, and was more than a little shaken to find that there was nobody there. Whirling around in a wide circle, she looked wildly around, but was horrified to find herself all alone. Even so, she knew there was someone on the farm besides herself, and defiantly called: “Do that again and I will shoot you. I know you can hear me. I am not going to be bullied out of here. I am armed, and I will kill you. Get off my property. Do you hear me? Get away from here.”
Slowly backing toward the house, Tuppence kept her gaze on the darkness. Thankfully, she reached the safety of the front door unhindered and stepped into the house. Racing into the sitting room, she peered outside but didn’t have to wait too long before she saw a solitary figure stalking arrogantly toward the fields behind the storeroom.
“You are going home now that your work is done, eh?” Tuppence hissed, wishing she could see who it was. She didn’t recognise the man but then it wasn’t light enough for her to see much of him, especially given that he was dressed in black. “Well, the rest of the chores will have to wait for tonight. I will do them tomorrow and will have to make sure that tomorrow’s chores are finished by the time the sun goes down. If Mr Richmond wants a war, he is going to get one.”
With that, Tuppence set about securing the house. Once chairs had been pushed under the doorknobs, and the windows shuttered and bolted, Tuppence settled down beside the fire and began to contemplate if she could ever feel safe at Hilltop Farm again. As she sat in the silence of the outdated kitchen, it felt as if she were sitting amongst the ghost of her past, the remnants of a life that had passed and could never return.
“Living here means that I can never move on and leave the past behind where it belongs,” she whispered miserably. But despite saying the words aloud, Tuppence still wasn’t sure if there was any other choice because selling the farm was like selling her past.
Isaac Chester glanced at the golden orbs hovering in what appeared to be the sky, but then couldn’t take his eyes off them. They weren’t magical golden orbs, stars, or fairies. He knew what they were. They were lights in the farmhouse at Hilltop Farm.
“Tuppence,” he whispered aloud, surprising himself with how strong the hint of longing in his voice was. He was cold and wanted to go home, but still reigned in his horse so he could study the flickering lights for a few moments. He briefly contemplated the wisdom of paying her a visit. The hour was late, but he couldn’t shake off the vague, restless feeling that had plagued him since he had parted from her yesterday. Was seeing her again wise? The need to see her was already strong.
“It is worse than usual. I have no idea why,” he muttered.
“Are you going to see her?”
Isaac glanced at Mark Bosville. He had known Mark practically all his life and had no qualms about discussing his private affairs with Great Tipton’s Detective Inspector because Mark was better at keeping secrets than most people. Besides, Mark was married. If anybody could understand his predicament and give him some sage advice about his love life it was Mark.
“I don’t think she would welcome me,” he murmured wryly.
“Do you think she has a problem of some kind?” Mark asked, wondering why Isaac was squinting suspiciously at the lights of the farmhouse.
Isaac lifted his brows at him. His tone was sharp when he asked: “Now why would you ask that? What have you heard? Is something wrong up there?”
Mark pursed his lips but could see no reason why Isaac shouldn’t know about his visit the other day. “I went to see her the other day and she was far from enthusiastic about coming to visit Harriett like she usually does. We have no idea why. Harriett insists that they haven’t fallen out and cannot understand Tuppence’s uncharacteristic behaviour. Harriett went to see Tuppence to find out what was wrong today, but Tuppence wasn’t there.”
