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Still nothing.
Horror at her own stupidity flared up inside her as she clicked on the light switch, knowing even as she did it that it would prove useless.
She stood there in silence, not noticing the dark shape which had loomed up outside the plastic insert of the front door until a loud rapping made her start.
The sheer height of the man registered on her subconscious as she pulled the door open. But that didn’t stop her heart from beating like crazy when she saw it was Drew—still in navy sweater and jeans, but with no sign of the dog.
She looked into his face. It wasn’t a friendly face, but it was a face she knew and had once loved. And when you were feeling as vulnerable as Shelley was, feeling that familiarity was a potent and dangerous quality.
‘Hello, Drew,’ she gulped. ‘I certainly wasn’t expecting you to be my first caller.’
His mouth flattened into a grim sort of smile. ‘Believe me, I wasn’t planning on being your first visitor.’
‘So why are you here?’
‘Curiosity, mainly,’ he answered slowly. ‘And a phone call from my sister. She insisted I come.’
‘Which sister?’
‘Jennie.’
‘Oh.’ Shelley wondered if the regret showed in her face. Because she and Jennie had been the best friends in the world. Until the Marco incident—when, naturally enough, she had taken her brother’s side. They hadn’t seen one another or spoken a word since. ‘How did she know I was here?’
‘She’s your neighbour. She lives in our old house. And that’s next door, in case you’ve forgotten.’
‘Jennie lives next door?’
Was this the same Jennie who had called Milmouth a fading seaside dump with no soul? Who had called their small houses rabbit hutches and couldn’t wait to get as far away as possible? Shelley’s eyes widened with surprise. ‘You mean, with your parents?’
‘No, no.’ He shook his head impatiently. ‘They retired to the Isle of Wight. And Cathy’s living in London.’
‘So how’s Jennie?’ she dared ask.
‘Well, probably more pleased than I am that you’ve come crawling back—’
‘No, not crawling, Drew. With my head held very high.’
‘If you say so.’ But his eyes glittered as though he didn’t quite believe her.
She took a deep breath. ‘Drew?’
He threw her a mocking look. ‘Shelley?’
‘Do you know who has been responsible for doing the garden?’
There was a pause. ‘My sister.’
‘Your sister?’ Shelley frowned. ‘Jennie must have changed quite a bit if she’s into gardening.’
He laughed. ‘She doesn’t do it herself. She gets someone in for a few hours a week and asked them to keep yours tidy at the same time.’ He turned the corners of his mouth down. ‘Otherwise it made the place look overgrown and derelict.’
‘It looks gorgeous,’ she said wistfully.
He didn’t respond to that, just fixed her with that dazzling blue stare. ‘So where’s lover-boy?’
‘I do wish you wouldn’t keep calling him names!’ she told him crossly, then sighed. There was no point in lying. Not to Drew. You only made that kind of mistake once in a lifetime. ‘He isn’t here.’
‘I know. Do you really think I would have come around if he was lurking around upstairs waiting for you?’
‘How could you possibly know that?’
‘My sister said there was only one person in the car.’
‘So Jennie couldn’t wait to bad-mouth my arrival?’
He shook his head. ‘Actually, no. She saw your car—only she didn’t realise that it was your car—and rang me, just in case—’
‘In case of what?’ Shelley interrupted angrily. ‘In case someone in a car happened to be visiting a house? Gosh, I’d forgotten all about how effective the Milmouth mafia could be!’
This seemed to amuse him. ‘It depends on how you look at it, surely? Either you find it a repressive, small-town mentality—in which case I wonder why you came back at all—or you appreciate the fact that someone is there looking out for you. If you were a woman, living on her own…as Jennie is…’ he paused thoughtfully ‘…and a car you didn’t recognise stopped outside a house which had been empty for the last two years—then you’d be pretty dumb not to investigate, wouldn’t you? Particularly if—’ and his eyes narrowed with something very like distaste as he half turned his head in the direction of the gleaming grey car which stood outside ‘—the car in question looked glaringly out of place.’
