AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He’s angry with her because she said she’d got rid of the journal. She’s a liar. An urge to trash the Coach House wells up in him. He wants to take the cosy little domestic picture she’s painted here and destroy it, because disloyalty gets under his skin. But it would be a stupid thing to do, an unforgivable loss of control and counterproductive. Better to get out of here and work out what to do. If she’s going to pose a threat to him and Sasha she will have to be dealt with.
He hears someone knock urgently on the front door. He considers ducking behind the sofa until they go away, but before he can, the door opens. It’s Nicole Booth.
‘Olly!’ she says. ‘Thank God.’ She doesn’t seem surprised to find him here.
He takes in the state of her. She’s dishevelled and sweaty, her face is tear-stained and she’s wearing a nightie, a thin dressing gown and slippers. ‘What happened?’
‘Is Kitty here?’
‘No. She’s at the Manor.’
‘Patrick lied to me.’
‘What? Why?’ he asks. ‘Has he scared you?’
She nods and he moves towards her, hoping to herd her out. He’s mindful that they need to leave the Coach House because he doesn’t want Anna to know that he’s been here. ‘Shall I take you to the Manor?’ he asks.
She’s trying to catch her breath and looks as if she might faint.
After a moment of hesitation Olly helps her to sit on the sofa.
‘What happened?’ he asks.
She tells him about the phone call she took, and the lies Patrick has been telling. She’s talking fast; she’s almost hysterical. She says she’s worried Patrick killed Tom, because if he’s been lying about everything else, why not that? Perhaps he tried to get more money out of Tom and Tom refused. He’s got angry when they didn’t give him money before, and he’s been violent before.
Olly pays close attention to everything she’s saying. This feels too good to be true. ‘Have you told the police?’
‘I haven’t had time. I wanted to get away. I can call now.’ She pulls her phone out. Her hands are shaking.
‘You’ve done the right thing.’ Olly’s mind is racing with possibilities, but he needs to get her out of the Coach House.He’s going to have to gamble that Nicole won’t mention that she found him there because she’ll be so preoccupied with what’s just happened to her. ‘Before you call, let’s get you to the Manor,’ he says.
‘He hurt that person very badly.’ Her voice cracks. ‘Do you think he could have hurt Tom?’
‘Let’s get you to the Manor. Don’t be afraid. I’m with you.’
He opens the door just a crack and looks carefully before they exit. Patrick is twice Olly’s size, and Olly doesn’t relish the idea of dealing with him, but there’s no sign of anyone.
‘Let’s go,’ he tells Nicole. Her breathing becomes even more laboured as they hurry towards the Manor. They find Sasha and Anna in the Orangery. Anna is up a ladder. She looks hot and sweaty. Sasha is on her phone. When she first meets his eye he can tell that she got his message.
Nicole bursts into tears when she sees them. Sasha hugs her and looks over Nicole’s shoulder at Olly, a question in her eyes. He nods. Yes, I did put the journal back, it says.
‘What’s happened?’ she asks.
‘I found Nicole by the Coach House,’ Olly says. He wants to get that in there, so they imagine him meeting her outside the Coach House, not inside.
Nicole is still breathing so hard she can scarcely be taking in what he’s saying. ‘Tell them what happened, Nicole. And I think we should call the police now.’
45
THURSDAY
Hal
Hal’s mobile rings as he’s waiting in line to buy a coffee.
‘Steen,’ he says.
‘I’ve heard from forensics,’ Jen says. ‘They found a small amount of blood and human tissue on the edge of a table in the Booth home.’
