Movement by the hedge caught his eye as something ran past the hole. He turned to look and see what it was but it had gone. Henry got the feeling that someone had been watching him. He pressed his face against the glass and looked around. There was no one walking around in the garden of the big house from what he could see. He looked up and saw the old woman who lived there looking out of her bedroom window, but she wasn’t looking down at him; she was looking towards the lake. He stepped back, not wanting her to know he was watching her.

Whatever it was had moved so fast it had looked like a black blur. It might have been a deer. He had been driving home the other night and one had jumped across the stone wall on one side of the road, taken two jumps and was across the road and over the hedge on the other side. He had scared himself. It had been huge and if he’d hit it he didn’t know who would have come off worse. He wouldn’t have liked to put a bet on it, that was for sure. They were so fast and big.

He sat down on the sofa where he could still see the woman looking out of the window but she wouldn’t be able to see him, and he wondered who she was watching for out on that lake. Maybe her husband had gone out on it and never come back, because day after day she seemed to spend her time staring at it. He wasn’t sure if he should make an effort to try and befriend her. She was always on her own except for when the younger woman went in to clean, or whatever it was she did. If she had no family it might be nice for her to have some company. It would be nice for him as long as she didn’t act like his mother.

He doubted she read the newspapers or watched much television so she wouldn’t have a clue who he was, and she probably had a big cellar. He liked cellars. They were much better for doing what he had to do in than some draughty old barn or ramshackle boathouse. In fact that was a brilliant idea. It would be much better to take Annie there on his own. Megan wouldn’t know about it, which solved the problem of him having to share Annie. He began to pull his shoes on. He had no idea what he was going to say to her but what the hell. She might not even open the door to him. Pulling his baseball cap on he stepped out of the caravan and slipped around the back, through the hole in the hedge, and strode across the lawn to the front door. He pressed the bell and waited a minute before knocking on the door. It took a while but then he heard the sound of the hall door being opened and her frail figure came into sight through the glass.

‘Who is it?’

‘Hello, sorry to bother you but I was wondering if you had a telephone I could use to ring my wife. I need to tell her I’ll be late to pick her up because I’m charging the car battery.’

The figure on the other side of the glass came closer and the door opened an inch, the brass safety chain not letting it open any further.

‘We’re stopping in that caravan park next door and my phone isn’t working. These mobiles are great when you can get them to work but a nightmare when you can’t.’

Martha Beckett ran every scenario through her brain. She knew she shouldn’t open the door because he was a stranger, but then she’d already broken that rule once this week by letting that Irish man push his way into her home. And look what had happened there. This man sounded much more polite and a lot older than the Irish one, so she slid back the locks from the front door. She had spent her entire life on her own, being careful. Maybe it was time to throw caution to the wind and start being more adventurous.

The sound of the chain being slid along and taken off was like music to his ears.

‘I wouldn’t have one of those things if you gave it to me.’

The door opened and she smiled at him. He grinned back.

‘No, me neither, but I have to have it for work. We’re up here on holiday and she’s gone shopping. I hate it – the shopping, I mean, not the area, because that’s beautiful – but I’ve left her to it and she’ll go mad if I leave her stranded.’

‘Come in. I’m afraid I only have a good old-fashioned house phone but you can use it to phone her. British Telecom will think I’ve broken the habit of a lifetime by using it.’ She winked at him and Henry laughed. He liked her. She wasn’t at all what he’d been expecting. She was old and frail but she had a sparkle in her pale blue eyes and a sense of humour. Nothing at all like his mother, which was a good thing for the both of them.

‘I can’t tell you how much this means. I’ll pay you for the call, of course.’

‘You’ll do no such thing. I’ve paid them every bill on time my whole life and I rarely use the thing.’

‘Thank you so much. I’m Henry by the way.’

‘You’re welcome. And I’m Miss Beckett, but you can call me Martha.’

She led him down the corridor to the sideboard with the phone and pointed to it.

‘I’ll be in the kitchen just down the hall.’

Henry smiled and picked up the phone, dialling his own mobile number to leave a voicemail. He couldn’t phone Megan because for now he didn’t want her to know what he was planning. After a minute he walked along the dark corridor, stopping to look at a heavy oak door which was covered in padlocks and bolts. He continued along to the bright, modern kitchen where the kettle was boiling.

‘Thank you so much for that. I’ll see myself out.’

‘No, you won’t. I hope she isn’t too mad at you. Would you like a drink before you go?’

‘Only if it’s no trouble. That would be lovely. I’m stuck until the car battery is charged anyway. You have a beautiful home, Martha. I can’t imagine how nice it must be to wake up to the view of the lake every day. Tell me, does a house this size have a cellar? I imagine it would have a pretty big one.’

Chapter Nineteen

They were on caravan park number two. Annie had eaten all her cake and managed to get crumbs everywhere. Jake looked across at her. ‘How did you miss your mouth? I mean, what a waste of cake.’

She couldn’t answer him because she was too busy sucking buttercream off her fingers, so she stuck one up at him.

‘Charming.’

‘Not all of us have a mouth that can fit in almost a whole piece of sponge cake in two bites.’

‘No, it’s a gift. Have you put your Christmas decorations up yet?’

‘No, it’s not December. Oh my God, I bet you’re going to, aren’t you? What are you like?’

‘You know I love it. I can’t get enough tinsel or glitter to keep me satisfied.’

Annie giggled, which was one of Jake’s favourite sounds. He grinned.

‘Don’t let Alex hear you say that. It’s very unmanly.’

‘I don’t care. He knows exactly how manly I am. Anyway we have a good excuse this year. I want Alice’s first Christmas with us to be magical, even if she won’t remember. I’m going to photograph everything and put it in an album for when she’s a stroppy teenager and hates us both.’

‘Aw, Jake, you are such a sweetie. She is one lucky kid and if she does turn into the teenager from hell I’ll remind her how lucky she is to have you both. I wish you could have adopted me.’

‘Thanks, Annie, I’ll hold you to that. Anyway, what do you mean? I feel as if you are my kid, I spend so much time looking after you.’

She reached over and poked him. ‘You love it, though, don’t you? I mean, how boring would your life be without me in it?’

Neither of them spoke. Annie was wondering if she would live past Christmas with Henry Smith lurking in the shadows.

Jake knew what she was thinking, and he was thinking about just how much pain he was going to cause the sick bastard for making his best friend have to worry about her own mortality. Annie couldn’t sense anything when it came to herself. She knew she was in trouble but had no idea how much. She was relying on them catching Henry before he could catch her. It was like a grown-up game of Mousetrap with Annie as the bait.