She was so shaken by the encounter, she completely forgot the food she had promised to bring, showing up on Noah’s doorstep twenty-five minutes later empty-handed. He opened the door to her, glanced at her empty arms.
‘I thought you said you were bringing fish and chips?’
‘Shit, I’m sorry… I…’
‘Liv, what’s wrong?’
‘There was a man… Alexa… Someone was in the house.’
‘What?’ He ushered her inside. ‘Why the fuck didn’t you call me?’
‘I didn’t want to bother… I took care of it. Whoever it was had left the back door open.’
‘You left the back door unlocked?’
‘No… No. I came home from work. I guess Molly must’ve forgotten to lock it before she went to the gym.’
‘Seriously? After what happened on Friday, she forgot to lock the bloody door?’ His expression darkened.
‘She wouldn’t have done it on purpose. And no harm was done.’
‘But someone was in the house?’
‘Yes, I think so.’
‘You think so?’
‘Well… I didn’t actually see them, but the door… and Alexa…’ She trailed off, noting the scowl on his face. ‘Look, it’s okay. I’m okay. I could really use a drink though.’
‘Okay, sit.’
‘I’m not a dog, Noah.’ Thank God she still had her sense of humour. He didn’t look impressed by her joke though and she could tell he was mad at her for not calling him, so she did as she was told, while he disappeared through to the kitchen, returning with a bottle of red wine and two glasses.
Olivia ordered herself to breathe, annoyed she was still shaking. ‘I’m sorry I forgot to bring dinner.’
‘It’s okay. I’ll call for a pizza.’ He poured wine into the glasses, handed her one. ‘Here, drink, then I want you to tell me exactly what happened.’
She went through everything with him while they waited for the pizza, finishing her glass of wine, wanting a second one, but knowing she had to drive home. It was a Monday night and she never drank during the week, but guessed after the day she’d had, she had needed something to relax her.
He remained silent throughout, his steady green gaze on her as she spoke.
‘Did you check the cameras?’ he asked, when she had finished talking.
‘No. I just wanted to get out of the house, then I drove straight here.’ Olivia didn’t point out that in her panic she had completely forgotten about the cameras. If the intruder had entered through the kitchen, the back-door camera would have caught him.
‘Give me your phone.’
She fumbled in her bag, finding it, and gladly handing it over. Noah had gone over the app with her after installing the cameras, showing her how she could view the recorded footage, but she was ashamed to admit she hadn’t paid a huge amount of attention. Technical stuff didn’t interest her and she had struggled in setting up something as basic as her Echo.
‘Look, remember how I showed you?’
Olivia scooted up the sofa and snuggled in closer as he slipped his arm around her, and she watched the screen as he guided her through the camera footage.
‘See, so although it’s recording 24/7, the cameras only alert you when they pick up movement.’
He flicked through the alerts from the front one, which recorded Molly as she went to her car, threw her gym bag on the passenger seat before getting in and driving away. That had been at 18.12, just a short time before Olivia had arrived home, then Olivia saw her own car pulling into the driveway at 18.29, watched as she exited the vehicle and entered the house. It was weird seeing herself on camera, her hair slicked down by the rain, as she unlocked the door and disappeared inside.
She had been pondering her uncomfortable encounter with Jeremy at the time. It now seemed minor given everything that had happened since. There was nothing else on the front camera until she left the house again to go to Noah’s. This time she was on camera only for moments as she ran to the car and sped out of the driveway, and she recalled those agonising seconds where she had been terrified someone might grab her.
Noah clicked on to the back camera. There was only one moment where motion was detected, when Molly had taken rubbish out to the bins shortly before she had gone out.
There was no one in the back garden, no one trying to get inside the house.
But the door had been open.
‘I didn’t imagine it.’ Olivia hated the edge of panic as she watched him switch off the camera and exit the app. ‘Someone was in the house, I know they were.’
He laid her phone down on the coffee table, pulled her closer, his hand rubbing up and down her arm. ‘You’ve had a tough few days. It’s understandable that you’re a little paranoid and on edge.’
‘You don’t believe me.’
‘I never said I didn’t believe you. I think you were spooked and I believe you honestly thought someone was in the house.’
Olivia pulled away from him, her temper flaring. ‘So how do you explain the Echo, or are you saying that was my imagination too?’
‘It’s a machine. Sometimes they do unpredictable things.’
‘Bullshit. It was the same song that was playing while Gary Lamb was murdered. That is not a coincidence. And how do you explain the door being open?’
‘Okay, look,’ he picked up her phone again, tapped into the settings. ‘I’m going to upload the full camera footage to my Mac and I’ll go through it frame by frame. I can’t explain your Alexa or the door, but you saw how the app worked. If someone entered through the back door, the motion sensor would have picked them up.’
‘You think I’m crazy.’
‘I don’t think you’re crazy. I think you were scared.’ When she pouted, he reached his free hand under her chin, raised it so she met his gaze. ‘Look at me. I promise, I don’t think you’re crazy and I’m going to check the full footage. Okay?’
Olivia sulked for a moment, hating how rational he was being. She knew someone had been in the house, that there was no way the Perry Como song would have started playing by itself, but equally she couldn’t deny the footage she had seen. Was she seriously starting to lose her mind? She forced a smile for him. ‘Okay. Thank you.’
It wasn’t Noah’s fault he had a batshit crazy girlfriend.
He leant in and kissed the tip of her nose. ‘It’s gonna be okay, Liv.’
She tried to push it to the back of her mind while they ate pizza, determined not to let the incident ruin the night. The lights were dimmed, low music playing in the background and the flame-effect gas fire lit. Outside the heavy rain pounded the window, an unwelcome reminder that later on she would have to head back out into the cold and the wet, and return home.
She had messaged Molly to let her know she had gone out, not wanting her lodger to worry, though hadn’t mentioned where she had gone. Molly wasn’t stupid. She would put two and two together, but Olivia didn’t want to rub her nose in it. She had also warned her about the open back door and how she thought there had been someone in the house. Before she left to drive home she would message again, make sure the porch light was on. Molly was away on another work trip from tomorrow and Olivia wasn’t looking forward to spending the rest of the week home alone. She tried not to dwell too much on that, decided to deal with it tomorrow.
It was Christmas in less than three weeks, but there was no trace of it in Noah’s house. Olivia had been trying to persuade him to at least get a small tree, but he was insistent that he didn’t want one. She knew he was going back to Devon for the holiday period and guessed he felt it was pointless.
With a bellyful of pizza and a glass of wine making her relaxed and content, she settled back into the cushions of the sofa, legs outstretched and feet on Noah’s lap, enjoying the touch of his thumbs as he massaged the balls of her feet. They had kept conversation light while eating, but now she found him looking at her intently, sharp green eyes ready with questions.
‘So, are we going to talk about Friday?’
It was why she had initially come here, to talk to him and tell him everything, but then the whole intruder thing had happened and she had been distracted, exhausted even, needing comfort, not another difficult situation to have to deal with. He had been so patient with her and he deserved to know the truth.
She knew that, so why did it send jitters skating through her belly?
Her mind wandered back to earlier in the year. February. It had been a few days before Valentine’s, her first one single in eleven years. She was determined to put Toby behind her, get back into the saddle, so to speak, and had allowed a couple of her old friends to drag her out into the city for drinks.
She wasn’t a fan of the city bars and clubs, preferring quieter more traditional pubs. She needed to get over Toby though, her friends had insisted, so spurred on she had slipped into a little black dress that showed off her curves and her legs, and hit the town, her confidence bolstered by a few glasses of wine and the encouragement of her friends that she was too good for Toby anyway.
It was in one of the city bars that she had met Dominic, had been instantly attracted to him. Looking back now, she did wonder how much of that had been alcohol-induced. He had bought her a couple of drinks then suggested they head back to his city flat.
Comfortably tipsy, and determined to forget Toby, Olivia had agreed. Toby had been her boyfriend for eleven years and her only lover. It was time to start living a little.
Toby was a cheating arsehole. He could be tight, inconsiderate and in the last year of their relationship, they had grown apart to the point he had at times felt like a stranger, but to give him his dues, he had always accepted Olivia the way she was. He had never made her feel like a freak.
His acceptance had perhaps become a shield. Because Toby had accepted her, things had never been an issue, and she had foolishly assumed other men would be the same.
Heading back to Dominic’s city pad, by now more than a little drunk and definitely horny, she hadn’t considered for a second that he would find her inadequate.
Screw that. He hadn’t found her inadequate. He had been repulsed.
Her cheeks heated as she remembered the shame, the humiliation, of his reaction.
The fear of being rejected like that again was sickening. And this time it was ten times worse because she had been seeing Noah for several weeks. Things had been getting more and more serious between them and she still hadn’t told him.
She pulled her feet off his lap, drew them to her chest as she sat up, hugging them tightly. She had been so relaxed, but now the tension was back, the sick feeling returning. Glancing at the wine bottle on the coffee table, she wished she could have another glass, needing the Dutch courage now more than ever.
He was still watching her, waiting for an answer to his question, so she bit down on the fear, knew she had to come clean. She owed him that much. ‘There’s something I need to tell you… about me.’
‘Okay.’
‘I haven’t been honest with you. I’m sorry.’
Noah remained silent, waiting for her to continue. His expression was a little guarded.
Oh God, can I seriously do this?
It was too late to turn back.
‘A long time ago there was an accident. I… I was… something happened to me.’
Still that awful silence as he waited for her to elaborate.
‘I… it’s easier if I show you.’
The room was uncomfortably hot, the sickness in her belly twisting into apprehension. Her cheeks were flaming, her palms damp, as she stood up and slowly lifted her jumper, removed it, letting it drop to the floor, before unbuttoning her jeans and stepping out of them, painfully vulnerable as she stood in his living room wearing just her underwear, humiliation burning through her.
Noah’s eyes widened slightly, the only betrayal of his reaction. Other than that, he remained neutral, waiting patiently.
Olivia smoothed her hand down the scars that ran from the underside of her left breast to her waist and down her thigh, down the length of her left arm. Slightly raised, less smooth and darker than her natural skin tone. She had become used to them over the years, accepted they were part of her, which was why she hadn’t given them a second thought that night she had accompanied Dominic back to his man pad, foolishly assuming that because they hadn’t bothered Toby, they wouldn’t bother anyone else.
What an idiot.
Dominic had acted like she was a leper, repulsed by how she looked. That night was now ingrained in her memory and she had been too scared to date again, until Noah.
‘There was an accident, a fire. I was fourteen. My friend died and I was in hospital for weeks.’ She caught her breath, eyes closed, remembering. Too afraid to open them in case she saw revulsion. ‘This is it. This is me. I’ve had skin grafts. It’s not going to get any better.’
Silent tears leaked and she wasn’t even aware of them until they dampened her cheeks.
‘Why did you think this would be a problem?’ He was standing in front of her. She hadn’t even heard him get up from the sofa, so caught up in the memories of the fire, of being in hospital, and of that awful searing rejection. His thumbs brushed the tears away. ‘Do you really think I’m that shallow?’
‘Because the last time I tried to do this, it was a problem.’ Her voice cracked.
‘Liv, open your eyes.’ He briefly caught her hands and she was aware of him leaning in closer. ‘Open your eyes and look at me.’ His words were a brief caress against her temple.
Tentatively she did as asked, met his gaze seeing nothing but compassion mixed with a healthy dose of lust.
He tilted her chin, kissed her firmly on the lips as his free hand slipped down to trace where the scar ran down to her waist. ‘I think you’re beautiful.’
‘You do?’
‘I do.’
The tension eased out of her shoulders. This had been such a huge deal to her. The encounter with Dominic had seriously dented her confidence.
‘And I want to know all about the accident and what happened, I really do.’ He continued to rub his palm up and down over the scar. ‘But right now you’re standing in my living room in just your underwear and it’s driving me a little crazy.’
His lips curved into a crooked grin and despite herself, Olivia found herself smiling. ‘I’m sorry about that.’
‘No, really, do not be sorry. I’ve been trying to get you out of your clothes for weeks, so this is a very pleasant and unexpected surprise.’ He kissed her again, pulling her against him as his hands roamed down to cup her bum. ‘Stay with me tonight.’
It was a Monday, she had work in the morning, plus of course none of her stuff was here. ‘Tonight’s probably not–’
He silenced her with another kiss. ‘No excuses. Stay with me. You can leave early in the morning and go back home before work. I have an early start tomorrow, so I’ll make sure you’re up.’ As he nuzzled her neck, warm hands still caressing her bum, she had to admit it was tempting. Plus it meant she wouldn’t have to go back out in the rain.
‘Okay,’ she agreed. ‘I’ll stay.’
Later, in the darkness of the bedroom, she awoke from a dream about Margaret. Noah was asleep beside her, rolled on to his belly, head facing away from her, and she could hear his steady breathing and the pattering of the rain that hit the window.
The combination of unburdening her secret, plus good sex – and it had been good, once she had overcome her initial shyness and hesitancy – had seen her falling asleep quickly, but the dream had woken her.
It was the first time she had dreamt about Margaret in years and she guessed it was talking about her scars and what had happened the night of the fire, that had caused the memories to resurface.
Olivia had been pulled from the flames, but not before suffering serious burn injuries and the healing process had been long and traumatic. She had been the lucky one. Margaret hadn’t survived the fire.
Olivia had no recollection of what had happened that night in the cottage. She had quickly lost consciousness and knew nothing about it until she woke up in hospital. Her last memories of Margaret had been happy ones.
But when she fell asleep and dreamt of her friend, that was when she heard the screams.
