It had been gone two in the morning when the police and the paramedics had left and Noah and Olivia were in a taxi on their way back to his place on the west side of the city.
Elena had tried to persuade them to stay the night, but Olivia had been reluctant, shaken and upset, wanting space and quiet, needing time to process everything. Noah got that.
Her mother and brother now knew about the notes and the phone calls, had both viewed the video after Olivia had been found passed out on the bathroom floor. She had bashed her head on the sink, and they were understandably rattled.
Noah soon learnt that Elena became hyper when stressed. She asked too many questions, her tone high-pitched, as she scurried around, forcing sweet tea on Olivia who had been in shock as she struggled to talk to the police officers.
Noah got her out of there as soon as he was able, taking her back to his place, then holding her and soothing her until she fell asleep.
He had stayed awake for some time after, his mind working overtime trying to slot the pieces of the puzzle into place, before he finally drifted off. When he eventually awoke, he was surprised to see it was almost nine in the morning.
Olivia was still fast asleep and he got up, careful not to disturb her. He put on a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, and took his phone downstairs. He spoke to her boss first to say she wouldn’t be in, then he called Daniella.
‘What’s up?’ she asked, foregoing any kind of greeting.
He briefly explained what had happened, as he filled the kettle, his tired mind in desperate need of coffee. As much as she had annoyed him yesterday with her observations about Olivia being a potential suspect, he knew he needed her. He was too close to the situation and his feelings for Olivia were now clouding his rationality and judgement. Daniella would offer a fresh pair of eyes and focus.
‘So what do you want to do?’ she asked when he had finished explaining about the video.
‘I want to go out to Black Dog Farm. Something doesn’t sit right with this.’
‘Okay, well we can do that this morning if you want.’
Noah thought of Olivia upstairs asleep in his bed. He didn’t want to leave her alone, but he had to. She would be safer in his house though. Safer than she would be at home. ‘Pick you up in an hour?’
‘Sounds like a plan.’
Ending the call, he finished his coffee, got out a clean mug and poured another cup, then took it upstairs, setting it down on the bedside table beside Olivia. She stirred as the mattress dipped when he sat down beside her and he stroked the hair back from her face as her eyes opened. She looked exhausted, her grey eyes haunted.
‘What time is it?’
‘Just after nine.’ When she started to sit up, panic on her face, he eased her back down. ‘I already called your boss. He knows you won’t be in.’
‘He’s going to sack me. He’s already unhappy about last week.’
‘It’s one day. He’ll be fine. You’ve had hardly any sleep, so why don’t you get some rest.’ He nodded to the mug beside her. ‘I brought you coffee.’
She seemed to waver over the work thing, looking troubled for a moment, then heaved out a sigh. ‘Okay. I guess that’s maybe a good idea. And thank you.’
As she sat up, bringing the duvet with her, Noah passed her the mug. Her light brown hair was mussed up, there were dark smudges under her eyes, and her normally olive skin was too pale, but she was still beautiful to him, his heart squeezing as she bit down on her lip, a contemplative look on her face.
That look suddenly turned to one of alarm.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Luna. I forgot about her. She hasn’t been fed. Can you drive me home?’
For a moment there she had actually worried him. Noah stifled his smile, certain that Luna would cope for an hour or two. It was actually sweet how much Olivia adored her cat.
‘I need to go out for a couple of hours this morning. Give me your key and I will nip in and feed her, okay?’
‘You’re going out?’ She was frowning slightly at that. ‘Then I should go home. You can drop me off on the way.’
‘It’s a work thing.’ His smile widened to cover the lie. ‘But I won’t be too long. I’d rather you stay here. It’s safer.’
Olivia’s face paled further. ‘You really think I’m in danger.’
It wasn’t a question. They both knew after what had happened to Gary and Howard that she couldn’t take any chances. ‘I’ll be happier if you stay here.’
‘I don’t have anything with me.’
‘There’s a spare toothbrush in the bathroom cabinet; you can borrow a pair of my old sweats. If you can’t sleep, I have Netflix, and there’s food in the fridge. I’ll be back this afternoon.’
‘You promise?’
‘I promise.’
‘You’re better off to stick to the bypass, you know.’
‘I need to make a detour.’
‘Where to?’ Daniella was looking at him expectantly.
‘Liv’s place. I promised I would feed the cat.’
She nodded, smirking at that. ‘Okay.’
‘It’s her pet cat. I can’t let it starve.’
‘No, absolutely, I agree.’
They rode in silence for a few minutes longer.
‘So you really are falling for her?’
Noah clenched the steering wheel, his own smile tight. ‘I like her, yes, but you already know that, right?’
‘Right.’ The smirk remained and this knowing little look that irritated him, but he refrained from commenting further, deciding that his relationship with Olivia was none of Daniella’s business. Instead he turned up the radio.
Five minutes later and he was pulling into Olivia’s driveway. The cameras were up, but the seclusion of the property still bothered him. It was a quiet lane with the high hedge separating it from the other houses in the street. He decided there and then that he didn’t want her returning home alone, at least not until whoever was harassing her had been caught. He wasn’t sure how she was going to react to that.
Luna greeted them, impatient for her breakfast and, while Noah tended to her, Daniella snooped around. He found her in the living room picking up photographs from the mantel. ‘You okay in here, Miss Marple?’
‘Just looking around. Cat sorted, Dr Doolittle?’ She waggled an eyebrow, lips twitching into a smile, as she set down the photo frame and moved on to the bookcase, eyes scanning the titles.
‘Fed and watered. You ready to go?’
‘Yup.’ Daniella pulled out a book, smile widening to a grin. ‘I didn’t know Olivia was a Bible-basher.’
‘What? She’s not… I don’t think.’
‘Well she has her Bible sitting right here. Wedged between The Shining and Fifty Shades of Grey, if you can believe that. I’m surprised the whole bookshelf hasn’t gone up in flames.’ She chuckled at her own joke, slipping the book back and turning to go. ‘You know we should probably snoop while we’re here.’
‘We’re not snooping. Besides, I’ve been staying here. There’s nothing to see.’
‘Yes, but when you’re here, Olivia’s here. She’s not now.’
Daniella sauntered past him, heading for the stairs and Noah charged after her, catching hold of her arm and pulling her back. ‘No you don’t.’
‘Spoilsport.’
He narrowed his eyes when she pouted. ‘I already told you, she has nothing to do with this.’
‘What about the lodger though?’
‘Molly?’ Noah thought of Olivia’s uptight friend and stifled a laugh. ‘Now you’re clutching at straws.’
‘How long has she been living here?’
‘About a year, I think. They were friends before that. I’ll give it to you that she’s a bit Single White Female, in that she’s a bit odd, but seriously she’s way too up her own arse to pull anything like this off.’
‘She hates you though. I remember you telling me.’
‘And? This isn’t about me. I think she might have non-friend, friendly feelings for Liv though.’
‘Really? Which head are you thinking with there? Are you sure that’s not just wishful thinking?’
‘Remind me why I work with you again?’
‘Because I keep you entertained and I sometimes make you brownies. Come on, Noah. We should at least go peek.’
She pulled on his arm and he made a show of reluctance as he let her drag him up the stairs. Truth was, he was now curious to see what the ice queen might be hiding.
It turned out to be a disappointing waste of five minutes. Molly’s room was boringly plain with only a couple of personal knick-knacks, a simple jewellery box that was practically empty, containing two pairs of simple stud earrings, and a framed picture of Olivia and Molly stood together, Molly with her arm around Olivia. The rest of her stuff was toiletries.
‘Wow, she likes the colour black,’ Daniella commented, rooting through her clothes. ‘I get now why you call her the grim reaper.’
‘She has the personality to match.’
Noah pulled open the drawer of the bedside table, found it contained a box of Kleenex tissues, a packet of Polos, a reporter’s notebook and a couple of pens. Curious, he pulled out the notebook, quickly flicked through it. The pages were empty. As he went to put it back, something fell out and landed on the floor. A photograph. He picked it up and flipped it over, saw Olivia’s face looking back at him, and his chest tightened. He recognised the picture, knew it was one Olivia had used on her Facebook profile. Not that she knew Noah had a Facebook account. He was careful to use an alias. She had found it amusing when he told her not long after they first met that he didn’t do social media. It was true he wasn’t a fan, but the account was still necessary. It helped him keep tabs on things.
‘Oh, look. She keeps a picture of your girlfriend in her bedside drawer? How sweet,’ Daniella commented dryly, peering over his shoulder. ‘Maybe it’s not just your wishful thinking after all, eh?’
It would certainly go some way to explaining Molly’s dislike towards him. She had always been a little off, but since Noah had become involved with Olivia, her coolness had intensified into open hostility.
Placing the photograph back where he had found it, he slipped the notebook back into the drawer and closed it.
Part of him wished he hadn’t snooped, not liking that he had been right, and he wondered if Olivia had any idea how Molly felt. Not that he planned on telling her. She would be mortified if she knew they had been in Molly’s room, going through her stuff. Besides, he had to get Molly onside. It was a stupid unrequited crush and he needed her help regardless. Olivia shouldn’t be alone and with Molly’s job taking her away a lot, he needed to familiarise himself with her schedule, so he could make sure he was around whenever she wasn’t.
‘Come on, there’s nothing here. Let’s go.’
Black Dog Farm was located just outside the village of Roughton, in the heart of the North Norfolk countryside, not far from the coast, its long driveway set back off the main road and the old welcome sign hidden behind an overgrown verge. Noah almost missed the turning, braking sharply once he had checked the road was clear. As he eased the car down the bumpy drive, it was clear no one had been out this way for quite some time.
He had done his research, knew the place was named after a local legend, a ghostly dog called Black Shuck, that roamed the coastal roads of Norfolk. He also knew that the farm had closed its doors a couple of years after the fire.
The Simon family had tried to shake off the bad press and keep their business going, but schools were put off visiting, the farm quickly gaining a bad reputation, and they had finally given up and moved away. The farm had gone up for sale, but there had been a lack of interest until a property developer had bought it a few years back. He had been battling to get planning permission to build luxury homes, but had so far been unsuccessful, and the place was standing abandoned and neglected.
Noah pulled to a halt near the main house, killed the engine, and he and Daniella climbed from the car. The place was bleak, and with its boarded-up windows, missing roof tiles and weed-riddled borders. It was hard to imagine it in its heyday, lit up and welcoming as Olivia had described it.
‘This would make a great place for a Halloween party. I bet it’s spooky as hell at night.’
Knowing Daniella as well as he did, he knew she was only half joking. She loved all things ghostly, had even done a couple of organised overnight tours with mediums, where she had sat in dungeons and crypts summoning the dead. Noah had taken great delight in ribbing her about that.
‘Maybe you should nip back home and get your Ouija board, Dan. See if you can get us some answers about what really happened here.’
‘Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.’ She picked her way over broken glass, heading towards the main house. ‘So this was where they all stayed then?’ She let out a low whistle. ‘I looked up photos online. It didn’t look anything like this.’
Although he had come to see the cottage where the fire had taken place, Noah was curious too, following Daniella along the perimeter of the main house. A couple of the boards round the back had been torn away from the windows, suggesting vandals or vagrants and, had there been more time, he would have been tempted to explore inside.
He wasn’t keen on leaving Olivia alone for too long and this wasn’t where the fire had happened. ‘We should go find the cottage,’ he told Daniella.
‘Lead the way.’
They headed towards the woods, Noah following the path he had seen on the aerial view of Google Maps.
The cottage, he had read, dated back to the seventeenth century and had come with the farm when the Simon family had bought it, though it was set so far away from the rest of the buildings, they had never bothered to do anything with it.
Despite the intensity of the fire, much of the cottage was still standing, though it had been devastated, and it looked a sorry sight as they approached the clearing. The chimney was broken and part of the roof missing. The shell of the building remained though the intervening years had not been kind and it was a sorry sight, surrounded by wire fencing and ‘Danger. Keep Out’ signs.
There were a couple of large gaps in the fence. Noah guessed the signs had been up for a while and they weren’t the first ones to come exploring. The place had a grisly history and was probably on the bucket list for a number of local urban explorers.
Climbing through the fence, Daniella hot on his heels, he followed the path down the side of the cottage, the one he knew Olivia and Margaret had gone down all those years earlier, looking for where they had gained access.
The window was still accessible and what did strike him immediately was how high up in the wall it was. He clambered through and finding himself in a room with blackened walls and a bare floor covered in rubble, glanced back at the open space of the window and offered a hand to Daniella.
‘Jesus, this place was incinerated. I can’t believe it’s still standing,’ she commented, brushing her hands down on her jeans.
‘Just be careful, okay. The building probably isn’t that safe.’
‘Yes, dad.’
Olivia said Rachel Williams had dragged her out of the cottage. She was unconscious at the time so wouldn’t have remembered. Rachel had been a short and slight fourteen-year-old girl, and Olivia would have been a dead weight. Noah had heard of people managing incredible acts of strength in times of desperation, but was that really what had happened here? The window was high up. Too high to drag her and push her through. Rachel would have had to lift Olivia, and somehow he couldn’t see her being capable of that.
‘Come here and lie down on the ground for a moment.’
‘What?’ Daniella looked at the filthy floor, her expression horrified. ‘You want me to lie down there?’
‘Just for a second.’
‘No way, it’s filthy. Do you know how much I paid for this jacket?’
‘Your jacket’s black. It’ll be fine.’
‘It’ll stink. Besides, there are probably rats in here.’
‘You’re not scared of rats.’ Noah grinned. ‘All that ghost hunting stuff and you’re frightened of a rodent?’
‘Hey, we all have our phobias. You’re not too keen on snakes from what I remember.’
‘Touché. I’m sure that in the five seconds you’ll be on the floor, you won’t see any rats.’
‘Why do I have to lie on the floor?’ she sniffed.
‘Because I’m going to pick you up.’
‘You’re gonna do what?’
‘I need to check something out and see if it’s possible.’
‘What? Why?’
‘Rachel Williams supposedly got Liv out of the fire through this window. Personally, I don’t see how. Liv would have been unconscious, a dead weight, and Rachel was not a big girl.’
Daniella nodded and he could see her thinking it over. ‘What were they, fourteen at the time? You’re a thirty-four-year-old man, Noah, and you weigh a hell of a lot more than a teenage girl, so it’s not really a like for like. For starters, you’ll be able to lift me no problem, and you’re what, six one? You’ll easily be able to get me through the window.’
‘Yeah, but I can at least gauge how easy it would be for me and how difficult it would have been for Rachel.’
‘Not really. However…’ She smiled slyly. ‘If you’re Olivia and I’m Rachel…’
‘You want to pick me up?’ Noah fought to hide his grin, knew he had failed when he saw the indignant look on Daniella’s face.
‘I work out with weights, you know. I’m stronger than you think. Besides, you said Olivia would have been a dead weight, so Rachel would have had to carry a heavier weight than her. At least it’s a better comparison.’
‘Okay, be my guest. This I can’t wait to see.’ Noah dropped to the floor, shaking his head. ‘Go for it.’
She struggled, as he expected, but to give her credit, she didn’t give up easily, finally managing to lift him up off the floor after her third attempt, staggering towards the window, grunting in determination.
It was the grunting that amused him most, had him bursting out laughing before they reached their destination, which of course started Daniella off too.
Carrying she could just about do, but laughing and carrying was impossible, and she lost both her grip and her balance at the same time, the pair of them crashing to the floor.
‘You okay?’
‘I’m fine,’ she told him, getting to her feet and brushing herself down. ‘I’m used to a bit of rough and tumble.’
Noah pulled himself up. ‘So that didn’t quite go according to plan.’
‘At least I proved I could pick you up, though.’ Daniella flexed her arm. ‘See, stronger than I look. We can do it again if you want.’
‘No, really, it’s okay. Having you sweep me off my feet once was more than enough.’
‘Ha ha, charmer.’
‘I think we can safely say you would have struggled to lift me out of the window. And bear in mind the place would have been full of smoke. The odds would have been stacked against Rachel.’
‘Yeah, I guess you’re right,’ Daniella admitted.
He was. There was no way Rachel could have got Olivia through the window. So, if that was the case, how the hell did Olivia get out of the fire?
