Chapter Fourteen
Miranda took out the clunky old house key and was about to unlock the door of her new home and go straight inside when she remembered what the lawyer had suggested, and he’d said it very emphatically too.
She stopped and put the key back in her pocket. Reluctant as she was to delay seeing the interior, she knew he’d been right to warn her to check the outside of the building before going into it. He’d been concerned for her personal safety but if someone really had broken in, the police wouldn’t want anything touched until they got the chance to examine it carefully.
The world seemed to be getting more dangerous for ordinary people by the decade, sadly. And she’d better take care about how she dealt with an inheritance from a wicked old woman.
She grasped Libby’s arm to stop her friend moving towards the front door. ‘The lawyer suggested that before I go into the house I walk round the outside and check it for signs of someone having broken in.’
‘Oh. Right. I suppose that would be a sensible thing to do, given how isolated it is.’
‘And he also said I shouldn’t come here on my own the first time. I agreed with him on both counts, though reluctantly on this one at the moment, because I’m absolutely dying to see the inside. You stay here and I’ll do a quick circuit of the exterior.’
Libby frowned at that. ‘Wouldn’t it be safer for us to walk round it together?’
Miranda shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. You should stay here and keep an eye on the front of the house to make sure no one comes creeping round the side to get away from me as I walk round. It won’t take me long. And believe me, I’ll run straight back to you if there’s any trouble, screaming loudly all the way.’ She grinned at her companion as she added, ‘I’m a very loud screamer when I want to be, and a fast runner too.’
Libby didn’t smile back. ‘Well, if you’re sure you’re OK doing that, it would be a sensible way to do it, I suppose.’
‘There’s no perfect way with only two of us, but this seems the best way to handle it for now.’ She turned to stare to the right to check something. ‘It looks as though there’s a rough gravel path leading round that corner of building so I’ll start there.’
‘Take care. If I hear you screaming, I’ll come running. In fact, I’ll lock my car straight away so that I can come rushing instantly to your aid at top speed if necessary.’
‘Who’s looking on the negative side now?’ Miranda teased. ‘Still, I suppose it’s better to be overcareful than sorry when you’re exploring new territory.’
She reached into her shoulder bag and got out the set of new house keys the lawyer had given her, which were threaded on a large key ring. After fitting them between the fingers of her right hand with the pointed ends sticking out upwards in case she needed to defend herself, she held that hand out to show her friend and pulled a wry face at it. ‘Look. Am I being silly? Is it worth bothering to set up this old-fashioned way of defending myself?’
But Libby didn’t share her amusement. ‘I don’t think you’re being silly at all. In fact the keys are a good idea. I’ll do the same thing with mine.’ She took out her own pair of keys and placed them at the ready then brandished them, though they were smaller modern ones and didn’t look nearly as impressive as some of the large older keys Miranda was holding.
‘I’ve always wondered whether this really works when I read about heroines doing it in novels. I doubt I’ll find out today, though. As if anyone is going to attack us in such a peaceful place! I can’t see that happening.’
‘It’s a very pretty setting but there aren’t any people close enough to come to our aid if we needed help, so better safe than sorry, eh?’
‘Have you got the front door key handy?’
Miranda pulled a single key out of her jacket pocket and waved it at her.
Libby stared round again. ‘It doesn’t look at all like a potential crime scene to me, I must admit.’
‘Nor to me, but here goes.’
She set off walking along the front of the house, glancing down and smiling at the keys sticking out of her hand. Then she felt her smile fade. She might be dying to see what the house was like inside, but if a sensible lawyer had felt he needed to warn her about checking the place first then she would heed him. That meant walking along slowly enough to study every window she passed and the ground beneath them.
She paused to wave farewell to Libby just before she turned the first corner and as they lost sight of one another, she felt herself go on the alert to a much greater extent, especially when she got to the rear corner and realised there were no other houses or people to come to her aid if she shouted from this part of the house. The two cottages could only be seen properly from the front of the building, and from here she could see the roof of a cottage in the street.
This was a very isolated house and she’d only have herself to rely on if she met any problems on her way round today. And Libby, of course, if her friend could hear a shout for help from the front. It’d definitely be wise to get a security system installed as soon as possible, and a good one too with her phone linked to it.
As she got to the far end of the rear part, she thought she heard something, so stopped to check that there was no sign of anyone nearby. Just as she was about to move on, she looked at the taller grasses and weeds at the edge of the back garden and frowned. Something or someone had flattened those plants near the shed at the edge of the garden. Who could have done that?
That particular shed was the furthest away from the house and it really did look as if someone had been walking around that area recently. She didn’t move on straight away at the next corner, but studied the shed and its surroundings again, suddenly realising that the patch of cleared ground with tidy rows of greenery in the dark earth could only have been caused by someone weeding a group of young plants and watering them. In fact, it looked like the early stages of a vegetable garden.
That puzzled her. Who would have done that to the garden of a deserted property? Had there been an intruder and if so, was the person still hanging around?
She studied the ground between the big house and that shed but none of the grass between them had been flattened. They hadn’t thought to study the grass near the entrance drive all that carefully, so she stood for a little longer, listening intently. But once again she could hear nothing except the sounds of nature and couldn’t see any other suspicious signs.
Perhaps a youngster from the village had been making a garden. Children did that sort of thing, made little dens and hiding places for themselves away from the adults if possible. When she was a child, she must have read the children’s book The Secret Garden at least a dozen times and had wished she had a place like that to escape to.
Phyllis had thrown away all her childhood books when she sent Miranda to boarding school, telling her scornfully that they were far too young for someone of her age and therefore a total waste of space.
She’d cried about that, though not till she was alone in bed. By then she knew not to show any reaction when her great-aunt did something hurtful. Those books had felt like old friends. Well, as near as she got to having any old friends.
She clicked her tongue in annoyance at herself. She had to stop thinking about the past and concentrate on the present and the better life this inheritance seemed to promise for the future.
She took a final look round then continued round the corner of the house and down the other side of the building. There were no signs of footprints in the softer earth of the flowerbeds on this side either. Once she got back to the front of the house, she smiled at Libby and was about to say that everything was OK then hesitated, realising that she should at least be sharing the full details with her friend.
‘No one seems to have been near the house but it looks as though someone has been walking about in the long grass near the side fence, close to that furthest shed. There’s a side entrance into the grounds there from what looks like a rough track running up the edge there from the main road. You can see it better from the back of the house. And whoever it is has done some gardening too, weeding a small patch to give a group of seedlings room to grow, and watering them, would you believe?’
‘Done some gardening? That’s the last thing I’d expect an intruder to do. Tell me again exactly what you saw?’
‘It looked as if seedlings had been freed from taller weeds near the hut. They’re still quite small and look like rough rows of self-sets from last year, not tidy rows planted this year. If we want to keep them, they’ll definitely need watering daily unless it rains.’
‘We should go and check that part of the grounds properly, then, and do it before we even attempt to unlock the front door.’
‘There was no sign that an intruder was still hanging around, really there wasn’t, and no footprints or flattened grass on the land between it and the house.’
Libby shook her head. ‘I know you’re itching to go inside the house, love, but let’s check anyway. With both of us, it won’t take long.’ She smiled and waggled one forefinger at her companion. ‘Auntie knows best.’
‘Neither of us seems to know anything for certain about this place,’ Miranda said quietly. And yet, for all the puzzling bits, she still thought it a lovely old house.
Libby put one arm round her shoulders. ‘We really do need to be super-careful here, love. This house could easily have been broken into and if the person was skilful enough to pick one of the locks and put it back together again, we’d never even know. It’s been left unoccupied for several weeks now, remember.’
She paused only for a moment then added, ‘Come to think of it, there are several sheds to check as well if we’re going to make a proper job of this. We should at least take a quick look inside each of them and check that there’s no one lurking there. We’d notice a human being quite quickly if there were any.’
‘Isn’t that taking caution too far?’
‘What price your safety, today and in the near future? I value that very highly indeed.’
There was no answer to that. It still made Miranda feel faintly surprised at having someone care so deeply about her and therefore about her safety after so many years of being totally on her own emotionally.