Chapter 6
SIX
Through the open bedroom window, a cool, light breeze caresses my skin, rousing me from my fitful sleep. Next to me, Leo lies on his stomach, his back gently rising with every breath he takes. I watch him for a moment, with both a surge of love and a pang of envy that he can sleep so soundly.
It’s two fifteen, earlier than I usually wake in the dead hours of night. I climb out of bed and pull the window shut, then grab my phone from the bedside table and make my way to my studio. If I have to be awake for the next couple of hours, this time needs to be well spent.
My studio feels chilly, so I grab a long cardigan from the back of the desk chair and pull it on over my thin pyjamas.
For a moment I sit still at my desk, listening out for sounds that don’t belong in this house.
I try to comfort myself with Leo’s earlier reassurances that no one can get into Silverleaf.
But it’s impossible to ignore the window – the pull of it is too strong – and I turn my head, gazing at the green, a cold shudder running through me when I recall what I saw last night.
Has it only been twenty-four hours? It feels like both minutes and weeks simultaneously. That’s what losing one’s mind will do.
I pick up a charcoal pencil and press it to the pad, rapidly forming strokes against the paper.
I get so consumed with what I’m doing that I almost forget everything, and when I finish my sketch, half an hour has passed.
I hold it up and study my effort to depict Willow, pleased that I’ve captured the shine in her large dark eyes, the essence of her.
It’s still there, this gift that I’ve always fought hard to nurture, no matter how hard it’s sometimes been.
I will give it to Giles; I’m sure he’ll appreciate the gesture.
My phone catches my eye, and I reach for it, half wanting there to be another threatening video or message; this time I’ll be ready to screenshot it.
I’m disappointed to find nothing, and unnerved. Perhaps they’re doing this on purpose, enjoying the fact that I’m constantly on edge, waiting to see what will come next. It’s when I let my guard down that they will strike, I’m sure of it.
I scroll to Facebook to see if anyone’s replied to my message in the local Facebook group, but the only comment is from someone praising my sketch.
I check my inbox and there’s a message in my requests folder from someone called Alex Vale.
Holding my breath, I click on it, hungrily reading the words.
I know who that woman is. Please let this go before something happens. Stop asking questions. Get far away from that place while you still can. Don’t reply to this – I can’t get involved – it’s too risky. And don’t tell anyone about this message – please. We’ll both be at risk.
My heart thuds as I read the words again, trying to make sense of them.
Whoever this is knows where I live. This doesn’t feel like a hoax.
I snap a screenshot then click on Alex Vale’s profile photo, a picture of a grey-and-white tabby cat.
Whoever Alex Vale is, he or she has no followers, and isn’t following anyone themselves, so clearly this profile has been set up only to reply to me, and it tells me nothing about them.
I quickly type a reply:
Please tell me who the woman is, and who you are. Please. I won’t tell anyone about this message.
Holding my breath, I press send and wait for something to happen.
But there’s only the silence of this late hour – it’s unlikely many people will be awake at this time.
Knowing sleep will not come easily after that message, I make my way back to bed, glancing at Leo, who’s still sound asleep, as I slide under the sheets.
Turning on my side towards him so he won’t be able to see my phone screen if he wakes, I read the message again.
Telling Leo about this would normally be the first thing I’d do, and I fight the urge to nudge him awake to show it to him.
This is getting to him, I can tell, and he’s already under enough pressure at work.
I don’t want to drag him into it until I have concrete proof of what I saw.
I just have to work out how I’ll get it.
This is the thought that flitters around my head as my eyelids become heavy and sleep finally pulls me under.
My eyes open, and Leo is watching me, a beautiful wide smile on his face and his hair ruffled by his pillow.
‘Morning,’ he says, stroking my arm.
‘What time is it?’ I reach to smooth down his hair.
‘Five past eight.’
‘But you’re still in bed.’
‘I’ve taken the morning off; don’t need to be in until ten. Thought we could have breakfast together.’
I pull myself up. ‘If you’re making it, then I’d love that.’
He laughs. ‘Yeah, don’t want to risk eating your eggs again.’ He playfully nudges my arm, and I bat him away, smiling.
And then I remember the message last night, and everything that led up to it, and my body turns cold.
Oblivious to my turmoil, Leo gently pulls me against him, and I let myself fall into him.
‘I love you,’ he says, kissing me. ‘I honestly don’t know what I’ve done to deserve all of this.’ He pushes my hair from my face. ‘You. This house. My career.’
‘Of course you deserve it. I don’t know anyone who works harder than you. No one goes above and beyond for their patients like you do.’
He smiles and wraps his arms around me. ‘I’ll never go back to the life I had growing up. Wondering how we’d be able to pay for our next meal. Or what would happen when my school uniform got too small. And I’m six foot. You can imagine how quickly I grew out of things.’
I’m surprised Leo is mentioning this now – he rarely discusses his childhood and the poverty he grew up in. A life a million miles from Silverleaf Heights.
‘Look at all this.’ He gestures around. ‘I wake up every day and can’t believe it. I’ll never take it for granted. Never take you for granted.’ He kisses me again. ‘You’re more important to me than all of this. It nearly destroyed me when I thought I’d lost you.’
‘You should have known you can’t get rid of me that easily,’ I jest, even though my stomach feels weighed down.
‘Seriously, Ria. You’re everything to me.’
We lie together, just as we used to in my old flat, lost in our own thoughts but comfortably at ease with the silence. And as I listen to the gentle sound of his breathing, I fool myself into believing everything will be okay. Until Leo reminds me that it won’t.
‘You’re safe here, I promise. I won’t let anything happen to you,’ he says.
With his words, I’m jolted back to earth. He couldn’t stop it last time, and neither could I. ‘That woman,’ I say. ‘I have to find out what happened to her.’
He takes his time to answer, and when he does, there is anguish on his face. ‘Please just be careful. I keep thinking about that video. I know it’s a hoax, but it’s seriously sick. Look, maybe I could take some time off work? Just so I’m around.’
I can hear how worried he is, but I don’t want to be the reason he stays home and risks his job, his patients. So I do the only thing I can do: I lie to my husband.
‘No, don’t do that. I’ll be fine,’ I say, pulling him towards me. ‘Don’t even think about it. Let’s move on.’
At the front door, Leo holds me tightly, as if he doesn’t want to let go. ‘We need to lie in more often,’ he says. ‘As long as I make the bacon and eggs.’ He grins, but behind it, I sense his anxiousness.
‘You don’t think I stand any chance of getting on Master Chef, then? There goes my life’s ambition.’
He smiles and kisses the top of my head. ‘You have many other talents, so don’t lose heart.’
I wave him off, and then I notice Giles from next door walking towards us with Willow at his heel.
‘Morning,’ Leo calls.
‘Lovely to see you both,’ Giles says, nodding in my direction. ‘Just wanted to check you’re still coming tonight.’
Leo frowns.
‘My barbecue?’ Giles says. ‘Don’t tell me you forgot! I want to make it an annual tradition, to mark the start of summer.’
‘Oh, no, ’course not.’ Leo turns to me. ‘We’ll be there, won’t we, Ria?’
‘Wouldn’t miss it,’ I say, although this is the first I’ve heard about any barbecue, and I’m sure Leo didn’t know about it either.
Giles smiles. ‘Great. We’ll all be there.’
‘I’d better run,’ Leo says, pressing his key fob to open his car. ‘Already took a couple of hours off this morning.’
‘Surely a successful surgeon like you doesn’t have a boss breathing down his neck,’ Giles says. ‘You can get away with it.’
Perhaps it’s my overactive mind, but Leo seems affronted by Giles’s comment.
‘No, it’s not that,’ Leo says. ‘It’s all the things I’ll need to get done that can’t wait. That’s all.’ He hastily gets in the car and drives away.
‘It’s actually you I came to see,’ Giles says.
‘I have a huge favour to ask.’ He leans down to stroke Willow.
‘Please say no if you can’t, but I wondered if you’d like to have this one today.
If you’re not too busy. It would really help me out.
I’ve got back-to-back meetings and won’t have much time for her. ’
As if the dog understands what her owner is saying, Willow wags her tale and gazes at me.
‘I think she’s missed you,’ Giles says. ‘Willow can tell a good soul when she meets one.’
‘Well, how can I say no to that face?’ I say, feeling my spirits lift. This might be just what I need.
Giles steps forward and hands me her lead, together with a carrier bag I hadn’t noticed he was holding. ‘I was really hoping you’d say that. Everything she’ll need is in here. Dog bowls. Food. Treats. Just bring her back when you come to the barbecue this evening.’
Willow barks and nuzzles my leg.
‘Are you sure she’ll be happy with me for that long?’
‘Without a doubt,’ he says. ‘Look at her. She never gets that soppy over me. Moira was the only other person. Anyway, I’m working at home today, so if she gets to be too much, just bring her back.’