Chapter 70
It was nearly midnight when Holly got home.
To everyone’s surprise, possibly including his own, Tug’s plan had worked.
Holly and four of the others had piled into their cars and hurtled back along the unlit lane towards mobile phone reception and civilisation.
On the outskirts of Bodmin, they’d pulled into a roadside layby to wait for Tug and Tara who, thank the lord, arrived a few minutes behind them.
They’d agreed to meet the following night, at Tara’s house, to decide finally what they were going to do about Logan Quick’s invitation. Holly suspected, though, the decision to decline would stand. Something about it felt wrong.
To Holly’s alarm, her house was in darkness.
Charlie would be asleep, of course, but she could think of no reason why the babysitter would have turned out the lights.
She pulled her phone from her bag to see a text message from an unknown number – Quick’s Girl Friday no doubt – and several missed calls. All from the babysitter.
Heartbeat accelerating, Holly unlocked the front door. ‘Mrs M?’ she called.
The sitting room was in darkness. No babysitter dozing on the sofa. No one in the kitchen either. Holly ran upstairs. Charlie wasn’t in his room. Or the bathroom. Or her room. The house was empty.
As fear she’d never known before threatened to overwhelm her, a new message flashed into her phone, from the unknown number. Numb with shock, she opened it.
Don’t call the police, it said. I’ll be in touch. Logan.