Chapters (58)
- Cover
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Forty-three
- Forty-four
- Forty-five
- Forty-six
- Forty-seven
- Forty-eight
- Forty-nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-one
- Acknowledgements
- An Eastbourne Murder Mystery
- Canelo Crime
- About the Author
- Also by Sheila Bugler
The light from the torch swept across the lines of trees, creating long shadows that looked like creatures waiting to pounce on them. Angry with Lucy for being such a coward, Kitty kept walking, following the torch light until it started to fade.
‘Wait for me!’
The light started moving again, bouncing off the trees and swinging through the darkness. Then Lucy was beside her, taking her hand, and they were walking side by side, letting the light guide them through the woods.
The house stood by itself, on a clearing where the woods ended. There was no wall or fence separating the house from the land around it. All they had to do was cross the clearing until they reached the house. There was a driveway at the front of the property. The gates, at the end of the driveway, were open. Kitty knew if she walked down the driveway and through the gates, she would reach the road that connected the two sides of town.
Several cars were parked outside the house. Kitty recognised her parents’ battered Fiat, but none of the others.
‘What’s your car doing here?’ Lucy whispered. ‘Your mother will go mad if she sees us. We should leave now.’
She hadn’t switched the torch off. As she spoke, she trained the light on the row of cars as if she was trying to see inside them.
‘Turn that thing off,’ Kitty hissed. ‘The last thing we want is anyone inside the house seeing that.’
She crept across the driveway, not bothering to wait for Lucy. Knowing Lucy was too much of a coward to stay out here by herself. They were almost at the house when a movement in one of the upstairs windows caught Kitty’s eye. She looked up, saw the curtain had been pulled back and someone was standing there.
She ducked down behind one of the cars, gesturing for Lucy to get down too. She held her breath, her heart beating hard and fast inside her chest. It wasn’t too late. They could still turn back, walk away before anyone saw them. But she was here now and she had to go through with it. Again, she remembered pushing open the front door of her house and hearing the noises from the kitchen. It had sounded as if someone was being hurt and she’d been so scared. She should have turned around and gone back outside again, but she hadn’t. She’d tiptoed forward, following the noise.
They hadn’t even bothered closing the door. It was like her mother wanted someone to see what she was doing. Even though what she was doing was the most disgusting thing Kitty had ever seen in her life and she didn’t know how her mother could ever want anyone to see her like that.
‘What are we going to do?’ Lucy’s voice banished the memory.