Dad looks up to where my torch is shining. There’s blood on the outside of the frame. ‘Or maybe she fell,’ he says. ‘Trying to get away from someone.’

‘Who would do this?’ I look about me once more. ‘And where’s Elise? Did she witness this? Was she taken? Did she …?’ I’m about to suggest Elise could have done this, but I stop and shake my head. Why would anyone have it in for Ruth? But then I’ve never understood evil. It’s something that has kept me awake at night since Lark and Jackson went missing. The fear that there are wicked people out there. That someone deranged could have taken my sister. Could still have her. And now Ruth’s dead, Elise is missing, and we’re trapped here at Drummondale House with a killer. And the biggest question of all is how would we know if we’d met a psychopath.

I turn, eager to get away from the gory sight, and begin pushing through the hedgerow once more. ‘We need to warn Thomas and Maddie that there could be a killer on the estate,’ I say, the words sounding alien on my tongue. Dad is right behind me, so close I can hear his rapid breaths. ‘Remember the strange footprints leading to Elise’s window? And she saw someone with a mask on looking in at her.’ I’m talking too fast, my breathing rapid as well, the air turning misty around my mouth as the words fall out. ‘Oh God, do you think—?’

‘I don’t know, love. But we should probably stick together. Maybe we should all stay in Bluebell Cottage as it’s bigger than the others, at least until Finn and Rosamund get back.’

‘Safety in numbers,’ I say.

‘Safety in numbers,’ he echoes.

Chapter 28

A Year Ago

Amelia

It was gone seven. The dining room buzzed with chatter, everyone relieved that Amelia and Robert had found Lark safe and well on the beach. But Amelia felt displaced somehow. If it wasn’t for the hunger pangs – she’d built up an appetite walking the stretch of sand with her dad searching for her sister, and had barely touched the picnic earlier – she would have gone straight to her cottage to get her thoughts in order.

Once they were all seated, Ruth brought out trays of vegetables, roast and mashed potatoes, and a plate each with a hunk of steak and kidney pie on, and a vegetable pie for Lark. It looked and smelt good, and Amelia couldn’t wait to tuck in.

Once they had eaten, and Ruth had served drinks, she and Finn disappeared into the main house.