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Back The Cottage Save as PDF
Chapters (82)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. ONE
  4. TWO
  5. THREE
  6. FOUR
  7. FIVE
  8. SIX
  9. SEVEN
  10. EIGHT
  11. NINE
  12. TEN
  13. ELEVEN
  14. TWELVE
  15. THIRTEEN
  16. FOURTEEN
  17. FIFTEEN
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. TWENTY-THREE
  26. TWENTY-FOUR
  27. TWENTY-FIVE
  28. TWENTY-SIX
  29. TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. TWENTY-NINE
  32. THIRTY
  33. THIRTY-ONE
  34. THIRTY-TWO
  35. THIRTY-THREE
  36. THIRTY-FOUR
  37. THIRTY-FIVE
  38. THIRTY-SIX
  39. THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. THIRTY-NINE
  42. FORTY
  43. FORTY-ONE
  44. FORTY-TWO
  45. FORTY-THREE
  46. FORTY-FOUR
  47. FORTY-FIVE
  48. FORTY-SIX
  49. FORTY-SEVEN
  50. FORTY-EIGHT
  51. FORTY-NINE
  52. FIFTY
  53. FIFTY-ONE
  54. FIFTY-TWO
  55. FIFTY-THREE
  56. FIFTY-FOUR
  57. FIFTY-FIVE
  58. FIFTY-SIX
  59. FIFTY-SEVEN
  60. FIFTY-EIGHT
  61. FIFTY-NINE
  62. SIXTY
  63. SIXTY-ONE
  64. SIXTY-TWO
  65. SIXTY-THREE
  66. SIXTY-FOUR
  67. SIXTY-FIVE
  68. SIXTY-SIX
  69. SIXTY-SEVEN
  70. SIXTY-EIGHT
  71. SIXTY-NINE
  72. SEVENTY
  73. SEVENTY-ONE
  74. SEVENTY-TWO
  75. SEVENTY-THREE
  76. SEVENTY-FOUR
  77. Suggested topics for reading-group discussion
  78. Keep Reading …
  79. Lisa Stone also writes under the name of Cathy Glass.Don’t miss her latest book …
  80. About the Author
  81. Books by Lisa Stone
  82. About the Publisher

Getting out, he went to Anne’s front door again and pressed the bell. Silence. He rapped on the door. More silence. It seemed no one was in. So that must have been Anne leaving in the van, which was odd. She’d arrived home in her car and gone straight out again in a van with tinted windows. He ran to his car, quickly turned it around, and then sped down the lane after her.

He thought he’d seen the van’s indicator flash right before it had disappeared and so he turned right, heading towards Melton. There was no van in sight. He continued along the main road that ran through the village, looking left and right, down the side roads, but there was no van.

At the end of the village he turned the car around and retraced his route until he came to Dells Lane where he turned in. He continued to Anne’s house and tried the door again, but no one answered. Annoyed with himself that he hadn’t spoken to Anne when he’d had the chance, he went next door to Number 43 and rang their bell. A man in his fifties dressed in overalls answered.

‘Sorry to trouble you,’ Ian said. ‘I was hoping to see your neighbour, Anne Long, but she’s out. Do you know when she might return?’

‘At this time in the evening she’s either working or walking her dogs,’ he replied.

‘Oh, I see. Her car is still outside.’

‘In that case she’s walking the dogs. She takes them in the van. We keep well away. Nasty brutes by all accounts. She can only walk them at night when there’s no one else around.’

‘Thank you,’ Ian said. ‘Do you know what time she’s likely to return?’

‘It varies. Recently it’s been very late. I heard her garage door at nearly midnight yesterday.’

‘I’ll come earlier tomorrow then. Thanks for your help.’

FIFTY-THREE

If Chris thought it was going to be that easy to get rid of the video she’d taken then he was very much mistaken, Jan decided. There was no other reason for him to have deleted it from her phone than to stop her from showing others, and especially the police. She couldn’t imagine why he didn’t want anyone to know, and also why he’d lied about Bill Smith being in Wood Lane, but it was very worrying.

The more Jan thought about what DC Matt Davis had told her, the more worried she was. She was sure Chris had made up finding Bill in Wood Lane after he’d left her. Otherwise he would have texted or phoned her to say he’d been found. The police had taken Chris at his word, but perhaps Bill had been home all the time, and Chris had simply checked on him as he’d told her he was going to.