Chapters (82)
- 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
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- Suggested topics for reading-group discussion
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But it wasn’t big enough to be a person, Jan thought as she stood by the heater in the kitchen trying to get warm. And something in the way it had moved, its agility, said it was an animal, although she hadn’t had much of a look. She needed to get a grip. Of course it would be an animal living in Coleshaw Woods. Pity she didn’t have Tinder’s fearlessness to follow it. She hoped he came back soon.
Checking she’d locked the back door, Jan made herself a mug of tea, then fed the electricity meter that was in the cupboard under the stairs. It was an old-style coin-operated meter that required pound coins to keep the power on. Camile had left instructions on this and other matters connected with the running of the cottage, and also some coins to keep Jan going until she had her own supply, which was thoughtful. However, not in the habit of having to feed a meter and failing to realize how quickly some appliances devoured electricity, the day after she’d moved in she’d been showering when all the lights had gone off and the shower had stopped working. Naked, wet and unnerved, she had groped her way downstairs to the hall where a torch hung on a hook. She had gingerly followed the torch beam to the cupboard under the stairs and fed the meter. Now she checked it regularly to make sure it didn’t happen again. Being plunged into darkness had spooked her.
Reassured the meter was topped up, Jan took her mug of tea into the living room, sat on the sofa and, listening out for Tinder’s return, opened her laptop. Thank goodness the cottage had Wi-Fi and a mobile signal. It came from the local village, Merryless, so named because it had once had a merry-go-round that had been removed after a tragic accident that had resulted in a child’s death. Apart from its sad history, the village was pretty but small, with a single grocery shop, a pub and a church. Although it was only a mile from the cottage, it felt much further away at night.
While Jan waited anxiously for Tinder to return, she decided she should put the time to good use and try to identify what was coming into the garden at night and causing her so much unease. If it had a name it wouldn’t seem so menacing, she reasoned. Taking a sip of her tea, she typed Large animals found in UK woods into the search engine.
Deer, badgers, beavers, foxes, wild boar in some areas was the result. And Scottish wildcat, but she wasn’t in Scotland.
She tried again, narrowing the search, and typed in: What large animals live in Coleshaw Woods?