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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

Keeping Tinder on the lead, Jan set off at a jog, but it was difficult with a bag full of shopping banging against her leg. Tinder was tired, his little legs were having to work hard to keep up and he kept wanting to stop. Eventually, Jan slowed to a brisk walk, which Tinder could manage. As they turned the last bend in the lane, the cottage came into view. Jan stopped dead. There was someone in the front garden. Someone small. Too far away to identify with the light so poor, a shadow, but now moving towards her front door. Tinder saw it too and began barking, straining against the lead to be let free.

They turned and ran, disappearing into the woods at the side of the cottage.

‘Hey, stop! Come back!’ Jan cried, and ran the rest of the way to the cottage. ‘Hello? Is there someone there?’ she called into the shrubbery, feeling braver now she was home again.

Tinder had stopped barking and was sniffing the air. No noise came from the other side.

‘Hello? Anyone there?’ she tried again, and listened.

The only sound was the chirp of a distant bird. Tinder had lost interest, suggesting that whoever or whatever it was had gone. But what were they doing at her front door? Trying to get in? She called out one more time and then went indoors where she let Tinder off his lead. He ran around the downstairs barking and then went to his water bowl where he drank thirstily.

Preoccupied and disturbed by this last encounter, Jan quickly unpacked the freezer food and left the rest to do later. Taking off her jacket, she picked up her laptop. There was something she wanted to check. Previously when she’d looked online for information about the creatures that lived in the woods she’d searched for Animals living in Coleshaw Woods. Now she typed in Strange sightings in Coleshaw Woods.

Up came pages of websites and news articles. The top one carried the headline Strange Encounter in Coleshaw Woods. But as she read it soon became clear it was an interview with a man who claimed to have seen an unidentified flying object hovering over the woods. What she’d seen certainly wasn’t a UFO, although it could be alien, she thought with a shudder.