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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

Straightening, she glanced around. Not from the kitchen. The only meat was what Camile had left in the freezer. A dustbin? But there was only her bin out here, collected once a week, and it was supposed to be animal-proof. Added to which, she hadn’t eaten meat – she was mostly vegetarian, occasionally eating fish, but that was all.

It crossed her mind that Tinder might have got the meat from another bin, but she dismissed that idea. He hadn’t been gone long enough to make it to the village and back, and there were no other properties between Ivy Cottage and Merryless. Also, according to Camile, he never went that far. You can let him off the lead if you go for a walk, Camile had written in her notes. He won’t stray far. But he had the night before.

Could he have got the cooked meat from the woods? Jan wondered. Was someone camping there? It was possible, she supposed. A homeless person or army cadets on a training exercise? Could that be it? They’d fed him, or he’d found their leftovers, or he’d been caught stealing their meal and they’d chased him off. That would explain why he’d landed with such force against the window. She couldn’t think of any other explanation, yet there’d been no sign of a camp when she’d walked in the woods in daylight. But then again, she’d kept to the paths and the woods stretched for miles. It was at its most dense behind the cottage, so someone could be living in there.

‘Come on,’ she said, returning to the sofa. ‘No more disappearing.’

THREE

Midwife Anne Long parked her Vauxhall Corsa outside 57 Booth Lane, switched off the car’s headlights and cut the engine. She sat for a moment staring straight ahead, then with a resigned sigh got out. Going to the boot of her car, she took out what she needed. The rest of the equipment for the birth was already in the house.

At 4 a.m. the air was cold and the street deserted. Virtually all the other houses were in darkness, but not so Ian and Emma Jennings’s. They were up and had been all night, timing Emma’s contractions and texting Anne, until the contractions were five minutes apart and Anne had said she’d come.

She walked stoically up the short path, worried and preoccupied, then pressed the doorbell. Usually a birth was a joyous occasion, but not this one.