The power went out just as they were setting the table. It was just the two of them; Oliver was over in Pickering, dining with a client, and Evie had spent an awkward hour helping her mother cook, both of them trying to pretend the scene in her bedroom had never happened. Everything seemed to fade very slowly, the music, the hum of the fridge, the soft whirring of the extractor fan over the oven, and last of all the lights.

‘Damn,’ said Carolyn. ‘Is it us, do you think, or the whole yard?’ She went to the kitchen windows.

‘Dunno.’ Evie rubbed her hands down the side of her jeans. She’d managed to get out of the attic undetected, to put the ladder back where it belonged, and to wash her hands and face before her mother called her down to the kitchen, but she still felt grubby, unclean.

Carolyn opened the door and looked out into the yard. ‘Do we have any candles?’ she said, but then the lights came on again, and the radio started up. ‘There,’ Carolyn said, closing the door, ‘nothing to worry about.’ As if she had solved the problem herself.

‘I wasn’t worried,’ said Evie, looking up at Elder House.

‘You know what?’ Carolyn opened a drawer by the sink, and picked up a box of matches. ‘I think I’ll go and check on Nell.’

‘Oh.’ Evie tried not to sound too eager. ‘OK.’

‘Just to make sure,’ said Carolyn.

*

‘I mean it,’ said Gina. ‘Maybe I should stay home with you.’

The lights were on, but it seemed to Kym they were not burning quite as brightly as they had been.

‘I’m not a kid,’ she said, ‘I’ll be fine.’

The knocking made them both jump.

*

The radio switched itself on and Nell glanced up towards the fuse box. The lights had come back as quickly as they had faded, and she tried to tell herself it was a power cut, a glitch, nothing more.

Something was moving around upstairs; she turned the radio off and listened.

One-two, one-two.

He was closer now, making his way down the stairs.

A Tragic Loss

‘Maude? Is that you?’

Closer.

A sudden rapping at the front door.

She could run away, she could run to Gina’s cottage – or to Carolyn’s. One of them would have a phone and Nell could call – who, exactly? The police? Chris?

She couldn’t run, she couldn’t leave Maude.

Nell looked down and realised she was still gripping the knife. She walked quietly through the dining room and opened the door.

The hall was dim, only partly illuminated by the lights behind her. Switch on the light, go upstairs and get Maude. That was all she had to do. Get them both out. Easy.

More knocking, louder, insistent.

She walked quickly across the hall, undid the latch.