“Don’t! You’ll stir things up even more.” She reaches out a hand to stop me as I turn to go back to the house, but I walk straight past her.

“Emma!” she shouts as I start to run. “Emma, don’t! You’ll make things worse.”

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Present Day

I jolt awake the second I hear my phone. It’s the fourth night I’ve slept on the sofa with the lights on, and everything aches as I sit up and reach for my mobile. The room is still dark, there are no chinks of light escaping between the curtains, and the world outside my windows is quiet.

“Hello?” I press the phone to my ear. “Sheila? What time is it?”

“Two. Listen, I’m sorry to disturb you but there’s been a break-in and the police are here.”

I sit up sharply. “At Green Fields? Are the animals okay?”

“They’re fine. Look, could you come up? The police want to ask you a couple of questions. Sorry, Jane, I know it’s the middle of the night. I’d come and collect you myself but—”

“No problem. I’ll jump on my bike. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

It’s so dark outside I have to use the light of my phone to find the hole in my bike lock. I push the key in and turn it. Thirty seconds later, I’m on the road. The weak, amber glow from the light on the front of my bike illuminates a couple of metres in front of me. Everything else is cloaked in shadow. I call it the main road but it’s so narrow there are verges every hundred metres or so where cars are forced to pull in to let vehicles coming the other way pass. The hedges on either side are overgrown and I’m forced to cycle down the centre of the road to avoid being scratched. It’s a clear night. The moon is large and round, and the Plough and Venus twinkle overhead.