An Unquiet Place by Clare Houston

Author:Clare Houston
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781415210246
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
Published: 2018-08-13T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The farm phone was ringing when Alistair pulled up at his house. He didn’t hurry, thinking that, if it was important, the person would call back. But it kept ringing. He picked it up eventually. ‘Goshen Farm.’ There was silence on the line. ‘Hello?’

A whispered voice, close in his ear, ‘I know you did it.’

Alistair put the phone down immediately. It rang again and he picked it up, but only held the phone to his ear, not saying anything.

‘You did it. You did it. She’s dead and you did it.’

He jammed his finger onto the switch hook, cutting the call. The menace of that ‘You, You, You’ sent a racing shiver along his arms. He put the receiver down on the table next to the phone and jumped at the loud knock on the front door behind him.

His father poked his head around the door. ‘Your mum has dinner ready. She says there’s enough if you want to come over.’ Registering the shock Alistair knew was on his face, Neil said, ‘You okay?’

‘I just got a call. You know, threatening, like before.’

‘But it’s been years! Why now?’ Neil’s face clouded with anger.

‘Because I might be finding out what it’s like to be happy again. Of course something would start now.’

‘Alistair!’ Neil said sharply. ‘The universe is not out to get you. This is a person. A messed-up person, yes, but your life coming right at last has no bearing on it.’

He pushed his hand into his hair. ‘I know, Dad. It’s just so perfectly timed.’

‘Put caller ID on again, like the cops told you to do before.’

Alistair tugged on the hair gripped in his fist. ‘It’ll be the same. A private number. Untraceable. And we know who it is, don’t we?’

‘But we can’t prove it.’

‘No, we can’t. Come, Dad, let’s go eat.’

The table at the cottage was laid and Sarah ladled thick stew into bowls. Her crusty bread sat on a board, cut into thick slices for dipping into the stew. They sat and Neil said grace, Alistair taking comfort in the routine he had known his whole life. When they began to eat, Neil put his utensils down and looked across at Sarah, concern etched on his face. ‘Alistair had a call tonight, like before.’

Sarah took a moment to understand, and then stared wide-eyed at Alistair. ‘After all these years? Why would she start again?’

Alistair covered her hand with his large one. ‘Esme is unhinged, Mum. The day Marilie died, something clicked out of place. Hoping she’d get over her daughter’s death might have been too much to ask.’

‘No, you never recover from losing a child, but clinging on to the idea that you killed Marilie is insane!’

‘Exactly,’ said Alistair. ‘And the least I can do is weather a few phone calls. I might not have killed Marilie, but I was responsible for her. Esme expected me – as I did – to protect her daughter. I failed in the worst possible way.’

Neil slammed his hand on the table, making Sarah jump in her seat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.