Keep Her Secret by Mark Edwards

Author:Mark Edwards [Edwards, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2023-05-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

I watched Helena drive away, then went back inside. I couldn’t relax. I tried to distract myself by turning the TV on, but found myself staring at the pictures without taking anything in. I switched it off and went down to see Devon. I needed to collect her dirty crockery from the dinner I’d taken her a little earlier.

I found her in the home cinema, surrounded by piles of DVD cases. The shelves were half-empty.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked, even though it was a stupid question.

‘Putting it all into alphabetical order. I’m going crazy with boredom down here, all right? I need to keep busy.’

I laughed. Lee had organised everything by category. He’d hate to think of anyone messing up his collection.

She nodded at a pile with the top DVD showing a woman in full S&M gear, brandishing a whip. ‘Who’d have thought Helena was into that kind of stuff. Is that what you and her get up to?’

‘Very funny.’ Although, as she said it, a flash of Helena dressed like the woman on the box entered my head. I was looking up at her, my wrists secured to the bedframe . . .

‘Oh my God,’ Devon said, her voice dripping with disgust. ‘It is.’

‘Shut up, Devon.’ What was wrong with me? I mentally doused myself with cold water. ‘These were all Lee’s.’

Devon sneered. ‘Lee’s not the one with a woman locked up in his dungeon.’

Before I could respond, she crouched beside a pile of James Bond DVDs. ‘Robin would love this collection. He’s always saying he wishes he could afford a UHD player. Whereas Helena has it down here, gathering dust, unappreciated.’

‘Have you and Robin ever dated?’ I asked.

‘Huh. He wishes.’

‘He’s not, like, an ex?’

She narrowed her eyes at me. ‘Why are you asking so many questions about Robin?’

‘No reason.’

There was a long pause before she said, ‘Robin’s my best friend. Probably my only friend.’

This statement would normally have made me feel sympathy, but her tone was so flat it was hard to feel anything. The spiky, aggressive Devon from earlier had retreated. I noticed her eyes kept darting around the room, and she had her arms folded tightly around herself.

She suddenly said, ‘Has Helena said anything about this place being haunted?’

I had to check I’d heard correctly. ‘Sorry?’

‘This place. Is it haunted? Have you heard or seen anything?’

I thought about the footsteps I’d heard outside the first night here, except that had been Devon herself. ‘I don’t believe in any of that stuff.’

‘I should have known. You’re not sensitive enough. I feel like Helena would be, though.’

The way she kept looking around, like there were phantoms in the room with us, was creeping me out, despite my scepticism.

‘Lee built this place, didn’t he?’ she asked. ‘If I was murdered by my wife, and she stayed in the house I built, I know exactly where and who I’d haunt.’

‘Devon. Ghosts don’t exist.’

‘You shouldn’t say that.’

‘Why?’

‘Because you’ll anger him. Make him want to prove they do exist.’

Again, her eyes flicked around the room and she hugged herself tighter.

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