Seaview House: A chilling and unforgettable mystery suspense you don't want to miss by Paula Hillman

Author:Paula Hillman [Hillman, Paula]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodhound Books
Published: 2023-02-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

LONDON, OCTOBER 1981

Dirty yellow brickwork, and empty-eyed windows. Jill peered up at the student hostel and tried to swallow down the tightness in her throat. This was her new home, a new start, but it felt like the worst kind of torture.

After the clarity and freshness of northern air, London had a peculiar smell. Disinfectant and something metallic, like the lumps of lead from her chemistry lab at the grammar school. A combined sciences degree in the capital might not have been the best choice, but here she was. Standing in front of Platts now, misery washing over her like the waves from West Shore, she realised it had been a mistake. When her predicted exam grades had been high, she’d been offered a place at King’s. The accolade and back-patting from her parents and friends had carried her through to this point, but the reality was sharp enough to slice her heart in two.

She shook open the map in her hand. The zoology department was somewhere in Herne Hill, but she had no landmarks to focus on, only a black circle along a thread of red road.

At breakfast, the other students from her block had stared, scanning their eyes across her clothes and hair. She’d smiled and tried not to get in their way as they shrieked and wailed in high-pitched southern accents, full of enthusiasm for their new life of freedom in London. Many were from the suburbs. They’d come down in their cars and had parents nearby. One or two were from further afield, but none made a move to include Jill in anything, and social skills had never been her strong point. None were heading to zoology either; she was on her own.

It was a beautiful morning, clear and crisp. It made Jill think of late autumn days on the island, of tramping across open fields in her walking boots with Lucky running ahead through decaying thistles and bracken. Her jaw tightened. Now wasn’t the time for memories; this was her new life, and she was desperate to find her place in it.

Jill took a deep breath and began to walk. Red-brick houses lined the road, each one set back behind ornate gates and dense green hedges. Traffic crawled slowly by. She tried to make eye contact with her fellow pedestrians, but most didn’t bother, or showed surprise when she nodded a greeting. At Half-Moon Lane she could see a large park looming up to her left. A place to stroll at lunchtime, perhaps. The zoology department was along this road somewhere: number sixty-eight, according to her student welcome pack.

She found it at the end of a long driveway. It looked like a grand mansion, with a wide roof made from glass, and hundreds of windows at three levels. Jill noticed a smaller building to one side, a Victorian villa with a well-tended area of grassland and garden, laid out with many glasshouses and wooden slatted structures. A lot like Seaview, but without the sea.

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