He’s hoping Mr Mallow will arrive during the daylight hours, so they can visit the tree and take a closer look at the scarecrow. Perhaps there’s something else hidden in its pockets now that it’s back in the tree. He is curious as to howsomeone broke into his garage and retrieved it in the first place. It looks like it’s time to put his former investigative skills to the test once again.
Mr Mallow messages Graham an hour later with his estimated time of arrival. It appears he won’t make the darkness cut off, so Graham decides to prepare dinner and light a fire to ward off the impending cold.
It takes several attempts for the wood to catch, thanks to the damp and lack of appropriate kindling, but once the flames get going, the small lounge fills with an ambient glow and a comforting warmth. He begins by sautéing onions in a pan, sweating them till they’re translucent, then adds some cubed chicken breast and a selection of vegetables from his garden, including courgettes. He places the jar of curry sauce (he chose a tikka masala in the end) on the side, ready to add later. Some people may say using a jar of ready-made curry sauce is cheating, but Graham isn’t one of those people.
While everything simmers, he grabs the village magazine that’s delivered to the households for free each month. It arrived two days ago and he’d chucked it on the side, not giving it a second thought. If he had thought about it sooner, he could have read it, possibly finding some snippets of valuable information.
He was even briefly mentioned in the magazine shortly after his arrival in the village. Apparently, a retired detective was an exciting enough announcement to beincluded. He was awarded a short extract, right next to the news about a local prize-winning sheep who’d given birth to triplets.
The magazine is mostly a who’s who of local businesses, reminding everyone to support farmers and to ensure no large, commercial companies or shops make their way to the village and destroy it. Fair enough, but even Graham knows that without footfall and a constant revenue stream, it’s only a matter of time before small villages fade away to nothing. It’s sad, but it’s the truth.
He scans the pages, searching for anything about the tree. Something catches his eye on page fifteen. As he reads the headline, hiseyes widen in alarm.
Chapter 13
STEPHEN
An hour after saying goodbye to Detective Williams on the phone, Stephen’s packed and ready to start his long drive to Wales. He stops by the Cherry Tree to say goodbye to Rachel and explain his plan to visit him, but when he opens the door and strolls up to the reception desk, she isn’t there.
An older lady is where Rachel usually sits. ‘Hello, Stephen,’ she says with a kind smile. ‘What can I do for you today?’
‘Hello, is Rachel around please? I need to speak to her before I leave.’
The woman’s smile falters slightly. ‘Oh, where are you off to?’
‘Wales.’
‘My, my, quite the trek. I’m sorry, Stephen, but … Rachel isn’t here.’
Stephen sighs, glancing around the small reception area. He recalls the two times he’s stayed here fondly. His favourite pastime was sitting in the library in front of a roaring fire while sipping a whisky.
‘Okay, please can you give her a message from me when you see her?’
‘I … um …’
‘Tell Rachel I’m sorry, but I had to leave to go and see Detective Williams. He needs my help. And tell her not to worry about my hospital visit. I’ll rebook it.’
The woman nods her head. ‘Very well.’
Stephen bids her goodbye and walks back out to his car. He scrolls to Rachel’s WhatsApp and leaves her a voice note, telling her he’s stopped by. It remains unread.
She won’t be happy about him leaving without speaking directly to her first, but he’s tried to find her, hasn’t he? She’ll be okay about it, right? If he doesn’t leave now, then he fears … what? What does he fear? Nothing, really. Just that Rachel won’t understand his true reasoning for going. He’s going to miss his doctor's appointment on Friday too and he’s okay with that, but Rachel won’t be. She’ll have plenty to say about it. Stephen’s already annoyed that she found out about his nose bleeds. He thought he’d been sneaky and clever about it, but not a lot gets past Rachel.
There’s more important things to worry about now than the state of his relationship. That’s the thing with Stephen, he’s either all in or he isn’t. And right now, he’s all in on this investigation that Detective Williams needs help with.
After leaving The Cherry Tree car park, he drives out of Cherry Hollow, towards his newest adventure. As he navigates the narrow roads through the Lake District, his phone rings. His car is too old to include Bluetooth, so he can't answer without safely pulling over. He lets the call ring out. It’sprobably from Rachel, wanting to tear him a new one for leaving so suddenly and leaving a message with the older woman on reception, but she should be used to his reckless decisions by now. He’s impulsive at times yet also stubbornly set in his ways. It’s part of his charm. Honestly, being himself is exhausting. He wishes other people could spend merely a single minute inside his head, then they’d understand why he is the way he is.
He’s told Detective Williams he will be with him by six this evening, traffic depending. He had hoped to arrive before the darkness set in, but it doesn’t seem likely now. He doesn’t like to drive in the dark, or be outside in the dark, or have the lights off at night.
His nyctophobia is under control, to a certain extent, but it still likes to creep up behind him when he least expects it and scare the bejesus out of him. He’s suffered from the phobia since he was a child. His father often locked him in their cold basement for hours on end. Sometimes it was longer than a few hours.
Before that started happening, Stephen had quite liked the darkness. He enjoyed the safety and comfort it would bring when he’d fall asleep tucked up in bed. The darkness was a fascinating creature. It used to be his friend, but that quickly changed when it began to give him nightmares, and his damaged subconscious created eerie creatures in the form of shadowy shapes.
A year ago, he faced his fear and won, but the darkness will always hold a power over him that he can’t explain. He no longer fears the dark itself; he respects it because it is a powerful being. Nothing changes in the darkness. The same objects are there. They just can’t be seen. It’s the fear of the unknown that scares people. Phobias and fears may control a lot of people’s lives, but it doesn’t mean they should define who you are as a person. Everyone has the power to take back control, as long as you respect your fear.
As he drives, his vision blurs and a trickle of blood oozes out of his nose. He wipes it with a tissue from his pocket, but doesn’t notice the small drops of blood now staining his shirt.
Chapter 14
