But this time it was Alex lying there.
All he could think was not again. It couldn’t be happening again.
He didn’t even remember the way he threw himself down the stairs after her, lucky he hadn’t fallen too.
And then she just held his hand, clung to him, and he couldn’t bear to let her go.
He was lucky he had Patricia’s number on speed-dial.
‘Just bring her with you,’ he’d said. Like that wasn’t going to have repercussions. But what else could he do? It was an emergency.
‘She’s settled upstairs,’ Patricia said, coming into the kitchen. She looked worn out.
‘Thank you.’ It was late and his mother-in-law had been dragged out of bed to come here. ‘Let me get you some tea.’
‘That would be lovely, pet.’ Nick set to work, glad to have something to do at last. ‘You did the right thing,’ she assured him again. ‘A fall like that…well, you know better than anyone.’
They looked at each other, a thousand unspoken regrets passing by.
‘Alex is going to be all right?’
‘Yes. But this place—’ Patricia sighed and took the mug from him, adding her own milk. ‘She shouldn’t be here, Nick.’
‘I know that.’
‘None of us should,’ Patricia said, a bit more pointedly this time.
‘I know that too.’
It was the worst possible situation. Wildewood Hall and its estate had claimed the lives of two of the people he loved most in the world. But one of them was Patricia’s daughter, her flesh and blood. He couldn’t imagine the pain of that. Or of being asked to come back here at the drop of a hat.
He sank into a chair opposite her.
‘Alex wants to sell the estate,’ he said. ‘To a hotel group or something. You can imagine what they want to do.’ She pulled a face and almost made him smile. If it hadn’t been quite so serious he might have. ‘And she just doesn’t realise what this place is like. The danger she puts herself in. She was in the woods today, Patricia. Just wandering through the woods. She got lost. I found her at the heart.’
Patricia frowned this time. Because she was Sally’s mother and she knew all about the woods. She might not believe it. But she knew all the same.
‘Nick, you have to warn her.’
‘She won’t believe me. Not about the house or the woods. She doesn’t believe in ghosts. That’s her whole thing, the sceptic on that TV show of hers, debunking and disproving everything.’
‘Well.’ Patricia shrugged. ‘There’s a lot of places that’s necessary. People are very gullible.’
‘Yes but not here.’
‘No,’ she agreed. ‘You don’t need to be gullible here. You have to convince her not to sell, Nick. For all our sakes.’
‘I know. But the more time she spends here, wandering around, stirring up trouble…the more things like this are liable to happen. She could have died, Patricia. Like Sally. Like Theo.’
Patricia set down the mug and took his hands in hers.
‘All the more reason to make her see the truth then.’
The peal of a child’s laughter sounded from upstairs and both of them shot to their feet in response.
‘I’ll go,’ he said. ‘You finish your tea. I’m sure it’s nothing.’
She smiled gratefully and Nick headed for the door.
