She answered on the third time it rang, not even noticing who it was calling.
“Lainey, it’s Rayah. We’re trying to get hold of Jake and he isn’t answering. Tim McGarry’s mare’s in labour and the vets are on another call. He wants Jake to go help. I know it’s late, but could you knock on? Sorry to wake you.” Rayah sounded dead tired herself.
“Sure. He’s probably left his phone in his kitchen.” She got out of bed and looked out of the window. All of Jake’s downstairs lights looked to be on. “I’ll go check.”
“Thanks. Call me if there’s a problem.”
Lainey pulled on sweats and a hoodie over her nightwear. She was acutely aware that this was the first night she hadn’t shared a bed with Jake in a couple of weeks, and it felt strange to be on her own, for his body to not be tangled around hers.
That was why she’d found it so bloody hard to get to sleep.
She grabbed her keys from the side and disabled the alarm, her heart starting to pound a little harder. Since everything had gone down with Abby, some of the old anxieties were back about people sneaking into her house or hiding, and while she had the coping mechanisms to deal with them, she knew she was overly aware and nervous.
Boots on, she left the house and locked the door behind her. The lights to the cottage where Holly and Josh lived were off, the unpacking done for the night. Jake’s house was pretty lit up, the downstairs lights all on, and when she looked, his door was open.
Lainey’s heart had started to beat rapidly now, the sound of it thumping through to her head. There had been trouble in Severton, but that was over now. This had to be something to do with an animal or something on the property.
She realised the gate between their yards had been left open. It was always closed, always. It didn’t matter about animals wandering through, that wasn’t the point, it was that security.
Lainey went back into her own yard, heading towards the stables. Everything looked as it should, the soft whinny from a horse dreaming, a cat prowling across the yard, hunting.
The cottage that had almost been finished with its renovation project had a light on, one that shouldn’t have been there. It’d been a couple of weeks since she’d last properly checked on the project, the day-to-day therapy side and the animal care along with Jake taking up her time, and all that it was waiting for was the delivery of appliances and the kitchen to be fitted.
She headed over there, trying Jake’s phone as she walked, but there was no answer. Closer to the cottage she could see that the bedroom light was on, that’d been the glow she’d noticed.
The front door was open, as if it had been unlocked rather than someone busting through.
It didn’t take a genius to figure that Jake was probably in here. She put a foot over the threshold and looked round, knowing that the most sensible thing to do was to head back out and call the police, let them look around, but then she heard a shout.
Her name.
Jake’s voice.
“Lainey!” It had grown louder.
She went through the door fully, shouting his name.
“Call the station. Get someone down here and don’t look in the kitchen.”
“Shall I come up?” Her heart raced as if she’d just competed in a hundred metre race. Her fingers fumbled to call the station from her phone.
“No. Wait outside or downstairs.”
There was a groan, but it wasn’t from Jake.
“What’s happened?” She asked the question at the same time someone at the station answered. Stuttering down the phone, she forced her feet to stay still and not go to check on Jake.
“Someone’s on the way.” She yelled back up. “Can I do anything else?”
There was another moan. Someone sounded like there were in pain.
“Dylan, shut the fuck up or I’ll find a way to knock you over the head too.” Jake sounded the most impatient she’d ever heard.
“What’s happened?” She started to go up a couple of stairs. “Jake?”
“You’re going to need a new site supervisor.” Was Jake’s response. “In fact, you won’t. I’ll do it myself.”
He was breathing. He sounded cross. But he was breathing. Lainey let go of the breath she’d been holding.
