‘It’s okay, they’ve gone now.’
‘They’ll be back,’ I say. Then I notice she has a letter too.
‘I didn’t send that. I didn’t…’ My bottom lip quivers, and I wipe my eyes with the sleeve of my coat.
‘I know, there’s no way you’d threaten my dog, Sausage.’
I swallow down the bile in my throat. ‘What does it say?’
‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘Please, I need to know.’
‘Okay, but I know you didn’t send it.’ She starts reading. ‘“Lovely neighbour, Sausage is greedy. He will eat anything. Be careful because people can be mean. Please take this as a warning. There are some bad people around here who need to pay for what they’ve done. Look after your dog because loved ones get hurt and go missing around here, then no one looks for them. Remember Jasmine? Poor girl, alone. It was a foggy day and there was the log that she sat on. Keep your loved ones close because they will disappear. History will repeat itself. I remember everything and now it’s time for everyone else to wake up!”’ She puts the letter in her pocket and looks at me.
Again, Jasmine has cropped up. I am in no doubt now that this is about her and the writer is trying to warn Zoe about me.
Zoe continues. ‘Yesterday, I caught Sausage eating a pile of sausages in the back garden. Someone must have thrown them over my fence and they chose sausages on purpose because of his name.’
I don’t answer.
‘Here, let me help you into your house. You don’t look so good. Are you feeling okay?’
I’m woozy. Her voice sounds like it’s coming from under water. That letter has sent me sick. Zoe might not know what that was all about but I do. Quinn, Jasmine and I used to sit together on a log at the den.
‘Gemma, I don’t know what to do. Do you need an ambulance?’ She pulls her phone from her pocket.
‘No,’ I mutter. ‘I’m okay.’ I’m not. I’m as far away from okay as I can be. My fear, anguish and absolute terror is boiling up that hard, I feel like a pressure cooker about to blow. Given that it’s cold out here, I’m really warm, so I undo my coat, leaving it to flap open in the breeze. I am in no doubt that Jasmine is the root of all of this. Has she come back to make Quinn and me pay?
I glance up at Ruby’s house – and she’s there, at her window, wearing that same stony stare – and I shiver.
Thirty-Six
Quinn
Quinn enters through the bifold doors from her garden after sneaking from the front to the back of her own house. The kitchen’s warmth hits her like a wall.
‘Mum.’ Harry takes his coat off and places it on the back of a kitchen chair. Diggerty shakes the snow off his fur and runs over to his food. ‘Have you been out?’
She shakes her head. ‘No, I thought I heard a noise in the garden. Did you hear anything out there?’
He pauses. ‘No. Morgan and I walked Diggerty and we bumped into Morgan’s mum but that was it. I’ve been back a few minutes. I thought you were in your studio. The lights were on.’
‘I must have left them on when I was in there earlier.’ She pauses, knowing that Harry isn’t telling her the truth. He’s blinking a lot which means he’s more anxious than usual. ‘Where did you take Diggerty?’
‘By the lake.’
‘Why do you have your rucksack?’
‘It has my scarf in it.’
She runs over to hug her boy. Hearing what had gone down on the lane from behind her hedge had sent her heart banging. Then she kept thinking about that kiss. She’d been a little drunk and her emotions had got the better of her. She’s still a little drunk. The taste of stale red wine coats her throat, making her feel yuck. What did she think might happen? Did she think that Gemma would leave Ethan to be with her? Hardly likely. She thinks about all the little relationships she’s had over the years, none of them meaning anything because she’d denied herself of the one person she really loved. The one-night stands had meant zero. She’d denied her own wants all these years and that hurt even more than being rejected by Gemma.
She holds Harry closely and he holds her back. ‘We’re going to move from here soon, I’ve decided. I think it’ll be best for you. We need a lovely fresh start.’ She strokes her boy’s hair and takes in his smell.
‘Mum, are you all right?’
She smiles and looks him in the eye. ‘I am, and I always will be because I have you. We have each other.’ He’s looking at her like she’s lost the plot.
