Had she got it down herself and come to sit with it on Emily’s bench? It must be that. There could be no other explanation. Someone couldn’t have come into their home, found the toy in the loft and brought it back down without anyone noticing. It wasn’t impossible but highly improbable.
One thing was certain, she wasn’t sharing this episode with Danny. He’d think she was going mad after the child next door incident.
Perhaps it was time to go back to the doctors after all? Maybe it was best if she came off all the medication now she was here. She would be able to cope better. The move had proved to be good for her, and she had promised Danny she would get checked out. Yes, she’d make an appointment, book a train and go back with Danny on Sunday evening. She could manoeuvre her work round to suit. A break away might do her good too.
Later that evening, coming back from a walk across the field behind their house, Juliette glanced up at the house. She was still staggered by its beauty, the orange of the sky around it as the sun set on another glorious day.
She sat on Emily’s bench while she finished her wine. It really did help that Emily hadn’t been to the house now. There was nowhere Juliette could see her sitting, no room where she should have been sleeping.
A movement next door caught her eye and she sat up straight in a flash. The blind had gone up at a window where it was always down and she’d spotted a face. It didn’t belong to Sarah, she was certain. A little girl with blonde hair. The same child she had seen before.
She couldn’t be imagining that, could she?
She ran indoors to get her phone, but by the time she got back, the child was gone. But therewasa child. And she wanted to know why it was a secret.
And why she was being hidden.
Next door, she heard the back door open. Keeping quiet, she watched as Sarah walked to the bottom of her garden and disappeared into the woods. Buoyed up with the wine, Juliette decided to follow her. Further down, there was a small gap in the hedge that she could squeeze through.
At the entrance to the woods, she paused for a moment before going inside. She followed the path, ignoring the feeling of the darkness creeping in, and praying she wouldn’t get lost. Then she stopped. Sarah was up ahead at the clearing. She was standing in the middle of it, looking down at the ground and talking to herself.
‘I miss you so much,’ she said.
Juliette stayed still. Confused, she decided now was not the time to speak to her and turned to go back.
A branch cracked under her feet and she froze. When she chanced a look over her shoulder, Sarah was no longer in the clearing. Knowing she was trespassing, she headed back along the path and out of the woods as quickly as she could, hoping she wasn’t spotted.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
2017
Having to look after the home and Daisy when she was born became too much. I wasn’t sure what was happening to me, if I was honest. I had never felt so exhausted. It was as if a heavy weight was pressing on me, making me ache, sleep longer and generally be unaware of my surroundings. Some days I struggled to get out of bed at all.
Because of how I was feeling, I slipped into a depression and Richard didn’t like that. He would chide me about being unable to function properly, annoyed that he’d had to care for Daisy. He’d take her to his studio a lot of the time while I slept. I know it wasn’t ideal, but I was unable to do anything about it. My head felt so woolly at times with the tablets prescribed by the doctor that I couldn’t even protest. If I had anyone close to talk to, I would have told them I was a failure.Richard told me that too, constantly. That I was no good at anything.
Sometimes I would look at Daisy and fear for her life. It was good that Richard was there to look after us both or else I don’t know what would have happened.
Two months later, I still felt like a walking zombie, unable to shake off the brain fuzz and the feeling of impending doom. In the end, he agreed to take me to see the doctor.
I was nervous when I sat in the surgery. Richard was holding Daisy, looking very much the doting dad to whoever smiled at him. He had the illusion down to a tee.
‘Mrs Sykes-Morgan.’
I stood up to go into the consultation room. Richard followed suit and I looked at him in desperation.
‘I’ll be fine on my own,’ I said.
‘Nonsense. I’m coming with you.’ He picked up Daisy’s carry-all and flipped it over his shoulder. ‘Get a move on.’
Doctor Alliott was in his mid-forties, slim, with a crisp white shirt, sleeves rolled up.
‘What seems to be the problem?’ he asked me, a smile on a round face.
He hadn’t known me long and I tried to explain as best I could how I was feeling exhausted, suffering headaches and nausea constantly.
But Richard began to talk over me.
‘She’s been a little bit down in the dumps, doctor, that’s all.’
