Page 73 of The Snow Witch

It was dreadful. Absolutely dreadful.

It made her appreciate just how much better things were nowadays. And how, somehow, she and Jake were able to give Meg and Emory a second chance at happiness.

Jake’s voice broke into her thoughts. ‘Well, we need to get both of you checked out at a hospital then.’ He was suddenly practical and protective all at once. ‘It’s bloody freezing out here. And I think we have to help Ollie as well. Poor bloke.’

* * *

Violet quickly squeezed Jake’s hand. ‘Thank you. Yes, we do. We can’t leave him here.’ She scootled away from him, half-crawling to where Ollie was huddled up. Jake followed her. He wasn’t sure what he could do. One minute, he’d been fighting this man to the death, and the next, he’d realised he was just a man, just like Jake, who had been caught up in this horror.

None of it was Ollie’s fault. And now Jake’s reasoning and rational side had come back, he knew there was absolutely nothing to worry about as far as Violet running off with Ollie was concerned.

Really, Jake owed them both an apology. But the priority here was to make sure Ollie was okay. And Violet seemed to be doing a pretty good job of that so far. He leant down and picked up the dagger. He didn’t want that left lying around – also, though, he didn’t know what to do about the dagger. He’d ask Violet. Maybe she’d want to put it back where she found it. Or maybe she wouldn’t. He would let her decide, but he wasn’t going to leave it by Coventina’s Well.

‘Ollie. Oliver – hey. It’s okay,’ Violet was saying, kneeling next to the huddled figure. ‘We got rid of him,’ she said. She took hold of Ollie’s hand and rubbed it in hers. ‘Charles is gone. You’re safe.’

Ollie stirred a little and moaned and Jake blew out a relieved breath. Ollie was okay – he was going to be okay.

‘Ollie.’ Violet was patting his cheek and rubbing his hand. He was still for a moment, then he lifted his head and he stared right at Violet and Jake, his gaze swinging wildly between the pair of them.

‘What the hell happened?’ Ollie asked. ‘What are you two doing here? What am I doing here? My God, why am I sitting in the snow?’

‘Welcome back, Ollie,’ said Violet in a shaky voice. ‘Have some hot tea. And then we’ll tell you.’

55

NOW

They made an odd trio that night. They decided it was better to go to the pub and talk, rather than chat in the guest house dining room and have Cynthia and all the other guests listening in.

But Violet had arranged for Jake to stay there overnight with her. It just seemed warmer and better than them both sleeping in Jake’s van.

‘This is Jake, my partner,’ Violet had told Cynthia. ‘He’s come down for the night. With the snow and everything, is it okay if he shares my room? We’ll pay extra, of course.’

But Cynthia hadn’t wanted any more money, so it was all good.

Ollie, on the other hand, had different plans. ‘I’m leaving in the morning,’ he said in the pub, clutching a glass of red wine as if his life depended on it. ‘I think I’ve seen enough of this place. Not sure I want to hang around any more than necessary. In fact, I’d probably have left already, but—’ He held the glass up ruefully. ‘This is more important right now.’

‘At the risk of sounding fussy,’ said Violet, ‘I think a good night’s sleep is important too.’

‘Ha! Not sure I’ll get any sleep here,’ he replied. ‘I’ll be expecting him to be creeping around my room or staring at me through the window.’

‘He’s not coming back,’ said Violet. ‘Absolutely not.’

‘He’d better not.’ Ollie shuddered. ‘I need a refill.’

Violet pushed the wine bottle over to Ollie.

‘I do not want to see his face peering back at me ever again from a pool of water.’

Then Jake made a peculiar noise. ‘Well, I didn’t see anyone in the Well, but I certainly felt someone. I’m going out on a limb to say I bet Emory looked like me.’ He scowled briefly, then shuddered. ‘I had an outfit change on my way to rescue Violet – I looked down and my clothes seemed about, well, four hundred years out of date. And there was something else as well. It was on the way over here. I went to Corbridge, had a stop at the Angel Inn.’

Ollie looked up. ‘I saw that place my way here too. Looks pretty old. When I was reading about the area on my first day, I looked it up. Thought I could maybe go for dinner one night. The article said there’d been a murder there when it was called The Head Inn.’

‘A murder?’ Jake looked at him. ‘And did it say when?’

‘The sixteen hundreds sometime. A sergeant who was connected with—’ Ollie stopped suddenly.

‘With what?’ Violet was intrigued.