The Retreat(46)

‘About Lily?’ Wendy shook her head. ‘It was two years ago.’

‘I thought maybe she knew something and was coming to tell me.’

‘What’s going on?’ A male voice came from the doorway.

‘Grandad!’ Megan extricated herself from her mum’s arms and leapt across to the man who’d entered the room, flinging her arms around him. He was completely bald and in his sixties.

‘What’s the matter, angel?’ he asked Megan.

Before Megan could reply, Wendy told him what had happened.

‘There’s no law against her going into the woods, is there?’ he said. His teeth pointed in half a dozen directions. I did a double take. He stared back at me with evident hostility.

Was this the man Zara had encountered at the chess club?

‘We’re all very sorry about what happened, Mrs Marsh,’ the bald man said. ‘But that doesn’t mean you can come here upsetting my granddaughter.’

I didn’t like his hostile tone.

‘With respect,’ I said, ‘Julia was upset when she saw Megan.’

‘And you are?’

‘Lucas Radcliffe,’ I replied.

‘He’s a writer,’ Julia said. Wendy looked confused, so Julia added, ‘I’ve turned the house into a writers’ retreat.’

The bald man narrowed his eyes at me. It suddenly struck me that, if this was the man Zara had encountered at the chess club, there was a chance he knew I had hired her. And Julia didn’t know about that.

We needed to get out of there before he let the cat out of that particular bag.

‘It must bring it all back,’ Wendy said, giving me a temporary reprieve. ‘I’m so sorry, Julia. I wish there was something we could do.’

‘But there isn’t,’ said Megan’s grandad, still training his hostile gaze on me. ‘Let me show you out.’

We went back out to the car. Julia was fully deflated now.

‘I feel sick,’ she said. ‘Do you mind driving?’

She handed me the keys and I got into the driver’s seat.

‘What’s Megan’s grandad’s name?’ I asked. ‘Do you know?’

‘Glynn Collins. Why?’

‘Oh, I just thought I recognised him, that’s all.’

‘He’s well known around here,’ Julia said. ‘A pillar of the community. I remember he offered to take Michael out for a drink, introduce him to some of the other local men, but Michael wasn’t into that kind of thing.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You know. Men’s clubs. Groups of blokes who think women only have legs to get from the kitchen to the bedroom. Michael had his faults, but being a rampant misogynist wasn’t one of them. Glynn asked him if he wanted to join the local chess club and Michael went along to take a look, but said it wasn’t his scene. Apart from a receptionist, there were no women, just a lot of old blokes.’

As we were about to drive off, something caught my eye. There was somebody in the upstairs window, watching us. The teenage boy whose photo was on the mantelpiece.

Julia followed my gaze. ‘That’s Jake. Megan’s brother. He’s very sweet.’

The boy stood up and pressed the tips of his fingers against the glass.

‘It’s been hard for Wendy,’ Julia said. ‘Apparently Jake has the mental age of a five-or six-year-old.’

‘A kind of Peter Pan.’

‘I guess that’s one way of looking at it. Can we go home?’

‘Yes, of course, sorry.’

I raised my eyes to Jake once more. He was mouthing something, but I was unable to read his lips. He was pointing too, at the woods beyond the house. I concentrated on his mouth, trying to figure out what he was saying. It looked like one word, over and over.

It looked like ‘Lily’. And then, as I stared at him, he said another word. It looked like ‘window’.

No, not ‘window’. Widow. He was saying ‘widow’.





Chapter 23

LILY – 2014

Dad came into Lily’s room and said six words that stabbed her in the heart with an icicle.

‘Megan’s grandad is taking you out.’

She stared at him.

‘Nice of him, huh?’ Dad said. ‘He called and said he was taking Megan to the adventure playground and Megan asked if you could go too. He’s going to pick you up in fifteen minutes so you’d better get a wriggle on and get dressed.’ He sighed as he rummaged through her chest of drawers. ‘Goodness, Lily, it’s a mess in your room. Where are your leggings?’

‘I feel sick,’ she said. ‘I think I’ve got a temperature.’

He felt her forehead. ‘You seem fine to me. Come on. Don’t be a malingerer.’

‘A what?’

Huffing and sighing, she dressed and waited for Megan and her grandad to arrive. As long as she stuck close to Megan, as long as she wasn’t left alone with Mr Collins, it should be okay.

Mum had gone into Wrexham today, because she had an appointment, so Dad was looking after her. As Lily brushed her hair, she tried to put her fear of Megan’s grandad out of her mind, but that only freed up space for her other worries to creep into. Her worries about Mum and Dad.