Page 32 of Their Burning Graves
She sat back down. ‘Oh, I didn’t know.’
‘Why would you? I try to keep it under my collar, at least until I’ve fully settled into a place. I like it here; I think I’d like to make a go of it in Rydal Falls but I don’t want to alienate my congregation, at least not yet.’
‘You won’t alienate anyone, there’s no problem with you being gay and it’s no one’s business but yours. Have you come across anything that’s made you uncomfortable, Theo? We don’t stand for that here. You could use a third-party reporting system if you didn’t want to speak to officers about anything.’
He held up his hand. ‘Morgan, thank you that’s very kind of you but I’m okay, and you’re right, everyone seems to be very kind and nice.’
She smiled. ‘That’s because most of the women fancy you though, they’re going to be devastated that you’re not available.’
He laughed loudly. ‘Oh, I’m available, but not to them.’
‘Have you got any friends around here?’
He looked at her. ‘I was hoping that once we got over this thing where you think I’m responsible for all the crimes around here that we might be friends.’
‘What thing? I haven’t had you arrested for a couple of weeks, we’re well over that.’
Theo laughed.
‘Good, I’d like it if we could be. You know, I don’t always talk about God, I do have other levels of conversation.’
‘Brill, next time we go to The Black Dog I’ll let you know. It would be nice if you could join us, our quiz team sucks really bad. We always come last, so you might improve our chances.’
‘Thank you, it would.’
They both smiled, and finished their drinks in companionable silence. As Morgan was getting ready to leave, Theo spoke again. ‘Look, this hand of God thing, you have to ask yourself is your guy seeking revenge for something that has wronged him in the past, is he passing judgement? It’s worth thinking about especially if your victim was wearing a crucifix around her neck.’
Morgan stood up for a second time. ‘Thanks, Theo, it’s definitely worth considering and thank you for the coffee. I need to get back to work now, there’s a lot going on.’
He nodded. ‘There certainly is, is it always so busy here? Stay safe.’
Smiling at him she shrugged then walked towards the front door.
Once outside she had to stop herself from running to the car. She hadn’t told Theo why she was interested in finding out the reasoning behind that saying. Yet he’d said ‘your guy seeking revenge’. She never told him Sally was wearing the crucifix either? How the hell had he known that was what she was thinking? Was she really that easy to read, or did Theo Edwards know a lot more than he was letting on?
TWENTY-ONE
Natalie White knew that she was walking a fine line between coping and, well, basically screwing things up. All these years she had done her best to keep to the promise she’d made to herself. As she arrived home the house was in darkness, again. Lexie much preferred being at her friend’s house, and Jasper would be at the golf club until closing time. She pressed her thumb against the pad on the front door and it clicked open. The lights automatically turned on as she stepped inside the airy entrance hall, where the old period features of the property blended with the modern innovations Jasper had had installed. The hallway was so big she could have invited her regular Monday yoga class to hold it inside of it should they ever need a new venue. Not that she would, because Jasper wouldn’t be able to stop himself from gawping at the flexible women in skintight clothing; he seemed to be getting worse as each year passed despite the fact that he was almost seventy. Now that Natalie wasn’t the pretty young thing he’d met when she was twenty-three, his eyes seemed to rove all over the place. Not that she was bad-looking for her age, forty-nine; she kept up with every beauty treatment available, to keep her looking young. Her breasts were the perkiest they’d ever been, but she knew he still couldn’t stop looking. She wondered if it would be so bad if he did leave her for a younger woman, deciding she’d keep the house because of Lexie; and maybe that would fix their relationship. Though if it didn’t, she could always palm her off on Jasper, and spend weeks by herself, now that would be fun. She was tired of playing this game; she would quite like to just be herself, not that she really remembered who that even was. In the kitchen Natalie opened the fridge and stared at the open bottle of Chardonnay. It had been so long since she’d let a drop of alcohol pass her lips she wondered if she’d even enjoy it now. This house, which was as big as any boutique hotel, wasn’t the kind of place you could ever feel at home in. She had begged Jasper to buy a quaint country cottage with a rose garden, but he had laughed at her and without even consulting her had bought this mausoleum. He was hardly here, and Natalie kept herself busy through the day, so she didn’t have to wander around lonely, wishing she’d chosen a different life for herself. She hadn’t though, this was the life she’d so wanted when she was younger, and she’d been determined to have it. Now it was empty. Her life, her heart, even the bloody house was empty. The only things that kept her going were her weekday meetings with her friends, especially her Fridays when Harry would put her first before his other commitments, unlike her husband. She’d heard the terrible news about Sally Lawson today and she’d felt sad ever since. Sally had caused her so much heartache as a teenager, but she’d managed to forgive her. They’d been stupid girls, who had both done things they weren’t proud of; and poor Tim had been a friend of Lexie’s. It was all such a mess.
As she began to take out the ingredients from the fridge to make a spicy chicken pasta bake, she heard a sound upstairs, the slightest of creaks from the master bedroom above her. Natalie tilted her head, maybe Jasper was home and had put his car in the garage. He was never home at this time though, what if he wasn’t well? A part of her thought that she wasn’t that lucky, the other wondered if she should go and check. Picking up her phone from the white Italian marble worktop she checked to see if she had any missed calls from him, she didn’t. There were no more noises, so Natalie dismissed the noise and went back to cooking. She placed the pan of water on the range cooker and turned on the gas, then began to chop the peppers. Suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck prickled and she got the uneasy feeling that she was being watched. Natalie stopped chopping. What was going on? At least she had a sharp knife in her hand, but it was ridiculous to think she’d need it. Who could be watching her? She always felt like this alone in this bloody house. She’d begged him not to buy it, had actually said it was probably haunted. It was that old God knows how many people had died in here. She wasn’t psychic, didn’t have a sixth sense, but she did believe in ghosts – she’d heard too many stories about them. That’s why she loved the café she went to for lunch every day, it was full of women talking about weird and wonderful experiences. The owner was gifted, maybe she could invite her here for lunch and repay the favour? She could have a wander around and tell her if her house was super creepy because it was haunted or if she was just imagining the odd sounds she’d hear, the cold draughts, the feeling of being watched. She had mentioned it to Jasper once and he’d laughed so hard that he’d had tears rolling down his face, telling her she was ridiculous. Lexie was different, super moody, hated her with a passion, but she hadn’t laughed when she’d asked her if she ever felt uncomfortable when she was here alone. She hated that her daughter would rather listen to podcasts or Spotify to avoid having a conversation with her, but she hoped one day she might grow out of it and realise that her mother was a human being in need of love and laughter. A tear leaked from the corner of her eye, and she brushed it away with her sleeve telling herself it was the onion – only she hadn’t even peeled the onions yet. She froze as another creak from upstairs broke the silence. The thought that someone was in the house came back. She gripped the handle of the knife and held it behind her back in case someone had broken in, but she knew she better check to make sure Jasper or Lexie weren’t home first. The house had a top-notch security system, enough to put off any intruder and it had been locked up when she got home.
The stairs were best described as sweeping. The oak banister was intricately carved with vines and leaves. As much as she hated the house, she had to admit it was a thing of beauty, and she couldn’t wait for Lexie to have her prom photos taken on this staircase. Natalie wished she’d had a prom, but they were only coming into fashion when she’d left school. Standing at the foot of the stairs she listened for any movement. She wasn’t afraid of burglars but the thought of something she couldn’t see gliding around her house unseen scared her to death.
‘Jasper, Lexie, are you home?’
She called, her voice falling flat as it echoed up to the first floor. The house had two upper floors; they rarely used the second floor. No one answered, so she carried on. Reaching the landing she looked around, then flicked the light switch on. Downstairs was as modern and hi-tech as you could find, but up here they hadn’t started to fully renovate it yet, so it was still quite old-fashioned.
‘Jasper, Lexie.’
Still no answer. A part of Natalie wanted to go back downstairs to where the LED lighting left no dark corners, but another part of her would feel forever guilty if Jasper had taken ill and she’d been too afraid of the dark corners up here to go and check on him. Marching down to their bedroom she flung open the door, reached her hand inside and turned on the light.
‘Oh,’ she whispered, it was empty. She had expected to see Jasper, but the bed cover was crumpled, as if someone had been sitting on it. Had she left it that way earlier? She couldn’t remember. Closing the door, she went to check Lexie’s room at the opposite end, but it was empty too. She would be at her friend Ava’s house; she was always there. That left two more bedrooms up here and the bathroom. She opened each door in turn: nothing. The rooms were empty, granted she didn’t check under any beds or in wardrobes, but she reassured herself that she didn’t need to. If anyone had got inside who didn’t have the security code, the alarm system would have been blaring when she’d arrived home. She looked at the end of the hall where the stairs to the second floor were, should she check it? Her phone began to ring down in the kitchen, making up her mind for her, and she turned, leaving all the lights on, and jogged back downstairs to answer it, forgetting all about the ruffled bed cover.
TWENTY-TWO
Morgan drove back to Hest Bank Road, and this time the Riggs’ house was lit up. The CSI van was parked behind the plain car Tina was still sitting in. That hadn’t taken them too long. Things were moving, not as fast as the whole team would like but they were getting there. She got out of the car, her stomach growling as she glanced over at Maggie’s house. The thought of warm, gooey caramel apple pie and fresh cream was almost too much to bear.Focus, Morgan, you can feed your stomach later, this is important.She curled her fist and hammered five times on the door, her official-police-business knock loud and clear. Footsteps in the hall came towards the door, and she smiled through the crack at the teenage girl peering out at her.
‘Ava?’
