Page 62 of A Merry Little Christmas
‘I’ll go and see who it is.’ Will dashed through to the hall.
‘Will! No, wait . . .’
But he was already opening the front door and speaking to someone... and to my relief, I recognised the voice.
Caleb?
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
‘Katja?’
Caleb’s shout sounded urgent. ‘Where is she, Will?’
‘She’s here.’
‘Hi.’ I gazed at him, bemused, as he appeared in the doorway. ‘Is everything all right?’
‘I don’t know. You tell me.’
‘Me? I’m fine.’
‘What’s this about a car mounting the pavement and almost running you over?’ he demanded.
I glanced at Will and he shrugged. ‘I told him. It sounded dangerous.’ So it was his uncle he’d been speaking to on the phone. And Caleb must have jumped in the car and zoomed straight over here in the time it had taken me to drink a mug of tea...
‘I . . . that was nearly a fortnight ago.’
‘But the same car nearly crashed into us today trying to overtake,’ said Will. ‘And Katja just saw it parked outside the house.’
I nodded. ‘It’s gone now. But Will checked in his notebook and apparently, it was parked out there another time – on the night you and I were looking after Will together, while your sister went out with her friends?’
‘Really?’ Caleb was gazing at me, a troubled look in his eyes. ‘Oh, hell, I thought I’d been so careful. I’m so sorry, Katja. I was trying to protect you but I guess I failed.’
‘Protect me?’ I stared up at him, and then suddenly he moved towards me and I was in his arms, and I was being crushed against him so tightly I could hardly breathe.
‘Protect me from what, Caleb?’ I managed to whisper.
*****
‘What’s happening?’ Will sounded concerned. ‘Is Katja in danger? Should we call the police?’
I was standing outside Will’s bedroom, listening to their conversation as Caleb tried to reassure his nephew that everything would be fine.
‘No, no. Look, you just need to get some sleep, Will. Everything’s going to be fine. You trust me, don’t you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Good. I’ll see you at the weekend, okay? We can go and see that film your mum doesn’t like the sound of.’
‘She hates vampires.’
He grinned. ‘Well, she’s got rubbish taste in movies.’
I stood there, frozen to the spot. What on earth was Caleb mixed up in? And how did it affect me? He’d called Penny to find out when she’d be home, seeming anxious to be away.
She was on her way back now.
Caleb had promised to explain everything to me once we left . . .
