IT WAS FULLY dark by the time Ashley left Melva’s cottage. She stood at the bottom of the path – the cottage sat in the dip at the eastern edge of Red Rigg Fell, and the mountain made its presence felt via an uncanny portion of void in an otherwise star-strewn sky. The night was still and quiet, and there were no lights to be seen other than the moon and the soft orange lamp at Melva’s living room window.
Fucking David Wagner. Old feelings of guilt and shame swarmed at the thought of him, his son, and on a deeper level, the entire nature of her career. Close to crying and annoyed with herself for it, Ashley turned towards her car, only to see a darker shadow in front of it. For a second, she thought it was a Heedful One, but then it moved and she saw a sliver of a face caught in the amber light from the window. This was a real flesh-and-blood person, waiting for her in the dark.
‘Richard? Is that you?’
The figure moved and was lost in the larger dark beyond the road, although Ashley heard the soft tread of footsteps across the tarmac.
‘Wait! Who are you?’
She dashed into the dark after the shape, but very quickly realised she had lost track of it. Angry, she crashed into the field opposite Melva’s cottage, long wet grass clinging to her jeans, soaking them. There was a rustle of small animals moving away from her and the call of an owl overhead. It was all too much: the murders, her father, the petty argument with Aidan, and now her name dragged through the mud because David Wagner could never move on and forgive her. A great wave of heat moved through her, causing sweat to prickle across her back and under her arms. She bent over at the waist, her hands on her knees.
‘Oh fuck. Fuck all of it.’
She took several slow breaths, trying to calm her racing heart, when a hand covered her mouth, yanking her whole body back to be crushed against someone. Another arm came around to hold her where she was. Ashley immediately began to thrash, to scream against the hand, but whoever it was, they were fearsomely strong. The big meaty hand pressed harder against her mouth, mashing her lips against her teeth.
‘You get the message, don’t you?’ Ashley didn’t recognise the voice, but then it sounded off somehow, as though someone were deliberately disguising it. ‘Leave well enough alone.’
Then, the pressure was gone and the person behind her shoved her hard. Ashley pitched forward, waving her arms to stop herself from falling into the long grass. She failed. When she picked herself up from the cold, wet ground, she caught a brief glimpse of the figure running down the road before they were lost to the dark.