Harri tried to make sense of the strange man who had so infuriated her. How dare he touch her? And why was he playing with her emotions? How could she ever forgive him for breaking her heart?
There were no answers to be found in the breeze that swept over the top of the ridge. She watched Ben walk down the slope to the cottage and waited until he had gone inside. Sabih glanced up with what might have been a sheepish look, but she was too far away to see him properly. When he went inside, Harri headed down the slope.
She stepped into the utility room and shut the back door behind her. There was no one in the kitchen, so she walked along the hallway, but the house felt empty. There were no conversations, just a rhythmic tapping that seemed to be coming from the living room.
Harri edged forward, afraid of what she might find. The taps sounded like a metronome.
Beating a countdown to your doom, she thought darkly.
She told herself not to be ridiculous, the house was brimming with social workers and a police officer. Nothing bad could happen to her.
But where are they? her fearful inner voice asked.
She ignored the question and inched closer to the door, which was ajar. She peered round—tap, tap, tap. Elliot was lying on the rug, headphones on, hitting a pencil against a floorboard.
Harri felt foolish and walked inside with a sense of relief. Elliot turned and removed his headphones.
“They’re not going to help,” he remarked.
“Excuse me,” Harri replied. She didn’t have much experience around children, but she was pretty sure they weren’t supposed to speak the way this one did.
“I know why you’re here.”
“Why don’t you tell me?” she asked.
“You want our secret,” Elliot said.
“So you know it too?” Harriet responded, trying to bluff the child into disclosing what it was. “I bet you want to tell someone.”
Elliot looked thoughtful, and for an instant Harri believed he might open up, but his face quickly bunched into a scowl.
“You’re so wrong. About everything. And if people know the secret, it won’t be special anymore. The magic won’t work.”
“What magic?” Harri asked, suddenly worried for the boy.
Elliot eyed Harri with suspicion and she could see him trying to figure out whether he could trust her.
“He talks about you every day,” the boy said.
There was a time when the revelation would have pleased Harri, but now it just made her uncomfortable.
“What’s the secret, Elliot?” Harri asked.
He wavered, clearly sizing her up.
“You remember you asked me if I thought ghosts are real,” she said, trying to form a connection with the boy.
He nodded.
“I think they are real, but not in the way they show them on TV or in the movies.” Harri tapped her chest. “I think they live in here. That’s where my mum and dad are. They’re always with me, watching over everything I do.”
Elliot considered the idea.
“I think your mum and dad are with you, Elliot. I think they’re watching you.”
“He says one day I’m going to have to go away,” Elliot whispered.
She was getting close now. Close to the secret. She felt as though she could almost reach out and touch it. She just needed the boy to trust her.
“He says I’m going to have to go away and never come back.”
Harri felt nauseous. Was this child suggesting Ben planned to kill him? She couldn’t believe it of the man she’d fallen in love with a year ago, but she wasn’t so sure about this more recent incarnation. She had to know. She had to be certain.
“What does he mean?” she asked. “Where do you have to go?”
Elliot eyed her thoughtfully.
“He says you’re special. He says we’ll always be together.”
“I am special,” Harri agreed. “That’s why you can trust me. Please, Elliot, you can trust me. You can tell me if you’re in danger.”
He looked as though he was about to speak.
And then Mandy walked in and ruined the moment.
“All done here. Thank you for your time, Elliot. We’ve just been talking to Ben outside, and you seem well cared for. We’ll follow up in a month or so, but you’re all good.”
Well cared for?
Harri wanted to shake the woman out of such blindness, but Sabih appeared at the door.
“Coming?”
“Elliot was just telling me something,” Harri tried. “Something important.”
“No I wasn’t,” Elliot said.
Mandy gave Harri a cynical look. “We really should go. Our presence here is no longer in the child’s best interests.”
You mean my presence, Harri thought, but she didn’t say anything.
Elliot kept his eyes on Harri as she followed Mandy and Sabih out. They passed Ben Elmys, who was coming in through the front door, and Harri felt his eyes burning her with a judgmental stare. She’d brought these people to their home, and she felt very much as though this was a walk of shame.
But it’s not, she thought as she stepped outside. She wasn’t the one who’d done anything wrong. And she replayed the conversation she’d just had with Elliot. None of this was normal.
She glanced round and saw Ben shut the front door. Mandy joined Nessa, and the two of them walked towards the 3 Series parked down the drive.
“Sab,” Harri whispered to her former colleague, and he walked over. “Cover me.”
He looked perplexed as she ducked round the Land Rover Defender and crouched by the back wheel. Sabih stood over her while she pretended to tie her shoelace.
“Are you coming?” Mandy called to them.
“Just a minute,” Sabih replied.
“I’m doing my shoelace,” Harri said.
She checked that she couldn’t be seen from the house and produced the radiation detector from her bag.
“What’s that?” Sabih asked.
“I’ll tell you later.”
She switched it on and pressed it against the chassis over the back wheel. The display started dancing almost immediately, flashing numbers that were well beyond the normal threshold, but not quite at the level Dr. Abiola had told her to look out for.
Harri gasped. She felt sick. Her worst imaginings were coming to pass.
“What?” Sabih asked.
Harri switched off the device and slipped it back into her bag.
“We need to get to the office,” Mandy shouted.
Harri stood and peered into the back of the Land Rover, but the privacy glass made it difficult to see anything clearly. She saw a lump beneath a blanket but couldn’t make out distinct shapes.
“What is it?” Sabih asked.
“I think I’ve found something,” Harri replied.
“What?”
“Any chance?” Mandy asked tartly.
“Coming,” Sabih replied.
Harri sensed someone watching her and glanced up to see Ben Elmys and Elliot Asha in the upstairs window.
“H, what are you doing?” Sabih asked.
“I can’t tell you now. Let’s come back later,” Harri suggested. “When there aren’t too many eyes on us. I’ll tell you then.”
Sabih nodded, his eyes landing on and then pulling away from the upstairs window. He and Harri started down the drive towards Mandy and Nessa.
“Sorry about that. Can you give me a lift to my car? It’s parked in the next lane,” Harri said.
Mandy tutted, but Nessa smiled and nodded.
“I’m sure Mandy won’t mind,” the younger woman said.
Before she climbed into Mandy’s car, Harri looked back at Longhaven. Ben and the boy watched her, and she wondered whether Sabih was right. Had she simply been a pawn in whatever game Ben was playing? She got into the car, feeling dejected and betrayed, and wondered how she was ever going to be able to trust anyone ever again.