Felicity couldn’t sleep. The things Rachel had said about her parents went round and round her head. She didn’t want to think of her in danger at home, and she definitely didn’t want to think of her looking to creepy Andy Teague for an escape. Everything felt wrong.
Rachel had gone to bed in the attic room that had the bolt on the inside of the door. Felicity hoped she was sleeping.
She didn’t know Lucy well, but she hated the thought of her trying to be the perfect daughter to keep herself safe. Their parents were church people: they were meant to be good! They were supposed to be about kindness and compassion. Everything felt wrong.
Alex was caught up with Jenna, and Mum and Dad were in Paris. She wasn’t going to disturb Rachel. She didn’t know who to talk to so, after midnight, she found the number of Grandma’s hotel in Exeter and called it. They put her through to Grandma’s room, but she didn’t answer, and the call went back to the reception desk.
‘Can I take a message?’ said the woman, who sounded as if she was doing a lot of other things at the same time. Felicity couldn’t imagine what there was to do in the reception of an Exeter hotel at midnight. She bet the woman had glossy hair in a bun, a scratchy blue uniform, a white blouse with a bow at the neck.
Stop! She pulled her mind back to now. To here.
‘Could I leave a message for Martha Roberts?’ The woman agreed that she could. Felicity pictured her reaching for a pen.
‘Could you tell her …’ She paused, imagined Grandma getting an alarming message in the morning. She would rush back, and that wasn’t fair. She loved her trips with Betty. ‘Oh, just tell her everything’s fine in Cornwall, and we hope she has a lovely time there.’
‘Sure thing,’ said the woman. ‘That’s it?’
Felicity hung up and went to bed. Jenna and Alex were watching a video of Psycho, and she didn’t fancy that one bit. She wanted to check that the gates were locked so, even though it was the scariest thing she could possibly have done, she slipped out of the side door with a torch and ran down the drive. The gates were locked with the chain and padlock, and everything was silent.
The vicar wouldn’t come in. Andy Teague wouldn’t come in.
They both could, though, if they wanted to. The locked gates wouldn’t keep anyone out – Rachel had climbed over them easily enough earlier – but at least it was a ‘Do not disturb’ sign. Anyone passing this point wouldn’t be able to say they’d stumbled in by accident.
Somehow her trip down the drive made her feel better. She’d done something. She’d gone out into the night, and everything had been all right, and so she went to bed and fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, Felicity thought she heard someone downstairs. She lay rigid with fear, waiting. Nothing happened, and in the morning Alex said it had just been him and Jenna, that they’d stayed up until two and that Jenna had slept in the green room. He was elated, grinning from ear to ear, shining brightly.
Grandma would be back on Sunday. Grandma would know what Rachel should do. Felicity told herself that everything was going to be all right. It was almost over.