The Stranger Next Door Read online

  The Stranger Next Door

  Miranda Barnes

  Miranda Barnes © 2016

  Miranda Barnes has asserted her rights under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

  First published 2016 by Endeavour Press Ltd.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter One

  Anna was pleased, very pleased. It was excellent news that "Moorside", the house next door to her own, had been sold at last. It had stood empty far too long.

  From the kitchen window, as she stood at the sink, her hands working automatically, she could just see a corner of "Moorside", the corner where ivy covered the stuccoed wall. Her eyes moved on to the dense thicket of trees and shrubs at the bottom of what the estate agent's blurb laughably called "the naturalistic garden". Primeval forest, more like. The house really did have a lot of wild land attached to it now. She just hoped the new owners were keen gardeners and would get the wilderness back under control. It had been far too much for the Rutherfords, the elderly couple who had lived there previously for so many years. No wonder they had given up at last and fled to the sanctuary of the town.

  What she longed for most of all, though, was just to see signs of life again next door. People and lights. Children's voices, too, hopefully, and the prospect of company for her own two little rascals. It had been far too quiet for far too long. It was good to know things were about to change at last. She smiled with satisfaction and turned towards the table.

  'Lisa! Tom! Lunch!'

  *

  Over their meal she told the children what she had learned that morning in the village, which wasn't actually very much. Just the bare bones.

  'Are the new people from the village?' Lisa, a serious-minded seven-year-old, wanted to know.

  'I don't know. But I don't think so. Mrs. Matthews in the post office would have said if they were.'

  'How many boys have they got?' five-year old Tom asked.

  Anna laughed. 'I have no idea! Sorry, Tom. All I know, really, is that someone has bought "Moorside" at last, and I'm very pleased they have.'

  'Boys!' Lisa scoffed with derision. 'Who wants any more of them?'

  'I do,' Tom declared. 'I want someone to play football with.'

  'Girls play as well, Tom,' Anna pointed out.

  'Not very well, though,' he pointed out, in return.

  'Huh!' came from Lisa.

  Anna smiled. She was pleased her daughter didn't try to crush Tom with some weighty riposte. Relatively polite disagreement was a very welcome change.

  'When will the new people move in?' Lisa asked.

  Anna shook her head. 'Soon, I hope. It would be nice if it happened during the summer holidays, wouldn’t it?'

  'It depends,' Lisa said judiciously. 'We might not like them.'

  'Lisa! Of course we'll like them. We'll be good neighbours, too. Especially at first, they might need some help.'

  'I'll help,' Tom assured them both.

  'Thank you, Tom.'

  Lisa's eyes rolled towards the ceiling.

  *

  Anna didn't see a removal van arrive, but a couple of weeks later she did notice a small, white rental van in the front drive. A woman got out of the driver's door and entered the house. A man appeared briefly on the porch. The front door shut again.

  So they must have moved in, Anna thought. Good. Excellent, in fact! In a day or two she would go round and introduce herself, and see if they had everything they needed. There was always something missing or forgotten when you moved house, something not there when you needed it, or not where it ought to be. It happened.

  Fortunately, when they'd moved here, Bob had been in good health and he'd been his usual efficient, energetic self. He'd seen to almost everything. He'd done it very well, too, as he did most things before he became ill.

  She blinked away a surprise tear. More followed. She grimaced and smoothed them away with the back of her hand. Tears. They still came from nowhere, to take her by surprise and to torment her, even after three long years.

  At times she could still hear and see Bob. At times it was as if he'd just popped out for half an hour. But most of the time it wasn't. Not now. It was over. She knew, deep inside, finally, that she wouldn't see Bob again in this life.

  She ought to move house. Give herself a fresh start. The children, too. But she didn't know if she would ever be able to move again without Bob to take charge.

  Not that she really wanted to move anyway. Branton was a good place to live and to bring up children. She just wished Bob were still here to share it all with her.

  Chapter Two

  There were lights that evening in "Moorside". Not many, but one or two. Someone was home. Anna kept her eyes open but saw no-one. She didn't the next day either. It seemed strange. Disappointing, as well. Obviously, there were no children. Not yet, anyway. Strange, too, that she hadn't seen a big removal van. Just that small, white rental van. Perhaps it was to be a staged move? One person first. The rest, and their belongings, to follow.

  On the third day she walked round to "Moorside" to introduce herself. She rang the door-bell but no-one answered. Someone was home, though. She knew that. She could hear them, bumping and banging about. She tried again and waited a couple more minutes, with the same result. They must be preoccupied, she decided. Otherwise engaged. Perhaps even having a bath. Why not? It seemed odd, though, that the curtains on the bay window at the front of the house were closed. These houses faced north. It was at the back, facing south, where you sometimes needed blinds or closed curtains on a sunny day.

  She walked away. At the front gate she turned and glanced again at the house. Her eyes strayed to the bedroom windows. The curtains there were closed, too, but one swayed slightly, as if someone had moved it aside and then hurriedly let go.

  It's none of my business, she told herself sternly, as she walked back to her own house. I really don't want to seem nosy. All the same, it's a bit odd.

  *

  'Did you meet them, Mum?' Lisa asked when she got home.

  'No, I didn't. I went round but I don't think they're up yet. They must be worn out by the upheaval of moving.'

  Lisa shrugged. 'They can't have children, can they?' she said, making clear what really mattered. 'Children wouldn't still be in bed.'

  Anna smiled. 'Probably not, no. Not unless they're children very different to you and Tom.'

  Lisa was right, she thought. Children would be up and about. And people with children couldn't possibly be in bed in the middle of the day, their curtains still closed. That wouldn't work.

  She asked Mrs. Matthews in the post office what she knew of the new people.

  'Nothing.' Mrs. Matthews shook her head. Then she consulted a card and added, 'It's a Mr. Ferguson, apparently, according to this change-of-address card. But that's all I know.'

  'It doesn't say where they've come from, or anything else about them?'

  'Not even that. Just the name. There's nothing else on the card.'

  'Oh, well,' Anna said with a sigh. 'No doubt I'll meet them eventually.'
/>   'You've not seen anything of them?'

  'Just the first day I caught a brief glimpse of a woman going inside, and a man ahead of her. But nothing since. I've been round a couple of times but no-one answered the door.'

  'They must have been out.'

  'Probably,' Anna agreed, though she didn't think so. 'Well, I must be off. Tom will be wondering where his next meal's coming from.'

  'I'll let you know when I hear something, Anna.'

  'Oh, don't worry! I'll meet them eventually.'

  'It'll be a surprise if you don't,' Mrs. Matthews said with a chuckle. 'In a place this size.'

  By then, though, Anna was beginning to wonder. But she tried to put the growing unease out of her mind as she made her way home.

  *

  'Are you two still in the house, on a beautiful day like this?' she demanded when she reached home. 'Saturday, as well? What on earth are you doing?'

  'Playing,' Tom said grumpily.

  'I can see that. But why don't you play in the garden? Lisa, don't you want to be outside in the fresh air?'

  'Not really.'

  Anna shook her head and went into the kitchen to unload the shopping. They were in a funny mood, the pair of them. She didn't know what had got into them.

  Oh, well. She would do a bit around the house, and then they could all go out for a walk in the afternoon. Down to the river, maybe. Somewhere not far, anyway.

  Her eyes fell wistfully on the corner of the garage she could see from the kitchen window. She thought of the car sitting there, unused since Bob had had to give up driving. She should sell it. Realistically, that's what she should do. It was only deteriorating and losing value, sitting there.

  No! she said to herself defiantly. One of these days she was going to learn to drive. Then watch out! She would be away to the supermarket in the town with the best of them. Maybe a part-time job, as well. She could think of that now Tom was in school.

  Bob had been going to teach her to drive. In fact, he'd already started. Shown her the basics. Then advice from friends had suggested it might be better, quicker and easier, to take proper lessons before she developed bad driving habits.

  That had made sense but the proper driving lessons had never started. She and Bob had been overtaken by events. Life had happened to them while they were busy making plans, as somebody famous had once said. John Lennon? Was that who it was? She rather thought so.

  'Mum! Mum, tell Tom to stop it!'

  'Stop it, Tom,' she said automatically, as she began transferring perishables from bag to fridge.

  'I'm not doing anything!' Tom wailed.

  'You are so!'

  'Well, whatever it is, Tom,' Anna decreed, 'you must stop it now.'

  She found herself hoping this little exchange wasn't how they meant to go on for the whole of the holidays. It would be a long six weeks, if it was.

  'Did you get any chocolate, Mum?' Tom asked hopefully from somewhere nearby.

  'Hello, darling!' She looked round and smiled. 'Just a little bit. She held up a small mini-bar for him to see. 'You can have one this afternoon, when we go for our walk.'

  His face lit up. She leaned down to kiss and hug him.

  'Is Lisa going with us?' he asked.

  'On our walk? Of course she is.'

  'I don't want Lisa to go.'

  He was clinging to her now. She had to stop what she was doing. She couldn't push him away and carry on. She just couldn't. There were only the three of them now, and each other was all they had.

  'You don't mean that, Tom. I know you don't.'

  'Lisa's been mean to me.'

  'Well, I'm sure she won't be any more.'

  Tom sniffed his doubts.

  'Why?' she said. 'What were you two doing while I was out?'

  'We were in the garden,' he said, 'and The Secret Wood.'

  '"The Secret Wood"? Where's that?'

  'You know. Where nobody goes.'

  She was uneasy now, and wondering what he meant. She sat down, put him on her lap and hugged him. He felt hot. He clung to her harder than ever. It wasn't like him. Not at all.

  'Oh dear, Tom. What have you two been up to?' she murmured, sensing something out of the ordinary.

  'The man,' Tom said slowly.

  She looked at him.

  'The man shouted at us. Lisa said it was my fault, 'cos I wasn't quiet enough. She's been mean to me. I don't want her to go with us for a walk,' he added tearfully.

  Anna didn't like what she was hearing, not one little bit. But she had an idea now where they'd been.

  'Lisa?'

  Lisa was subdued and defiant, stubbornly so, but she admitted they had indeed been in the wood at the bottom of the garden next door. But there was nothing terribly unusual about that. Anna knew it had sometimes been their playground.

  'Tom says someone shouted at you?'

  Lisa twitched and stretched.

  'Is that true?' Anna persisted.

  Lisa nodded. 'A man,' she said.

  'What man?'

  'Next door.'

  'One of the new people?'

  'Yes.'

  'Did you see him?'

  Lisa shook her head. 'He just shouted and told us to get out. It was Tom's fault,' she added bitterly. 'He's such a baby!'

  'I'm not a baby!' Tom protested. 'Am I, Mummy?'

  'Of course you're not.'

  Anna thought fast. She didn't like what she'd heard. But she had to be careful what she said to the children. She didn't want to frighten them.

  'Best to keep out of there, Lisa. It is private property, after all.'

  'The Rutherfords never minded.'

  'No, but people are different.'

  'We've got nowhere to play!' Lisa said bitterly.

  'Stay in our garden, darling. Just play here for now.'

  It was as if a cloud had blocked the sun from their lives. They didn't need that, Anna thought miserably. She just hoped the problem was no more than it seemed. Face it! she told herself firmly. The newcomers had every right not to want children they didn't know playing on their land.

  'What was the man like, by the way?'

  Lisa shrugged.

  'Don't you know?'

  'I told you. We didn't see him.'

  'You just heard him?'

  Lisa nodded. Then she yawned, affecting indifference.

  But the fact they hadn't seen the man made the incident seem worse to Anna somehow. Sinister, almost.

  She shouldn't have left them alone, she decided. And she wouldn't again. She would just have to drag them up and down the hill with her every time she went shopping.

  Chapter Three

  Anna's house, "Heather View", was the last house you came across on the long climb out of the village centre. "Moorside" was close by, but the next house was a good fifty yards further down the hill. And there were no houses at all on the opposite side of the road. In any case, the people Anna knew best all lived in the centre of the village, down in the valley. So sometimes she felt isolated. And now she was uneasy, worried even.

  She fretted another couple of days. Then she called in at the post office to ask Mrs. Matthews if she'd heard anything more about the new people next door.

  'The new person, you mean.'

  Anna stared at her, uncomprehending.

  Mrs. Matthews shrugged. 'You do have a new neighbour, Anna. But it's not a family. It's one man.'

  'A man? On his own?'

  Mrs. Matthews nodded. 'But I still don't know anything about him yet. Just his name.'

  Anna didn't stay long after that. She hurried home. It would be all right, she told herself. Everything would be perfectly all right. Really there was no need at all to worry.

  *

  She was a long time getting to sleep that night. It was one of those nights when sleep just wouldn't come, however desperately she sought it. She dozed intermittently. Sometimes she watched in terror, unable to help, as something monstrous but unseen pursued her children with unspeakably evil inte
nt. There were floods, too, vast walls of water threatening to engulf her little house and everyone within it. And bombs. In between these dreadful episodes she lay, increasingly restless, waiting for sleep to take her, as it did eventually for a time.

  It was just gone three when she came to the surface, fully awake, on edge. Something had disturbed her. Something was wrong. She lay still, listening hard. For a moment she heard nothing. Then she heard a clattering noise. Outside. It started. It died. A gruff voice seemed to protest.

  Alarmed, she threw back the covers and swung her feet to the floor. She stood up and crossed quickly to the window. Heart racing, she cautiously moved the curtains aside and peered out.

  There was a light in the garden next door, behind the big hedge between the houses. It seemed to shine upwards from the ground. Perhaps from a heavy-duty torch or a lantern. Anna bit her lip. It was the middle of the night. What on earth was going on? Burglars? A break-in? Not with so much noise and light, surely?

  Then, as she watched, the outside light on the wall of the neighbouring house came on. She heard a door bang. Someone kicked or flung something metallic. A voice again, angry sounding. Her mysterious neighbour? She shivered.

  A smaller light, definitely a hand torch, moved down the garden. Anna watched, mesmerised. The light came towards a gap in the hedge. Whoever was holding it seemed to place it on the ground. She saw vague movement and she heard several thuds. She reached for the portable phone and waited, poised to dial the emergency number.

  But whoever was there did not come into her garden. Even so, she remained on guard. After half an hour or so, the lights moved back towards the house and disappeared. She heard the sound of a door slamming shut. The external light went out. She waited, but nothing more happened that night.

  The next morning, early, Anna opened the back door and stepped out into the garden. For once, she was up before the children. She felt exhausted. But memories of events in the night were fresh, and she needed to know what had been going on.

  Part of it was soon clear. Where a gap in the hedge had been there was now a barrier of timber and wire, a roughly constructed section of fence. The children would not be using that route to "The Secret Wood" any more.