The Stranger Next Door (2 page)

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 intent. 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.

She made her way thoughtfully back to the kitchen. As she climbed the steps leading from the lawn to the patio at the rear of the house, she glanced across at "Moorside". For a moment, she felt someone was watching her from an upstairs window. Someone was stood well back from the window, but they were watching her. She was sure of it.

*

She took the children down to see family friends, the Shepherds, in the village later that morning. Lisa and Tom were eager to go, and for Anna, too, the visit made a welcome break.

Derek Shepherd opened the door. 'Well, look who's here!' he boomed cheerfully. 'The Barbarian Hordes in person. Come in, come in!'

'Thank you – I think!' Anna smiled. 'On holiday, Derek? I didn't expect to see you here. I hope we're not intruding?'

'Or you wouldn't have come? I know, I know! I'm not your favourite man, am I?'

'Oh, Derek! Don't be so silly.'

She reached up to kiss him on the cheek. He hugged her in return.

Meanwhile, Lisa and Tom had charged into the house, looking for the Shepherds' two boys, David and Peter.

'Where's Pippa?' Anna asked as Derek led her through to the kitchen.

'She's just popped out to the shop. She'll not be a minute.'

'Derek, you've not planned a family day out, have you? Is that why you're not at work? I wouldn't have dropped in ….'

'Nonsense! You're always welcome here, Anna. You and the kids. You should know that.'

'You have, haven't you? You've planned a day out?'

'Only to the beach. Now you lot can come, as well.'

'Oh, we couldn't ….'

'You could, and you can,' he said firmly. 'As soon as Pippa's back from the shop, we'll get organised. You can help her make sandwiches. I'll fill a flask.'

She grimaced. She felt her face twisting with embarrassment. She hated to be a burden, or a gatecrasher.

'You do know, don't you?' Derek said anxiously.

'Know what?' she asked with alarm.

'How to make sandwiches? I'm sure Pippa won't mind showing you if you don't. In fact, I could show you myself if I wasn't going to be so busy boiling the kettle and filling the flask.'

She smiled, reluctantly.

'At last!' Derek said thankfully. 'A smile. Halleluja!'

The Shepherds were old friends of Anna's and her late husband's. They knew Anna well, and had been a great help in the turmoil of Bob's illness and in the months afterwards. So it wasn't easy to hold them at bay.

'Is anything wrong, Anna?' Pippa asked, as they sat together on the beach, watching Derek at a safe distance being covered with sand by the children.

'Wrong? No.'

'You're feeling OK?'

Anna nodded.

'Managing all right?'

'Oh, Pippa! Stop it. I'm perfectly all right, thank you. Nothing's wrong.'

'So what's wrong?'

Anna glared at her friend. Pippa shrugged and smiled. Anna shook her head with exasperation and reluctantly began to smile, and then to laugh. She couldn't help it.

'You're terrible! Pippa, you really are impossible at times.'

'I know. Derek says the same thing. You can't both be wrong.'

Anna debated saying anything at all. She didn't want to seem hysterical. She didn't want to lean on her friends more than she needed to either. One day she might really need them. She didn't want to have exhausted her credit with them when that day came. All the same ….

'I've got a new neighbour,' she said.

'Someone's moved into the Rutherfords' old house?'

Anna nodded.

'That's good, isn't it?'

'I'm not so sure.'

'Oh?'

'I was looking forward to new people moving in. We all were. The children were hoping there would be new children to play with, and I just wanted someone living there again.'

'Of course. I know I would hate having an empty house next to me all that time. So?'

'But it's not a family that's moved in. It's not even a couple. It's just one man, and a very strange one at that.'

'Oh? Retired, is he? Elderly? They can be very strange, you know, people who've been living alone for a long time. Take my father!'

'There's nothing wrong with your father, Pippa.'

'Not much! He's impossible. How Mum put up with him all those years I'll never know.'

'I don't know anything about this new man,' Anna said, refusing to be deflected for long. She looked up and shrugged. 'I've never even seen him. He's been there three weeks and I've not seen him. Mrs. Matthews told me his name, but that's all I know. And he doesn't answer the door to anyone.'

'How strange.'

'Isn't it?'

'Perhaps he hasn't really moved in yet? Is he away all the time?'

Anna shook her head. 'I'm uncomfortable about it, Pippa. I don't want to pry, or invade anyone's privacy, but I'm not happy about the situation. I really don't know who I've got living next to me. He could be a criminal – a drug dealer even, or worse!'

Pippa laughed. 'I don't think so. Not in Branton.'

'It's all right you laughing! The thing is I know he's there, even if he doesn't answer the door. There's no sign of him during the day, apart from the fact that sometimes I feel – I know! – I'm being watched. But he's in the garden during the night. I don't sleep well. I wake up a lot. And I see lights in his garden, and hear him doing things.'

'What sort of things?'

'Things!' Anna shrugged. 'I don't really know. Except one night he made a fence to plug the gap in the hedge the children have always used to go to the wood.'

'At night? That's odd.'

'It's worse than odd, Pippa. At times I'm really worried. At times I'm frightened. And the children are reluctant to play outside now. They're affected, too.'

*

When Derek returned from playing in the sea with the children Pippa brought him up to date with what Anna had told her.

'That's no way to go on,' he said, shaking his head. 'He must be a funny fellow.'

Anna agreed but in a way she wished she hadn't said anything. She didn't want them to think her feeble, afraid of shadows.

'I haven't heard anything about him,' Derek said. 'But I'll ask around. And maybe I'll call on him myself. That do?'

Anna nodded and smiled her thanks. She felt better already. Somehow the situation didn't seem such a problem now. They could enjoy the rest of the day.

Derek was as good as his word. But he got no further than Anna had.

'Couldn't get him to the door,' he complained ruefully, when he dropped in to report progress, a couple of days later.

'Strange, isn't it?'

'Very.'

'It's as if he has something to hide.'

'Well ….' Derek said judiciously. 'I didn't want to worry you, Anna, but I was thinking that myself. But I'm sure there's some simple explanation.'

'I hope so,' Anna said, although privately she doubted it.

'Perhaps he just wants to be left alone.'

Indeed that seemed to be the case, although the question why anyone would want that in a place like Branton was itself a puzzle. At the very least, it didn't bode well to have such a neighbour, not in a place where people depended on each other for all sorts of little things. More than ever, Anna wished the Rutherfords had never left. Giving them occasional help with the shopping and the garden no longer seemed a heavy price to pay for their unfailing kindness and courtesy.

'Give me a ring,' Derek instructed, 'if anything happens or you're worried. I'm only a couple of minutes away.'

Anna nodded. But she hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Chapter Four

A car drew up in the drive of "Moorside". Anna paused in mowing the lawn to watch. A woman, a middle-aged woman, got out and walked up to the front door. She let herself into the house. Anna blinked hard. Obviously the woman had a key. That was a surprise.

So there was a woman there, as well as a man? No. There couldn't be, surely? Mrs. Matthews would have known, unless the woman was just a companion or a friend.

Somehow, though, she couldn't see a man like the one next door having friends. Not the way he carried on. As for a partner …. Well, no again. No woman would live like that. Then there was the car. She hadn't seen that before.

So who was she?

Then it came to her that she had seen the woman before. Possibly. On the very first day there were signs of life next door she had seen a woman going into the house. Her memory of the woman was hard to recall in detail, but she was pretty sure it had been the same one. So who was she? It was a mystery.

She shrugged and got back to work. She was determined to finish the lawn in one go. Besides, what anyone did next door was none of her business. Mr. Ferguson, if that really was his name, could have as many visitors as he liked. He could give them all keys to the house, as well! She didn't care.

Except she did care, and it did matter. "Moorside" was next door to where she and her children lived. That made a difference, a huge difference.

Oh, why did it have to be like this?

Derek dropped by later. By then, the car next door had gone,.

'You've been busy in the garden, I see?' he said with approval. Derek was a keen gardener.

'Tidying up a bit. That's all. Mowing the meadow that we used to call a lawn. Will you have a cup of tea, Derek?'

'Yes, I will. Thanks.'

She led the way into the kitchen. Derek planted himself down at the big table. She smiled.

'What?' he said. 'What have I done?'

'Nothing!' she assured him, still smiling. 'It's just so nice to see a man sitting there again.'

'Am I in Bob's place? Sorry. I'll shift myself.'

'No, no! Stay exactly where you are.' She put a restraining hand on his shoulder. 'I meant it,' she added. 'It is nice.'

'Aye, well. It's been a difficult and lonely few years for you, hasn't it? I know that. You've done very well, Anna. The kids are grand, and you've kept the family home together. I admire you. We both do, and I'm sure we're not the only ones in the village who feel like that.'

'Thanks.'

She gave a wry smile and shrugged. She was pleased but a little embarrassed. There was no-one to give her little compliments these days. She wasn't used to them. She'd forgotten what they were like.

'How's Pippa?'

'Fine, thanks. She's away at her father's today. She said she was going to drag him to the supermarket in town, to make sure he's got enough food in the house. I wished her luck.'

Anna chuckled. She could imagine it wouldn't be straightforward. Pippa's father wasn't the easiest man in the world to tell what to do.'

'And you?' she asked.

'Oh, I'm all right. I would be a lot better if they would give me a decent budget to play with at work. I spend most of my time trying to save money and figuring out ways to make things do, instead of doing them properly.'

Derek was a highways engineer with the County Council His complaint about budget cuts, year after year, was a familiar gripe.

'Soon,' he added, 'there'll be more pothole than tarmac in some of our roads. Who'd live in a rural area, eh? They've got motorways they don't know what to do with in the towns, while out here we're heading back to Victorian times. Rough tracks and horses and carts before long, I shouldn't wonder.'

'There'll be less air pollution if that happens, Derek. It's not all bad.'

He laughed and shook his head. 'Have you ever stood behind a horse?'

'Not recently, no.'

'Don't! That's my advice. Now where's that tea?'

'Coming, sir! Coming.'

Over their cup of tea, Derek said, 'I finished the job early today. So I thought I'd drop in on your new neighbour again.'

'Oh? Are you going to?'

'I've been.'

'Really? What happened?'

'Nothing. Just like last time. No-one came to the door.'

'I've still not seen him either,' Anna said with disappointment. She'd hoped "Moorside"'s front door might have opened to a man.

'No sign of life at all,' Derek added, 'though some work's been done recently in the garden.'

'At night. That's when he does it.'

'So you said.' Derek shook his head and sighed. 'It's a funny situation, isn't it? The least bit of trouble, mind, you give me a ring, like I said. Any time. Day or night. I'll be up here in a couple of minutes. Don't bother ringing the police. It'll take them an hour or two to get here – if they can spare anyone.'

Anna felt worried now. 'It's not going to come to that, surely?'

'No.' Derek shook his head. 'I'm sure it isn't. I'd like to know who he is, though.'

'Me, too.'

'Well, don't worry. I tell you what I'll do. I'll get on to the estate agent who sold the house. See what they can tell me about the mystery buyer.'

'Would you? Oh, that's a good idea! Why didn't I think of that?'

'Someone must know something about him.' Derek said slowly. 'And that's one place to start. If I run into Eddy Rogers, I'll ask him if he can make some enquiries, as well. He might be only a Special Constable but he knows the community. There must be someone out there who knows who this man is.'

'There is, actually,' Anna said slowly. 'He had a woman visitor earlier today.'

'Oh? Did she get into the house?'

Anna nodded. 'She seemed to have her own key.'

'Did she now! Well, well. There you are, then. That sounds better. Perhaps it's a more normal situation than we were beginning to fear. Don't you worry any more.'

Anna smiled. 'Me? Worry?'

She felt a lot better after Derek's visit. She even began to wonder if her worrying might all have been unnecessary.

*

There was music that night, beautiful, haunting music. For perhaps half an hour a solitary violin whispered and sang through the gardens. For once, Anna didn't mind being kept awake by noise from next door. When it was over she fell asleep, and she slept till morning.

As she dressed, she glanced out of the bedroom window. She was just in time to see a now familiar car pull into the drive of "Moorside". The woman she had now seen several times got out.

Anna studied her. She looked to be in her mid-forties. Fifty, at the most. Slim. Short, fair hair. Dressed in fawn trousers and a casual red jacket. She was presentable enough, but not a jolly-looking woman. Definitely not a fun-loving, smiling sort of woman. She looked intense and serious. Too much so.

The woman walked round to the back of the car, a small hatchback, lifted the rear door and took out several plastic bags. She'd been supermarket shopping, from the look of it. So, Anna thought, she'd travelled a fair way.

The woman set off towards the front door of the house. Anna wondered if she would stay this time or if she was only visiting again.

*

'Mum, can I go and play with Katy today?' Lisa asked over breakfast.

'Yes, if she's in. Shall we phone to see?'

Katy was a friend Lisa didn't see a lot of, but clearly she had risen to the top of the list of desirable people to visit. Perhaps it was just to get away from home.

'I'll play with Katy, as well,' Tom announced.

'I don't think so,' Lisa said sharply. 'I really don't think so.'

'I will!' Tom insisted.

'Not today, Tom,' Anna intervened. 'We'll do something different. I don't know what yet, but we will. We'll walk Lisa down to Katy's, if she's in. Then you and I will think of something we can do.'

The school holiday might get to seem a long one this year, Anna thought. She was going to run out of ideas for amusement if she wasn't careful. Still, it was a nice problem to have, being with the children every day. At least it ought to be! she thought, a shade desperately.

Katy was at home that day. Even better, her mother was thrilled at the prospect of company for her. Anna smiled as the other woman explained her predicament.

'I can't get on with anything. The minute I start, Katy has a little tantrum or announces she's bored. She won't even play in the garden herself. So am I pleased Lisa wants to come!'

'We'll be there in twenty minutes,' Anna said with a chuckle. 'Can you hang on till then, Penny?'

'Just about, I think.'

After dropping Lisa off in the village, Anna took Tom for a little walk and for an ice-cream. She collected a few things she needed from the village shop. Then it was time for the long slog back up the hill. By then, Tom was worn out and fractious. So it was an exceedingly long haul.

Soon, Anna promised herself, I'm going to see about driving lessons. I really am. I'll scrape the money together somehow and do it. I need to get that car out of the garage and on to the road. Maybe I'll ask Derek to look at it first. See if it's roadworthy.

The woman visiting "Moorside" was opening her car door as they passed by the front gate.

'Good morning!' Anna called, seizing the moment, ready to introduce herself.

The woman glanced round, gave a curt reply and got into the car, slamming the door shut after her, ending all possibility of conversation.

Anna felt disappointed and humiliated at what was clearly a rebuff. She continued on to her own gate, dragging a weary Tom after her. By then, the woman had reversed her car through the gate and on to the road. She drove off without giving Anna and Tom another glance.