Page 74 of The House Swap

‘He had something in his hand. It looked like a knife.’

‘Sue said he had a corkscrew. That he wanted you to pick the wine for dessert.’

She had told Jem that? It all sounded very convenient.

But what if it was true? She hadn’t actually seen a knife. She had just assumed it was one. Either that or a pair of handcuffs. All she had seen was the glint of silver.

‘Okay, look at it this way. If Sue and Ian had bad intentions, why didn’t they come after you, instead of calling me?’

Poppy stared at the floor, twisting her fingers together.

‘And,’ Jem continued, sounding far too reasonable, ‘why pick tonight? I knew where you were. I was supposed to go to dinner too, remember? If you had suddenly disappeared, Sue and Ian would be the first suspects.’

She hadn’t thought of it like that and didn’t like that his argument was making too much sense.

‘They must have thought I was insane,’ she said quietly, realising that she had perhaps overreacted.

‘You’re not insane, Poppy. You were scared. There’s a big difference.’

Something about the calm certainty in his voice helped loosen the knot in her chest, and for a moment she allowed herself to lean into the relief of not being alone.

But eventually Jem stood, glancing towards the front window.

‘I should let you get some sleep,’ he said. ‘It’s been a long night.’

Oh God. She had forgotten he’d had to drive to Heraklion to meet the accountant.

‘I never asked you how things went,’ she said now. ‘Did you get the paperwork signed?’

Jem smiled tightly. ‘Yeah, it’s all good.’

She walked him to the door.

‘Thank you for coming,’ she said quietly.

He paused on the step outside, reaching out to give her arm a reassuring squeeze.

‘Call me if you need anything, okay? Even if it’s just because the place feels too quiet. I don’t mind.’

‘I will.’

He studied her for a moment longer, then gave a small nod and headed back towards his car.

Poppy watched as he opened and shut the gate, waiting for the familiar click of the latch, before closing the door. She checked the locks twice before turning off the lights and heading to bed. But, despite how tired she was, sleep didn’t come easily. Her mind replayed the evening in fragments, and each time she closed her eyes, the images shifted slightly, details rearranging themselves in ways that made her question what she had seen.

She had no idea what to believe. Either the Pritchards were dangerous and had hidden their true intentions from Jem or she was turning into a paranoid mess. Neither scenario was comforting.

And a sharp thought hit her – if something actually happened, who would even notice? Keira wasn’t answering and Tom was back in England. She had Jem, but they didn’t know each other that well. And he had his own distractions. She truly was alone out here.

Eventually, exhaustion won and when she woke the next morning, the sunlight filtering through the curtains was bright and sharp. As the events of the previous night came back to her, a dull ache pulsed at the base of her skull.

In the cold light of day, she was beginning to doubt her version of things. Not enough that she would trust being alone with Sue and Ian again, but the hot wave of embarrassment that flushed her cheeks as she remembered running from their house sickened her.

If she was wrong, she had made a complete fool of herself.

She rolled over onto her side and reached for her phone. Still nothing from Keira – and the silence continued to worry her gut.

Fortunately, nothing else from Sue either.