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‘Like some kind of argument. Like one of them owed money to the other.’

‘Are you sure?’ he asked.

‘Yes. I’m not just making this up.’

‘Oh,’ he said. ‘Do you want me to go and have a look?’

He was a big, broad-shouldered man, but Kelly had no idea how dangerous the two men she had overheard might be. Or indeed whether they had been dangerous at all.

The more time that passed since her encounter, the more she found herself doubting what she had heard.

Five minutes ago, she had been absolutely certain.

Now she started to wonder whether perhaps the strain of the climb had made her mind play tricks on her. Perhaps they hadn’t been talking the way she thought they had been talking. Perhaps they hadn’t chased her at all.

And the last thing she wanted was for Edward to march into the woods and confront two innocent hikers.

‘It’s all right,’ she said. ‘I think I was probably mistaken. Maybe what I heard wasn’t what I thought I heard.’

‘I don’t mind going to have a look,’ Edward said. ‘You look pretty shaken up. You must have seen or heard something.’

Then he frowned. ‘Why were you going up there at this time of night anyway? It’s dangerous on that hill. The ground isn’t very stable. In the dark you could easily lose your footing or twist your ankle. There have been instances of people breaking their legs.’

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I’d hoped to get there in daylight. But I got lost again.’

‘Let me walk you back down to the village,’ Edward said.

He rested a hand on her shoulder, and she immediately felt better.

At that exact moment, the last remnants of the setting sun broke through a gap in the clouds on the horizon, illuminating his face with a golden glow, as though he were some kind of Greek god reborn.

And while she couldn’t know what the same light was doing to her, his eyes held hers for a moment, and he cocked his head slightly, like an interested bird.

For a few long seconds, they stared into each other’s eyes, and Kelly found herself not wanting to look away.

Then the sun slipped behind another cloud bank. The light faded, and so too did that sudden moment of excitement.

‘Come on,’ Edward said. ‘Let’s get going while we can still see.’ He hesitated before continuing. ‘I’ve told you this before, but I really think it might be a good idea for you to leave Briar Speckles as soon as possible. As I’ve said, there are a few people around here who don’t quite have the same grasp on reality as you and me. And there are things that have happened in the past that this village isn’t proud of.’ He looked at her. ‘And I would very much not want another one of those incidents to happen to you.’

17

On the Trail of History

By the time Kelly had reached the Howling Gail Inn, assisted by Edward, who had walked her all the way to the door but, for reasons he didn’t seem keen to express, didn’t want to come inside, she’d calmed down a little. However, she was beginning to wonder if the village and its assortment of spooks—some possibly real, some certainly imagined—was beginning to get to her.

She went up to her room, freshened up, and then sat down at the little desk to make a checklist of things she wanted to do.

She started writing the word Edward before she realised what she was doing, then hurriedly scribbled it out and instead wrote:

Ask Ambrose about the cave. Try to find out if anyone else has ever seen, or thinks they’ve seen, the bones.

Next, she wrote:

Wander around the village. Talk to as many people as possible and see if I can recognise those voices from the hill.

Beneath that, she wrote:

Finally visit the Hanging Tree and go to the village museum.