“This is it,” Myles breathed, his gun cocked in readiness.
Myles remained cautious as they climbed them. He pushed the door at the top of the stairs expecting it to be closed. It wasn’t. It squeaked in protest a bit but opened to allow them into a tiny room no bigger than four feet square. On the opposite side of that was a door: a door he knew immediately that would bring them out into the back of the old boot room just to the side of the orangery. He had always assumed it was a storage room used by the gardeners. With no reason to venture near the boot room before, he had never been close enough to investigate it thoroughly and so had never seen the steps or ventured down them. Strangely, none of the gardeners had mentioned it to him either.
That was something he made a mental note to ask them about later.
“Where are we?” Estelle whispered in a tremulous voice as she studied the small square space.
“At the old orangery,” he replied. “My father built a new one on the other side of the property several years back because it has better sunlight. This has been used as storage by the gardeners.”
“There is a lot of this place used for storage,” she grumbled.
Myles had to concede that she had a point, and sighed. Rather than enter into that particular debate right now he studied each of the buildings. Paying close attention to the darkened doorways that marked the entrances to a store room, a small conservatory, a seed room, and a boot room, he scoured each shadow. Eventually, his gaze rested on the gate at the far end of the walled garden.
“Where does that lead?” she whispered when she saw the direction of his gaze.
“It is a back cart road that goes straight to the village. It also leads right past the Whispering Woods.” Myles looked at her when she jerked. “We aren’t going into them.”
As if to confirm his promise, the wind picked up its pace and began to howl around them. The trees shook a stern warning, the leaves of the branches hissing menacingly as they were tousled by the stormy winds. While it wasn’t raining yet, the darkened storm clouds hovering above promised a deluge at any moment. Myles knew it was foolish to get caught out in the rain. He had no idea if the tunnel would flood. Even if it didn’t, it was cold and dank in there and not the kind of place to walk whilst soaking wet – not unless one had an inclination to catch a heavy case of influenza.
To her horror, while studying those swaying branches her attention was drawn by a flurry of movement in black at the far gate.
“Myles,” she gasped. Her eyes widened when she saw the now familiar cloaked figure burst out of a doorway and race for the cart road.
Myles suddenly released her hand and raced after it.
“Keep up,” he shouted to her, before he tore after the killer once more.
With a heavy sigh, Estelle lifted her skirts and followed him. Her annoyance grew when it was evident he was going to go against his word and venture into the Whispering Woods. It was clear that his pursuit of the killer would not be thwarted by the woods. His step didn’t even falter as he raced through the trees – and promptly disappeared.
“Myles!” Estelle cried. She turned in a circle and realised she could no longer see him. Panic began to build instantly. Her heart thundered heavily. Her eyes grew wide with fear.
When she had been alone in the woods before she hadn’t been able to envisage anything worse than the situation she was in. Now she understood just how wrong she had been. Worse than being in these woods alone was having lost Myles in the woods. Not only that, but there was a killer circling around them somewhere; and he could emerge in front of her at any moment.
“Myles, please don’t leave me,” she whispered pitifully.
She struggled to contain her tears as she stared at the rustling leaves on the heavy branches. They brought forth so many horrible memories that she wasn’t sure she could carry on. It was galling to realise she had stupidly put herself in this situation once more, even for Myles. She had charged after him, through a densely populated forest, with no way of being able to retrace her steps back out of it, just because he had asked her to. Of course she wouldn’t be able to keep up with him, he had longer legs than she had and was armed with a weapon. Not only that, but he had grown up in and around these parts and could most probably find his way out of the woods whenever he chose.
“Stupid, stupid, mistake,” she murmured. “Myles!”
“Here,” Myles called when he heard her faint cry. He frowned as he studied the trees. He was sure he had heard something move. Rather than head toward Estelle, and most probably have the killer follow him, he remained where he was, watchful and wary, and with one hand clenched tightly on his gun.
Suddenly, a flicker of movement to his left caught his eye. His gaze locked onto the small figure scurrying away. He knew immediately that it wasn’t the figure he had just chased into the woods. That person had been taller, and wirier, although difficult to identify from the high hood of the large cloak they had worn. This second person was a woman; an old lady from the look of the grey hair pulled tightly away from her haggard face, and confined in a tight bun at the base of her neck. Rather than call out to her, Myles followed. When he heard Estelle’s cry again, he knew the woman was heading toward her, and cocked his pistol in case the woman meant Estelle any harm. Rather than answer back and alert the older woman to his presence, Myles followed the old woman through the trees. To his disbelief, she suddenly surged forward and disappeared into a heavy thicket of bushes and branc
hes, and promptly vanished.
“Damn it,” he whispered in disgust.
“Myles?” Estelle’s heart began to beat faster when she heard that blistering curse. “Is that you?”
“I am here,” he murmured. “Stay still, I think I am following you around. Just keep talking to me and I will follow the sound of your voice.”
He knew he wasn’t far away. When she began to explain that she got lost, he headed toward her, shocked to realise he was only six feet away.
Even though Myles had told her he was coming toward her, she still had to stifle her scream when he stepped through the branches. Without thought, she hurled herself at him and clung to his neck.
“I thought I had lost you,” she whispered, her voice as shaken as the rest of her.
“It’s alright,” Myles soothed, hugging her tightly. “I won’t rush off again. I am sorry, Estelle. I didn’t realise the trees were this thick. This is ridiculous.”