Page 15 of The Forgotten Boy

She realized that Joshua had stopped talking—probably some time ago, judging by his quizzical expression—and she shook her head as though waking herself up. “Sorry. Look, I don’t think you’re necessarily wrong that these passageways could be tempting to schoolboys if discovered. And dangerous. We should keep an eye on that.”

He had tidied his various map sketches into a neat, squared-off pile that he set on her desk. “Don’t worry. Weston won’t be the only one patrolling tonight. I’ll be on the lookout for any mischief-makers.” He hesitated, then asked, “Your door does lock, doesn’t it?”

“It does, but look … I didn’t mean to set the cat among the pigeons like this. It’s disconcerting, but hardly terrifying. As you say, the standard for horror is extremely high after France.”

“You could move out of the old wing. A little closer to Mrs. Willis, perhaps.”

Just the thought of leaving her private aerie with its wide-open views and silent solitude made Diana’s skin crawl. Not that she wouldn’t be private enough in the main house—Havencross was hardly lacking for space—but logic had little to do with it. She felt safest where she could see the farthest.

“And let whoever it is know that they’ve succeeded in frightening me?” she said with a laugh. “That would hardly do my authority any good. Don’t worry about me. As long as the knocking is on the other side of the door, I’ll be just fine.”

She should really have known better than to say such things.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

DIANA

OCTOBER 1918

One might have expected that all the odd happenings would have affected Diana’s ability to sleep. But she hadn’t been in France for a week before she’d mastered the ability to sleep whenever and wherever she had the chance. And Havencross had lived up to the first part of its name—since her arrival, she had slept more deeply than she had since childhood, secure in this northern haven. Which made being dragged awake in the middle of the night even more disconcerting.

This evening, though, it wasn’t a sound that woke her but the cold. Swimming up from a dream of Joshua making her ride a horse, Diana realized that her grandmother’s wedding-ring quilt had slid to the floor. She leaned over, hoping to snag it with her hand without having to leave the bed, and with sudden swiftness the remaining blankets and sheet were pulled off her.

She shot off the bed without thinking, then jumped back on the mattress in case someone grabbed her like they had done with the blankets. But who?

“Who’s there?” she asked, even as she switched on the bedside lamp. To reveal an empty room.

Of course it was empty. She had locked her door, after all.

She stood on her bed, breathing harder than she liked, and said aloud, “This is ridiculous!”

It gave her the courage to climb down, grab her wooly dressing gown and slippers, unlock her door, and march to the dormitory wing as though fully confident of receiving answers.

“Miss Neville.”

Damn it. Of course the first person she’d run into would be Luther Weston, managing to make even his torchlight insolent as he moved it up and down her body.

“If it’s Murray you’re looking for—” he drawled.

“Has anyone been out of bed?”

“Besides you?”

Before she could well and truly lose her temper, someone switched on the corridor lights. Diana turned to address the newcomer and saw Joshua, with his hand resting on a young boy’s shoulder. A very young boy. Austin Willis, Beth’s nine-year-old son, had the scrunched-up face of a child trying not to show fear. Beneath the weight of Joshua’s hand he was trembling.

“Hello, Austin,” she said, modulating her voice into the trademark nurse’s mix of kindness and brisk practicality. “Are you feeling ill?”

“No, miss. That is—”

“What are you doing out of bed?” barked Weston.

“More to the point,” Joshua barked back, “how did you miss the boy being out of bed?”

“The dormitories aren’t your responsibility, Murray. You shouldn’t be here.”

“It’s a good thing I was, or who knows where young Willis might have wandered off to.”

Diana had zero patience for aggression between territorial males. She extended her hand to Austin Willis. “Come with me to the infirmary. I’ll just make sure everything’s fit.”

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