Page 102 of The Psychopath Next Door

‘There’s going to be a storm,’ Rose said, out of nowhere.

‘Are you sure?’ asked Emma, gesturing out the window at the blue sky. The fluffy white clouds. ‘It’s a lovely day.’

‘I’m sure. I can feel it.’ A pause. ‘Can I use your phone to take a photo? You know the camera on mine is rubbish.’

‘Sure.’ Emma passed her phone to Rose. This, Fiona was confident, was where Rose would do what they’d arranged earlier, and delete herself and her mum from the tracking app the Dove family used.We don’t want your dad turning up during our outing, spoiling everything, she’d explained.

While Rose took some photos of the sky and did what they’d arranged, the satnav instructed them to take the next left, andEmma turned off, driving through a small village with narrow streets that was dominated by a huge church. Fiona spotted a black dog sitting alone in the churchyard, watching them as they went by.

Soon, they found themselves driving past fields full of cows, most of them lying down, which made Rose say, ‘I told you,’ although the sky was still clear and blue.

‘You’re going to have to direct me now,’ Emma said, because Fiona hadn’t been able to give the exact address. ‘Do you know how to find it?’

‘Of course. Take a right here.’

They drove up a lane that was only wide enough for a single vehicle, with farmland on either side, one containing more resting cows and the other lying fallow. The lane curved around blind corners, with mirrors in place to avoid collisions.

‘You’re actually a good driver,’ she heard herself saying as they continued along the lane.

Emma laughed. ‘Er ... thanks. Did you think I wouldn’t be?’

‘Oh. No, I just think I heard Ethan say something about your driving once.’

‘What? Really? That’s a bloody cheek. Though I guess it’s from when we had our Land Rover. It had really awkward gears – there was something wrong with the transmission – so I was always stalling it coming out of neutral into first. But he did too. We only had that stupid car for a couple of months.’

A couple of months. A faulty transmission.Such bad luck.Somehow, this made it even worse. They had known the vehicle was faulty, yet still chose to drive around in it without caring about how much inconvenience, disruption or – in Fiona and Maisie’s case – life-changing catastrophe they caused.

‘We’re almost there. You’ll reach a crossroads in a minute. Go right.’

The crossroads appeared. A faded wooden sign pointed in three directions, the kind of place where one might do a deal with the Devil. Straight ahead and right would take you to a pair of hamlets. The left pointer was markedRavenhill 1m.

‘Ravenhill?’ Emma said. ‘Is that the name of the nearest village?’

Fiona made a non-committal noise, not wanting to spoil the surprise. She genuinely wanted Emma to see the place that she had fantasised about so much. Mostly, though, she wanted Rose to see it. Rose who, she knew, was still itching to hear the answer to her question from last night. Because Fiona had promised to reveal all on this trip.

It was going to be such a surprise.

And then they were driving into the woods, all the trees with their leaves in their finest green splendour. To Fiona, it was like entering a fairy tale, one in which she was sometimes the princess, sometimes the wicked queen. A place of poison apples and hidden treasure; of beasts and beauty. The road narrowed even further until it was little more than a track, foliage crowding in on either side, and Fiona said, ‘Pull up here. We’ll have to go the rest of the way on foot.’

Emma stopped the car and turned her head. ‘You’re joking.’

‘No. It’s overgrown and not suitable for cars at the moment.’ She opened the back door. ‘Come on. You’re going to love it.’

Rose opened her door at the same time and got out, standing beneath the trees and looking around. Fiona wondered if she could feel it too – the charge that hung in the air here, the dark energy. It caressed her, like fingertips stroking her skin and making all the tiny hairs stand on end.

Emma sat behind the wheel for a few more seconds, shaking her head, then got out. She looked at Fiona like this was a strange practical joke of which Emma was the victim.

‘The place you wanted to show me ishere? You said it was your dream home.’

‘Oh, it is,’ said Fiona. ‘Follow me and I’ll show you. Amazing here, isn’t it?’

She pushed aside a low-hanging branch, ducking beneath it so she could follow the path, with Rose and Emma behind her.

‘Amazing?’ Emma sounded incredulous. ‘It’s creepy AF. Also, you could have warned me. I’m not wearing the right kind of shoes.’

Fiona looked back and down at Emma’s Converse. ‘They’re fine. The ground is dry.’

‘I think Rose is right, though,’ Emma said. ‘It’s going to rain.’

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