The Cottage Read online

  THE COTTAGE

  Lisa Stone

  Copyright

  Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

  1 London Bridge Street

  London SE1 9GF

  www.harpercollins.co.uk

  First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2021

  Copyright © Lisa Stone 2021

  Cover design by Caroline Young © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021

  Cover photographs © Stephen Mulcahey/Trevillion Images, Shutterstock.com (trees and sky)

  Lisa Stone asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

  Source ISBN: 9780008445973

  Ebook Edition © July 2021 ISBN: 9780008445980

  Version: 2021-05-10

  Dedication

  A big thank you to my readers for all your wonderful comments and reviews. They are much appreciated. Thank you to my editors, Kathryn and Holly, my literary agent, Andrew, and all the team at HarperCollins.

  Although this book is a work of fiction, incredibly the basis of the story is true

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  Chapter Seventy

  Chapter Seventy-One

  Chapter Seventy-Two

  Chapter Seventy-Three

  Chapter Seventy-Four

  Suggested topics for reading-group discussion

  Keep Reading …

  About the Author

  Books by Lisa Stone

  About the Publisher

  ONE

  There was something outside.

  Jan was sure of it. Just as she’d been sure the evening before.

  The living-room curtains were closed against the night sky, but on the other side of the window lay a small patio, and there was something lurking out there. She hadn’t seen or heard it, but the dog on her lap certainly had. Tinder had been asleep, then his ears had pricked up as he’d raised his head. He was now staring at the curtain and growling, his pupils enlarged to black orbs. His behaviour was unsettling her even more.

  Jan knew a dog’s heightened sense of smell and hearing gave it an advantage over humans, so Tinder could smell and hear things she could not. There was something out there and the dog knew – something alive, ominous and threatening.

  It had begun four nights ago. Jan had been sitting on the sofa in front of the television with Tinder on her lap, as they’d got into the habit of doing most nights. She stroked his soft, wavy fur and he slept peacefully. Then suddenly he was awake, on guard, making her start and a little bit afraid. Now it was happening again. There was just her and Tinder in the cottage, which was situated on the edge of Coleshaw Woods.

  With her senses tingling and not taking her eyes from Tinder, Jan picked up the remote control and muted the television. She listened, straining into the silence. But there was nothing: no noise in or outside the cottage. Outside the air was still; it was a chilly but calm autumn night. Tinder was still on guard, staring menacingly at the curtains, ready to attack if necessary.

  ‘It’s OK,’ Jan said quietly, stroking his back. ‘There’s nothing to be afraid of.’ She felt she’d said it more for her own benefit than the dog’s, although she wasn’t reassured any more than Tinder appeared to be.

  She continued to stroke his velvety fur, hoping he would return to sleep – he was only small, a lapdog, and if he settled then so would she, for it would mean that whatever was out there had gone and the danger had passed.

  She’d never thought of herself as a dog-lover before moving into Ivy Cottage, but Tinder had come with the cottage and she found him rather cute. He was a Bichon Frise cross and looked like a little teddy bear with his button nose and light-brown fur. He was part of the tenancy agreement, a welcome one as it had turned out, or Jan would have been lonely. She’d taken a six-month let on the cottage at a very low rent in exchange for looking after the cottage and Tinder while the owner, Camile, worked abroad.

  Jan had scarcely believed her good luck when the offer had arrived. It had come at exactly the right time and was just what she needed. She’d been made redundant from her job in retail management after a restructuring programme to save the company money. She’d started with them as a trainee on leaving college and had assumed it was a job for life, but she’d received one month’s notice with the other employees they were letting go. Then two days later her long-term boyfriend, Danny, whom she’d been living with for five years, had announced he wasn’t ready for commitment yet and asked her to move out.

  ‘It’s not your fault. I just need my own space,’ he’d said.

  ‘It took you long enough to figure that out!’ she’d s
napped, fighting back tears.

  Devastated, and with her life in ruins, Jan had packed and moved in temporarily with her parents, storing the boxes of her belongings in their garage. Thirty years old next year, with no job and having been heartlessly dumped, Jan was at an all-time low. But then, while searching jobs and accommodation on the Internet, she’d come across the advertisement for Ivy Cottage. It seemed like fate. As if it was meant to be. A ridiculously low rent and a complete change of scene. It would give her time to recharge her batteries and think about what she wanted to do next and with the rest of her life. She might even find the inspiration to start that book she’d been meaning to write.

  ‘Are you sure it’s what you want?’ her mother had asked anxiously when she’d told her of her plans. ‘The cottage sounds very isolated and you’ll be living there all alone.’

  ‘I’m sure, and I’ll have the dog to keep me company,’ Jan had replied with a reassuring smile.

  But it was at moments like this when she had doubts and thought her mother may have been right. Living on the edge of Coleshaw Woods was very different to living on the edge of a town or city. Here there were noises at night she wasn’t accustomed to, and then deafening silence – the like of which you never got in the town. The cottage creaked with its own sounds and sometimes the wind whistled through the woods as though the trees were talking, whispering between themselves.

  But she’d made the decision, signed the agreement, and wouldn’t let the owner down. By daylight the woods and countryside were very different – appealing. The air smelt fresher than in the town and the country walks she went on with Tinder were invigorating. She had the time alone she needed to take stock and consider her future, wherever that might be.

  It was when darkness fell that the atmosphere dramatically changed and she would have welcomed some company. But who was going to journey out here in winter? Her parents and friends worked, and it would mean them staying the weekend as it was too far for a day trip. She appreciated they had their own lives and commitments, and she didn’t want to sound needy. It was a pity the let had been for the winter months, she thought, with the nights closing in earlier and earlier. Now the end of October, it was dark by five o’clock, even earlier if it had been overcast. A summer let would have been far more attractive.

  Jan glanced at her phone. It was just gone eight o’clock, the same time it had happened the previous nights. But whatever was outside must have gone, for Tinder had lost interest. As she stroked him his eyes gradually closed and his head slowly relaxed, until it was resting on her leg again. She liked Tinder very much and she’d decided that when she left the cottage in five months’ time and found a place of her own to live, she would have a small dog or cat. Or was that a cliché – a singleton and her pet in a flat?

  Only Tinder’s ears remained alert, twitching every so often as if part of him was listening while the rest of his body slept. Jan had noticed this before – that when he was sleeping his ears seemed to stay awake. Was he actually listening, she wondered, or was it instinct left over from evolution? When dogs had been wolves, before a line had become domesticated. At a time when his ancestors had been wild and feral, catching prey, but also liable to be preyed upon by bigger predators. They’d had to remain alert even when sleeping if they weren’t to be eaten.

  ‘Tinder,’ she said softly, caressing the fur on his neck.

  A moment passed, then he was suddenly awake, head up and wide-eyed. Not from her voice but from whatever was outside again. A chill ran up her spine. It was back and Tinder’s hackles were rising. Her heart began to beat faster. He was staring at the curtain ready to attack. Without warning, he jumped from her lap onto the back of the sofa and, barking furiously, pawed the curtains to be let out.

  ‘Get down!’ Jan said, picking him up. He would damage the curtain.

  He struggled to be put down, then raced to the back door in the kitchen, where he began scuffing the floor in his frenzy to be let out. The same as he had the nights before when he’d heard something.

  ‘No. Bad boy,’ Jan said, going into the kitchen.

  The previous night he hadn’t come back for two hours and she’d been worried sick, thinking he was lost for good and she’d have to tell Camile. When he had come back he’d looked as though he’d learnt his lesson, and had been very pleased to see her, almost as if he’d had a nasty escape. But from what? A fox? Rats? A badger? Coming from the town, she had little idea.

  He was frantically pawing the door and still barking. Jan had no choice but to let him out if he wasn’t to do damage. As soon as she opened the back door he shot down the garden. It was a cold night with a faint crescent moon in a clear black sky. She could see Tinder at the very bottom of the garden, having chased something into the shrubbery. Something quite large that had quickly disappeared. Then he too disappeared, following it into the bushes that separated the garden from the woods.

  ‘Shit,’ Jan cursed. ‘Tinder, come back now!’ she shouted. ‘Tinder!’ But he’d gone. ‘Tinder!’

  Silence. She stood at the back door for a moment, listening, and then closed and locked it, hoping Tinder would return soon. She’d caught a glimpse of what was out there, a shadowy outline, before it had disappeared through the hedge. The previous nights she hadn’t seen a thing. It was bigger than a fox or badger, though, and not that shape. Perhaps there were animals living in the woods that as a townie she wasn’t familiar with.

  And yet …

  She shivered and moved away from the back door. In the second before it had disappeared, she could have sworn that instead of running on all fours as an animal would have done, it had stood on two legs as if human. Surely not.

  TWO

  But it wasn’t big enough to be a person, Jan thought as she stood by the heater in the kitchen trying to get warm. And something in the way it had moved, its agility, said it was an animal, although she hadn’t had much of a look. She needed to get a grip. Of course it would be an animal living in Coleshaw Woods. Pity she didn’t have Tinder’s fearlessness to follow it. She hoped he came back soon.

  Checking she’d locked the back door, Jan made herself a mug of tea, then fed the electricity meter that was in the cupboard under the stairs. It was an old-style coin-operated meter that required pound coins to keep the power on. Camile had left instructions on this and other matters connected with the running of the cottage, and also some coins to keep Jan going until she had her own supply, which was thoughtful. However, not in the habit of having to feed a meter and failing to realize how quickly some appliances devoured electricity, the day after she’d moved in she’d been showering when all the lights had gone off and the shower had stopped working. Naked, wet and unnerved, she had groped her way downstairs to the hall where a torch hung on a hook. She had gingerly followed the torch beam to the cupboard under the stairs and fed the meter. Now she checked it regularly to make sure it didn’t happen again. Being plunged into darkness had spooked her.

  Reassured the meter was topped up, Jan took her mug of tea into the living room, sat on the sofa and, listening out for Tinder’s return, opened her laptop. Thank goodness the cottage had Wi-Fi and a mobile signal. It came from the local village, Merryless, so named because it had once had a merry-go-round that had been removed after a tragic accident that had resulted in a child’s death. Apart from its sad history, the village was pretty but small, with a single grocery shop, a pub and a church. Although it was only a mile from the cottage, it felt much further away at night.

  While Jan waited anxiously for Tinder to return, she decided she should put the time to good use and try to identify what was coming into the garden at night and causing her so much unease. If it had a name it wouldn’t seem so menacing, she reasoned. Taking a sip of her tea, she typed Large animals found in UK woods into the search engine.

  Deer, badgers, beavers, foxes, wild boar in some areas was the result. And Scottish wildcat, but she wasn’t in Scotland.

  She tried again, narrowing the se
arch, and typed in: What large animals live in Coleshaw Woods?

  The result showed foxes and badgers and then lots of smaller animals – squirrels, mice, voles. These were far too small. What she’d seen was much bigger. Perhaps the animal wasn’t indigenous to these parts but had escaped from a zoo or private collection.

  She typed: What animals can walk upright? into the search engine. A page came up with photographs of primates walking on their back legs. Kangaroos, bears and some lizards, she also learnt, occasionally went biped. It certainly wasn’t a lizard or a kangaroo. She supposed it could have been a small bear or a monkey, or was she getting carried away? Surely they wouldn’t be able to survive in the woods? Unnerved and alone, her imagination was getting the better of her. Then a picture of a fox leaping over a fence appeared on the webpage and it looked familiar. As it stretched up into its leap, it was standing on its hind legs. Yes, of course. That was the most likely explanation. The dark shadow she’d seen was a leaping fox. If it came to the cottage again tomorrow, she’d be braver and go outside for a closer look.

  Jan closed the webpage and was about to reply to an email when something hard hit the window. She jumped. What the hell! With her heart thumping wildly, she scrambled off the sofa, away from the window, and stared at the curtains, petrified, waiting for another sound. Silence. Then she heard Tinder’s bark at the back door. Thank goodness. He was back. Had that noise been him? She rushed to let him in, then quickly closed and relocked the door. ‘Good boy,’ she said, kneeling to pet him. ‘You’re safe.’

  As on the previous night, he was very pleased to see her, although he hadn’t been away for long. He rubbed against her and licked her hands.

  ‘What was it? A fox?’ she asked him.

  Tinder stared back uncomprehendingly.

  Then she saw it – what looked like a flake of food lodged in the fur by his mouth. She picked it off and smelt it. It was cooked meat, possibly sausage. But she hadn’t given him meat to eat. He had dry dog food and only that. Camile had been most specific in her instructions that this was the only food Tinder was allowed, as it gave him a properly balanced diet. She’d left a dozen large sealed bags of the dry dog food in the cupboard under the stairs, more than enough for six months. One scoop in the morning and one at five o’clock, she’d written. No titbits or leftovers, as they were bad for him.