Diamond Read Free Page B

feet away.
    She lay utterly still, barely breathing, her ears listening for something to break the rush of black sound around her. No creaks, no taps, no footsteps came.
    That’s it, she thought. This was a terrible mistake. Tomorrow she would call the estate agent and put the place back on the market. Go to the London office. Forget about the sabbatical. Try and work through the humiliation of being left by her husband and biggest client until everyone was too intimidated and too polite to ever mention it again.
    The room was not as dark now. Dawn wasn’t quite breaking, but it was on its slow way. It wasn’t too early toget up, she thought. She had got up at five for years, drunk a glass of wheatgrass juice, done an hour in the gym or pool before taking her calls. There hadn’t been enough hours in the day, then. She strongly suspected that there might be too many, now.
    She drew back the heavy, dusty curtain and looked out into the wet, dark garden. It was overgrown and needed a lot of tender care. She would have to hire a gardener.
    But what was she thinking? She wasn’t staying. She was going to pack up and get out of here, as soon as possible. The split with Deano had infected her brain. What on earth had made her think this was a good idea?
    She pulled out one of the bottles of water from her bag and drank it on the mattress, letting its cold clear stream flow down her throat and revive her. She would have bags under her eyes. She needed to apply some gel. God, she needed a shower. This was just dire.
    She put her head in her hands and began to sob.
    Three hours later, she woke again, having cried herself into an exhausted sleep. Now it was light, quarter past eight by her watch, and things looked slightly less desperate, in that odd way they always did once the darkest hours were past.
    She’d call the estate agent at nine, as soon as they opened.
    She put on the same pair of 7 jeans and cashmere hoodie she’d worn yesterday – perhaps the first time she’d worn the same outfit twice in a row this millennium – and sauntered, barefoot, into the front hall.
    Nothing was disturbed. Everything was as it had been the last time she saw it.
    So what had caused the noise up above her? She peeredup but the staircase held no clues. Harville hadn’t shown her the attic. He hadn’t even mentioned it.
    Perhaps she ought to check it. Or perhaps she should just leave its rats, or birds, or whatever were up there, for the next lucky owner.
    She sat down on the bottom stair, overwhelmed by a need for some human contact – a voice, a word, anything. Before she could stop herself, she was keying in Lawrence Harville’s number.
    ‘Hello?’
    ‘Hello, God, I’m sorry, I forgot it was before nine, have I disturbed you?’
    ‘No, no.’ But he sounded as if he was still in bed, with that thick, slightly drugged tone to his voice. ‘Sorry, who?’
    ‘Jenna. Jenna Myatt, the new owner of the Hall.’
    ‘Yes, yes, of course, forgive me. Brain hasn’t kicked into gear yet. More coffee needed, I think. What can I do for you, Jenna? Is everything all right up there?’
    ‘Oh, fine, I think. Just wanted to ask you about the attic space.’
    ‘The attic?’
    ‘I don’t remember looking around up there. Is it boarded? Insulated? Is there a step ladder anywhere so I can go up and look around?’
    ‘The attic? You know, I really couldn’t say. I don’t think I’ve been up there in my life. It used to be servants’ quarters, years ago, so I suppose it’s got flooring.’
    ‘It’s just there were … funny noises. They seemed to come from there.’
    ‘Oh, dear. How unnerving. I hope they didn’t keep you awake all night.’
    ‘No, no.’ Jenna wondered why she needed to give theimpression that strange noises in a strange house in the dead of night when completely alone were no big deal. His voice, alone, seemed to make everything all right, and convince her that she had been fussing over nothing. ‘But I did want to