‘If you hear strange noises at night, be aware that it’s just the wind. It runs through the dormer windows on the tower.’
Before Eve could ask any more, Hilditch had gone and Eve took off her coat and hung it in the large and empty walk-in wardrobe.
The fireplace in the room was empty, thankfully, Eve thought, as she unpacked her clothes and then sat on one of the small sofas in front of the fireplace and surveyed the room.
There was a small ladies’ writing desk with a chair, looking over the grounds. Eve imagined a woman in a voluminous skirt dipping her pen into an inkwell and writing a letter to a cousin or sister.
A painting of a large still life of fruit hung above the mantel and two small coffer stools sat on either side of the fireplace. It was very austere and grand, yet despite the threat of beheading in the air, the room felt better because of the warmth from the heater.
Eve changed into comfortable clothes and then set up her laptop on the desk and opened her email.
Edward’s manuscripts came through and she paused before she clicked on the first file.
She had agreed she would read them, make notes and then they would start again in the morning.
But she was tired, it had been a long day and she had drunk more wine than she was used to.
She thought about his apology before dinner. It had been sincere, if not a little disconcerting, as he seemed so intense when he spoke and invited her to dinner. But it was better than him expecting her to wait on him or look after his child like some sort of old-fashioned governess. Not that Edward had explicitly asked for her to care for Flora but Eve knew it would be encouraged by a man like Edward Priest. He probably hadn’t even made his child a sandwich in her life. No wonder she hid in a cupboard.
The files flashed on her screen. She knew she had to read them so she changed into her nightgown and wrapped herself in a large quilt that was on the end of the bed.
She dragged one of the wooden coffer stools over to the desk and settled into her chair, with feet up on the ancient wood to read Edward’s writing.
She was in for a long night but Eve had promised him she would read the pages he had written so far and she never broke a promise.
*
It was three in the morning when Eve finished her first pass of the manuscripts and she went through her notes. Her eyes were sore, and words were swimming in her head but she had a clear picture of where Edward’s work was at, so she would sleep and then speak to him in the morning.
After showering and cleaning her teeth, she turned down the bed and then she heard a noise. It was not a quick sound, a fleeting creak in the night, but a long wail. It certainly wasn’t the wind that Hilditch had suggested she might hear in the night.
She stood still, straining to hear it again. There was nothing. She got into bed and pulled the heavy covers up to her chin and listened.
Silence.
Her eyes closed and she felt herself drifting into sleep and then the wail came again.
It was a scream of sorts but was it human?
Was it Flora?
She jumped from the bed and went to the bedroom door and opened it, half standing in the hallway, when the door nearest to her opened and Edward walked out, his phone light shining on his face. He was wearing the clothes he had worn all day and it didn’t look as though he had slept.
‘You look like a Victorian ghost,’ he joked, gesturing to her nightgown.
‘I thought I just heard a Victorian ghost,’ she replied. ‘What the hell was that noise? Is Flora okay?’
Edward smiled at her, perhaps too quickly. ‘Flora is fine. It’s the wind circling the tower and around the old weathervane.’
Eve laughed at his explanation. ‘If by weathervane you mean a madwoman standing on the roof wailing while bending some notes with an electric guitar?’
‘What do you mean?’ The smile on Edward’s face had disappeared.
Eve lifted her chin and stared at him.
‘I’m saying the noise sounded human and I definitely heard a guitar being played, loudly.’
Edward shone his phone light in her face.
