“Great,” replied Amanda, immediately thinking of the call she had had from Mary only the day before. She retrieved her phone from her pocket and checked the time. There were still enough hours in the day; enough to go pay another visit to Balfour Lane.
***
Amanda had hummed and hawed over whether to phone Mary before turning up at the vampire’s street. In the end, she came to the conclusion that though there was a small chance that Mary might not be at home and that she might just end up visiting the woman’s house for nothing, it was best not to contact her due to the reason that the woman may have changed her mind about wanting to provide Amanda with the information she claimed she had over the phone. Indeed, Mary had already had one change of heart in deciding to call Amanda back after having brushed her off so curtly only a couple of days before, meaning there was no reason why the woman would not just end up giving into her fear and altering her position again. So, after leaving Caroline’s behind, Amanda just jumped back in her Clio and headed straight over to Mary’s.
Balfour Lane seemed as if it were abandoned when Amanda arrived as not only was there no one in sight, but it was also the case that almost all the windows of the houses around and most of the streetlamps were producing no light. As soon as Amanda stepped out of her car, it became apparent to her that the streetlights were out as someone had taken the time to throw stones at the lamps: the evidence was all around her in the form of broken glass and the pebbles - taken from a nearby drive - that were strewn across the pavement. All of this concerned Amanda that perhaps something had happened to Mary. As quickly as she could, she removed her phone from her pocket, turned on its torch and navigated her way around the glass on the street and up Mary’s drive.
To Amanda’s relief, her knocking on Mary’s door drew an almost immediate response: the light came on in the hall. Just like on Amanda’s previous visit, a shadow then appeared in the door’s window.
“Mary,” shouted Amanda, “Is that you? It’s me, Amanda, from the school. You gave me a call…”
The door swung open to reveal Mary wearing a light blue dressing gown and a face that betrayed that she was both a little perplexed and annoyed by Amanda’s unannounced appearance at her door.
“What do you think you are doing…” spluttered Mary, who did not go on as her words were interrupted by a loud crashing sound emanating from the back of the house.
Fear froze Mary for the briefest of moments before she catapulted herself back down the hall towards the kitchen. So distracted was Mary by the noise, and whatever it meant to her, that she completely forgot about Amanda and her still open front door. With concern more than curiosity in mind, Amanda stepped into the hall, only to be greeted by the smell of cigarettes and the colours she associated with her own grandmother’s flat. After closing the front door behind her, with a steady step, Amanda made her way towards the kitchen door, which was gradually closing itself and which had already hidden Mary and whatever had happened in the kitchen from view.
When she entered the kitchen, Amanda found Mary with alarm in her eyes and with her back to the door of another room that she assumed must have been at the very back of the house.
“What’s happened?” asked Amanda.
For a moment, Mary did not respond. Indeed, she had not even really noticed that Amanda had entered her kitchen and it was only after Amanda repeated the question that she came to recognise the presence of the school investigator.
“What, oh nothing,” replied Mary, who was clearly more than a little bewildered.
“Well, if it’s nothing…” said Amanda as she took a couple of steps forward.
“No, stop!” cried Mary, who then pressed her back to the still shut door and curled her hand around its handle. “You can’t go in there. It’s just, the glass! It’s the children, those nasty kids from up the street!”
“Sorry?”
“Didn’t you see the glass on the pavement?” said Mary, who, as odd as it seemed to Amanda, visibly relaxed as soon as she said this. After a moment's pause, the hostile demeanour Amanda had come to expect from Mary returned; in a way, after the woman started, Amada was glad to discover that the discontent was not directed at her. “It’s those terrible children of that young Ms Sawyer at the end of the road. She doesn’t know what she’s doing and she’s got no control over the little brats. What’s the result of this for me? Well, the little fools have just gone and broken my bathroom window. So, I don’t want you going in there, there’s glass everywhere. If you were to get cut, well, I’m sorry to say that I just don’t have the blood to spare.”
“Are you sure it was these children? Do you think they’re still there?” said Amanda going over to the window, only to look out into an impenetrable darkness.
“No, no. They’ll be long gone. You know what they’re like. They’ll have run off as soon as they heard the sound of breaking glass. It doesn’t matter to them that they’ve left a mess behind, and a bill, as long as they have their fun.”
“Don’t you think that you should say something to the parents? I mean, you can’t let the kids get away with this, they’ll just do it again.”
“No, that would be a terrible mistake. That’s just
