‘What the hell?’ Luke cried, sizing up the situation before seizing hold of Brandon.
‘Get off me!’ Brandon shouted, but Luke was a lot bigger and stronger than him and looked as if he had no intention of letting go.
‘Ring the police, Orla,’ he said calmly. ‘We’ve got him this time.’
Things got a little chaotic after that and Orla moved as if in some kind of terrible nightmare. She let One Ear back inside and, with some pretty menacing growls, he kept a watch over Brandon, alongside Luke. Mercifully, the police didn’t take long in getting there and Brandon was led away.
‘That was some wake-up call,’ Luke said once they’d driven away from the castle. ‘You okay? Cup of tea?’
‘I should leave,’ Orla told him.
She saw Luke frown. ‘Leave the castle?’
‘People can find me too easily here.’
‘But this is your home now, and it’s a good home. A safe home.’
‘How can you say that after what’s just happened?’
‘Orla – he’s gone. He’s in police custody and what happened here won’t ever happen again.’
‘How can you say that? Can you personally guarantee that?’
‘You know I can’t, but I wish I could.’
‘Have you any idea how hard it is for me to trust anyone? To walk past a stranger in the street? Do you have any idea of what’s going on inside my head when I see someone I don’t know walking towards me? It was bad enough meeting him out in the lane, but he was right here! Here in my home – in front of me!’
‘Please – Orla – you’re getting hysterical.’
‘I don’t feel safe here. I’ll never feel safe ever again!’
‘But you can’t keep running away. That’s what I’m trying to say so badly here. This place – this home – it’s good. You have people in this village who care about you, and I know how much you love it here. You’re a part of the castle’s history now. Don’t leave it, Orla. If you do, you’ll just end up somewhere else where you don’t feel safe.’
She stared at him, and she couldn’t help feeling utterly helpless, and that, no matter what he said to her, it wouldn’t make any difference to how she was feeling.
At last, she spoke. ‘What do I do?’ she said in a tiny voice. ‘I don’t know what to do!’
He took a step forward and wrapped his arms around her.
‘Just stay.’
She was crying now, and he stroked her dark hair, feeling her sobs and wishing he could somehow help her.
‘Come on, let’s get you to bed.’
‘But it’s the middle of the day!’
‘Tell me you’re not exhausted and that you don’t want to go to bed,’ he said after the tears had stopped.
She wiped her eyes. ‘I won’t be able to sleep.’
‘You might surprise yourself. Come on – give it a go, at least, okay? I think it’ll do you good.’
Orla let herself be led to her bedroom, where she’d left her curtains drawn against the world that had tried to invade her privacy. Luke turned the bedside lamp on, the comforting golden glow filling the little room.
‘Luke?’
‘Yes?’
‘If I do fall asleep, will you leave my light on, please,’ she whispered.
‘Of course.’ He smiled at her and was mightily relieved when she gave a little smile back. ‘I won’t be far away – if you need me. Me and One Ear both.’ He made to leave the room.
‘Luke?’
‘Yes?’
‘Thank you.’
He frowned. ‘For what?’
‘For being here. I’m sorry if I lashed out. It’s just . . .’ She stopped.
‘Hey! You don’t need to apologise.’
‘Yes, I do. You’ve been nothing but kind to me and I’ve been so horrible.’
He came back towards the bed. ‘No, you haven’t! How can you say that?’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Orla – you don’t need to apologise – really.’ He moved closer. ‘Now, get some sleep, okay?’
She nodded, her sore eyes already closing.
Luke closed her door and went to get washed and dressed properly. When he’d been woken up by Orla’s cries, he’d only had time to pull on a pair of tracksuit bottoms. Luckily, he’d been sleeping in a T-shirt, but he wanted a good wash now, feeling slightly dirty, having been in close proximity to Brandon all that time.
He then swept up the broken china jug, had a quick breakfast and took One Ear into the garden for a run.
Despite his best intentions, he found that he couldn’t concentrate on his work at all, making little progress between the time he started and lunchtime, so he took One Ear out into the garden again and paced around for a bit before deciding that he really needed to talk to someone. Reaching for his mobile, he made a call.
‘Bill?’ he said a moment later. ‘Can you come over?’
It would have been easy for Luke to walk to Oyster Cottage. He felt as if he could turn up any time, but he didn’t want to leave Orla and he’d told her he wouldn’t be far away, and there was no way he was going to risk leaving her on her own, even if the police had her stalker in handcuffs.
It didn’t take long for Bill to arrive and they sat out in the garden together as Luke filled him in on what had been happening.
‘I feel as if I’ve aged ten years. Another ten years!’ Luke confessed.
Bill shook his head in dismay and reached into his pocket, bringing out a small white paper bag.
‘Have a mint imperial,’ he said. ‘Margy hates me eating these things, but I think she’ll forgive us indulging on this occasion.’
Luke took one and was pleasantly surprised by the soothing quality of the sweet.
‘How’s she doing now?’ Bill asked as he popped a second sweet into his mouth.
‘She’s sleeping, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she slept right through till tomorrow. She looked completely done in.’
‘But he didn’t hurt her?’
‘No, no. I don’t think
