‘We’ll be OK, Maddie,’ I say, but they’re words I don’t really believe. ‘We just need to stay together, that’s all. Whoever is doing this can’t touch us then.’
We stand for some time in suffocating silence. Waiting. ‘Rosamund’s been a while, hasn’t she?’ I say, looking up the stairs, and Maddie gives a nervous nod. ‘Maybe I should check on her.’
My heartbeat quickens as I move across the room, and stop at the foot of the stairs. I open my mouth to call Rosamund’s name, but something stops me. What if someone’s up there? I look about me, spotting two walking sticks propped against the wall. I grab one.
‘Should we get the others?’ Maddie asks, but I’m already gingerly climbing the stairs. ‘Amelia, you just said we should stick together,’ she calls after me.
Once on the landing, I try not to let my eyes stray, but the sweet metallic smell of Ruth’s blood makes me gag.
Rosamund’s bedroom door stands open, and I step towards it and peer around the door. I grab my chest. ‘Thank God,’ I say, letting out a breath when I see Rosamund’s sitting on the edge of the bed. She’s holding something in her hand. It looks like the scan of her baby, and I see she’s crying.
‘Rosamund,’ I say, approaching, and she looks up. ‘Are you OK?’
She shoves the photo in the holdall beside her.
‘Yes. I’m fine.’ She dries her cheeks on her sleeve. ‘I was just thinking about Elise, that’s all.’ She rises, takes a deep breath, and looks around her. ‘That’s odd,’ she says. ‘My bed jacket is missing.’
‘Is it in your case?’
Her forehead furrows. ‘No, it was at the bottom of my bed.’
‘Do you need it?’
She shrugs. ‘I guess not.’ She zips up her holdall, and pushes past me, heading onto the landing.
I follow, and as we head down the stairs, I notice Maddie is standing by the coffee table, staring down at the half-played Monopoly game. She leans over and picks up a counter. By the time I reach her side, she’s rolling the token around in her hand, trancelike.
‘Are you OK?’ I ask her, as Rosamund approaches.
She slips the counter into her pocket.
‘Maddie?’ I say.
‘Sorry, yes, yes, I’m fine.’ She heads towards the door. ‘We should get back,’ she says opening the door, and we step into the snow once more.
‘Actually, I desperately need a cigarette,’ Maddie says as we reach Bluebell Cottage.
‘I’ll stay out here with you, if you like,’ Rosamund says.
‘No. No, it’s fine.’ She fumbles in her pocket for her cigarettes, her hands shaking. ‘I just need some space. Thanks though.’
‘But you can’t be out here on your own,’ I say. ‘I’ll stay with you. Remember what we said about sticking together.’
‘For God’s sake,’ she snaps, and glares at me. ‘I’ll be five minutes, is all. Just let me be. I’ll be in shortly.’
Rosamund and I exchange looks as we head inside, and I slam the door to make a point.
‘She shouldn’t be on her own,’ I say, as I pull off my boots. ‘We’re meant to be looking out for each other.’
‘Where’s Maddie?’ Dad says, looking up from the armchair.
‘Outside, having a cigarette.’
‘Alone?’
‘Mmm, she didn’t want us to stay with her.’
‘I’ll go out there.’ He rises.
‘She wants space, Dad. That’s what she said.’
‘Well, tough.’ He throws on his coat and scarf and disappears outside.
‘We should stay in threes,’ I say, hanging up my coat, my head spinning. ‘That’s what we agreed, wasn’t it?’
‘Dad isn’t a killer, Amelia.’ Thomas glares at me from the sofa, as though he can’t believe I would think it.
‘I know, but …’
He narrows his eyes. ‘I know you’ve never liked her much, but Maddie’s no killer either.’
‘Well someone fucking is,’ I cry, surprised how angry my words sound. Tears are close, and my stomach aches with tension. I flop down in the armchair Dad vacated, and bury my head in my hands.
Nobody speaks for some time. It’s as though there’s a bomb in the room, and any movement will set it off.
‘Maybe I’ll go back out there,’ Rosamund says eventually, and I look up to see her standing by the door. She’s still in her boots and coat, her hand on the doorknob.
‘No, Rosamund, I’ll go.’ But she’s through the door before I can scramble to my feet.
‘And then there were two,’ Thomas says in a silly, creepy voice, as she closes the door behind her.
I turn to meet his eye. ‘I’m afraid, Thomas,’ I say simply.
He stares at me, his face so pale. ‘Me too, sis. Death is a fearful thing.’
I have the beginnings of a headache, and I’m hungry too; my sugar level has dipped to silly levels.
‘I might go to Ruth’s cottage and grab some food in a bit,’ I say to Thomas, after we’d sat in silence for ten minutes. I point the remote at the TV, and flick through the channels, until I reach the weather, which looks as grim as ever.
‘Don’t go out there alone,’ Thomas says. ‘Wait for Dad.’
I turn to look at him. ‘OK. I’ll wait.’ I’m glad he cares. And I mean it. I won’t be going out there alone, because in all honesty I haven’t got the courage.
‘I would have thought the others would have come back inside by now,’ I say. ‘How long does it take to smoke a cigarette?’ I pause for a moment. ‘We should be brainstorming. There must be something we can do. We can’t just wait around for the police, or worse the killer. In fact, maybe between us we can clear the snow enough for one of us to attempt to drive out of here.’ I rise, and begin pacing the room.
‘You know what that hill was like on the way in,’
