Meanwhile, she recognised that standing in the road, suspiciously staring up at the house wasn’t without problems. Her mind was made up by the sudden appearance of headlights in the distance, she had only moments before she would be lit up in the car’s beams. She moved swiftly into the driveway and slipped between the fence and the garage, crossing her fingers and holding her breath, frightened that any movement could set off an alarm.
She was out of luck, the light over the garage came on in response to her movement.
The car went by but Callie stayed where she was for a moment longer, listening for any alien sounds or signs that she had disturbed anyone. There was nothing but silence and then the sound of a door opening. A light over the front door to the house came on, throwing the whole area into brilliant white light and dark shadows. Callie’s foot was in the light, but the rest of her was in shadow. Very carefully, Callie moved her foot slowly back and inched along the side of the garage, making sure that she was completely hidden from view, then she stopped and held her breath again, as she listened. She heard footsteps come to the garage door and rattle it, checking it was still locked, there was a pause, while the owner of the footsteps presumably also listened for sounds of someone in the shadows. Callie had an itchy nose and had to restrain herself from scratching it. She knew the itch didn’t really exist, that it was purely psychological, but still the desire to scratch her nose or sneeze was almost over-powering. At last she heard the person move back towards the house, hopefully reassured that there was no one there, and after what seemed like an age, she heard the sound of the front door closing and she was able to breathe out.
After the fright of so nearly being caught she stayed where she was for a while, catching her breath and taking in her surroundings. She was in a narrow gap between the garage and the ivy-covered wall that marked the edge of the property. Behind her, and a little above, was a small narrow window into the back part of the garage. It was sealed shut, but with a bit of climbing up, using the wall and the garage itself for leverage, Callie was able to get herself into a position to look into the garage. Light was coming in from another window on the side nearest to the house, because the security lights had not yet clicked off. In that light she was able to see the usual detritus found in people’s garages, and a small RIB on a trailer. Eureka!
Suddenly Callie herself was flooded in light, caught in the beam of a torch.
“Dr Hughes, this is a surprise,” Teresa Savage said, as Callie lost her grip and slid down the garage wall.
Chapter 33
Held in the glare of the high-intensity torch beam, and with absolutely nowhere to hide, Callie sidled out of the space between the garage and the wall. She felt like an actor on a stage, or more appropriately, an escapee from prison, caught in the searchlight before she had even got to the main gate. As she inched her way out, she desperately tried to think up a reasonable explanation for why she was sneaking about the woman’s home after dark, but for the life of her, she couldn’t come up with one.
Teresa Savage looked her intruder up and down as Callie stood there trying to think what she should say. Something, anything, to explain away her presence, but she failed to come up with anything better than, “Hello, it’s a surprisingly large garage, isn’t it?”
Teresa Savage said nothing and Callie felt that the woman must think that she was completely mad.
“Why don’t you come in, Dr Hughes,” she said finally. “Then you can tell me why you were sneaking around my property in the dark.”
Teresa Savage turned and walked towards the closed front door. She had presumably shut it to trick whoever was behind the garage into thinking she had gone back inside, and it had worked, Callie thought ruefully. It didn’t seem to occur to Teresa Savage that Callie wouldn’t follow her, and, surprising herself, Callie did. She knew the wise thing would be to refuse, plead a pressing engagement, an appointment with someone she was running late for, but the need to try and explain her way out of the situation, and her inherent good manners meant that she followed the woman into the house, closing the door behind her. Besides, she wanted to know if the woman knew her husband hosted orgies, and if she had any suspicions that he might be a killer.
Mrs Savage led the way up the stairs that were directly in front of the door, and into the open plan kitchen and living area. She went straight to the kettle, going through the ritual of making tea. It gave them both time to think.
“Do take a seat, Dr Hughes,” she said as she busied herself with cups and tea bags. “How do you take it?”
“Milk, no sugar,” Callie dutifully replied, taking a seat at the breakfast bar.
The situation was totally surreal, she thought. Would the MP’s wife call the police? That would be the normal thing
