The Patchwork House Read Online Free Page B

The Patchwork House
Book: The Patchwork House Read Online Free
Author: Richard Salter
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turned to the door, convinced someone was standing there. I expected to see Beth or Derek, but there was nobody there. I went out into the hallway but it too was empty. I tried to shake off the feeling that I wasn’t alone and returned to the tiny bedroom.
    I checked the drawer in the bedside table and found only a small Bible and a couple of pencils. There was an extra slot beneath the drawer though, inaccessible, and I became obsessed for a good ten minutes trying to open it. If there was a hidden drawer, I couldn’t spring it open. Oh well, maybe Beth could take a look at it later. She was good at puzzles.
    I left the room and headed back up the corridor towards the stairs. There was a section of wall with no doors. Behind it, I assumed, must be the servant’s apartment. It was self-contained and had no access to the rest of the upper floor. I would probably suggest to Dad that he leave it as is instead of knocking through a door to make it into yet another bedroom. He’d be wise to spruce up the separate apartment and perhaps even expand it by subsuming one of the bedrooms. It would make for a great rental space or guest apartment, and there were half a dozen other bedrooms for the main house. One less wouldn’t make any difference.
    I spun around to face the door to the games room again. I would have sworn under oath that someone was standing there, though how I could have known that while looking the other way, I couldn’t explain.
    A door slammed downstairs and I heard a voice call out. No doubt Derek and the girls returning.
    “Come on up here!” I called. “Bring the bags!”
    I had a sudden idea, something that would be really funny. I moved quietly into the library, just as I heard footsteps on the bottom of the stairs. I quickly ducked under the white sheet covering the table in the middle of the room and pulled myself in close to the central pillar, trying hard not to let my elbows or knees poke the fabric and give myself away.
    I heard someone outside the door and then the door creaked open.
    If it was Beth, she was already onto me. Otherwise she would have called out my name by now, wondering where I was. So it was either Derek or Chloe perhaps. Even then, it was odd that they hadn’t said anything. It was even odder when I heard the door close again.
    The footsteps moved closer to me, creaking on floorboards. I held my breath, waiting to spring out and terrify whoever it was half to death.
    But I couldn’t move.
    I wasn’t frozen stiff. I could shift my position. Something was preventing me from leaping out like I’d planned to. To my surprise, all the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Instead of holding my breath voluntarily, I couldn’t breathe at all. The footsteps moved over to the window, and a shadow fell over the dust cover.
    I knew it couldn’t be Beth or Chloe. The figure didn’t move like a female and the footsteps were too heavy. But Derek was a skinny guy, so maybe he was deliberately walking slowly and making more noise with each step than necessary.
    This was ridiculous. It was clearly Derek trying to get his own back on me. I forced myself to move, pushing forward against the dustcover and emerging from under the table. I threw aside the white sheet and burst out into the room.
    The empty room.
     

 
     
     
    CHAPTER 3
     
     
    There was nobody in the library.
    Did Derek leave? How had he done it so quietly? The door was closed and I hadn’t heard it open again. What the hell? Who had come in here?
    Unnerved, I hurried back into the deserted corridor. Derek could have ducked into another room. One way to be sure. I entered a bedroom on the opposite side to the library, a little further away from the stairs, and went over to the window at the back of the house.
    Beth, Chloe and Derek were walking back across the lawn towards me. The two girls were arm in arm, Derek a few steps behind. They were about to reach the courtyard, but it was obvious they hadn’t yet been back

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