The Stranger Next Door Read Online Free Page B

door.
    'Wrong?' she said slowly, shaking her head. 'No. Come in, Pippa.'
    'Are you ill?'
    'No, of course not. Please come in.'
    Pippa came inside and turned to look at her with concern. 'Anna, you look terrible. What is it? And don't you dare tell me nothing!'
    'Just a bad night. That's all.'
    'Why?'
    There was no fending off Pippa in this mood. With reluctance, Anna brought her up to date. 'I'm exhausted,' she concluded.
    'I can see that. Where are the children?'
    'In bed. They're exhausted, too.'
    'You'll have to do something, Anna. You can't go on like this.'
    'You don't think I'm just being a silly woman?'
    'Of course not! Sleep deprivation is a form of torture. No wonder you look so bad.'
    'The question is what?'
    Pippa became all brisk action. 'Presumably he still doesn't answer the door?'
    Anna shook her head.
    'What about that woman who comes to the house? Can you speak to her?'
    'I never know when she's coming. She gives me no chance to speak to her anyway. She's straight into the house or into her car.'
    'Write, then. A letter of complaint.'
    'I wondered about that.'
    'Do it!'
    'Then what?'
    'Contact the authorities. Every one you can think of, starting with the police and the council. Take out an injunction, or whatever it's called.'
    Anna smiled. Pippa was so wonderfully indignant and gung-ho. 'You don't think I'd be over-reacting?'
    'Certainly not! This situation has gone on long enough – far too long, in fact.'
    'Thank you, Pippa. I'll do it. If it happens again, I'll do all those things.'
    She felt better already. It was a relief just to know someone else thought as she did.

 
    Chapter Six
     
    It was a beautiful, lonely night. She knew it as soon as she woke up. Her room was bathed in brilliant moonlight that eased its way effortlessly through the curtains. It was still, too, and quiet. Or it would have been if somebody not far away had left his chainsaw in the shed!
    She grimaced and sat up. How could he do this yet again? She'd hoped it was over, that part of her life where this terrible noise tore her from sleep.
    Well, she knew now what she must do. She would make a start first thing in the morning. No more dithering. Pippa was right. She would write a note and post it through his letter box. It would be a start.
    If that had no effect, she would contact the Parish Council and the District Council. She would write to the local newspaper. She would canvass local opinion – not that there was a lot of it to canvass, up here on the hill – and she would contact the solicitor, the one who had helped her sort things out after Bob had died. All this she would map out in a second note, to be delivered immediately the first one had been ignored and proven not to have had any effect.
    She felt so satisfied by drawing up this mental programme of action, and she was so exhausted anyway, that she fell asleep even before whatever was going on next door had finished for the night.
    In the morning she wrote the first note and delivered it even before the children were up for breakfast. Right! she thought grimly, and with some satisfaction. If it's war you want, Mister, I'm in the mood.
    Pippa said, 'Good for you!' when Anna phoned to bring her up to date. 'That's telling him. Exactly right. What did you say?'
    'Not much. Just that the use of a chainsaw in the middle of the night is unacceptable to me and my family, and that we want it to stop immediately. If it doesn't, I said, my next step will be to contact all relevant authorities urgently with a view to seeking a court injunction.'
    'Wow!' Pippa said eagerly. 'Did you really say all that?'
    'Certainly I did. A bit more, as well, actually.'
    'I'm proud of you, Anna. Well done!'
    'Thank you, Pippa. Now can you come over to tea this afternoon?'
    'Oh, not today. I can't. Sorry. I'm expecting the carpet fitter. Can you come here?'
    'To see your new carpet? Certainly. I wouldn't miss it for the world.'
    She may have done well in Pippa's eyes, she thought. She had even