Colton Manor by Francene Carroll Read Free Book Online Page B

You were sleepwalking again last night and we need to talk.” There was no response. “Damien, are you okay?”
                  When he still didn’t reply Ursula began to grow concerned. What if he was sick or injured? He’d been acting so strangely that anything was possible. For a moment she just stood in the hallway, unsure of what to do next. Then she remembered Bonnie. She’d known Damien for a long time and she had been the one to suggest he move in here. She was the best person to deal with this situation.  With a sense of relief she went into her room and retrieved her mobile phone before realizing she didn’t have Bonnie’s number. She tried to ring Yvette at the real estate agency to get it, but to her frustration the call went straight to message bank.
                  “Hi, this is Ursula St Clare. I urgently need to get in touch with Bonnie Forbes. Can you please call me back as soon as you get this?”
    Ursula sat on the bed and flicked through some new messages on her phone as she waited for Yvette’s call, but she was too worried to focus on anything. She got up and looked out the window, noticing through her distraction that it was raining again. A noise caught her attention and she was relieved that Damien had finally woken up. She went into the hall to wait for him, but then she heard the noise again. It was coming from downstairs. Damien definitely hadn’t come out of his room, so that meant he’d either been down there all morning, or there was someone else in the house.
    With trembling legs she walked down to the ground floor, grasping the railing tightly as she went. She’d just reached the bottom step when there was a loud scraping sound from the kitc hen. It was the same noise she’d heard the night before and it sounded like the cellar door being pushed open. Once again she did not stick around to find out what it was. Instead she hurried into the entrance foyer and grabbed her bag from the stand, and ignoring the rain she ran she ran across the drive to her car.
    As she turned the car around she glanced up at the window and this time there was no mistaking what she saw. Someone was definitely up there, looking down at her. They were standing behind the curtains so she couldn’t make out any more than the outline, but from the bulky shape she could tell it was a man. If it was Damien she’d heard in the cellar, he hadn’t had much time to get upstairs from the kitchen. If it wasn’t him downstairs, he could be the one watching her now, but why would he do that, and who was it in the kitchen? With a shudder she took off down the drive as the rain came down harder and a thick fog rolled in from the ocean.
    ****
    “Well this is a nice surprise,” said Bonnie, wiping her hands on a dish cloth as she crossed the floor to answer the door. “I was going to drop around today to see how you and Damien are getting along. I was baking some cookies to bring with me.” The kitchen was filled with delicious aromas, and in another room she could hear the sound of children playing. It couldn’t have been more different from the house she’d just come from. Although it was sprinkling lightly here, the sky was much clearer and the fog had not made it this far.
    “ I think there’s something wrong with Damien and I’m really scared,” she blurted out, “He’s acting really strangely.”
    Bonnie’s brow wrinkled. “What do you mean? Is he in danger?”
    “I don’ know,” said Ursula, wringing her hands. “I don’t know what’s wrong.” She was almost in tears by now. Bonnie took her by the arm and led her to a chair in the kitchen.
    “I’ll just put the kettle on and you can tell me all about it,” she said in a motherly voice. “I’m sure it’s nothing to be worried about, Damien is a grown man who is perfectly capable of taking care of himself. If there was any danger he’d leave, he’s not that stubborn.”
    “I don’t know if he’s in a very