Fourth Horseman by Kate Thompson Read Free Book Online Page B

mothering.
    Randall followed me as I wandered from room to room, wondering what to do with myself. In the end I gave in and took him for a walk, but I was jittery and he knew it, and neither of us much enjoyed being out. When we got back Dad still wasn’t home, so I peeled the potatoes, washed some broccoli and rooted round in the freezer for some burgers to go with them. There was still no sign of Dad. I phoned Alex on his mobile. I wanted to tell him what had happened, but he was clearly in the middle of something that was more fun than talking to me, and he was answering my questions in monosyllables. I asked him if he was coming home that night, even though I already knew he wasn’t. I suppose I hoped he’d take the hint and realize I needed him, but he was having way too good a time to pick up on subtleties.
    So I put the potatoes on to boil and then phoned Dad at the lab.
    ‘Hi, Laurs,’ he said.
    ‘I’m putting on the dinner. Are you coming home?’
    ‘Might be a bit late.’ He sounded cheerful. ‘I’m feeling inspired. I think I could be on the verge of a breakthrough.’
    ‘That’s good,’ I said, without meaning it. ‘But I want you to come home. I want to talk to you about what happened today.’
    ‘Something in particular?’ he said.
    ‘Of course something in particular! The horseman!’
    He went quiet, and stayed quiet for so long that I began to wonder whether the phone had gone dead.
    ‘Dad?’
    He sighed deeply. ‘You know, I’ve been thinking about that as well. I hope you haven’t been telling anyone about it.’
    ‘I haven’t,’ I said. ‘Why?’
    ‘Well, you don’t want to give people the wrong impression.’
    That stopped me in my tracks for a moment. I could imagine how it might sound to someone who hadn’t seen what we had. ‘What should we do then, Dad?’
    ‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘We should both sleep on it. I think you’ll find that you’ll see it quite differently in the morning.’
    ‘Are you saying we imagined it?’
    He didn’t answer my question. ‘Don’t worry your head about it, Laurs. I’ll be back as soon as I’ve finished what I’m doing.’
    When Dad eventually came home I had already eaten. I waited while he had his dinner and then went in to help him with the clearing up.
    ‘Dad,’ I began, ‘what we saw today—’
    He cut across me impatiently but he kept his voice calm. ‘Do you remember when Alex was little and he used to think there was a big goblin hiding in his chest of drawers?’
    ‘Yes, but—’
    ‘Do you remember what you used to do?’
    I did remember. I used to go in and help him take all his clothes out of the chest, then put them back in again so he could see there was nothing in there.
    ‘But this is nothing like that, Dad! I’m not a little kid. I haven’t had a nightmare.’
    ‘The principle is the same,’ he said, with that irritating studied patience. ‘We’ll have a look tomorrow in the woods, OK?’ While I struggled to find an appropriate answer he went on: ‘And do you know what I’m going to do now?’
    ‘What?’
    ‘I’m going to make you a huge mug of cocoa. And you’re going to have a good night’s sleep.’
    Effectively silenced, I accepted the cocoa and took it up to bed. But the good night’s sleep was less easy to come by. Despite the cocoa I hardly slept at all. Everywhere my mind turned, the white horseman was there, standing quite still, staring straight past me, his eyes fixed on my dad.
    When I went into the lab the next day to start working with the babies, I was as jumpy as they were and it wasn’t surprising that I didn’t make much progress. Dad seemed to have forgotten about his promise to have a look in the woods, but there was no need for it. I peered in as I arrived and again as I left. There was nothing there. But I didn’t forget. The little sleep I’d managed to get had done nothing to change my mind about what I had seen.
    Usually when you see something remarkable, the image