One Night Read Online Free PDF Page A

ball.’
    ‘Why?’
    I took it and lobbed it back.
    ‘ Fuck off! ’ I yelled.
    She looked alarmed. ‘I don’t think
that was wise.’
    ‘Life would be boring if we always did
the wise thing.’
    She snorted. ‘Look at you! You’re
covered in mud!’
    I thought of that cricket ball violently flung. And Alice Petting in the shop
with her dire warnings. What if weird Wally’s escaped brother had made his way
home? Wouldn’t that be the first place the police would look? Pretty obvious
surely? If Baby Bunting had any brains he should be miles from here.
    I shook these thoughts away. I was
scaring myself. I went to get something for supper. There was a fruit bowl on
the counter filled with utility bills, a bunch of keys, a torch and three
half-burnt candles. I stared for a moment. The keys, I guessed were Mona’s car
keys. But candles? Power in the cottage must have been a problem from time to
time. Unease sifted gently. Tonight would not be a good time for that to
happen.
    And that was when the second
discrepancy struck me. As I opened the fridge.
    Mona was right. There was food in
the fridge. But it wasn’t Mona food. Mona was a tip-top cook. She was one of
those people who did things properly. Slap-dash, half-baked were not in her
makeup. The pathetic offering in the fridge would have been derisively turned
down by a starving dog, let alone Sticky.
    There was a pot of stale soup. Two rather
old-looking take-away pies, a chicken leg and left over peas, half a loaf of
cold, stolid bread, and a tiny, neatly wrapped square of very old cheese.
    I stared at this abominable feast
with a kind of creeping horror. What on earth was she playing at? Had she left
in such a hurry that this was really the best she could do? If she’d mentioned
food would be a problem, I could have brought my own. But she had said she would leave something for supper.
    I gave a little sigh of annoyance. At
least there was a packet of Sticky’s food. I filled his bowl and set down fresh
water. Then I turned, and froze.
    7 PM
    Sticky was doing his best to stand on the couch on three legs. His fur was on
end and his eyes had a wild look. His nose was flexing as though something foul
had just entered the room. Then he staggered. I ran forward and caught him just
before he toppled off the couch. My heart almost stopped. Imagine if Mona came
back and found Sticky with a second broken leg…
    Automatically, I glanced at the
back door.
    ‘What’s wrong, boy? Somebody
there?’
    Sticky’s throat puttered, his eyes
straining as though he wanted to see through the wall. I found myself moving
reluctantly towards the back door. I drew the lock and opened the door a crack,
looking out on the messy yard. Nothing. Relocked and ran for the front door. By
now my heart was a hammer in my chest. I saw the lock was still firmly in
place, the bolt shot. I stood for a moment, listening. There was no sound other
than Sticky’s aggressive mutter behind me. I looked out of the window.
    The area lit by the front light was
empty save for my car. Briefly, I wondered if I’d locked it, then I remembered
that I had. I had also made sure the keys were safely in a pocket in my bag.
Now, I scanned the bushes behind it. The drive receded into an eerie twilight
and then darkness.
    I stood a long moment, then pulled
the curtain firmly closed and turned to Sticky. ‘C’mon, boy. Let’s get some
supper.’
    I carried him to his bowl and set
him down. Then I focused on making something edible out of the ‘something nice’
Mona had left in the fridge. I took a hodge-podge arrangement of food on a tray
and went to sit in a large armchair in front of the television. I was
considering channel options when out of nowhere, the discrepancy of the note and
the strange food in the fridge connected sharply in my mind.
    Mona had never written that note.
It wasn’t her handwriting.
    I looked down at the serving in
front of me. Not Mona’s food.
    I shoved the tray and its
unappetizing