Under a Silent Moon: A Novel Read Online Free PDF

didn’t move, but his weasel smile dropped from his face, making him look decidedly nasty—which he was. But as well as being an evil bastard, he was also a foot shorter than Flora and she wasn’t afraid of him.
    “What you doin’ here, anyway? You don’t even live here.”
    She put down the fork and leaned on it. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
    “Looks like you’re taking your time about it, if you ask me,” he said.
    “I’m not,” she said. “And you should be doing this. It is your job. Grab the barrow and give me a hand.”
    “Not me. Your dad’s got important stuff for me to do today.”
    “What important stuff?”
    He tapped the side of his pointed nose conspiratorially. “None of your business, Flora. You keep mucking out like a good girl and I’ll come back later and check you done it right.”
    That was it. Enough.
    She dropped the fork. It clattered and bounced off the concrete yard, but Flora didn’t even hear the noise because by that time Petrie was facedown in the muck, Flora’s knee in his back. She had him by the scruff of his too big, hand-me-down waxed jacket that made him feel so self-important. He was shouting as best he could, calling out: “No, no! Lemme up! You stupid bi-bi-bitch!”
    “Flora! Let him up.”
    She took her knee off his back and turned to see her father in the yard.
    “Nige!” Petrie was shouting, wiping his face and pulling bits of straw and manure from the front of his jacket. “You see what she did? Did ya see? Bitch!”
    He made a move toward Flora, but Nigel stepped forward and Petrie backed off immediately.
    “You’re fine, Connor,” he said, calmly. “Go and wash your hands and face.”
    Petrie complied, looking daggers at Flora as he made his way round the yard toward the offices at the end. “Fuckin’ cow,” he muttered.
    “Feel better?” Nigel asked, when Petrie was out of the way.
    “He’s a piece of crap. Why do you bother with him? He doesn’t want to work, he’s a lazy little bastard.”
    “I know. But he has his uses.”
    “Polly hated him,” Flora said, and then stopped short.
    “Polly tolerated him,” Nigel said.
    A single tear fell, taking her by surprise. She turned back to the stables, wiping her face angrily. She wasn’t going to cry in front of him, that was for sure.
    “Come on, Flora. Let’s go and have a drink. All right?”
    “I need to get this done,” she said. “Nobody else is going to do it, are they?”
    He stood for a moment watching her, haunting her peripheral vision, and then he turned and left her to it.
    One more stable to do, and then she could go and walk. Clear her head.
    17:54
    Over the course of the afternoon, police came and went at Hermitage Farm. Flora finished at the stables and left Connor to bring the horses in. It was dark by that time, so she gave up on the walk and stayed in the kitchen, making endless cups of tea.
    Felicity sat holding court as various neighbors came to call and talk about the trauma. Miranda Gregson loitered, making detailed notes of all the visitors, who they were, where they lived, taking contact phone numbers should the police wish to ask them further questions.
    At a quarter to six the one Flora remembered as Sam came back again. She had an air of kindness about her, patient with Felicity despite all the dithering and rambling.
    When the madness had isolated itself into the room that held her mother, Flora slipped upstairs to the bathroom and tried to phone Taryn. She wanted to tell her about Polly, but also that it seemed something was going on at the Barn too. None of the police officers had said anything, but there had been an ambulance and police cars over there since late morning. Maybe Polly had been the victim of a burglary or robbery that went wrong and the same thing had happened over at the Barn?
    It was pointless to speculate. Taryn’s phone number went unanswered, and her mobile phone was switched off.
    “Flora? Flora?” shouted her mother.