Mary was the first person wake, her head was pounding, not a good sign, she shuffled to the kitchen barely able to see a thing, the pain in her head was so severe.
"Mary? Are you okay?" Richards voice came from behind her, the concern in his voice very obvious.
"Headache" it was the sum total of what she could say, without her head exploding.
She felt his hand on her arm, he led her to the couch and sat her down, "I will be right back, just try and relax, I know it is hard but it will help."
Moments later she felt him lift her hand, put something in it, and then he placed a glass in her other hand. "Take those, they will help."
"My mom said I must not take drugs from strangers. Ouch!" she tried to joke and as she swallowed the tablets, she heard him chuckling.
"No trust, I run outside into the dark for you, I spend the whole night listening to you snore like a lumberjack…and this is the thanks I get!"
She closed her eyes, wishing she felt up to a verbal sparring with him; but the pain in her head was so intense.
After a few moments she felt him take her hands and start pressing on the flesh between her thumb and fore finger, rotating in little circles, the pain subsided somewhat, it was not totally gone but it was bearable. "That was some medication you gave me Richard, was it wise that I take them?" she asked, half-jokingly.
"It's the pain meds they give us on salesman training." He said with a silly grin on his face.
"Right!" Mary looked at him with half open eyes. "And the acupressure was on the same training?"
"No, it is something my mom has always done for us when we have headaches, especially when we were small, and she did not want to give us painkillers. And those are the same painkiller we use for Georgiana when she gets a headache."
Mary's heart sank, Georgiana? Probably a girlfriend.
"Sorry that was random, Will's sister also has leukaemia, or had, she is in remission. Will and I have co-guardianship over her. We have learned what we can and cannot give her for the various side effects of treatment, and even now whilst she is in remission, we are cautious when it comes to medication and supplements." Richard had watched Mary withdraw as he mentioned Georgiana and realised that with Will being such a private person, he had probably not mentioned his sister or her illness to any one other than Lizzy. He felt a spark of hope at her reaction though, maybe she felt something for him, followed with the sinking feel of knowing that he could not act on that hope.
"Oh, I knew he had a sister, I did not know she had been ill." Marys voice was quiet, he almost did not hear her. "Is she doing well? In remission, I mean"
"Yes, there were some setbacks, but she seems to be moving passed it, she even started playing the piano again, we had despaired that she might never play again, and she is so talented, it would have been a waste. She is currently with my parents; my mother is spoiling her rotten no doubt, she always wanted a daughter, and all she got was James and me." He gave a self-depreciating chuckle at the last part.
"How is the headache?" he asked
"Still there but better" Mary responded "Please don't say anything to Lizzy or Jane"
"Don't say anything to Lizzy or Jane about what?" Lizzy had just entered the room and unfortunately heard the last part of Marys comment.
Mary sighed "I just have a headache, I don't want any fuss."
"But Mary, you were not feeling well the other morning as well, same symptoms?" Lizzy countered
Mary knew that her sister was concerned but she was so tired of all the fuss and drama, she had enjoyed the time at the cabin because she was just part of the group, not Mary the cancer patient.
"No, just a headache Lizzy, and that is probably because I did not sleep that well, Richard is a horrible roommate!"
"Richard? Roommate?" Lizzy stared at her sister, and then at Richard, he looked a bit embarrassed, but Mary was not phased.
"There was someone at my window last night as I went to bed" she told Lizzy "Richard went outside to check, there were footprints going from window to window, I was not comfortable, so I asked him to sleep in the other bed."
"Footprint?" Lizzy again looked from Mary to Richard. "The other night when Will and I were up here alone, there were foot prints leading to this window." She pointed to the living area window. "Yesterday when Will and I walked around the lake, we felt as if we were being watched, but we did not see anyone."
"Will mentioned that to me when we were preparing supper, but it slipped my mind after supper, I did mean to take a walk around the cabin before going to sleep." Richard wished that he had done a perimeter sweep, he was getting too relaxed, and too distracted by Mary, but then again he was not working, not officially, but he did feel a duty to keep everyone safe.
"Let's get breakfast started, then after we have cleaned up and packed the cars we can take a walk around and check the area surrounding the cabin, perhaps we will find something that will shed some light on the foot prints." Richard suggested, his stomach growling in agreements.
"Horror movie material, we should just pack up and go home" said Mary "Everyone knows the moment you start looking the serial killer starts picking people off one by one." She was smirking as she said this, Richard had to smile, remembering taking both torches last night for similar reasons.
Mary, Lizzy and Richard started making French toast and bacon for breakfast, Will soon joined them, making the coffee and getting the table ready. Their joking and laughter drew the other two couples out of their rooms. Loud exclamations could be heard, bewailing the cold. Louisa and Janes being the loudest, as they shuffled through to the living area, sniffing the air appreciatively.
After breakfast, the late sleepers agreed to clean the kitchen, and the rest got to work tidying the living area. Will and Richard agreed that another, longer trip to the cabin soon was a great idea, they would clean the fireplace then as the ashes were still very warm from the previous night. Lizzy sent Mary to start packing her things as she ran a mop over the floor, Richard and Will restocked the firewood from the shed outside.
As they approached the shed Richard felt he had to speak to his cousin "Will, Lizzy said there were foot prints when you guys were here the last time?" it had been niggling at Richards mind the whole way through breakfast. He did not want to alarm the others, but he was very certain that there were no footprints on the side of the cabin where Marys room was when they arrived. He did notice dirt near living area window when they arrived yesterday, and they could very likely be footprints, wind and rain disturbing the shape of the prints. But he was very sure that the ones last night were fresh footprints.
"Yes, it was very noticeable because Lizzy and I went straight to the door that night, we did not walk around the outside other than to go from and to the car. It worried me quite a bit, Lizzy and I slept on the couch, we did not go to the rooms." Will was glad his cousin was aware of his concerns.
"There was someone outside Marys window last night, and the room next door to hers. There is no doubt about it." Richard knew Will had not heard their conversation earlier.
"Really? How do you know, what happened?" there was slight panic in Wills voice.
"Mary come through and opened the front door, asking who was there. I went outside to take a look, and there were foot prints leading to her window and the next." Richard explained
"Theo and Louisa's room, they fell asleep really quickly, Lizzy and I could hear them snoring almost as soon as we got into bed, at least we hope that was snoring." Will said, with a slight grin, despite his worry.
"Look here" Richard was pointing to a dirt trail that cross theirs, it came from around the corner where Mary, Louisa and Theos rooms were; moving in front of the remaining bedroom windows which faced the woods, the rooms where Charles and Jane, and Lizzy and Will had slept. The footprints came off or started the wooden veranda that ran around the cabin at the point where the path from the kitchen to the shed was. It would require tracking skills to follow them into to the forest and it would alert the others to Richards real occupation; as much as he wanted to track the prints, Richard decided to wait until they did the 'sweep' of the area.
They finished stacking the wood by the fireplace, packed their bags, leaving them at the stairs down to the path. Richard, Mary and Lizzy had suggested the 'sweep' saying that the footprints might have been someone in need, or an animal. They were just going to go a couple of meters either way, splitting in to two groups, meeting back in 15 minutes.
Jane, Charles, Theo and Louisa formed one group and would cover the area in front of the cabin around the path.
Lizzy, Will, Mary and Richard would cover the back and off to the side. They split up further into couples, with Lizzy and Will going to the side and Mary and Richard covering the back area, but always with the other couple in sight.
Richard showed Mary where the tracks led off into the tree line, small signs broken twigs, depressed grass areas, mud on a rock. When they reach the tree line, Will and Lizzy moved over to where they were. Richard showed them the trail moving into the trees, when they heard the others call them back, it was time to leave.
Charles was eager to get back, Caroline's assessment was this morning and he was hoping for a positive prognosis, it was hard to think of his little sister as being a total nutcase, despite the incidents in the last week. Jane had tried to be positive but after yesterday mornings attack on her sister, she was uncharacteristically neutral.
Theo and Louisa had decided that regardless of what the outcome was, Caroline was not welcome in their lives. They had spoken at length since the fun run, realising that each of them wanted to start a family but thought the other did not. With the communication channels now open, they wanted to begin with the rest of their lives, and that included falling pregnant. Neither of them wanted Caroline around their child/children; she did not like children and she did not like Louisa doing anything without her permission.
Lizzy and Will, although not starting a family, did not want Caroline in their lives either, she was just too unpredictable and unstable. They were going to lay charges against Wickham when they got back into town and did not want to have to deal with Caroline's nonsense as well.