Chapter One
The night was dark. Winter was slowly strangling the last tendrils of the past season. The Autumn had been particularly warm. The land was still teeming with life, not ready to go to sleep. Not ready for the cold season about to drape itself over it.
The lane was dark. From the main road up until the farmhouse there was no light except for the moon which came out on clear nights. But the night was dark, the moon was hidden behind thick cloud. Not a star in the sky to light the way. It was a dangerous night for those that didn't know the lay of the land.
Kitty shivered as she turned away from the window. She had been squinting at the dark trying to make out if anyone was coming up the lane. Well, not just anyone. Her Father was late back. It had been a peculiar morning. She had gone downstairs for breakfast but her Father wasn't there.
His boots were there
His gun was there
His car keys were there
But he wasn't
It was just like he had vanished into thin air.
She'd been telling herself all day to be rational. Like the detectives in her murder mystery book, all puzzles had a rational explanation. She'd been reading Sherlock Holmes to remind herself:
'How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?'
There must be a rational explanation
She'd been sure he'd come home soon, and she would tell him how she had worried, about her theories and they would laugh together over it. But as the day drew on and the night drew in, she was less and less sure of herself.
"Marple?" she called and a Border Collie waddled into the room "Not long to go now," she said placing her hand on the dog's swollen stomach "Soon," she told the dog who looked up at her, cocking her head on one side
Sometimes she thought the dog knew what she was saying. She preferred the company of animals and books to the company of humans. Her Father had always encouraged her to make friends but living in the rural countryside there wasn't much company to be found.
There was the farm about a mile away, back down the beaten track. She knew the Thompson family well. The families had grown up together. They had two sons: Ryan and Samuel; both were working on the farm and so the two families knew each other by trade.
Back in the little town there was a small library that frequented when she had finished work on the farm for the day. Her trips had been getting less frequent since Flynn, her Father's farmhand had quit. There was so much to do and so little time to do it in.
And of course, there was her sister. But she was long gone, in the city with all the bright lights and loud noises. Out of sight and out of mind.
Tonight, it was just her and Marple. Waiting for her Father to come home.
As the night darkened and the clock struck midnight echoing in the old farmhouse, Kitty hugged Marple closer to her desperately hoping the night wouldn't finish like one of her crime novels.