Hoisted

The woman who'd held Adam down - Margaret, he now knew - grabbed him under the arms and yanked him to his feet. Remarkably, she seemed to do this as easily as she'd put him down on the floor.

"Sorry about that, dear," she said, keeping her voice low. "Like Alice says, I get a bit carried away sometimes."

Adam pushed himself away from the wall, which was alarmingly close to his face.

"What's going on? Who are you - and who are those men outside my front door?" Adam managed to ask, brushing the dust from his clothes, grimacing as he found a damp mark on his jeans. He pulled his fingers away and sniffed - ugh, bloody cats.

"First things first, Mr Cotter," said Alice. "We'll answer your questions later. But first, I just want to check that you've got it with you."

Adam frowned. "Got what?"

Margaret cut in. "Why, the key of course. I mean, you did follow your grandmother's instructions, didn't you?"

All too clearly, in his mind's eye, Adam saw the key, the envelope and the note ... still folded, unread.

The way Margaret was staring at him, he wasn't looking forward to sharing this news.



Story starts here.