Welcome to case closed. You're listening to The Shadow House by Anna Downs, narrated by Natasha Beaumont and the author. Let's pick up where we left off last week.

Alex, Chapter 43

The Hassup Farm was eerily quiet when Jenny and I arrived.

No rumble from the nearby road, no distant whir of machinery.

Even the cicadas had fallen quiet for once.

I imagined them hiding under fat green leaves like dogs under a bed.

I drove slowly through the orchard, struck once again by its beauty,

the light streaming and flickering through the corner. the

orchard struck once again by its beauty, the light streaming and flickering through the constantly moving leaves.

The grass below so intricately dappled it resembled the glittering surface of a lake.

But I also noticed things I hadn't seen last time.

Tumbledown barns just visible through the citrus trees. A large lily laden pond with a pontoon made of planks and plastic barrels.

A scarecrow in a far corner with a bucket for a head, black rags dangling from its wooden cross body. I leaned forward in my seat,

gripping the wheel, scouring the property for anything else I might have missed.

In the passenger seat beside me, Jenny sat stiff and pale, her eyes fixed on the higgledy-piggledy house at the end of the track.

I hadn't wanted her to come. I told her I was just going to run a quick Christmas errand check on Bess see how she was doing

But it was too late. She'd already seen my face and wouldn't take no for an answer

I'm sure Lila wouldn't mind watching Kara for 20 minutes, she said firmly.

And Leila, eager to make amends, hadn't minded one bit.

When we reached the house, I parked up next to the silver eut I recognised as domes, but unlike

last time there was no sign of the man himself. There was no sign of anyone at all.

Killing the engine I got out and studied the house,

...