Page 10 of The Other Side

“You have to see Lover’s Leap. An attempted suicide that failed because the young girl’s skirts caught the wind so she escaped with cuts and bruises. She’d been jilted by the love of her life. Poor thing died of natural causes a few years later.”

Then came the local politics. The developers, Lily explained, were the current villains. “They keep building houses nobody around here can afford.”

“Oh.”

“Four-bedroom places with fancy kitchens and taps that flow with boiling water and prices that would make you gulp.”

“And people buy them?”

“Oh yes. Not local families though. They can’t afford them.” She lowered her voice as though discussing organised crime. “Second-home owners. People from the cities. They arrive on Friday, leave on Sunday and don’t spend their money in the village, except in the fish and chip shop. And they rent the places out on that air thing.”

“Airbnb.” Drum smiled. “I suppose that causes a few disagreements.”

“A few? You should hear the parish council meetings.”

By the time he finished his second cup of tea, Drum had learned about planning disputes, wandering sheep, potholes, dangerous caves, unexpected holes in the ground, village feuds that stretched back thirty years, and which residents could always be relied upon to complain. Most of it was probably irrelevant to policing. Still, he understood this was how communities worked. People wanted to know they were being listened to. If he wanted their trust, he needed to hear what mattered to them.

Eventually, he steered the conversation another way. “Have you heard anything strange about Sparlow?”

Lily’s expression changed slightly. “What sort of strange?”

“Anything unusual. Rumours. Stories. Things people have been talking about.”

She considered the question carefully. “Well, some of the folk over there are a little odd.”

“Odd?”

She nodded. “And there’ve been lights seen in the sky. So people say.”

“What kind of lights?”

“Oh, different stories depending on who you ask. Bright white ones mostly. Sometimes blue.”

“Recently?”

“I don’t know. They’re not seen often but it’s been going on for years.”

Drum leaned forward slightly. “And you’ve seen them yourself?”

Lily shook her head. “No. Never.”

He wasn’t sure he believed her. “Do people know where they come from?”

“No.” She smiled. “Though some seem very sure they do.”

“What do they think?”

“Military aircraft.”

“Reasonable enough.”

“Others say it’s aliens.”

Drum nodded. “They’ll probably arrive eventually.”

For a moment neither spoke.

“I wonder…” Lily said.