The Secrets of Whitelea

|Chapter Thirteen|

Chapter Thirteen

The next morning Bella woke early. She hadn't really gotten to sleep after the phone call – which had ended abruptly and had given her no answers. Sighing she forced herself into the bathroom. After using the toilet, showering and changing as quickly as she could, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen. Mariam had taken the morning off to do something so the kitchen was completely empty. She ate as quickly as she could, ran back upstairs to brush her teeth and made her way back downstairs again. She unlocked the front door and made her way outside. It was incredibly warm outside – almost too warm to cope. Bella was thankful she'd chosen to wear shorts and a tank top. She tied her hair back, already feeling the sweat on her forehead. She locked the door behind her and set off in the direction of the village. Since she'd been back she'd only really been to the shop and the pub and had no chance to be a tourist.

She reached the top of the drive a few minutes later, already longing to go back inside where it was significantly cooler. She forced herself onwards though, heading towards the village. There were plenty of cars on the road with people on their way to work for the day – most of them heading towards the nearest town so they could get to their office jobs.

Soon, Bella found herself at the edge of the high street. The first shop was a charity shop, with people's old belongings displayed in the window. It was shut, not to be open for another hour. The next one was a café which made donations to the charity shop next door. That too wasn't going to be open for a few hours. Following the café was a souvenir shop which featured a lot of history books on the village and of Hamilton House, a baker, a butcher, the post office, a card and candle shop, a pharmacy, a small doctor's surgery and Douglas' pub. At the other end of the village was the supermarket that Pippa ran. Next to that, heading back in towards the centre of the village was the primary school and a bit further on was the secondary school. In between the two was a park which had a kids' playground and a small football pitch. The edge of the park ended at the start of the woods that surrounded Hamilton House.

Bella stopped outside the post office and peered through the window. The sign told her that the post office was shut and that it wouldn't be open for another half an hour. Thinking that she'd come back later to see if Pippa knew anything, she continued her walk of the village. She ended up at the park, sitting on the bench, hoping that lack of movement would cool her down. If it was this warm this early on in the morning she dreaded what the rest of the day was going to be like. Deciding that she didn't want to find out while she was still outside, she began to make her way back.

She was almost home when a thought occurred to her. There was only one way to clear up some of her doubts and that was to speak to one of the people who could give her a proper answer. She turned on her heel and walked back the way she came. A few minutes walk after the supermarket was the entrance to the drive that led down to the Roux's house. Bella hurried down this path, making sure to look both ways before she did so.

A couple of minutes later and she found herself approaching the house. Two cars were parked in front of it which hadn't been there the last time that she had been here, admittedly when she was breaking into the building. Taking a deep breath she made herself walk up to the front door and ring the bell. She was just about to turn away and go home when the door was wrenched open and a young woman with red hair appeared. "Can I help you?" She asked.

"I'm sorry to bother you," Bella began. "Are you Georgina Roux?"

"And you're Annabelle Hamilton." Georgina said. "I've been meaning to stop by Betty's to say hello but I always keep missing you."

"That's a shame." Bella said, making it sound like it really wasn't.

"I'm surprised you're here, to be honest." Georgina commented. Bella froze.