Ravens Gathering by Graeme Cumming

to turn right
towards the hallway and, beyond that, the living room.  Instead he
stopped.  It would only take a moment to check the utility room. 
That might just solve the mystery of the missing clothes, then he could settle
down and enjoy an episode of Cheers .
    One of the shirts he was looking for was on a hanger,
suspended from a hook screwed into an oak beam in the ceiling.  There were
several hooks scattered across the four beams that supported the ceiling. 
He had never been sure what the Sullivans had used
them for, but Tanya found them useful for the laundry.  Apparently it cut
down on the amount of time she spent ironing.
    There was no sign of the other missing items of clothing, so
he came out of the utility room and into the corridor.  As he turned to
close the door, he noticed the door to the guest bedroom was half open. 
On another occasion, he probably wouldn’t have thought anything of it. 
But with the other strange things happening – Tanya’s unexplained absence, the
missing clothes – this additional inconsistency grabbed his attention.
    They did generally keep this part of the house closed up,
especially when the heating was on.  Tanya begrudged all of the little
economies he was asking for, but he knew that the collective effect could mean
a big saving overall.  And he knew that deep down she realised it
too.  Which was why she generally went along with his requests.
    A part of him considered going back to his bedroom
first.  During the course of his negotiations with the Sullivans ,
they had discussed a range of different aspects of farm life.  Although
Ian and Tanya wouldn’t be farming, living in a farm house about half a mile
from the village, there were certain experiences they could have which were
significantly different to the lifestyle they had been used to.  Foxes,
for example, weren’t rife in Oxford.  And you needed to learn how to deal
with them.  Like a lot of people who enjoy watching action and adventure
films, Ian had never contemplated actually using a firearm himself. 
Buying the shotgun had been a real wake-up call.  His life was changing
dramatically.
    The gun was kept in a locked cabinet in the bedroom. 
Tanya wasn’t happy about it being there, but the alternatives were even less
appealing.  She didn’t want it in the kitchen or other living areas, and
the hallway wasn’t secure enough.  She also accepted that, if they were
going to be so remote from the rest of the village, there was an increased risk
of them being broke into at night.  If that was the case, it was pointless
having their primary means of defence on a different floor, or even a different
bedroom.
    Ian’s thoughts of retrieving the shotgun were fleeting,
though.  This was the real world, not some suspense thriller. 
Whatever the explanation for the guest room door being open, it was hardly
likely to involve a psychopath waiting for him with a long knife.  It was
more likely that Tanya would be down there.  He couldn’t guess what she’d
be doing, but the last thing he’d want to do is confront her with a gun barrel. 
Things were strained enough.
    Still, he was cautious.  He didn’t march straight
in.  Instead, he paused at the doorway and gently pushed the door
open.  As his view into the room widened, he saw a rucksack on the
bed.  It was leaning at an angle, like it had been dumped there by someone
in a rush.  He knew it didn’t belong either to him or to Tanya.  For
a start, they didn’t have need of one, so they’d never bought one.  And
there was no possibility in his mind that Tanya might have suddenly acquired an
appetite for outdoor living.
    There was no other obvious sign of occupation.  Not
from the doorway in any event.  He stepped inside, still cautious, and
carefully looked around the bedroom and en-suite.  A damp sheen in the
sink and a crumpled hand towel were the only other indications that anyone had
been there recently.  But who was it?  And