Page 38 of Gone in the Night (Detective Morgan Brookes #16)

THIRTY-EIGHT

Yolanda Crystal didn’t read the news, she didn’t watch it either and when urgent local alerts flashed up on her phone, she quickly swiped them away.

She wasn’t interested full stop in the goings on in the crazy world around her.

All she cared about was her own inner peace and that of her followers.

She was taking over the world one yoga class at a time.

She loved being able to solo travel and record her classes in the most beautiful of places.

The Lake District never failed to inspire her.

She was planning an evening new moon vlog deep into Grizedale Forest, where she was going to set up her little campsite on her own.

There was a small access road that was mainly used by farmers and cyclists.

If she drove carefully, she knew there were a couple of places she could pull off the road and set up camp out of view of anyone passing by, so she wouldn’t get chased away.

It was Sharon who’d inspired her on her own journey of self-discovery, and she hoped to meet up with her one day to tell her this.

She was loving the freedom this life afforded her, and the following she had gathered was just the sweetest apart from the odd weirdos that left strange comments, but she ignored those.

Logging on to do one last check before she left the world of the internet behind, she saw a message from one of her newest followers, Fairy Rose.

Love your content, would be great to do a collab with you some time. If you’re ever in the Grizedale Forest/Hawkshead area give me a shout.

She clicked on the profile to see a woman with pink hair grinning back at her, yoga pants and crop top on, sitting in the lotus position with a view of a forest behind her that looked very much like the Grizedale she remembered from her trips there as a kid with her parents.

They would fill the Vauxhall Zafira of a weekend, her two sisters and two brothers, and off they’d go with a ginormous carrier bag of crisps and sandwiches for a walk through the woods and a picnic.

At the time she’d hated those family day trips out, but she knew now that her mum and dad had only been doing their best with what little they had, and she looked back on them with nostalgia.

Especially now she didn’t see much of her family.

She was the only one without kids, the others were in relationships and lived locally, but she’d moved away to live in the city.

Realising what she was missing, she was in the process of moving back to Barrow-in-Furness to be nearer everyone.

It was funny how as she found herself getting older, she just wanted a quiet, peaceful life, and her family around her.

She wasn’t an expert on the forest, but she knew that area pretty good.

Maybe she would contact Fairy Rose. It might be nice to do a collab.

She sighed when she saw that Fairy Rose only had three hundred followers – damn, that wasn’t exactly going to get her many extra likes on her YouTube channel – but everyone had to start someplace. She sent her a quick message.

Hi, actually I’m heading that way soon. If I can get a signal when I’ve set up camp, I’ll message you, maybe you could come meet me and we could record the new moon session together.

She smiled at her phone screen; she might as well call herself Saint Yolanda.

Still, it was nice to be supportive of others, and it would make her look good if she was seen to be giving a newbie a helping hand.

All publicity was good, as long as it didn’t cause a scandal.

So many influencers were getting cancelled because of stupid comments they’d made.

She wasn’t going to make that mistake. She was the queen of neutrality and made sure she never said anything to cause a stir, be offensive or give anyone a reason to give her any grief.

If she wanted to truly make a living from her YouTube channel, then she would do anything.

There was no way she could go back to a corporate job now she’d tasted the freedom this lifestyle afforded her, and she wanted more.

Maybe one day she could set up her own little yoga studio, but for now she was grateful she could do what she was doing with no stress and a calmness in her life she’d never known could exist.