The Apartment - K. L. Slater Page 0,42

that, she turns and strides off again and although I watch her until she turns the corner, she doesn’t look back at us once.

24

We finish up our drinks and make our way back home. I walk at a relaxed pace while Skye happily canters ahead on her new unicorn stick.

Weak sunlight permeates the thick cloud covering, and when I look up, I see chinks of cornflower-blue sky pushing through the fluffy white.

I still feel uncomfortable about what the woman outside the café said, but when Skye breaks into song, I join her, even skipping along at the side of her unicorn trot to her delight. I ignore the inquisitive glances from passers-by.

Nearing Adder House now, we’re still singing and skipping along when I hear someone shout. I’m mortified when I look up to see the builder whose smile is now replaced by a full-blown belly laugh.

‘No need to stop, I was enjoying that.’ He clambers down the scaffolding, impressively nimble in his heavy steel-toe-capped boots. I watch Skye skip on, up towards Adder House.

‘Wait for me,’ I call to her.

‘Nice to see someone around here letting their hair down a bit.’

I take a step back from him, instantly on my guard.

His teeth are white and healthy when he smiles, and I notice a tiny chip on the corner of one of his front teeth, a small imperfection that somehow enhances his looks. He wipes a dusty hand on his overalls and holds it out. ‘Mark Sutton. Pleased to meet you.’

‘Freya,’ I say cautiously without giving my surname.

‘You’ve just moved in here, yeah?’ He scans the row of enormous houses up ahead.

‘Yes.’

‘That’s why I spotted you were a newbie in the first place. You get to see the same faces around here. People are creatures of habit, coming and going. I’ve been working on this place for six weeks now, doing a full refurb.’ We both look at the glowing redbrick mansion behind the scaffolding. ‘Got about the same number of weeks ahead, too, until it’s finished.’

‘Well, I’d better let you get on.’

‘That your little girl?’

I nod and follow his eyes to Skye darting in and out of the mansion gateways on her unicorn.

‘Which one are you in, then?’

‘I’m sorry?’

‘House. Which is yours?’

‘Oh, we’re just renting a really small apartment in the big white one.’ I laugh. ‘The whole house isn’t mine, sadly.’

His smile fades. ‘Is it the one they call Adder House?’

‘Yes, that’s right.’ What is it with people around here? The woman outside the café, now the builder. ‘You look worried.’

‘No, not worried. Well . . .’ He collects himself. ‘It’s just after what happened there, you know.’

My chest tightens. ‘What is it . . . that happened?’

I try to keep my voice level so I don’t scare him off from talking about whatever it is he seems reluctant to talk about.

‘That woman and her kid who lived there. You know, all of it.’ He shivers. ‘Gives me the creeps just to think about it.’

Icy fingers trace the back of my neck. ‘What happened to them?’

Mark seems to register that what he said might be inappropriate given I’ve just moved in there.

‘Sorry,’ he says sheepishly. ‘I’m sure you don’t want to talk about all that.’

‘I . . . I didn’t know,’ I manage. ‘But I’d like you to tell me what happened.’ The sounds of the street fade out and I can hear myself breathing.

He holds up his hands. ‘All I know is what I’ve heard second-hand and that is, about eight months ago, a woman who lived there killed herself.’ He watches me nervously for a reaction. ‘That’s what I heard, anyway.’

My forearms prickle and I give them a rub. ‘What was her name, the woman?’

‘No idea. Barry, my foreman, he knew the woman’s sister apparently. That’s how he heard about it ’cos they keep suicide stuff out of the papers, don’t they?’

‘Do they?’

‘Oh yeah. Thousands of ’em every year in London, aren’t there? They keep it hush-hush. Don’t want to freak people out, you see.’

I feel a bit light-headed. The thought of something like that happening in our apartment is too horrible to even consider.

‘You OK, Freya? It’s a terrible thing that happened, but I didn’t mean to scare you.’

‘I’m fine.’ I pull at the neck of my T-shirt to get some air circulating. ‘I hadn’t heard about it, that’s all.’

‘Barry’s on holiday but he’s back Friday. You should ask him about it.’

I nod and look up the street for Skye and feel instantly sick. Palace Gate