going. And in February, it had still been dark when he’d left in the morning, often before seven, and was dark again when he arrived home, rarely before six, sometimes several hours later. Unless somebody was looking out of one of the rear windows of their house, and peering down into our yard, at those exact moments of his departure or arrival … and even if they were, would they actually have been able to see him, in the dark? There was outdoor lighting, which would be lovely in the summer when we were sitting outside in the evenings, but we hadn’t used it since we’d moved in, apart from switching it on once to check it was all working. And, as Jo had pointed out, there were no streetlights in the lane that ran behind the houses, and even if the kitchen lights were on, they cast just a faint glow into the back yard. So maybe not surprising then, that none of our close neighbours had seen him come and go. As I stood there, thinking, a movement from up above caught my eye, a shape at one of the upstairs windows next door, Jenny and Clive’s house. Clive? I lifted a hand to wave at him, but the shape moved abruptly away from the window again, and seconds later the light in the room was turned off. I stared at the dark rectangle for a moment – had he been watching me? – then turned my thoughts back to Danny.
What about weekends? Wouldn’t somebody have seen him then? I walked back inside, locking the door behind me. Although, thinking about it, Danny’s only been here for three weekends so far, hasn’t he? I thought. And most of that time we had spent indoors, emptying boxes, arranging furniture, painting walls. It had been me who had gone out to do the weekly Saturday morning supermarket run, and we hadn’t even been out for dinner since we’d moved in, instead trying out the local food delivery services – Mexican, Indian, Thai.
‘Once this place is sorted, we’ll have more time. I’ll treat you to a massive blow-out in the fanciest place in Bristol,’ Danny had said.
So, I reasoned, checking my phone to see if Eva had messaged again, wondering what time she’d finally arrive … so, maybe it wasn’t so peculiar at all that the neighbours had never laid eyes on Danny. And what difference did it make, really? He was missing. He was gone.
When Eva had finally appeared, practically falling out of her taxi outside the house in her efforts to haul her bag out of it with one hand and pull me in for a hug with the other, she’d been exhausted, worn out by the stress of getting her latest big story finished before her deadline and by her long, frustrating journey from London. I’d bundled her off to bed in the spare room, telling her to get a good night’s sleep and that I’d fill her in on everything that had been going on in the morning, and she’d reluctantly agreed.
‘We’ll get to the bottom of it, Gem. I promise we will, OK?’ she’d said, squeezing my hands and planting a kiss on my forehead.
After a solid eight hours’ sleep, she looked refreshed, her hair still damp from the shower, cheeks glowing, her curves wrapped in a black velvet dressing gown. I handed her the steaming mug of coffee and sat down opposite her, reaching for a coaster and putting my own mug of peppermint tea down on it. I’d had so much caffeine in recent days I was starting to feel jittery.
‘God, it’s good to see you, Eva Hawton,’ I said. ‘I’ve missed you.’
‘Missed you too, buddy. Can’t believe you’ve moved to the wilds of the West Country. Still, it’s a nice place to escape to at weekends. That’s if the frigging trains are working, of course,’ she said, and reached across the table to touch my hand.
‘How’ve you been? Bloody hell, for all this to happen when you’ve just moved here and don’t even know anyone yet, the timing is shit. Are you OK, really?’
‘I’m OK. Well, hanging on in there and all the better now for seeing you. And I’ve somehow managed to make a couple of friends already, actually. Clare and Tai. They’re nice, you’d like them.’
‘Oh, great! How did you meet them?’
I told her the story; about meeting Clare and Winnie the Poodle while I was out with Albert, and about