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The kindness of strangers, Matt thinks. What a way to be introduced to the neighbours.
He finds Ava hunched over on the sofa in front of a plate of untouched supermarket sandwiches. He eats one and drinks a cup of sweet tea handed to him by Lorraine, this woman who now reaches into the correct cupboard for the mugs, who knows where the teaspoons are without having to ask.
‘Next door are just back,’ he tells his wife. ‘They said if there’s anything they can do… Johnnie said if we need any more posters or anything. The wife’s called Jennifer.’
Ava says nothing. It is as if only the outer shell of her exists.
At eight, the light goes. DI Sharon Farnham returns to the house, moving with that slow calm he suspects hides all manner of anxieties, to tell them that the search has been called off until tomorrow.
‘I’ll contact you if anything develops,’ she says. ‘You have my number. Call me if any new information comes to light, OK? DC Stephens will stay with you for as long as you need her.’
When she’s gone, Matt wanders into the kitchen and calls Neil, who answers after two rings.
‘Mate. Anything?’
‘No. They’ve called off the search until the morning.’
‘Where are you?’
‘At home. You?’
‘Just popped back to change into some dry clothes, I was freezing.’ A pause. ‘Listen, I’m going to grab my coat and head back out.’
Matt closes his eyes. ‘Mate,’ he says, his voice a croak. His own clothes are damp too, he realises, and, yes, he is cold and damp, his teeth chattering. ‘Let me check with Ave.’
‘Do you want Bella to come and sit with her?’
‘She’s got the family liaison woman here with her at the moment. Hold on.’
Matt goes into the living room. He holds the phone to his chest. Ava looks up. Her face is red, her eyes swollen.
‘I was going to go out one last time. With Neil. He’s asking if you want Bella to come and sit with you. Or would you prefer me to stay here?’
Ava glances at Lorraine, who tells them she can stay as long as they want, that she can sleep on the sofa if they need her – she doesn’t mind.
‘If you’re sure,’ Ava says, pushing her nose against the crushed tissue in her hand.
‘Of course,’ Lorraine replies.
Ava meets his eye. ‘I think I’m fine with Lorraine. Tell Neil thanks.’
She looks as if she’s been punched. It is a terrible, terrible sight. It is all, all of it, so horrible. All the times he has used the word nightmare, without thinking, and now this, this is the nightmare. It has that same thrumming, heightened surreality, the same gut-churning paralysis, the longing for consciousness, the impossibility of waking up, of ever waking up.
‘Sure you don’t want me to stay?’ he asks.
‘No, go,’ Ava says, looking pleadingly at him. ‘Find her. Just… find her.’
Leaden-hearted, Matt leaves her with Lorraine and returns to the hall. ‘Neil? Yeah, tell Bella thanks, but the family liaison woman is going to stay until I get back.’
Quarter of an hour later, wrapped up against the chill of an early September evening, they meet outside Matt’s house. The police vans have gone; the neighbours are back inside their homes. Shell-shocked, Matt imagines, talking it through endlessly. Next door, an amber glow leaks through the Lovegoods’ Scandinavian-style shutters. The car is no longer there.
Matt nods towards the house. ‘I met them just now. Looks like they’ve gone out again.’
‘Nah. Johnnie always parks in the garage. So he can remind everyone he’s the only onewitha garage.’
Matt shakes his head. ‘Car like that, it’s bound to get vandalised sooner or later.’
‘Either way, he’s a knob.’
