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Later, Poppy clutches my hand tightly as we walk from the car to the front door. Her small hand is sticky, but I grip hold of it. Our elderly neighbour Morris shuffles past with his dog, smiling and wishing us a good evening. I nod to him, grateful when he walks past us instead of stopping for a chat as he often does.
‘Is Daddy going to die?’ Poppy asks as I open the door. ‘He looks bad. He doesn’t even look like Daddy.’
Taking Poppy to the hospital didn’t go well. The second she saw Max, her face crumpled and she erupted into tears. We hadn’t stayed long, but Max had opened his eyes and smiled when he saw her, lifting his bruised arm to try to wave.
‘No, sweetie,’ I say. ‘It will take some time, but he’ll be okay. We’ll all be fine. You just have to try to be really brave for him. Do you think you can do that?’
After hesitating for a moment, she nods and steps inside, peeling off her coat.
I’m about to close the door when I see a man walking towards us. He’s wearing a grey hooded top with a padded gilet over it, his hood pulled so far down I can barely see his face. Fear courses through my body.
He calls out, pulling back his hood and running towards me. ‘Wait!’
‘Go upstairs!’ I shout to Poppy. ‘Quick!’
I try to push the door shut, but he reaches out and lodges his arm in the gap, forcing it open.
And that’s when I see his face clearly. The man who spoke to me outside the River Walk Hotel. The one I saw at the school. Is he also the man in the silver Golf?
‘What do you want?’
‘Just to talk. Please.’ He holds up his hands.
I pull out my phone. ‘You’re scaring my daughter.’ I try to shut the door again, but he grabs it, and I’m no match for his strength.
‘Please,’ he repeats. ‘It’s about Alice.’
My body freezes, even though I shouldn’t be shocked. His presence here could only ever be about Alice Hughes.
He scans my face, and I have no idea what he’s expecting to find. ‘I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t urgent,’ he continues. ‘Look, I know who you are. And I know why you were outside the hotel that day.’
I inch back. ‘What?’
‘I think you need my help.’ He waits for that to sink in. ‘Can we talk now?’
I glance back at the stairs, and see Poppy sitting on the top step, hugging her knees to her chest, watching us.
‘I need to get my daughter to bed.’And to buy myself some time to work out what to do about this man.
‘Please don’t be scared of me. I want to help you. Ineedto help you – for both our sakes.’
I study his face, but there’s no way to tell if he’s genuine.What choice do I have?He knows something and I need to find out what that is. ‘I need a couple of hours. And not here.’
He nods. ‘Do you know that pub by the river? The Boathouse?’
‘Yes, I know it.’
‘Meet me there.’ With a quick flick of his head, he pulls down his hood and walks off.
I watch him disappear, then close the door, pulling across the security chain, and leaning back to let out the breath I’ve been holding in.
‘Mummy? Who was that man?’ Poppy slowly walks down the stairs, clutching Whiskers, her cuddly toy cat, to her chest.
‘Just someone who wants to see how Daddy is,’ I say, because somehow this must be partly true. I take Poppy’s hand and lead her back upstairs. ‘Listen, I’m going to see if Leda can babysit for an hour – is that okay? And then I can go and talk to this man about Daddy.’
To my relief, Poppy instantly agrees. She likes Leda, a law student who lives across the road. Leda might only be eighteen, but she has younger sisters so always knows how to relate to Poppy.
I send her a message and pray that she’s available.
