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It’s the middle of the evening when I get home. It felt safe being in the hospital, and now there’s just emptiness and fear. I’d tried speaking to Max, but he barely registered my presence.
I double lock the front door and turn on all the downstairs lights. As much as I miss Poppy, it brings some comfort to know she’s safe with my mum.
In the kitchen, I grab a knife and check each room. It doesn’t feel like there’s anyone in here, but the driver of the silver Golf was definitely following me, and it couldn’t have been Taylor. There’s no way he would have had time to park up and rush inside somewhere. Turn on Netflix. Prepare for my sudden call.
Once I’ve checked the whole house and locked all the windows, I grab a blanket and take it downstairs. I call Mum to check on Poppy.
‘She’s fine,’ Mum says. ‘We had a movie night.Frozenagain. I think I must know the whole script off by heart.’ She chuckles. ‘Thank goodness it’s got some humour in it. Is Max okay?’
‘He barely woke up. But the nurses are pleased with how he’s doing. Stable. I don’t even know what that’s supposed to mean exactly.’
‘It means be grateful. He’s doing okay.’
We say goodbye, and fear grips hold of me as soon as she’s no longer on the end of the phone, the silence smothering me.
I call Sarah, and it goes straight to voicemail, as it usually does when she’s at work. ‘Call me when you can,’ I say. ‘Nothing urgent. I just wanted to hear your voice.’
I’m buttering bread to make a cheese sandwich when someone taps lightly on the door, the shock of it causing me to drop the knife.
Grabbing my phone from the worktop, I head through the hall and look through the peephole. I’ve been telling Max we should get a Ring doorbell, but he’s always made an excuse.They invade our privacy. Easy to hack into. We don’t need one – it’s safe around here.Now I question why he was so adamant.
With a mixture of relief and concern, I see that it’s Taylor standing there, his hands in his pockets, shuffling his feet from side to side.
‘What are you doing here?’ I ask, when I open the door. The security chain is still on – I still don’t trust him.
‘I was worried about you. When you said that car was following you. I came to check on you. I would have come sooner but I had to look after my niece.’
‘I’m fine.’
‘Is your daughter okay?’
‘Poppy’s at my mum’s.’
‘Okay. In that case, can we talk?’
‘I didn’t think there was anything more to say.’ I say this, fully aware it’s not the truth.
‘There’s plenty. I need to know what happened to Alice. And don’t you want to know how your husband’s involved? Either toclear his name or to know that he’s guilty? How can you just bury your head in the sand?’ His agitated tone puts me on edge. He’s never going to let this go.And neither should I. I need to keep Taylor onside.
I hesitate for a moment, while my brain scrambles to make a decision. ‘I suppose you can come in for a few minutes.’
‘No, I want you to feel safe around me. Let’s go somewhere neutral. A different pub to last time?’
Although I’m reluctant to let him in the house, I’m too exhausted to go anywhere. ‘Just come in. It’s fine. I’ve got plenty of kitchen knives, so don’t even think about doing anything.’
He holds up his hands. ‘All I want is to know the truth. I can’t take not knowing who did this to Alice. And why. It’s tearing me apart.’
I pull the chain from the door, all the while wondering if I’m making a mistake.
Offering Taylor a drink feels surreal. He’s not a friend, not even an acquaintance. We’re linked by the death of Alice Hughes.
‘I’ll just have water,’ he says, following me into the kitchen.
I fill a glass each for us, and put them on the worktop. Taylor ignores the kitchen bar stools and stays standing, so I do the same.
‘I’ve barely slept since Alice died,’ he says. ‘I feel guilty that I didn’t show her how much I cared about her. They say that, don’t they? That we take people for granted until it’s too late. Well, that’s what I did to Alice.’ His eyes fill with tears. ‘I should have told her how much she meant to me.’ He drinks some water. ‘Words cost nothing. But I never told her.’
‘I’m sure she knew,’ I say, even though I have no idea what Alice thought about anything. ‘Let’s go in the living room.’
