Today's Reading
No blue ticks appear. It doesn't even flag up as delivered. As she turns on the spot, still hoping to glimpse him, one of the arriving visitors catches her gaze. Another woman with a brood of children, her weary eyes flicking to Chrissy's band T-shirt—Leo's in fact—beneath her battered leather jacket. Chrissy turns away, no longer feeling in a superior position. That woman knows where her loved one is, at least. For the first time in twenty-two months, Chrissy has no idea.
CHAPTER TWO
ALICE Thursday, December 7, 2023
There is somebody in Alice's house.
She sits bolt upright in bed, listening to them moving around downstairs. All night she has dreamed of Leo's face at her windows, his silhouette in her doorway, and now it's the morning of his release and there is someone in her house.
She grabs her phone from the bedside table. Where is Beech? Why isn't he barking wildly at the intruder? She stretches out a foot and feels his warm, sleeping bulk at the end of her bed. He springs up at her touch, sticking close to her side as she gets up and edges to the door of her room.
Alice's heart is thundering. She gets her brother's number ready on her phone. She should call the police, really, but she still thinks of him as the police. Inching onto the landing, she listens hard. A deep male voice is speaking very softly. Beech's ears prick and then he is gone, bounding down the stairs, Alice's thumb hitting the Call icon in panic.
User busy. Fear spreads all the way through her. She takes dark comfort in imagining Beech pouncing on Leo, somehow knowing he's no longer a friend, tearing at his clothes, baring his teeth&
Then something clicks in her brain. The voice. Beech's lack of frantic barking, even now. She creeps to the top of the stairs and her legs almost fold. It's her brother. It's Peter. She leans on the banister, swearing under her breath, then walks unsteadily downstairs.
Through the half-open kitchen door, she sees him on his mobile, pacing back and forth, Beech dithering inquisitively around him.
“Okay,” he is saying, quiet and serious. “Okay. Just...keep me posted.”
“Peter?”
He swings around, hanging up the phone. “Al! Did I wake you?”
“I thought someone had broken in!”
“Shit. Sorry.” He flushes a little. “I slept on the sofa after you went up last night. You seemed so upset, I thought I'd make sure you were okay.”
Alice thinks back to their long evening in her living room, staring at the TV with an awful sense of waiting. She glances at the clock above her cookstove: 8:50 a.m. Has it happened? Is Leo free?
“Who were you talking to?” she asks.
“Uh...” He slips the phone into his pocket. “Just an old colleague. Wanted my advice on a case.”
Alice raises an eyebrow. “They do know you're retired?”
He half-smiles. “Sometimes I'm not sure they do.”
She sinks into a chair, clapping a palm to her chest. “I thought it was him.” Adrenaline drains from her body, leaving her hollow and lightheaded. “God. I thought it was him.”
Peter comes up behind her and touches her shoulders. “I'm really sorry.”
She shakes her head, fighting tears.
“I'll make tea,” he says, and she nods, because what else is there to do?
They drink their tea in silence, Alice looking pointlessly at the clock, Peter glancing often at his phone. Then he stands up abruptly. “I've gotta go, Al.”
“Have you?” She's been longing to be alone, but now she feels another flutter of panic.
“I've...got some things to do. But I'll come back later.”
There's no point arguing or questioning. Peter's movements are mysterious at the best of times, but when he's upset, he can't seem to stay in one place for long.
“Don't forget you've got a session with Nadia this morning,” he says, gesturing at the Dogs Trust calendar hanging on the wall. “Think it would be good for you to go?”
...
