A noise from the front of the house disturbed the flow of words. Surely the police wouldn’t be calling on her again when they knew she had so little to tell? She dimmed the table lamp and prised open the venetians. The Pavels’ house was lit like the Gloucester Park trots. The police were still there: she could see silhouettes in the cars, sheltering from the rain, and an officer standing on the front porch, but it had been a while since she’d seen anyone in the street.

Her body tensed. She continued to strain for alien sounds, one hand creeping down the gap between the side of her chair and the wall under the window. The carved texture of the samurai sword’s handle was a comfort, despite the weakness of her grip upon it.

When no more strange sounds seemed forthcoming, she let go of the sword and sank back into her chair. Sometimes she relished the idea of a fight, a chance to get even, with whom or what she still did not rightly know.

There had to be someone, there always was.

My Dear, I hope this finds you in a better state than when we last met

There it was again, a distinct thump, the sound of the front door closing. The passageway light clicked and shone under the door of her room—her sight and hearing were as acute as they’d ever been. The floorboards creaked more softly than usual, as if the person was treading on the tips of his toes, a sneaking teenager home well after curfew. Only two people had keys to the front door, and Skye said she was going home after her last visit. It could only be him.

Oh God, him.

Perhaps if she pretended to be asleep he would go away.

I very much regret everything that has happened and the part I have played in your misery

No, too syrupy, too sentimental. Not like you at all, Lilly, you can’t write that nonsense. Too much too soon; get back to that part later.

The door of the room announced his entrance with a slow moan. She ceased her composing as if, like an EEG, he might sense the activity in her brain. She kept very still in her chair, her eyes closed, keeping her breathing firm and even. His footsteps were softer than usual, as if he were trying to keep silent. A silent little mouse creeping across the lino, scritch scritchity scritch.

A shadow flickered through the red of her closed eyes. She willed her lids to remain steady and not betray her with vibrations. Her ears strained for the sound of his movement. The shadow stilled; he was very close now.

A feeling of dark warmth descended upon her from above.

‘Bloody Japs Bloody Japs!’ the parrot squawked.

Her heart gave an extra thud, her eyes shot open and she sat bolt upright in her chair. ‘You, boy—shock!’

He leapt back as if he’d been stung, clutching a green velvet cushion to his chest. ‘Christ, Moth, I thought you were asleep. I was just fixing your cushion, wanted to make you more comfortable.’

‘Doesn’t need fixing. Fine.’ In hospital she’d overheard the nurses joke about giving a troublesome patient the ‘Tontine treatment’. It didn’t seem funny now.

‘Well you shouldn’t leave it on the floor, it’ll get dirty,’ he said, frisbeeing the cushion onto the bed. He turned to the parrot. ‘And as for you, it’s about bloody time you fell off the perch.’ He tossed a blanket over the cage and made it rock. The parrot let out a final curse and fell silent.

Too vain for glasses, Ralph peered closely at her face. ‘God, Moth, you’re as white as a sheet, are you alright?’

‘Of course we’re alright, just a shock, you shouldn’t call at this time of night, tired, worried, must go to bed...’

‘It’s not late; it’s not even six o’clock. I’m here because the police called me. They said you were upset, said the Pavels have gone missing—does that mean the cops finally got round to checking up on them? I rang them several times you know, like you asked, but I think they thought I was some kind of crank. So what’s happened—no sign of the Pavels at all?’

She shook her head; it was so much easier.

‘I’ll make you a cup of tea.’

She didn’t want a cup of tea; she wanted to go to bed.

‘So ... what exactly did you tell the police?’ he asked as he bustled about the kitchenette. People often remarked upon her son’s resemblance to Sir Richard Branson—tousled grey hair and neatly trimmed goatee beard—and it was an image he seemed determined to cultivate, even adopting a similar dress style to the multi-billionaire. There weren’t many engagements grand enough to get him out of those bright figure-hugging shirts and designer jeans and into a suit. He probably wouldn’t even wear a suit to his mother’s funeral, she thought without sentiment. His ersatz Branson image had won and lost him three wives quicker than the real Branson could polish one of his jets.

He told everyone he was a businessman, but to Lilly Hardegan, her son Ralph would never be anything more than a trumped-up greengrocer.

He put her tea on the table next to her sewing and settled himself on the footstool at her feet. He often complained about the stool, said she should have another chair for visitors, said he hated sitting at her feet like a child. It kept him in his place, Lilly liked to think.

‘Listen, Moth,’ he said as he took one of her hands.

She used to have such pretty hands, she reflected without self-pity. These days they looked more like something found under the lino—too much sun maybe?

‘It’s really important that you tell me exactly what you said to the police,’ Ralph went on. ‘It would be awful if they were given the wrong impression of the Pavels, or of me for that matter, wouldn’t it?’

‘Your friends.’

‘Well, not exactly, Jon Pavel is a business associate really. It’s not necessary to mention my connection with him at all. You see, if you mention me...’ He paused, his eyes becoming sharp slits, nothing like Branson’s at all. ‘You’ll be dropping yourself in it too.’

I was stupid. A stupid, naïve, ignorant old woman. Lilly’s head began to pound. She felt as if she might be having another stroke. Maybe it would be easier for everyone if she did.

His clammy hand gripped hers once more. He was worried now, really worried, but only for himself. No, erase that. He wasn’t merely worried; he was bloody terrified; she could smell the fear in his sweat.

‘I might have to go away for a while, Moth, just to be safe, just until this business with the Pavels calms down. I won’t tell you where I’m going; I think it’s best you don’t know in case they come here looking for me.’

Who did he mean ‘they’—the police? Or was he talking about those awful people he’d got himself mixed up with?

‘Don’t worry, they won’t want you, they know you can’t tell anyone about anything. In the meantime, I’m getting things in motion to get power of attorney. It’s a pain I didn’t organise it before your stroke. Things are tricky now, but I should be able to get it sorted—it’s the only way, you can see that, can’t you?’

No, Lilly couldn’t see it at all. Skye had said she was making a splendid recovery. Her right leg had improved to the extent that she didn’t need a stick any more, and her hand was now good enough to let her tackle a basic cross-stitch. Skye said her speech was sure to follow, and when that happened, she would be taught to read and write again. No, he didn’t need power of attorney. She drummed her feet ineffectually upon the lino. He didn’t, he didn’t, he didn’t! (Image 4.1)

Image 4.1

CHAPTER FIVE

Stevie tried the other window in the room, but like the one overlooking Mrs Hardegan’s place, it was locked and she couldn’t find the key. ‘What a bloody idiot,’ she cursed aloud, kicking at the heavy door. Lucky she didn’t get claustrophobia; lucky, too, the smells from downstairs couldn’t reach her in this hermetically sealed room. On the other hand, could any air get in at all? She panicked for a moment, not daring to breathe. Then she spotted the two air-conditioning vents in the ceiling. The aircon was switched off, but at least it meant that a certain amount of air could get through from the roof space. She let out her pent up breath, whew.