While You Slept
R. J. PARKER

One More Chapter

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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

Copyright © R. J. Parker 2020

Cover design by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2020

Cover images © Shutterstock.com

R. J. Parker asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008382797

Ebook Edition © 2020 ISBN: 9780008382780

Version: 2020-07-02

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Chapter 64

Chapter 65

Chapter 66

Chapter 67

Chapter 68

Chapter 69

Chapter 70

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Also by R. J. Parker

About the Publisher

To the mighty Carr family – Dave, Eimear, Benjamin and Beibhinn – who know what it takes to build a home and fill it with love.

Chapter 1

An intruder was standing motionless in Lily Russell’s back garden, and when she saw him, she stood from her swivel chair and released an incoherent exclamation.

It was a sunny September lunchtime and the man was stock-still in the middle of her small lawn as if waiting for her to see him there. He was wearing jeans and a dark-coloured sweat top with the hood pulled over his head.

But it wasn’t his presence that alarmed her the most. It was his face. It was tilted up so she could get a good look.

He was wearing the smile of her daughter. A cut-out mask of her five-year-old’s laughing features with holes cut out of her eyes for his to look through. Maisie’s innocent countenance on his adult body resonated cold at Lily’s core.

But Lily couldn’t rush out into the garden. She wasn’t at home. She was at work. The intruder and her lawn were over sixteen miles away. The motion detector in her garden had sent an alert to the app on her phone.

Lily glanced briefly up from the handset at her three colleagues who had reacted to her cry and turned from their desks in her direction. Most of the team had gone to the park for their break and it was the usual crowd who had stayed on to work through their lunch.

‘What’s up?’ Martin Pickton asked, his wide-eyed reaction mirroring hers.

Lily’s attention returned to the security app on her phone. ‘Somebody’s standing in my garden.’

Martin rose from his seat, but Julie Medlocke reached her first.

She squinted at the black and white image. ‘Jesus. Is that?’

Lily nodded. ‘It’s Maisie’s … face.’ She felt goose flesh on the backs of her arms. ‘Tell me this isn’t any of you.’ But, even if her colleagues did ever play practical jokes, she knew nobody could be capable of this. She didn’t wait for a response but immediately hit the microphone button at the bottom of the display. ‘Get out of there! I’ve called the police!’

The figure didn’t move.

Was the mini speaker beside the kitchen window not working? She’d had some glitches with it since she’d had the system installed. She should be able to speak to anyone through the app who came to the front or back doors. Nobody could access the rear of the property. Lily had had the second speaker positioned there so she could shoo away the flock of pigeons that frequently congregated on the wall to use it as a toilet.

The figure angled their head further up and suddenly they were looking directly at her through the camera that was positioned above the kitchen window. He had heard her. His eyes fixed on her through the face of her daughter.

‘They’re coming now. The police are coming right now!’ Lily yelled at her phone.

The intruder didn’t seem perturbed by her threat. Didn’t move.

‘I’m calling them.’ Bridget Holby was already dialling her phone.

‘Take that off!’ Lily shouted at the phone. ‘Take that off and get out of there!’

The man looked theatrically around the garden with Maisie’s happy face and then waved at the camera. A child’s wave, palm open, four fingers rippling.

‘Try and keep him there until the police arrive,’ Martin said over her left shoulder.

‘What’s you address?’ Bridget asked.

Lily couldn’t think of what else to say to him. Or had the tiny wave made her think twice about shouting and swearing in the way she felt compelled to?

The man dropped his hand and continued staring at her through the camera.

‘Lily, your address,’ Bridget asked again.

‘Number 8 Fallstaff Gardens.’

But before Bridget could relay the information the figure had turned and started leisurely walking away.

‘He’s leaving. Quick, Bridge!’ Martin ordered.

But the figure jumped onto the back wall, scrambled over and disappeared out of sight.

Chapter 2

‘Sit down and think a minute.’ Julie put her hand on Lily’s shoulder.

But Lily didn’t want to. She ran her hand through her long red hair and paused her palm on top of her head. ‘Are the police calling back on your number?’

‘I just told you that,’ Bridget reassured her. ‘They’re sending someone over to your address now.’

‘I have to go home.’ Lily was pushing past her three colleagues.

Martin was blocking her way with his considerable frame. He’d conceded the battle with his bachelor fast-food lifestyle but still sank into frequent depression about it. ‘Wait. If their usual response time is anything to go by you might actually beat them there.’

‘Let them make sure it’s safe first.’ Bridget Holby held her gaze with her wide green eyes. She was the new intern and in her early twenties. Compact, slim, with her fair hair shorn elegantly close to her head, her heart was in the right place, but she infuriated everyone by behaving like a world-wise den mother.

Lily tried to move past them.

Julie took hold of Lily’s wrist. ‘Where’s Maisie?’

Lily halted.

Julie glanced at her watch. ‘Another few hours till she gets out of school, right?’

Lily nodded, found the number for All Saints and dialled.

‘I’m sure she’s safe.’ But Julie’s face was as pensive as the others while Lily waited for a reply.

‘All Saints.’ An elderly female voice answered.

‘Hello, I have a pupil with you, Maisie Russell.’

‘Oh, hello, Mrs Russell.’

‘Hi, Mrs Hooper.’ Lily knew the starchy secretary from the school’s orientation day. Maisie had been overcome by everything she had to remember and so had Lily. ‘I’m sorry to bother you but can you put my mind at rest and tell me if Maisie is in class? I think she should be with Mr Dalton this afternoon.’

‘Lunchtime has just finished. They should all be coming back to class now. Anything wrong?’

‘I just need to know she’s there.’

Mrs Hooper paused. ‘Why would you have any reason to believe she—’

‘Just tell me,’ Lily said brusquely. ‘Sorry, I just … can you tell me.’

Mrs Hooper inhaled. ‘Very well. I’ll just look out of the window. They’re all standing in line to come back inside.’

Lily tried to restrain her panic. ‘If you wouldn’t mind.’ She waited and listened to Mrs Hooper’s breathing under hers.

‘Yes. I can see her.’

Lily felt relief filter through her. ‘You’re sure?’

‘Yes. Quite sure,’ Mrs Hooper replied with a trace of irritation.

‘What is she wearing?’ She knew Mrs Hooper wore thick specs.

‘An orange top.’

That was her. But Lily’s shoulders remained tight. ‘Thank you. Can you please let her know that I’m coming to pick her up?’

‘Why? She still has classes.’

‘It’s an emergency.’

‘Oh dear, what sort of emergency?’

‘But please don’t tell her that. Can you take her to your office? I should be over in half an hour.’

‘Yes … all right. If you feel you have to.’ Mrs Hooper didn’t sound sure now.

‘Half an hour, I’ll meet you at your office.’ Lily hung up before she could protest.

‘OK?’ Julie asked.

Lily nodded and gulped.

‘OK, just try to calm down. Go and pick Maisie up and I’ll cover for you here.’

‘Thanks.’ Lily had worked with Julie for three years. They were both single mums and always had each other’s backs at work.

Julie flipped the fringe of her henna bob out of her face and fixed Lily with her sharp blue eyes. ‘This isn’t Ewan up to his usual?’

It had immediately occurred to Lily. It felt like her ex-husband’s ugly circus had left town a long time ago, but it had only been just over a year since the divorce was finalised. ‘That wasn’t him in the garden.’

Martin was still hovering, breathing heavily. He didn’t cope well with the heat and the ring of hair around his bald pate was plastered to his head. ‘Can you take another look?’

He was right. Lily returned to the app and accessed the camera recording archive. She opened the most recent file and dragged the slider at the bottom of the black and white clip. The figure dropped back into her garden, walked backwards and turned around on the spot. She paused the recording.

She shivered inwardly as she caught the end of the wave to her via the camera. It wasn’t Ewan. Ewan was a foot shorter and not as well-built.

‘That’s twisted.’ Martin was at her shoulder and breathing onion against the side of her face.

‘He must know you. How else could he have got the photo of Maisie?’ Bridget observed.

Lily looked at the three framed photos of her fair-haired daughter on her desk then back to the smiling mask of her. Her front teeth were showing and there was no gap. The picture the intruder had used had to have been taken recently. Where was it from? Had he stolen it? Lily didn’t use Facebook or post any photos of Maisie online. She didn’t like sharing with anyone other than people she knew. Didn’t like to think of strangers looking at images of her. Or Ewan having access to their life.

Bridget’s phone rang and she answered. ‘Yes. Thank you. I’m not the owner of the property so I’ll just pass you over.’ She held it out to Lily. ‘The police. They’re at the house.’

Chapter 3

A squat uniformed male officer opened the driver’s door of his patrol car as soon as she got out of her Nissan. ‘Mrs Russell?’

‘Yes.’ She wasn’t Mrs Russell, but she hadn’t reverted to her maiden name yet because she didn’t want Maisie to experience any more confusion than she already had. Or was it because, despite everything that had happened between her and Ewan, a small part of her misguidedly hoped there was still the chance of a reconciliation?

‘Police Constable Michaels. I’m sorry but I couldn’t access the garden.’ The straight fringe of his unkempt fair hair was dark with sweat. The officer closed his front door.

She closed hers. ‘Couldn’t you have climbed over the wall, like he did?’ But she realised she’d snapped at the officer.

‘I checked the passage behind it but I couldn’t get a foothold,’ he mitigated.

Lily estimated him to be at least in his mid-thirties. Wasn’t he a little old to be a constable? Maybe that and his conspicuous paunch were why he hadn’t been able to scale it.

Maisie knocked on the window of the back passenger door.

Lily nodded emphatically at her. ‘Just stay there a moment. We’ll go inside in a minute.’

The officer smiled encouragingly at Maisie and then held up his hands. ‘I’m sure your intruder is long gone, but I’d rather go in and make sure everything’s OK first.’

‘I know it’s clear. Look …’ Lily showed him her phone with her security app open. She quickly flicked through the rooms of her house that were covered by the mini cameras. ‘Empty. And so is the garden.’ She jabbed her finger at the black and white image.

Officer Michaels seemed intrigued. ‘And you spoke to him via this?’

‘Yes. Told him to leave. Look.’ She played him the clip of the intruder in the garden. ‘That’s my daughter’s face.’

Officer Michaels studied the screen and frowned his faint eyebrows. Then he looked again to where Maisie had her face pressed against the window. ‘That’s … unsettling.’ He shook his head. ‘Not just an opportunist then.’

Lily wanted to scream no, but retained her composure for Maisie’s benefit and shook her head.

Officer Michaels straightened, as if suddenly realising he hadn’t been summoned to a routine break-in. ‘Any ideas who might do something like this … a friend … maybe for a prank?’

‘Would a friend really do something like this?’

Officer Michaels grimaced, as if chiding himself for asking the question. ‘Nobody you could think of who has a grudge against you?’

‘An ex. He’s behaved erratically in the past …’

The officer narrowed his green eyes at her and nodded as if they’d found their explanation.

‘But that’s not him in the clip,’ she added quickly. ‘And I really don’t think this is something he’d do.’

‘When people are overtaxed … emotionally … particularly where children are involved, you’d be surprised what they’re capable of.’

Lily wondered if he was talking from more than just his experience as a police officer.

‘You should give me his details.’

‘Of course. His name is Ewan Russell but I think it would be a waste of time. He’s never tried to scare us. Not deliberately anyway.’

Officer Michaels regarded her with a trace of fatigue, as if she were making excuses for him. ‘When was the last time you saw him?’

‘Probably about eight months ago.’ But she knew for certain it was eight months and three weeks.

‘Under what circumstances?’

‘He came to see Maisie before he went away. He lives in Dundee now. Working for his brother.’

‘And how were things between you then?’

‘Not good but civil. I won full custody of Maisie. He’d resigned himself to that and I thought leaving London was his way of responding. He’s always run away. It’s his default setting.’ Lily felt like she was sharing too much.

‘And you’re sure he’s not around?’

‘No.’ She had to be honest about that. But even though Ewan had lied to her in the past she still couldn’t believe that he would be capable of what had happened in the garden. Even if he’d got someone else to do it for him.

Maisie knocked the window again.

Lily beckoned to her. ‘OK. Come and say hi to the policeman.’

Maisie opened her car door.

Lily turned to him. ‘Shall we take a look now then?’

Chapter 4

‘Hello, missy,’ Officer Michaels said to Maisie as she climbed out of the car.

Maisie reluctantly lifted her dark-blue eyes to him. They were almost as dark as Lily’s. Then she focussed on the kerb as she stepped down to it.

‘She’s a little shy,’ Lily explained. That was an understatement. She only spoke above a whisper at home and had yet to make any friends at school. She’d been there for a couple of weeks, and Lily had hoped the other kids would bring her back out of her shell. It appeared she was already being bullied though. Lily was positive the divorce and the events that had led up to it had made her so withdrawn. She’d been such an outgoing girl beforehand. Lily thought the ugliness at home had been insidious and hadn’t realised how sensitive Maisie had been way before all the resentments had manifested themselves. Now she felt as though she’d lost a connection with her daughter and guilty that Maisie blamed her for not being able to see her father. Most telling was the fact that Maisie used to call her ‘Mamma’ but now didn’t use any name for her. Treading the path between overcompensating for that and trying to bring her up with love and discipline was a daily trial. ‘I’ve told her exactly why she had to come home so early from school.’

Officer Michaels’s attention shifted from Maisie as he waited for Lily to elaborate.

‘I said we’re very lucky to have a policeman run a check on our house, to make sure we’re a hundred per cent safe and that you wanted to speak to her personally to make sure she knew that.’

‘Oh yes.’ Officer Michaels immediately picked up the baton. ‘I’ll make sure everything’s in order here.’

Maisie didn’t look up at the officer, but hefted her empty pink tin lunchbox like a suitcase. She had her banana yellow rucksack on her back that only contained her pencil case. Maisie was obsessed by anything banana yellow. She’d had it for her fifth birthday, and it was still a bit big for her.

‘I think we should get straight on with it,’ Lily said.

‘Absolutely.’ The officer gestured them to the little gate that led to the tiny front garden of their home.

Lily locked the car and then opened the gate to the short path to the door, gazing briefly up at the window above. The navy curtains were closed.

Mr Sargeant lived above them. He’d taken early retirement in his mid-fifties and was always jetting off somewhere. He used the rooms as a base but was rarely there. She was sure he was still in Dubrovnik.

Lily gestured Maisie to follow, and Officer Michaels waited for her to reach Lily before joining them on the doorstep.

Lily slid her key into the door and, as she opened up, it hissed against the usual fast-food menus that had been posted through the letterbox.

Maisie methodically gathered them off the polished porchway floor, and Lily waited. She’d appointed her the job and knew she wouldn’t be rushed.

‘Good quality lock on the front door,’ Officer Michaels observed for Maisie’s benefit.

Maisie took off her green jelly shoes and carried the junk mail through the second door and along the black and orange carpet tiles in the hallway to the kitchen door.

‘Just a minute.’ Lily opened the lounge, bathroom and two bedroom doors on the way there so the officer could take a look inside. Although Lily knew none of the rooms had been broken into, she still felt relieved as he nodded at her.

‘OK.’ Lily unlocked the kitchen door. She always secured it because it meant that if anyone did break in through the back, they still wouldn’t be able to access the rest of their home. She scanned it. Everything was in place. Mr Gingerbread, their overweight ginger tom, was at his bowl in the corner. Then her eyes shifted to the window above the sink. The oatmeal hessian blind, her sister had made her, was pulled down.

‘Go and put the TV on and I’ll bring you in some milk,’ she told Maisie.

Maisie seemed glad to be released and darted into the lounge without a word.

Lily held her breath and lifted the blind. She exhaled as her little walled garden was revealed. Nothing out of place there: tiny patio with her wicker chair on it; Maisie’s yellow plastic one was on the edge of the small square of lawn, which was bordered by flowerbeds on three sides. She’d planted pink and white geraniums in all of them, but they were just starting to shrivel. When Lily and Ewan had rented the property, the garden had been the key selling point. Maisie had been a baby and they both thought it was a contained and safe garden for her. At least that was what she’d thought until today.

‘Can you let me out?’ Officer Michaels asked unnecessarily.

Lily was already fumbling the key from her bunch and her hand shook as she slid it into the lock and turned.

A plane buzzed noisily overhead as they walked onto the patio. Lily hung back, and the officer carefully made his way onto the lawn as if he were stepping through a minefield. He kept going until he reached the red brick wall at the back and surveyed the pigeon droppings that crusted the top.

Lily’s eye settled on the middle of the lawn where the masked figure had stood, waiting for her to see him. Did he know the motion detector would reveal him via the camera?

After a minute or so Officer Michaels turned from his examination of the wall. ‘Some of your flowers have been trampled here,’ he offered lamely.

But what did she expect him to do? Reporting it didn’t really make any difference to whoever had been here. And from the way the intruder had acted she felt positive it was a very deliberate attempt to scare her. If he wanted her to fear for her and Maisie’s safety, he’d utterly succeeded. Would he come back?

‘That he made no attempt to break in is one consolation,’ the officer tried to reassure her.

Lily looked briefly back into the kitchen to check that Maisie wasn’t lingering there and couldn’t hear their conversation.

‘If you’d feel better, I could have a patrol car drive by here tonight to make sure everything’s OK.’

Everything’s OK? Lily knew that things most certainly weren’t and that, on the basis of what had happened, the police couldn’t justify anything more than a gesture. Somebody had trespassed not broken in and it was clear the officer now believed it was Ewan, even though she was absolutely convinced it wasn’t.

The officer appeared to read her thoughts and strolled back over the lawn towards her. ‘Let me take a look in the alley at the back again. To be honest, it looks like you’ve been operating good security measures already, so I would advise you to keep—’ His gaze shot up to the window above her and he halted. ‘Who lives up there?’

‘Clive Sargeant. He’s away though.’

‘I don’t think so. Even though I knocked there earlier and there was no answer. Somebody was just at the window.’

Chapter 5

‘You’re sure you saw someone?’ Lily asked Officer Michaels as she knocked Mr Sargeant’s front door a second time.

He nodded and kept his attention on the battered green panel. ‘There was definitely a face at the window.’

Mr Sargeant’s door didn’t have a bell and was a few feet to the left of Lily’s but separated by a low wall. He also had a square of front yard, but it didn’t have any potted trees like hers and was littered with cigarette ends. Their landlord didn’t allow smoking inside the properties, which was a great relief to Lily. But it meant she often found Mr Sargeant puffing away on the doorstep. It was probably the only time she spoke to him.

He was sufficiently friendly, but she got the impression that as soon as he finished his cigarette, he was eager to go back inside. She’d never been in his home and had only glanced the flight of stairs that led up to the floor above hers. She occasionally heard his shoes dropping onto the floor when he got in and sometimes his TV when it was turned up. Other than that, very little else.

A creak from the other side of the door but it didn’t open.

‘Mr Sargeant?’ Lily said after they both waited a few more seconds.

No reply.

Officer Michaels addressed the panel. ‘It’s the police. Would you mind opening the door.’

Still no response.

‘Is he usually this sociable?’

Lily shook her head. ‘Maybe it’s not him. He’s away a lot and I know he has somebody who comes in to water his plants.’

‘They should still open the door,’ the officer said loudly.

The lock clicked and the door opened wide. The diminutive Mr Sargeant was standing there in loose claret pyjamas. His grey hair was in disarray.

‘Sorry to disturb you …’ Lily began.

Mr Sargeant squinted. ‘Hello, Lily. Sorry, I was catching up on some sleep.’

Lily noted that his nostril hair and eyebrows were looking more wild than usual. ‘I had to call the police out because I had an intruder in the garden.’

Mr Sargeant’s eyes darted between her and Officer Michaels. ‘Today?’

‘In the last hour,’ the officer interjected. ‘You didn’t see or hear anybody? Or hear me knocking earlier?’

Mr Sargeant immediately shook his head. ‘Sorry, I’d taken a sleeping pill.’

‘But you saw me in the garden,’ the officer pointed out.

‘I’ve just woken up,’ Mr Sargent replied, exasperated.

And it certainly looked like it to Lily.

‘So why did you take so long to open the door?’

Lily didn’t like the officer’s tone but she wanted an answer to that as well.

‘I had to quickly grab these pyjamas before I could come down. I sleep naked.’

That was more information than Lily needed. ‘Well, if you didn’t see anything—’ she was about to apologise again.

‘I didn’t. Anything else?’ He sharply directed the question at the officer. Before he could answer, Mr Sargeant closed the door.

‘Thanks for your time,’ Officer Michaels called mock gratefully after him. He turned to Lily. ‘Well, I guess that answers that.’

The door opened again, and Mr Sargeant took a deep breath. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude.’ But he only regarded Lily. ‘I’m trying nicotine patches but very unsuccessfully. Thought I’d attempt to sleep off the craving, so I’m not in the best of moods.’

‘That’s OK.’ Lily held up a hand. ‘Didn’t mean to drag you down here.’

‘Did they steal anything?’ Mr Sargeant kept his gaze on her.

‘No. It’s just a little unnerving for Maisie and me.’

‘With all your security I’d be surprised if they had.’ He smiled briefly with yellow teeth. ‘I’ll certainly keep my eye out now though.’

‘Thank you. I thought you were away.’

‘I will be after today. Will you and … you two be OK here on your own?’

‘Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.’ Lily appreciated the question but could tell he wanted the conversation over with.

‘OK. Give me a shout if you need anything,’ he concluded glibly and closed the door again.

‘Good to have neighbours looking out for you.’ Officer Michaels projected the comment so Mr Sargeant could hear.

Lily waited for the thumps back upstairs to end. ‘I feel so much safer now.’

Chapter 6

After Officer Michaels had left Lily found the number in her phone contacts. Even though Ewan was no longer in her life she knew they would always be inextricably connected. It went beyond their child and what they’d shared in the past, good and bad. It was Ewan’s resonant voice she still heard encouraging or admonishing her after every decision she made in her daily life. She dismissed it as often as she had in their seven-year marriage, but the passing months hadn’t diminished it. She wondered how much longer that would take.

Eight months and three weeks ago Ewan had given the number to her and every time her phone had rung since she’d anticipated seeing it in her display. But he hadn’t been in touch in all that time and that told her exactly why they’d divorced. She understood that he was still bitter she’d got custody of Lily and that he was now attempting to set himself up lecturing mechatronics in a different part of the country, but he’d not once made contact in eight months and three weeks to find out how Maisie was doing.

Maisie had received a card on her fifth birthday in June but that had been it. He may now hate Lily but how could he possibly have severed his affection for their daughter? After several irresponsible incidents that had been instrumental in her winning full custody, she didn’t trust him to look after Maisie at his home, but she’d never tried to prevent him from seeing her.

Now Maisie had stopped asking if she would hear from her dad, Lily didn’t want her to overhear the conversation she was about to have. She wouldn’t use it as an excuse to berate him. She would find out precisely what she needed to know and then hang up. But Lily was positive it wouldn’t be as straightforward as that. As soon as she heard his voice, she knew the part of her she hated would immediately take over.

Lily could hear the sound of the TV that Maisie was watching in the front lounge. She closed the door and stood in her bedroom window to make the call. Her stomach muscles clenched as she dialled. She could see into the back garden and the lawn where the intruder had stood. That would remind her of the only reason for picking up the phone.

The number rang then stopped. There were three clicks and then it started ringing again. Perhaps he was forwarding to another number. She hoped he hadn’t changed it.

‘Lily?’ It was him.

And it was like the intervening months hadn’t existed. His firm utterance of her name speaking to a part of her she’d tried to shut off. ‘Hi,’ she said awkwardly and could hear a low hum in the background. A motor?

He was silent.

She’d called. She shouldn’t expect him to talk. ‘How are things?’

‘Finding my feet,’ he replied emotionlessly.

‘How’s … Christian?’ Lily didn’t want to know about his brother. She was stalling.

‘What d’you want?’

‘I thought you might be interested to hear about Maisie.’ And there she went.

‘You’ve done all you can to make sure I’m not part of her life,’ he declared coldly.

What did she expect? ‘I’ve never tried to shut you out.’ She heard the air down his nose boom against his phone.

‘No, not completely. Sorry I couldn’t fit into those tiny slots you left for me.’

‘Look, you don’t want to get into this, I don’t want to get into this.’ But she knew both of them still did.

‘Then why are you calling?’

Exactly. Lily focussed on the lawn. Should she tell him? Would he really care? ‘I just need to know … whatever our problems are, I hope you’d never expose Maisie to any danger.’

There was a brief pause before he answered. ‘What are you talking about? How could I possibly do that?’

Lily didn’t like the way he’d said it. Was there a taunt lingering at the back of his reply? ‘Just assure me …’ She could hear the emotion bleeding through her voice. She’d promised herself not to do that. ‘That you don’t have some sort of game plan with her in the middle of it. You can think what you like of me, but I won’t allow you to use Maisie.’

‘What the hell has prompted this?’ The mystification in his voice sounded genuine.

But all of his lies in the past had too.

‘If you’re planning to do anything then you’d better have a rethink.’ She felt a rush of the usual hostility and simultaneous regret for its arrival.

He sighed, as he usually did. As if he were so used to her verbal attacks he could scarcely summon the energy to defend himself. ‘Look, I count myself as fortunate now. I really do. Even though I’m living in the spare room of Christian’s house and I have to wait for my nephews to finish in the bathroom before I can have a shave. The reason is, whatever’s going on in your head right now … I don’t have to care about it anymore.’

‘Ewan.’

But he didn’t allow her to interject. ‘I’ve paid dearly for it. You’ve made that clear to me. But that is the one piece of compensation I’ve got out of this.’

‘How can you not want to speak to your daughter?’

No response.

Lily suspected he wasn’t about to justify himself to her. ‘However you square that with yourself, fine. But if you want to punish me then just ask me to tell you what it’s like to tell Maisie why her father has completely forgotten about her.’

‘You know that’s not true.’ Ewan’s voice suddenly sounded small.

But Lily’s anger had properly taken over. ‘Every time I have to make an excuse for you, honestly, you can chalk one up for yourself. I’ve told you before, I won’t have my daughter endangered. I said that in the court and I’m saying it again now.’

But Lily knew he’d hung up before she’d finished speaking. She hit redial but it was engaged.

Chapter 7

‘It’s got Ewan written all over it.’ Paulette dumped her denim handbag on the kitchen table and pulled out a chair.

‘Ssshhh.’ Lily closed the door so Maisie couldn’t hear. She was in the bedroom on her tablet.

Paulette’s normally spiky bleach blonde hair had been flattened by the rain. She tried to tease it upright again. ‘He did some nasty stuff.’

‘When he was drunk. Alcohol changed his personality. You can be the same.’

Paulette’s gaze hardened.

‘And like you it was all verbal … mostly.’

‘Mostly. I did tell you to prepare for this, the day you won full custody.’

She had. But it was rich coming from her younger sister. Paulette lived her life by the seat of her pants. Her middle name was lastminute.com. The fact that she’d got soaked when the September downpour had been forecast for the last few days was testament to it. Lily watched the rain against the kitchen window as it suddenly intensified.

‘Wow … let’s hope that’s not an omen.’ Paulette took out her vape kit and put it on the table, caught Lily’s expression and put it away again. ‘You’re sure he’s definitely still in Dundee?’

‘Who knows.’ She really didn’t. ‘He said he was staying at Christian’s.’

Paulette gingerly slid her soaking leather jacket off her brown arms. ‘You could always call Christian.’

Lily had been tempted. But she was positive, after the divorce, that she was the last person Ewan’s brother wanted to speak to. Particularly as Ewan had ended up sleeping in his spare room. ‘I thought maybe you could.’

Paulette froze in the middle of hanging the garment on the back of the chair. ‘Me?’

‘You and Christian were an item.’

‘Eight years ago.’

‘I thought you said you stayed in touch.’

Paulette looked guarded. ‘An e-card at Christmas. That’s it.’

But Lily suspected there was more to it than that. She’d been obsessed by Christian, which was probably why the relationship had broken down. Paulette could be very intense. So much so she’d started taking medication for it when she was seventeen. Ten years later she was still taking it. As far as Lily knew though, Paulette hadn’t found anyone significant since. There’d been a guy in 2016. A fireman, or had it been a policeman? But that had swiftly fizzled out. She didn’t have children, went out of her way to declare she’d made the right decision about that. But she did love Maisie, even though she insisted she was always so happy to hand her back to Lily after taking her out for the day.

‘So, any danger of a coffee?’ Paulette looked pointedly at the kettle.

Lily acknowledged that she’d been eager to change the subject. She filled it and switched it on. They hadn’t had the Christian conversation for some time but it was clear Paulette was still sensitive about it. They’d dated for about a year and Paulette had wanted to get serious. But Christian was a year younger than her and had been in no hurry. Lily had seen the crash coming. When the four of them had all gone out together it seemed a little too cosy, overpowering even. Two sisters out with two brothers. Paulette and Christian had met because of Lily seeing Ewan, but it almost seemed unnatural to Lily.

Paulette had initially joked about a double wedding. And then she kept on about it. That’s when Lily had realised how immature she was, even though she was only two years younger. She’d been relieved when it had finished between Paulette and Christian. But she felt guilty that she’d never warned her. Never told her to dial it back because she might scare Christian away. She’d done that on purpose. Lily had been selfish and had waited for things to come to a head. Back then she’d thought Paulette would easily find someone else. But the intervening years had been hard on her. Christian had become highly successful manufacturing surgical components, met and married someone else and quickly had three children with her. When they’d spoken, Paulette felt as though he was deliberately rubbing her face in his life.

A year after Paulette’s break-up both their parents had fallen ill, and Paulette had thrown all her energies into caring for them. Oesophageal cancer had claimed their mother first, and then their father had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Watching a doctor of psychology degenerate so quickly had been heart-rending. Paulette had been so brave. Braver than she’d been. Lily recalled her father trying to speak in her ear the day he died and how it had alienated Paulette. He could hardly form words at that point, had lost control of his muscles, so what he’d said was indecipherable. They were his last words and, despite how much she’d cared for him, Paulette had been excluded.

‘That’s so creepy.’ Paulette was watching the clip of the intruder on Lily’s phone again. ‘You haven’t been seeing anyone else recently?’

Lily spooned some coffee into the cafetière. ‘Someone I think would do that?’

Paulette raised a dark eyebrow. ‘So, you have been seeing somebody?’

Lily didn’t like to discuss her private life, what there was of it, and especially not with Paulette. ‘Not really.’

‘Not really?’ Paulette’s other eyebrow rose.

Lily knew she couldn’t clam up. She’d called Paulette. Wanted her help. She dreaded going to sleep that night, so she’d picked up the phone to her even though she was sure Paulette might slightly revel in her misery. Paulette always thought that Lily had been dealt a better hand. ‘One guy, Laurie, only for one date.’

‘Laurie?’ Paulette repeated as if the name were comical. ‘When?’

‘Few months ago. It was a mistake.’

‘Uh-huh. Maisie know about him?’

‘No. There was no point.’ Lily willed the kettle to finish boiling so she could busy herself with their drinks. ‘That’s definitely not him in the clip. He was a nice guy. Just not right for me.’ She picked up the kettle before it had clicked and filled the cafetière.

‘Is this him?’ Paulette was holding out Lily’s phone with Laurie Campbell’s face in the display.

‘Do you mind not going through my photos.’ Lily slammed the kettle down.

But she carried on scrolling through Lily’s images. ‘Why would you have a photo of him, if you only saw him once?’

‘It was just off his Romanticlicks profile. I saved it …’ Lily weakly protested.

‘You’ve been doing online dating?’

‘Just once; give me my phone.’ She held out her hand.

Paulette pursed her lips, as if considering the request.

It was like when they’d shared a room at home. They’d always fought. Lily felt like a kid again. ‘Give.’

Paulette handed it over. ‘D’you think Laurie was stalker material?’

‘No. Just a lonely guy.’

‘I can see why.’ Paulette nodded at the phone. ‘And all stalkers are lonely guys.’

Lily briefly regarded Laurie’s slightly pained expression. His square features were plain but he had the sort of thick dark hair and ghostly stubble she liked. But he’d lost his wife. He’d told her that within minutes of them settling themselves at the bar. It had only been five months since she’d been killed in a road accident and Lily had thought it was a little too early for him to be back on the singles scene. She knew she was being judgemental, but it had made her uncomfortable. He clearly wasn’t over it. Had talked about ‘his Helen’ throughout the evening. When he’d asked to see Lily again, she’d politely declined. She closed the gallery.

‘Sure it couldn’t be him? You do have a knack.’

‘What’s that mean?’ Lily had been considering asking Paulette if she minded staying the night, but now regretted calling her.

‘Picking the high-maintenance ones.’ Paulette shook her head in faux sympathy.

Lily got a flashback to a hundred arguments they’d had in the past. She could recognise the overture. Fact was, Paulette had liked Ewan. Lily couldn’t blame her falling for his solid stubble jaw and the permanent mischief in his dark gaze. But Paulette had made a pass at him behind Lily’s back in the early days, before he let her know he wasn’t interested and hooked her up with Christian. Despite that, however, and even though it was difficult to endure the way Paulette occasionally sniped at her, Lily had got better at reminding herself that, bad times aside, she still had Maisie. ‘You still on sweeteners?’

Paulette eventually nodded. She knew Lily wasn’t going to rise to it.

Chapter 8

Lily woke and focussed on the ceiling. Had her phone just been ringing? It wasn’t now. She’d caved into Paulette’s advice and drank half a glass of red to help her sleep, and the room seemed brighter than usual. She waited a few seconds for the previous night’s events to reassemble. That’s right. She’d put a pizza in the oven for Maisie. Paulette had eaten most of it. Maisie hadn’t been hungry and nor had Lily. Her stomach had been on edge because of what had happened that afternoon, and she’d chatted to her younger sister about anything she wanted until she’d left just after nine.

But when she tensed her neck muscles they ached and so did her temples. The pounding quickened. Had it really been half a glass? She tried to open her mouth, but her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth. What was the time?

The digital clock by her bedside said 06:06.

Thank God. An hour to collect herself before she had to rise and get Maisie ready for school. She closed her eyes again and listened to the percussion in her head. Maybe she was coming down with something. She often did in September. Hot days interspersed with wet and cold ones often kickstarted a cold. She listened for signs of rainfall on the window over the pulse in her eardrums but couldn’t hear any. That was one small mercy.

She tried to busy her mind with the forthcoming audit they were expecting at work. The small strategy consulting company she worked for lived very hand-to-mouth and there were rumours of redundancies just before Christmas. Why was it always just before Christmas? If it was her how soon could she find an admin job that paid the same wage? Her savings wouldn’t keep a roof over their heads for more than a couple of months. Normally she would have tried to ignore these thoughts, but today she was glad of them, if they could distract her from the man who had stood in her garden …

She couldn’t fool herself that she wasn’t terrified. If it had been an opportunist intruder it would have been disturbing enough, but to have gone out of his way to find a recent photo of Maisie, blow it up and then wear it like that.

Lily recalled the way he had calmly stared at her through the security cam and the holes cut in her daughter’s eyes. Was Paulette right? Did she just not want to believe that Ewan could be capable of orchestrating something like that?

She wanted to look at the clip again. For the umpteenth time. She’d emailed it to the address that Constable Michaels had given her. Had they watched it or was it still sitting in someone’s inbox? And had a patrol car come by to check on her last night or had she just been told that to make her feel more secure?

It was obvious Officer Michaels thought she was a victim of her ex and probably had more pressing incidents to deal with. The neighbourhood crime rate had risen rapidly since she and Ewan had moved into the property. More stabbings and drug-related incidents were what had made up her mind to get the security system installed now Ewan wasn’t there. She hadn’t even started to pay for that. But what she’d seen through her app was the last thing she’d expected. She reached over and grabbed her phone from the table and the action felt like a major exertion. Perhaps it was flu. All her limbs felt strained and her chest like somebody had been sitting on it.

Exposing her arms made her shiver. It was never usually cold in her bedroom, so it looked like she was definitely getting sick. She put her hand to her forehead but didn’t have a temperature. She had no time to be ill. She had one of the best attendance records at work and hoped that would put her in good stead if they did decide to lay some people off. But it was more likely they’d keep on the new intern, Bridget Holby. She’d been shadowing Lily since July. Was that because they wanted Bridget to take on Lily’s job? It wasn’t a great place to work. Martin Pickton regularly hit on Lily but she always had fun with Julie Medlocke. Julie understood what it was like to be a working single mother.

One ‘Missed Call’

Lily squinted at the number in the display. It wasn’t one she recognised. Was that what had woken her up? Yes, it said 06:05. Bit early for the usual cold calls. She cursed herself for not turning off the ringer. She usually did, and if she had she’d still be fast asleep. That surprised her. After yesterday she hadn’t expected to get a wink. She was about to call out to Maisie, as she often did. But it was still too early. She decided to slip across the hallway and look in. There was no window in Maisie’s room, as it was between the front lounge and the kitchen. She’d locked the door to the kitchen the night before. She’d also locked the lounge, so the only way anyone could get in the hallway was through the double front doors and they were both solid wood.

Lily sat up but her head spun. She swung her legs out of bed and paused for a few moments on the edge of the mattress while the room came to a standstill. Her pyjamas felt damp against her skin. Check on Maisie and then grab some painkillers. She gingerly stood and her ribcage and legs felt tender as she crossed the tan carpet to the door, took her aquamarine robe from the hook and slipped it on. No sign of her slippers.

Her teeth chattered and she pulled the robe tight around herself and opened the door. Maisie’s was sealed shut, so she crossed the dingy hallway and listened at the panel. No sound. She pulled down slowly on the handle. It usually creaked when it was fully depressed, but she managed to get it open without making any noise. She peered inside.

Her daughter’s globe lamp was still on beside the bed and she watched Maisie’s oblivious face, mouth open and eyebrows slightly frowning, and listened to her tiny snores for a few moments before pushing the door shut again.

But as she felt the cold wrap around her legs Lily came over faint and had to lean on the wall for support. What was wrong with her? Her sense of smell seemed to be heightened and an aroma of damp cement filled her nostrils. She staggered back to her room and flopped onto the mattress, quickly pulling the duvet over her as her frame trembled. She felt nauseous and her stomach gurgled loudly.

Let it pass and then fetch the painkillers.

Lily closed her eyes tight. Was this because she hadn’t eaten and then drank the wine?

The phone rang and she realised it was still in her hand. It was the same number from earlier. Should she ignore it? But maybe it was Ewan on a new number.

‘Hello?’

‘Lily?’ A small, unfamiliar male voice asked.

‘Yes.’

‘Are you secure?’

Lily pushed the duvet away and sat up. ‘What? Who is this?’ Her circulation beat against the earpiece. Was this the stranger from the garden?

‘Do you feel safe?’

‘Who is this?’ Aggression in her voice now.

‘You might want to check your app.’

The line clicked. He’d rung off.

For a few seconds, Lily remained motionless, staring at the display of her phone. Then she hit the security app icon.

It opened and Lily quickly scrolled through the black and white images to get to the view of the garden. But before she could she noticed something alarming in one of the others. It was the camera in the kitchen.

The hooded intruder was standing by the table.

Chapter 9

Lily’s legs curled tight into her as she sat bolt upright and her exclamation caught in her chest.

He was wearing the Maisie mask and was standing motionless, his left hand by his side, the right clutching a phone to his chest.

Lily’s first thought was for Maisie’s safety. She’d locked the kitchen door. Hadn’t she? She was on her feet, heart pounding as she stumbled dizzily into the hallway again. She pulled open her daughter’s door and crossed the carpet to her bed. ‘Maisie,’ she said sharply and frantically squeezed her shoulder.

Maisie didn’t wake.

‘Maisie!’ Lily glanced quickly back to the door behind her then shook her daughter harder.

Maisie remained impassive.

‘Maisie!’ Lily whisper-screamed at her and dragged her up the pillows.

Her eyes fluttered and cracked open and she frowned at her mother.

‘Get up.’

‘What is it?’ she slurred.

Lily jammed her hands underneath her and levered her off the mattress. ‘We’re going.’

‘Where? What’s … happening?’ But Maisie still seemed half asleep.

Lily carried her to the door and paused there, listening for sounds in the darkened hallway. She was positive she’d locked the doors. After what had happened the previous afternoon, she knew she’d double-checked. Kitchen door, then lounge and both front doors. The keys were in her bedroom.

She swung Maisie to the side and peered around the jamb. The kitchen door was still sealed. She held her breath. No sounds coming from behind it.

‘I’m scared.’ Maisie rubbed her eyes.

Should she call the police? Her phone was on the bed. No, she should grab the keys, get them out the front way first. Lily darted across the hallway and back into her room, lowered Maisie slightly so she could pick up her phone from the bed and then turned to the table beside it.

No sign of the keys.

Lily’s gut froze. They weren’t in their usual place. She always dumped them there after she’d locked up every night. She opened the drawer but knew she hadn’t put them in there. Her eyes scanned the tan carpet. No trace. They couldn’t leave without finding them.

‘I want to get down.’ Maisie started wriggling.

Lily gripped her tighter. ‘Don’t move.’

‘You’re hurting me …’

‘Do as I say.’ Lily quickly surveyed the dresser. Not there either. She struggled her hand up from under Maisie and shifted her weight so she could look at the app.

The intruder was still standing in the same position by the kitchen table.

‘Who’s that?’ Maisie whispered drily.

‘Take this.’ She gave the phone to Maisie. ‘The moment he moves, you tell me. Understand?’

Maisie nodded.

Lily swung Maisie around as she tried to locate the keys. They’d vanished. How could she have locked the doors without the keys?

‘Why is he in our kitchen?’ Maisie’s voice quavered.

They had to be here somewhere. She shouldn’t have had the wine. Her mind felt foggy. She had locked the doors.

Lily had to be sure. She carried Maisie out into the hallway again, glanced at the still closed kitchen door and headed in the opposite direction to the front and lounge doors. She hefted Maisie and delicately depressed the handle of the lounge. Locked. That was a relief. It meant she wasn’t going mad. The kitchen would be sealed as well. But it also meant …

She tried the handle of the inner front door, but it was locked too. They couldn’t get out.

Her bedroom window, it was over the back garden. It opened at the top and she could at least feed Maisie through it.

Lily stumbled back to it. The bottle green blind was lowered, and she’d need to raise it before she could open the window and get Maisie out. ‘You’re going to climb out this way,’ she told her.

Maisie shook her head.

‘Listen. Climb out, get over the back wall and then go straight across the road to Mrs Unwin. I’ll call the police.’ And Lily would scream for help from the window if necessary.

‘You have to come with me.’ Maisie sounded terrified.

‘I can’t. I won’t fit through the top window.’ Lily reached for the tie that secured the blinds to the hook in the wall.

‘No.’ Maisie squirmed.

‘There’s no time to argue.’ Maisie was too heavy. She started to put Maisie down, but she wouldn’t drop her feet.

‘He’s moving.’ Maisie’s eyes widened at the phone.

Lily took it from her and studied the screen.

The figure stepped deliberately towards the door. The camera was positioned over it.

But he couldn’t get to the hallway. If she’d locked the other doors she certainly would have secured that one.

Lily’s and Maisie’s breaths were suspended as the figure halted in front of the door. Then he opened it wide and strode through.

Chapter 10

Lily’s attention shot to the bedroom door. ‘Quickly!’ She put down Maisie and raced over to it, butting her shoulder against the panel to close it. Once it had slammed, she looked down at the lock but knew there was no key in it. No way to secure it. She listened for the sound of footsteps in the hallway.

Nothing.

She checked the phone and saw him pace slowly halfway up the hallway and then halt.

‘Help!’ She screamed up at the ceiling, hoping Mr Sargeant would hear. But he’d said he was leaving that day. Had he got an early flight? Lily leaned her back hard against the door, but figured she wouldn’t be able to repel the intruder for long. ‘Go out the window,’ she hissed at Maisie.

Maisie shook her head.

‘Help!’ She yelled louder and her eyes halted on the wooden chair beneath the dresser. Could she fit the back of it underneath the door handle and buy them some time? But she’d have to move from the door to drag it over. Would he bust through it in those few seconds? ‘Maisie, do as I say.’

‘No. I’m not leaving you.’

There was nothing for it. Lily bolted across the room and grabbed the chair. Tipping the clothes from it she carried it back to the door and positioned it there.

The back was too low for the handle.

Lily slammed her body back against the door and clenched herself in readiness for him to ram his way inside. ‘Mr Sargeant! Help!’ Now she had to call the police.

But her phone started ringing. Keeping her back solidly against the panel Lily glanced at the screen. On the security shot she could see the hooded and masked intruder standing still halfway up the hallway and holding a phone to his ear.

She answered. ‘What do you want?’

‘Don’t worry about finding me. Worry about finding yourself.’

He hung up and Lily watched the figure drop his arm and slip his phone into his back pocket. But he didn’t move from his spot.

‘What’s happening?’

‘Ssshhh.’ Lily held her hand up to Maisie. What the hell was he talking about? She kept her eyes on the screen, but he still didn’t make a move towards the bedroom door. Lily scrolled down to the security cam image of her bedroom.

There was no sign of her or Maisie.

Lily looked over to where Maisie was standing beside the bed. The duvet was thrown back where she’d jumped out, but on the cam image the bed was still made. Were the cameras delayed? The intruder had obviously tampered with them. This had to be old footage of the bedroom. And if that was the case then there would be no recording of him attacking them.

She scrolled back to the hallway image. The intruder still hadn’t budged.

‘Has he gone?’ Maisie whispered.

Lily shook her head and frowned. Why didn’t he enter the room? Was he giving them ample time to realise that whatever he did wouldn’t be recorded?

The intruder put his hand in his other pocket and produced something which he held up to the camera. Lily squinted. Her keys. Lily felt a chill pass through her. When the hell had he taken them, while she was asleep? But how had he got into the hallway when she’d locked the doors at both ends?

The intruder walked forward, and Lily rammed her weight against the door. ‘Stay away from us! I’ve got a weapon! Help!’

The intruder didn’t react to her threat but continued to the front door. On her phone Lily watched him stop there and very deliberately use the keys to unlock the inner front door. He swung it wide, walked through and closed it behind him.

Lily’s attention remained locked on the screen.

Maisie scuttled across the room to her.

‘Go back to the window.’

But Maisie clutched her arm tight.

Why hadn’t she heard any footsteps when he’d passed the door? And there had been no sound of the keys or the door opening and closing behind him. What sort of trick was he playing? Whatever it was they needed to stay on the opposite side of the house to him. She didn’t shift her eyes from the phone.

The front door had closed firmly behind him. ‘We’re going to run into the kitchen,’ she whispered to Maisie. She saw her shake her head out of the corner of her eye. ‘No arguments, we’re going now. I’ll carry you if you like.’

‘We should call the policeman.’

‘I will do. From the kitchen. We’ll run in there and lock the door. Then we’ll be safe until the policeman arrives.’

‘We should stay here.’ Maisie looked at the door fearfully.

‘We can’t lock this. Come on.’ Lily took her hot hand. They couldn’t afford to delay. If the intruder had the keys, he could let himself back in any moment. The kitchen door had a bolt the other side. They just had to get behind it. She’d call the police and they’d be able to see if he came back over the garden wall.

‘No.’ Maisie fought her.

‘Now,’ Lily said sharply and yanked open the bedroom door. She dragged Maisie with her and was relieved when she began to run to keep up. The kitchen door had closed behind the intruder, but he definitely hadn’t locked it behind him.

They reached the sealed kitchen door and Lily pushed on the wood. It swung open and she ushered Maisie through. Lily immediately shut it behind them and shot the bolt at the middle of the door in place. It was usually quite stiff, so she was surprised that it slid home so easily.

She breathed again but didn’t enjoy the relief for longer than a second before turning to the kitchen window. The hessian blind was still down, and she prayed that when she lifted it, she wouldn’t find that he had slid around the back and was standing outside the pane.

She took hold of the string and yanked the blind all the way up.

There was no man outside, but Lily barely acknowledged that because there was no back garden outside either.

The familiar view from the window had completely changed.

Chapter 11

The walled garden had vanished, and Lily was looking down on a demolished building site from a drop of about two hundred feet.

Her hand went to her mouth and she almost buckled at the knees.

‘Is he there?’ Maisie asked with trepidation. She was too short to see over the draining board through the glass.

Lily shook her head but didn’t tear her eyes from the new vista. The windowpane was smaller but afforded her ample view of the heaped rubble below. In the orange early morning light, she could see twisted metal poking up from red bricks and dirty cinder blocks. Beyond rusted white goods was the collapsed housing block. The distressed and shattered windows of the remaining eleven floors reflected the similar building she was in, and there were two blocks of the same dilapidated apartments to her left and right. The entire area was derelict and there was nobody in sight.

‘Has he come back?’

She would wake up. Any moment. But the burning cold floor beneath her bare feet felt too real.

‘What can you see?’

Still Lily didn’t answer her daughter. The familiarity of her surroundings framing the condemned area before her made a response seem impossible. They had to be ten floors up. Maisie tugged her hand, but she still hadn’t blinked.

Wake up. Please, wake up.

‘Lift me up!’

Lily shook her head. She could feel a rushing in her ears blotting out every other sound. That smell was in her nostrils again. The drying cement aroma she’d picked up in the hallway. She gazed around at the kitchen. Tried to focus. Everything was in its place. Mr Gingerbread was eating disinterestedly from his bowl. But she knew her home couldn’t have been ripped out of Fallstaff Gardens and dumped here. The cat looked up from its bowl and his green eyes met hers.

‘What’s wrong?’ Maisie’s voice was muffled.

Lily didn’t reply.

Maisie released Lily’s fingers.

She still had the phone in her hand. She dialled the police. Concentrated hard on the keypad and tried to ignore the window. What would she say when they answered? It didn’t matter. This was too surreal. She was playing for time until she woke up.

No ring tone. She tried again. Lily had had dreams like this before, when she was shouting to people for help and everything slowed down. The recurring one was somebody walking away from her, her pace getting slower than theirs as she pursued them, her yelling for them to stop but not wanting them to because she was afraid of seeing their faces when they turned around. But she was scared enough already. Terrified enough to wake up. Let this be over now.

She dialled the police again, stabbed the screen hard with her finger. It felt as if concentrating on the task required every ounce of her strength. But the earpiece only buzzed in her ear.

Stay calm, stay calm …

She found her sister’s number and dialled it. She needed to hear her familiar voice. Would be glad of her mocking Lily for having a stupid dream. But she could smell her own sour breath as she breathed erratically, and it bounced back from the mouthpiece. She clenched the handset hard as she waited. Briefly squeezed her eyes shut. No ring tone. And when she opened her eyes again the view from the window hadn’t changed back.

Dirty sky over a forlorn broken place she’d never seen before. She could see rivulets of dirty dried rain droplets on the glass. Then she saw her own petrified expression dimly reflected there.

She tried to rationalise. It was what had happened yesterday afternoon that had triggered this. The intruder in the garden and Officer Michaels coming into the house. But suddenly remembering the intruder made her turn from her position at the pane.

Maisie had gone. The sound of the room trickled quickly back in.

Her daughter had shot the bolt and opened the door to the hallway. Back towards the intruder.

‘Maisie!’ Lily barrelled after her.

The hallway was empty. ‘Maisie!’ The front door was still sealed. Lily glanced into Maisie’s room. No sign of her there. Could the intruder have slipped back into the hallway when her attention had been on the window? Lily jumped as Mr Gingerbread scuttled past her, brushing against her bare legs. She followed him into her bedroom.

Please wake up now!

Lily felt light-headed again, like she might faint. She wanted this nightmare over. But she already suspected it wouldn’t be. It felt way too real.

Maisie was standing by the window where she’d pulled the green blind up.

‘I needed to see.’ She turned to the pane.

Beyond the glass there was no longer the view they had of the garden. Behind it was only rows of red bricks.

Chapter 12

Lily crossed the carpet and stared at the pane. But she knew the window couldn’t have been bricked up while she slept in the same room.

‘I want to go outside,’ Maisie declared anxiously.

But Lily was beginning to realise that that was something they weren’t going to be allowed to do. If this was a nightmare surely she would have opened her eyes by now. Their predicament was so convincingly real, and she dreaded that the next moments would confirm that beyond doubt.

She took Maisie’s hand and led her into the hallway to the front door. Locked.

‘What’s happening?’

Lily knew she shouldn’t display the escalating panic she felt in front of Maisie. ‘I’m … just trying to work that out.’ Was all she could offer. Was the intruder the other side of it? ‘Let us out of here!’ Lily banged her fist against the panel. ‘Open this now!’ Her voice rose an octave and she beat the wood harder.

Maisie took a step away from her.

But Lily couldn’t contain her alarm. ‘Let us out. I’ve called the police!’ But she suspected he already knew she couldn’t.

Maisie clutched herself.

Lily tried the lounge door again but that was still locked. She glanced up at the hallway camera positioned over the open kitchen door. Was he watching them? She returned her attention to the image of the hallway in her phone’s security app.

There was no sign of either of them standing in the positions they were.

‘Open it!’ Even though she suspected she was wasting her time Lily thumped the door in frustration until her hand ached. When she eventually stopped there was no sound the other side.

They waited and listened. Nothing.

She had to calm down, breathe a few times. In through her nose and out through her mouth.

‘Are you OK now?’ Maisie asked nervously.

Lily nodded. ‘I’m fine.’ She tried to slow her circulation, but she could hear it beating in her temples. She had to focus. Process what had happened since she’d woken up.

And she had woken up.

‘You’ve turned white.’

Lily could see fear bulging in Maisie’s wide blue eyes and crouched in front of her. ‘Listen, we’re going to find out exactly what’s going on. OK?’

Maisie nodded once, uncertainly.

She could see that Maisie didn’t believe her. She had to stow her own fear away for her sake. She gulped drily. ‘There has to be a reason for this.’ But how could any of this even begin to make any sense? ‘Whatever it is, we’ll be OK. I promise.’

Maisie nodded again and shivered.

Lily rubbed her daughter’s arms and felt how cold they were through her yellow pyjamas. ‘You’re freezing. Let’s get your hoodie wrap.’ Lily stood and quickly led Maisie to her bedroom. The faux purple fur garment was folded on the seat of the wicker chair beside her bed.

Too perfectly folded. Lily always left it draped on the back, and Maisie wouldn’t have put it there so neatly. Had Paulette folded it last night? That wasn’t something she could see her sister doing. She cautiously picked it up then opened it out.

She wrapped it around Maisie and put her nose to it. It wasn’t Maisie’s. It didn’t smell of her. Lily frequently inhaled it. It was just as much a comfort blanket for her as it was her daughter. The truth of the situation seemed ludicrous. Had somebody replicated not only her home but also its contents?

Mr Gingerbread emitted a nervous meow.

Lily located the cat cowering in the corner beside the door. Maisie went to him.

‘Wait!’

Maisie froze and turned back to her.

The cat hissed at them.

‘Leave him where he is for the moment.’ Lily could see he’d lost a lot of weight. Since last night. It was a different animal and it was clearly nervous of them both.

‘What’s wrong with Mr Gingerbread?’

‘Just leave him.’ Lily’s mind raced. It was definitely a different cat. She could see its ribs poking through its fur. Who would have gone to these lengths? And where was their real cat now?

Maisie reversed her steps and cowered at Lily’s legs.

The cat, the hoodie wrap, the bolt sliding so easily into place, the unfamiliar cement smell, the cold air and that view out of the window. She glanced at the camera positioned over the bedroom door and rapidly scrolled through the images on her security app. All of the rooms were empty. Including the one they were standing in. That was why the intruder had walked from the kitchen, along the hallway and through the front door without them hearing him. He was in their home. They weren’t.

So, where the hell were they?

Chapter 13

Lily and Maisie were back in the kitchen, the door firmly bolted again.

Maisie was seated on one of the chairs at the kitchen table, her arms poking out of her hoodie blanket and protectively encircling her legs. From her elevated seat she could see through the window. She’d gasped inwards when she’d seen their new surroundings and Lily still hadn’t heard her breathe out.

Lily couldn’t begin to explain to her what was happening. Who had imprisoned them like this? And why? But she could barely comprehend the situation they were in let alone consider who could be responsible. What could their motive possibly be for doing this to a mother and child? Think. It seemed like a sick prank. But when she considered the intruder the previous day and took in their imitation home she suspected it was far from that. Who could have had access to so much that was private? Only one name suggested itself.

It seemed preposterous that Ewan would be part of this. Was this his punishment? Was that why he’d been happy not to see Maisie for so long and had this always been his plan? At that moment, he was the only person she could believe would be gratified by this. But Maisie’s distress? No. He loved his daughter. But now he had them where he wanted maybe he would try to take Maisie away from her. But it all seemed so outlandish.

Maybe they’d been targeted at random. Would a ransom be demanded? From whom? She only had Paulette left and she didn’t have any money. But they were surrounded by the handiwork of someone who knew their lives intimately. Who else other than Ewan could it possibly be?

‘Why did somebody move our house?’

Lily looked up at her daughter’s pensive expression and wondered if it was better to let her believe that. Would Maisie feel more secure? But it was only a matter of time before she’d have to know the truth and perhaps the cat had already confirmed that to her. They’d left the animal locked the other side of the kitchen door.

Momentarily, she had to focus on keeping Maisie calm. ‘Whoever did this obviously wants us to be at home.’ That was the truth. If someone meant to harm them would they have constructed this space? She considered how they’d been relocated and the truth of that came thick and fast.

They must have been drugged. Someone had come into their home while they slept and physically removed them. They’d scooped her and Maisie up and driven them here while they were completely oblivious.

The intruder standing in the garden had been a brazen demonstration that this was to come. It must have taken some organization to snatch them and bring them here, so they must have planned to take them that night. Had whoever done it watched Officer Michaels surveying the flat? How had they got in? And how could they have unlocked the doors within to get to them?

To know so much about their home perhaps they’d been regularly coming into it when she’d been at work. Maybe Ewan wasn’t in Dundee. He’d given back his key, but he could so easily have made a copy. She imagined him wandering around the empty rooms of their old marital home while she and Maisie weren’t there. But her app would have alerted her. She’d only recently had it installed though. That definitely hadn’t been Ewan standing in the back garden, however. Was there more than one person involved in their kidnap? It was the first time she’d thought that word. But ‘kidnap’ was what this was.

Before they’d locked themselves in Lily had swiftly checked the windowless bathroom was empty. Like Fallstaff Gardens it was the only room without a camera. She examined the seal of the window in the kitchen. It was their only view out of their reproduction home. There was no window in Maisie’s room anyway and the one in hers had bricks behind it. The bay windows in the locked lounge were inaccessible. The kitchen window was now their only source of natural light.

The glass was set firmly in the wall and when she put her palm against it there was no give or rattle like her real one. It was rigid. She thumped it with her fist and it made a dull thud.

‘What are you doing?’

It looked like it was unbreakable. She beat it again harder and her wrist smarted. Lily moved to the wooden back door. She pulled down on the handle but knew it wouldn’t open. The panel was simply a piece of set. There was no light around it. It was fixed to the wall.

There was the cat flap at the bottom but when she prodded it with her bare toe it didn’t give. She bent to examine it. The flap wasn’t translucent yellowing plastic like hers, it looked like it was solid yellow resin.

‘How will the cat get out?’

Lily acknowledged that Maisie hadn’t called the animal Mr Gingerbread.

‘If he tries to go through there he’ll fall.’

‘It’s OK, it won’t open. He can’t get out.’

Maisie frowned.

She knew that was going to be no comfort to Maisie.

‘Like us?’

Lily didn’t respond. ‘Hello!’ She shouted up at the ceiling. Mr Sargeant wasn’t up there but perhaps there were other people in the building. She fought the impulse to shout ‘help’ again. She didn’t want to frighten Maisie any more than she was.

Nothing.

But by the state of the structure opposite and what she could see of the one she was in, reflected in its shattered windows, she thought it unlikely that there was anyone above or below them. Maybe whoever was holding them captive was the only one who could hear her. But surely the intruder was still in their real home. How far away from there were they now? ‘Hello!’ she screamed louder, desperation fraying the word.

She gazed around the kitchen at all the familiar fixtures and contents. The shelves of pots stacked in the same way they were in her real kitchen, the slanted row of cookbooks on top of the cupboard. She opened it and it had all the same dried contents – packs of rice and pasta and noodles – as the one at home.

How long had this place existed and been awaiting their occupation? Lily closed the cupboard door, walked to the fridge and took one of Maisie’s crayon drawings from under the familiar SpongeBob magnet. Had someone photographed the inside of her home then searched online for all the same contents? But how could they have Maisie’s picture?

She put the magnet back and closely examined the crudely drawn orange car with the two of them sitting in it, Lily smiling in front and Maisie seated in the back. She ran her fingers over it but there was no texture, no waxy feel to the thicker strokes of crayon. It was a colour photocopy. The paper was shiny. It had been taken from their real home and duplicated. Cold bubbles fizzed up her spine.

‘What’s wrong?’ Maisie had been watching her expression.

Lily fixed the picture back to the door. ‘Just looking at how happy we are together.’

Maisie got up off the chair and came over to where she was standing.

Lily moved quickly to the window. ‘Come over here.’

Maisie briefly regarded her drawing then followed her to the sink.

Lily picked her up and sat her on the draining board.

‘I thought I wasn’t allowed to sit up here.’

‘Today you are.’ She directed her daughter’s attention through the pane. ‘I want you to keep watch out here.’

‘What for?’

‘People.’ Lily scanned the deserted rubble. ‘If you see anyone out there, I want you to run and tell me straight away.’

‘Where are you going?’ There was sudden terror on her face.

Lily figured the kitchen was the safest room for Maisie to be. ‘I’m going to search the other rooms. There must be another way out of here.’

Chapter 14

As she headed for the door Lily halted at the kitchen drawers. She slid the middle one open and was surprised to find the familiar contents inside. It was her tool drawer, and everything was present and correct, even if it looked slightly new.

The hammer and chisel were distinctly less grubby than the ones Ewan had left behind but they were the same make. Who else could have got inside her home without her noticing? Paulette was the only one with a spare key. They’d had issues in the past, but she couldn’t countenance the idea that she had anything to do with this. Had Paulette misplaced her key at some point or had Lily? No, she always carried it around in her handbag and never had any others cut.

What about Mr Sargeant upstairs? Had he pretended not to be home when Officer Michaels had been there? Even if he wanted to get in though, how had he bypassed the security?

But she’d only recently had the cameras and alarm fitted. They’d lived there for four years without the system. Lily grabbed the hammer, chisel and her set of screwdrivers and turned back to Maisie. ‘Eyes out of the window. You’ve got an important job to do.’ She quietly closed the drawer.

Maisie nodded and turned to the pane.

Lily took a breath and unbolted the door. She opened it, tentatively made her way into the empty hallway and listened. No sounds of movement.

‘Are you OK?’

‘Fine. Just stay where you are.’ Why had the intruder left her with the tools she needed to escape? Was this a test? By Ewan?

She took her phone out of her robe pocket with her free hand and checked it. The intruder hadn’t tried to contact her since he’d walked through the front door of her house in Fallstaff Gardens. It wasn’t even half six in the morning. Nobody would be missing either of them yet. And even when she did have a sick day the office very rarely rang her at home. What about Julie Medlocke? She had her back and would get in touch if she didn’t appear, but would she do anything more if she didn’t get a reply? She might try to call Lily’s mobile.

A thought struck her, and Lily turned it over in her palm. Was it hers? She’d only just changed that wallpaper photo. It was of her and Maisie a few weeks ago after they’d had an outing to Brighton. It was an image of them together on the beach with the pier in the background. She examined the cheap black plastic case. It looked like hers. She went to contacts and hit ‘This Phone’. That was definitely her number. Looked like it was hers.

Lily attempted calling the police again then Julie and Paulette. No dial tone. The last person she tried was Ewan. Why would she think his number would be any different to the others? Was it because of what Paulette had said about suspecting him? Was something jamming the signal? She went to her security app but now all the images of the rooms were black. Had he deliberately covered the cameras or was the connection severed? The app was working fine earlier.

‘There’s nobody out there,’ Maisie reported despondently from the kitchen.

‘Keep looking.’ What about Maisie’s school? They would soon be in touch if she didn’t attend. But even when they were both missed, and the alarm was eventually raised, it didn’t matter if the police kicked down the front door. Where would they begin to start looking for them? They could be miles from Fallstaff Gardens.

Pocketing the phone, she circled her red hair behind her ear and listened at the front lounge. The TV was in there. If it was even a room. She carefully pulled down the handle. Still locked. She tried the inner front door. Locked too. There was no noise coming from the other side, so she examined the hinges. Weren’t you supposed to be able to lift a door off from that side? She put the hammer and chisel on the floor and opened her screwdrivers.

The phone rang and she jumped and swiftly pulled it out. Lily looked along the hallway to Maisie who immediately tried to slide back down the sink cupboard. ‘Stay there,’ she hissed.

Maisie froze and then reluctantly pulled herself back up.

‘Window.’ Lily gestured at the glass and Maisie turned back to it.

Lily looked up at the hallway camera over the kitchen door. Had he seen her with the tools? And did he have the same security app as her so he could watch her from anywhere? She answered and held the phone to her ear.

‘You’re wasting your time.’ It was the same male voice from before.

‘Why are you doing this?’

‘Isn’t it time you both had breakfast?’ he said flatly.

Lily swallowed and turned to the front door so Maisie couldn’t hear. ‘Where is this place?’

No response. Only light breathing.

‘Please …’ she whispered, ‘I’ll do whatever you want. Just let us out.’

‘There’s cereal, fresh milk and eggs too.’

‘What do you want?’

‘I told you. Eat. You both need to sustain yourselves.’

Lily hesitated. Didn’t want to ask. ‘For what?’

‘For the day ahead. There’s cat food there too. Don’t let Mr Gingerbread starve.’

‘That’s not my cat.’ Aggression filled out her voice. ‘Why would you do this? If it’s a ransom you’re after—’

‘No. This isn’t that sort of scenario. You can use the tools you have. Try the window with the hammer and chisel; if you feel the need. It’s reinforced though, so you’ll barely scratch it.’

‘Just tell me what you want.’ Lily gripped the phone tighter.

‘You’ll probably have no problem removing the door to the porchway but beyond that there’s no way through. It’s plate steel. Be my guest but, take my word for it, you will be wasting your time.’

‘Please, stop this. Let us out now and I promise I won’t breathe a word of this to anyone.’

‘That will be the case … regardless of what you do.’

Lily flinched and closed her eyes. ‘You can’t lock up a child.’

‘No?’ He paused. ‘Is that right?’

‘Tell me who you are. Tell me what you think I’ve done to deserve this. I promise, I’ll do whatever you ask.’

‘That’s a very rash promise.’

‘Just let Maisie go.’

‘Shall we just take this conversation as read? I think you already know the answer.’

Lily opened her eyes, inhaled and swallowed her anger. ‘We’ll have breakfast.’

‘Good. I’ve already eaten. Top right cupboard. Cornflakes were running a bit low but you’ll find a full box in yours.’

‘You’re in my kitchen?’ she said incredulously and imagined him standing there. Would Mr Sargeant hear him moving around? But surely, if he hadn’t jetted off yet, he’d just assume it was her.

‘Don’t forget to keep your phone charged so I can contact you. Charger’s in the usual place. I have to go now.’

‘Wait!’

‘You’ve got everything you need.’

‘Tell us what we need to do.’

‘To curry favour you mean?’

Lily gritted her teeth. ‘Yes.’

‘Eat, drink, sleep. Keep yourselves healthy. Keep yourselves sane.’

‘And when will you explain?’

‘The reason you’re there?’

‘Yes.’

‘Maybe never.’

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