Beth laughed, a loud, almost hysterical laugh. ‘Charlie, calm down. You’re letting your imagination run away with you. I agree, this situation is odd, but I can assure you I honestly don’t have a clue what it’s all about.’
Charlie stared into Beth’s eyes.
‘Swear,’ Charlie said through gritted teeth.
‘Excuse me?’
‘Swear. On your parents’ graves.’
She didn’t flinch. She didn’t blink. ‘I swear. On my parents’ graves. Okay?’
Nobody said anything for a while. Charlie sat fidgeting, staring down at his hands. Beth stood up and crossed to the settee, sitting down next to Charlie, and lacing her fingers into his.
‘Charlie, I get that you are spooked by all this. I admit, it’s a worry, but we should stick together. Are you going to doubt me over some random note left for you by God-knows-who in the gym? We can’t turn on each other right now. There’s obviously something going on. We need to figure it out. Together.’
‘Why would somebody write that? And the other one. It’s all so strange. I think we should talk to the police.’
‘And tell them what exactly? Some weirdo has been leaving us notes? Charlie, they would laugh at us.’
‘No, they wouldn’t. This seems a little sinister to me. And if you factor in what happened to Daisy–’
‘That’s assuming the two things are connected.’
‘Even if they aren’t, I still think we should tell someone.’
Charlie took the note from his wife’s hands and focused on the words.
How well do you know your wife?
Something told Charlie there was more to this than Beth was making out, but he didn’t want to fight with her. She was right in one respect, they needed to stick together.
‘Give me that,’ Beth said, reaching for the paper in Charlie’s hands. ‘I’ll put it in the bin.’
Charlie snatched his hand back, shaking his head. ‘No. We should keep it. Where’s the other one?’
‘I threw it away.’
Charlie jumped up from the couch and rushed out to the kitchen. ‘What the hell did you do that for?’
Beth followed behind him. ‘I thought it was a prank. Why wouldn’t I?’
Charlie started riffling through the bin, pulling rubbish out onto the tiles around his feet. Beth placed a hand on his back. ‘The bin’s been emptied, love. I wouldn’t bother.’
Charlie sat down on the floor, surrounded by empty cans and food packets. ‘We should have kept it. What if–’
Beth sat next to him, pushing a stinking, half-empty packet of bacon out of the way with her toe first. She draped an arm around his shoulder, and stroked the back of his neck, fiddling with his hair between her fingers.
‘But we didn’t. What’s done is done. We have the new one. Let’s not worry about it for now. Cuppa?’
Charlie nodded. ‘I’ll make them. You go and sit down.’
Beth heaved herself up from the floor, and traipsed out of the kitchen, into the lounge. Charlie stood up, filled the kettle and flicked it on. He took two mugs from the cupboard, opening a drawer to get a teaspoon. As he went to shut the drawer, he noticed something peeking out from beneath the plastic divider. A small scrap of white.
Charlie reached down, lifting out the tray and fished the folded piece of paper from underneath.
He knew in his gut what it was immediately, but he unfolded it anyway.
FOUND YOU.
Friday night’s note. Where this all began.
The one Beth had, moments earlier, repeatedly said she had thrown away. And yet here it was, tucked into a drawer, hidden.
So why would she lie?
9
Charlie opened his eyes. The bedroom was pitch black. For a moment he didn’t know where he was. He resisted the urge to look at the clock beside the bed, in case it was almost time to get up. He wanted to relish this time, before the reality of having to prepare for work hit home. But it didn’t feel like the morning. It felt like the middle of the night. He gave in and looked. It was 2am.
He rolled over, but found Beth wasn’t beside him. He reached his arm across the covers, as if his eyes were deceiving him, but the mattress was cold. Sitting up, he glanced around the room. His vision had not adjusted to the darkness, and he couldn’t see much. He flung back the duvet from his legs, slowly stepping onto the carpet. The light in the en suite wasn’t on. He whispered Beth’s name through the door to be sure. No reply. He made his way to the landing. The entire house lay in darkness. He stood at the top of the stairs, listening.
Not a sound. No movement. Nothing.
Making his way down the stairs, he felt apprehensive, but he didn’t know why. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something niggled at him. He inched along the hallway, stubbing his toe on the hairpin legs of a narrow console table against the wall. Swearing under his breath, he continued towards the kitchen. Cooper leapt up and excitedly scurried across the floor towards Charlie. Circling repeatedly in front of him.
‘No, Cooper, back to bed, it’s not time yet,’ he hissed at the dog. Cooper continued to wag his tail and look at Charlie expectantly. Charlie tried the back door, which was firmly locked, with the key in it. So Beth couldn’t have gone into the garden. He flicked the light switch on the wall next to the door anyway. The lights came on, but the garden appeared empty.
Charlie patrolled the rest of the ground floor, but Beth wasn’t in the house. He opened the front door. It was unlocked, suggesting that Beth had gone out this way. Standing on the doorstep, he stared out into the darkness. The cars were both in the driveway, so she hadn’t driven anywhere. But there was no sign of
