the car arrived earlier, while I’d been asleep? Who had been driving it? The murderer? Had he been watching me through the window as I slept on the sofa, like a puppet in play? I know it sounds crazy, my mind tells me it is. But the fear I feel is horribly real.
I run into the hall, grab the car keys from the table and unlock the front door. The glare of the sun catches me unawares and, as I hurry to the car, I duck my head, shielding my eyes with my hand. I drive out of the gate, not really thinking about where I’m going, only intent on getting away, and find myself on the road to Castle Wells. When I arrive I try two of the smaller car parks but they’re both full so I park in the multi-storey. I walk aimlessly around the shops, buy a few things, nurse a cup of tea in a café for a while, then walk around the shops a little more, trying to put off the moment when I’ll have to go back to the house. At six o’clock I head for the car park, hoping that Matthew will already be home because the thought of going back to an empty house makes me feel panicky.
Suddenly, my arm is grabbed from behind and
with a cry of alarm I whip round. Connie is standing there, a huge smile on her face. The sight of her makes everything normal again and I hug her in relief.
‘Don’t do that!’ I say, trying to gain control of my racing heart. ‘You’re lucky I didn’t have a heart attack!’
She hugs me back, her floral perfume familiar and reassuring. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. How are you, Cass? Enjoying the holidays?’
The Breakdown
185
I pull my hair off my face and nod, wondering if I look
as crazy as I feel. She’s still looking at me, waiting for an answer. ‘Yes, especially when the weather’s as good as it is today,’ I say, smiling at her. ‘It’s glorious, isn’t it?
How about you? You must be leaving soon.’
‘Yes, on Saturday. I can’t wait.’
‘I hope you didn’t mind me not coming back to yours after the end of year dinner,’ I go on, because I still feel guilty about pulling out at the last minute.
‘No, of course not. Except that as you didn’t come, John didn’t either, so we had to make our own entertainment.’
‘Sorry,’ I grimace.
‘It was fine, we put a karaoke thing on the television and tried to drown out the sound of the thunder with our singing. I have an incriminating video somewhere.’
‘You’ll have to show it to me.’
‘Don’t worry, I will!’ She takes out her phone and checks the time. ‘I’m meeting Dan for a drink. Why don’t you join us?’
‘I won’t, thanks, I was just on my way back to the car park. Are you all packed?’
‘Almost. I just need to get everything ready for the Inset day – I presume you got the call from Mary confirming Friday twenty-eighth? – as I only get back on the Wednesday. I’m almost there, how about you?’
‘Almost there too,’ I say.
‘I’ll see you on the twenty-eighth then.’
‘Definitely.’ I give her a last hug. ‘Have a great time!’
‘You too!’
186
b a paris
I carry on to the car park, feeling much better for having seen Connie, despite having lied to her about the work I’d supposedly done. And now I’m going to have to listen to the call Mary left on the answering machine in case there’s something she’s expecting me to bring to the table at the meeting. Worry gnaws away at me because how can I get down to work when there’s so much else going on? If only the murderer was behind bars. He might soon be, I tell myself. Now that the police think that he was somebody Jane knew, surely they’ll be able to find him.
I arrive at the car park, take the lift to the fourth floor and head towards to row E, where I left my car.
Or where I thought I’d left it, because it isn’t there.
Feeling stupid, I walk up and down the row and when I still can’t find it I turn and scan row F. But my car isn’t there either.
Baffled, I begin to walk up and down the other rows, even though I know I parked in row E. And I know I parked on the fourth floor because, knowing I wouldn’t find a space on the first two floors, I’d driven straight to the third. It had been full so I’d carried on up here.
So why can’t I find my car? Within a few minutes I’ve covered the whole floor so I take the stairs to the fifth, because maybe I did make a mistake. Again, I walk up and down the rows, sidestepping the cars moving in and out of parking places, trying not to look as if I’ve lost mine. But there’s no sign of my Mini there either.
The Breakdown
187
I go back down to the fourth floor and stand for a
moment, trying to get my bearings. There’s only one lift so I walk over to it and retrace the steps I would have taken that morning, except in the other direction, until I come to where my car should be. But it isn’t there.
Tears of frustration prick my eyelids. The only thing I can do is go down to the booth on the ground floor and report it missing.
I head towards the lift but at the last minute I change my mind and make my way down on foot, stopping off at each level to check that my car isn’t there. On the ground floor I find the booth, where a middle-aged man is sitting in front of a computer.