‘No. Leave it, Dad.’ Callum strides away up the path and heads back towards the building site.
Carson jabs Parkfield in the chest with his forefinger, but I don’t hear what he says. I just see Parkfield’s face turn white. He takes a step backwards, then turns and heads back into his house, slamming the door behind him. Carson shakes his head and stares at the ground for a moment. He looks up and catches my eye once more, giving me a long, cool look. I squirm, but I don’t duck out of sight this time, as that would be even more embarrassing. Finally, Carson turns away and leaves.
The incident must be to do with the crush Callum has on Hannah Slater. I wonder what she’s been doing while all this has been going on. Maybe she’s upstairs watching out of a bedroom window too. She’s always been a troublemaker, but I do feel a little sorry for her. It must be hard if your parents don’t approve of your friends. I was lucky – my parents always loved Dom. But then they’ve known him since he was young. Parkfield is such a snob, probably judging Callum because he’s left school.
My eyes stray once again to the Cliffords’ house. Still no sign of Dom, his car still parked outside their house. Surely, if my husband was up to no good, he wouldn’t leave his car in plain sight for everyone to see. As I lock the window, a short cry comes from the room next door. My daughter is awake.
I bring Daisy downstairs into the lounge, trying to decide how long I should leave it before marching over to number two and demanding to know just what it is my husband is doing over there. But, just as I’m gathering up my courage, I hear a key in the lock and the sound of the front door opening.
‘Hey! I’m home!’
‘In here,’ I call out, my nerves jangling.
Dom pushes open the lounge door and gives Daisy a huge grin. ‘Missed you today. How are my two favourite girls?’ He loosens his tie and opens the top button of his shirt as he comes over to give us a kiss. He’s obviously being overly nice because he made me go to the doctor’s.
‘We’re okay.’ I decide not to question him straight away. I’ll give him the opportunity to volunteer the information himself. ‘How was work?’
‘Work was fine. Have you seen my white sunglasses? The ones I use for cycling? They’re not in the car or on the hall table.’
I think for a couple of seconds. ‘Sorry, no.’
‘Sure you haven’t tidied them away somewhere?’
‘I’ll have a look in a bit.’
‘Thanks. How did you get on at the doctor’s?’ He takes Daisy from me and she giggles as he pulls a funny face for her.
‘It was okay.’ I sit on the sofa and pull a cushion onto my lap. ‘She said it’s nothing more than overtiredness.’
Dom stops gurning at Daisy and stares at me. ‘Overtiredness? Is that all?’
‘She said it’s quite normal after having a baby.’
‘Did you tell her everything?’ He comes and sits by me with Daisy on his lap. ‘About the not sleeping and the anxiety? Did you tell about checking the locks and—’
‘Yes, I told her all that,’ I snap.
‘So what did she say? Did she give you any advice?’
I give a shrug. ‘Apparently I’ve got to exercise and meditate.’
‘Right.’ He doesn’t sound too happy.
‘I’ve got to go back next month.’
‘Well that’s good,’ he says, trying to keep Daisy from flinging herself off his lap. ‘At least they can check your progress.’
‘Progress? It was a waste of time, Dom. My sleeplessness and anxiety are not about my health, they’re to do with the baby-monitor thing and the awful phone call I got. And Martin.’
‘I know it’s hard, but you should try and put all that stuff behind you. Concentrate on looking after yourself now. Do what the doctor said and get some exercise, find a meditation class.’
I give a murmur of assent, but when will I get time to do any of that with a baby to look after? And I honestly don’t think I’ll feel better until I know exactly what it is that Martin is hiding in his basement. A few half-formed ideas flit through my brain, but I’ll think about them later. Right now, I want Dom to tell me what he was doing at Rosa’s place.
‘Anything interesting happen today?’ I ask.
‘Nothing out of the ordinary.’ Dom places Daisy on the floor in her play ring then comes back to sit by me. ‘She’s such a little wriggler.’
‘I know, she’ll be on the move soon.’
‘Yeah, then you won’t have time to think about anything.’
‘Thanks for coming home early,’ I say, trying to steer the conversation back to what he was doing earlier. ‘How was the traffic?’
‘Fine.’
‘You were a bit later than you said you’d be, so I thought it must have been busy.’
‘No, traffic was fine. It just took longer than usual to finish up in the office.’
This is hopeless, he’s obviously not going to tell me, and I’m not going to torture myself for the rest of the evening wondering. ‘Was that you coming out of Jimmy and Rosa’s place earlier?’ I ask, trying to keep my voice light.
I’m pretty sure he frowns for an instant. ‘Oh, yeah. Jimmy just asked if I could help him move a piece of furniture.’
‘How is he? Jimmy?’
‘Yeah, he’s good. Looking forward to the barbie next week.’
‘So he was there today, was he?’
‘Yeah, I just said, I helped him move some furniture.’
I want to ask Dom what piece of furniture he was moving, and why Jimmy’s van wasn’t parked outside their house. I want to know when Jimmy asked for Dom’s help, because I saw Dom drive straight over to the Cliffords’ house, so he couldn’t have just asked him – it must have been arranged beforehand. But I can’t think of a way to ask my husband without it sounding like I don’t believe him. And right at this moment, I don’t.
‘Hey,’ Dom says, ‘did something happen out the front earlier? I could’ve sworn I heard shouting while I was round at Jimmy’s place.’
I’d almost forgotten what I saw out of the window. ‘It was Parkfield throwing Callum out of their house.’
‘Really? Who’s Callum?’ Dom asks, picking invisible lint off his trousers.
‘Callum Carson. The builder’s son.’
‘Oh, yeah, I know him. What was he doing round there?’
‘According to Lorna, Callum’s got a crush on their eldest, Hannah.’
‘I bet Parkfield isn’t happy about that.’
‘Understatement. It looked like Parkfield physically threw him out of their house. How do you know Callum, anyway?’ I ask.
‘I don’t really know him, but I caught him leaning against my car a while back so I asked him to move. He flipped me the finger. Right little charmer. Moaning Myrtle came out of his house and told me his name.’
‘That doesn’t sound like Callum. He was always so well-behaved in class.’
‘Yeah, well, he’s obviously turned into a little shit. Wouldn’t be surprised it if was him who keyed my car.’
‘That’s a bit harsh.’
Dom shakes his head and scowls.
‘So anyway,’ I continue, ‘Callum’s dad came marching round and started jabbing Parkfield in the chest.’
‘Bloody hell.’
‘I know. I thought there was going to be a proper fight, but Parkfield backed down and went back into his house.’
‘Where were you while all this was going on?’
‘In the bedroom. Saw it out of the window. Which is when I saw your car over at the Cliffords.’
Dom’s cheeks flush once more, and I definitely didn’t imagine it this time.
‘Want a cup of tea?’ he asks.
‘I’ll make it,’ I offer.
As I go to stand up, Dominic stops me, putting his hand on my arm. ‘Everything okay, Kirst? You seem a bit…’
‘A bit what?’
‘I dunno. A bit annoyed. Is it because I wanted you to go to the doctor’s? Because it’s only because I care about you. You know that, right?’
I shrug.
‘Or have I done something else to upset you?’
‘I don’t know, have you?’ I say it with a smile on my face, but my heart is aching a little at the thought of him over at Rosa Clifford’s.
‘That would be telling,’ he replies with a wink. ‘Seriously, though, are you all right?’