Page 38 of She Saw What He Did

‘We have to prise it open. We have to!’ Her voice falters. The strain is beginning to show. He struggles again with the box and then something flashes in his eyes. ‘Of course,’ he says. It’s like a light bulb just clicked in his head. ‘It’s got a secret catch. That’s why we can’t open it.’

‘What do we do?’ she asks, fearfully.

I lean down and pick up the tin. What if … I close my eyes as the horrifying thought enters my head. What if the man had wanted this box? I force my mind back to the island. He hadn’t followed us immediately but gone somewhere else. What if the somewhere else had been the geocache? What if this wasn’t geocache at all? I shake the box lightly. It seems like there is nothing inside. I place it carefully on the table and study it.

‘Mummy what are you doing?’ asks Sam, taking the tin and holding it protectively.

‘I’m just looking at it darling,’ I say nervously.

Is it dangerous? Should I take it to the police? I dismiss that idea immediately. They won’t listen to me. It can’t be the box. The men were walking towards the boats when the murder happened. Surely they would have climbed up the hill if it had been the tin they wanted. I pick up my phone to call Ellen Burden and then put it down again. She won’t believe me either. It’s just a box. Who could possibly want a pointless box? I force my attention back to the novel. I’m becoming paranoid. I’m sure that’s what Jared will say.

*

Jared turns the box around in his hand and then sniffs it. Sam is in bed and I’d had to wait until she was fast asleep before attempting to remove it.

‘I don’t know,’ he says doubtfully. ‘What on earth could you get in here?’

‘I don’t know. A valuable diamond,’ I say, remembering the novel.

‘You’d hear it moving around, surely.’

‘Not if you used a special kind of glue,’ I say stupidly.

‘Special glue?’ he says, raising his eyebrows.

‘In this novel I’m editing …’

‘Exactly, it’s a novel,’ he says dismissively.

I nod. ‘You’re right.’

‘I’m sorry,’ he says, squeezing my arm. ‘I didn’t mean to be harsh.’

He shakes the box gently.

‘It wouldn’t be a bomb would it?’ I say fearfully. ‘Sam has it with her all the time and …’

‘It’s not a bomb,’ he assures me. ‘I think you’re letting your imagination run riot. It’s just geocache. The thing is too small for any kind of explosive.’

I let out a long breath.

‘But what if it’s not? What if the only way of opening it is …?’

‘Abby,’ he says, grabbing my hand. ‘I don’t understand what happened on the island, but I don’t think it was connected to the box. If it makes you happier, I’ll get rid of it.’

‘No,’ I say. ‘Sam loves it and I couldn’t stand her to be upset. My nerves are ragged as it is.’

I take the box from him and stare at it. I’m being ridiculous. It’s nothing but a harmless old tin.

‘I’m sorry,’ I say. ‘I’m being paranoid.’

He pulls me to him on the couch. I feel myself resist slightly and hope he doesn’t notice. I really want things to work again between us but I’m still resentful. I can’t stop blaming him for what happened on the island. We wouldn’t have been there if he had been a faithful husband.

‘I’ve arranged for a locksmith to come tomorrow. I’ve asked him to fit a burglar alarm.’

I pull myself from his arms and feel panic twist my stomach. Somehow Jared’s casual attitude had comforted me, making me feel that perhaps things weren’t as terrifying as I thought, but clearly he is as scared as me.

‘But …’ I begin.

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