Page 47 of The Last One to See Him

‘Oh, yes. Of course. Kate. Shall I message her and let her know? So that she’s not worried?’ Harper pulls out her phone.

Doubt creeps onto Ellis’s face. ‘Okay… maybe just for a short while,’ he says. ‘I need to get back to the game.’

‘See you after,’ Harper says, watching him head to the other side of the field. She types a message to Kate.

Hi Kate, just at football with Dexter. Bumped into Ellis. The boys would like to go to the playground for a bit after so Thomas will be home a bit later. Take care x

She rereads the message. It’s warm and friendly, nothing that would raise any concern if Kate were to show it to anyone.

And then Harper deletes it and places the phone back in her pocket.

Harper is fully aware that Ellis must feel awkward being in the playground with her. The boys have disappeared to the basketball court on the other side, joining in a game with some older boys, and the only other people in here are a toddler with his grandparents.

For a few moments they sit in silence, watching the boys. ‘Dex is good at basketball,’ Ellis says.

‘Football too,’ Harper says, smiling

‘You seemed annoyed about it before,’ he says. ‘On the phone that time. When I said there’s no space for Dexter.’

‘I was. But…it’s just been difficult and…I suppose I took it personally. I just want Dexter to fit in. He’s been through so much.’

Ellis nods. ‘You both have. I get it.’

‘What about you?’ Harper asks. She doesn’t want talk of Jamie to infect this conversation. She needs to choose her words with precision, and be on guard for any surprises. ‘You said earlier you’d had a bad week?’

He looks away. ‘Yeah.’

Clearly he’s not keen to open up to her. Harper takes a gamble. ‘Forgive me for saying this, but Kate mentioned that you’d split up with your partner. I’m so sorry.’

His eyes widen. ‘Kate told you? Why?—’

‘Oh, sorry. Yeah.’

He stands and folds his arms, his cheeks flushing. ‘Why would she talk about my personal business? It’s nothing to do with her, or anyone else.’

Harper holds up her hand. ‘You’re right. I’m sorry. Please forget I said anything.’

‘I think we both know that’s not possible.’

‘We don’t have to talk about it. Look, I can tell Dexter we have to go.’ Although she’s not superstitious, Harper puts her hand in her pocket and crosses her fingers.

Ellis glances at the boys then shakes his head. ‘No, let them play. Thomas told me all about Kate cutting short their playdate yesterday.’ He shakes his head. ‘To be honest, Kate’s been acting strangely lately. I know you haven’t known her long so you won’t have noticed but, she’s been saying some?—’

‘Actually, I have noticed.’

He stares at her. ‘What d’you mean?’

Harper tells him Kate knew all about the playdate, then claimed she’d forgotten it was arranged. ‘And I found a photo of my husband in her house. I don’t know what she was doing with it. It was just a print out of a photo that was online. But…what do you make of that?’

Creases appear on Ellis’s forehead. ‘Very strange. I know something’s going on with her. And if it’s having any impact on my son then I need to find out what it is.’

In the evening, she sits with Dexter in the living room while he plays on his Xbox. Jamie’s Xbox. The one Dexter seems to have somehow inherited without her having agreed to anything. Yet it’s numbing his pain, so Harper’s reluctant to take it from him. ‘Ten more minutes,’ she warns, knowing those minutes will grow into twenty, then thirty.

Dexter glances at her. ‘Okay.’

In the end Harper cuts his time off after seven minutes; she wants to talk to him about Jamie, ask him about things she’s been wondering about. It’s probably still too soon for him to want to talk about his dad, but Harper needs to try.

‘Can I watch TV now, then?’ Dexter asks.

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