Page 30 of The World Outside My Window

‘Oh, you are in, I was beginning to think you’d disappeared as well,’ a familiar voice says. When Laura doesn’t reply, the voices continues. ‘Laura, it’s me. Carol. From next door?’ she adds helpfully.

Realising Carol can see her standing there staring at her through the letterbox, Laura hurries along the hallway and opens the door.

‘Hello, dear,’ Carol says, smiling.

‘Um, could you come in so I can shut the door, please?’ Laura says, trying not to look out into the creeping darkness of the garden.

‘Oh, yes, of course, how silly of me not to realise,’ Carol says, stepping inside gleefully and looking around with barely veiled interest at the pictures on the hall wall. Without speaking Laura turns and walks into the kitchen, Carol following close behind, then turns to face her neighbour, leaning heavily on the worktop for support.

‘Is everything all right?’ Laura says, waiting for Carol to speak, but the older woman is too busy taking in the dated kitchen cupboards and piles of rubbish dumped by the back door. Laura feels suddenly self-conscious about the state of the place that she’d assumed nobody other than her best friend would see and picks up a dishcloth and swipes ineffectually at a surface for something to do.

Eventually Carol realises Laura is waiting for her to say something. ‘I hope you don’t mind me popping round unannounced, it’s just, Arthur and me were talking after you left, trying to work out if there was anything Jim might have said before he – you know, disappeared. Any clues.’

Laura waits for her to carry on.

‘You see, the thing is, I couldn’t think of anything at first and neither could Arthur. Not that he ever notices anything anyway. I mean, Jim could have walked in with three heads and he probably still wouldn’t have twigged something was wrong. But then that’s men for you, isn’t it, all worrying about the racing results but utterly oblivious when something obvious is staring them in the face?’ She stops and sees Laura staring at her, waiting for her to get to the point. ‘Ahem. Yes, well. Anyway. So Arthur and me were talking and then something suddenly occurred to me, something I hadn’t thought much of at the time. But the thing is, the last time Jim came round, I noticed a photo on his keyring.’

‘A photo?’

Carol nods excitedly, warming up to the idea. ‘Well, two photos, truth be told.’

Laura sighs, trying not to feel exasperated at the slow, dramatic reveal. ‘Who were the photos of, Mrs Loveday?’

‘Carol, please.’ She smiles happily and leans towards Laura. ‘They were of two children.’

‘Children?’ That wasnotwhat Laura had been expecting.

Mrs Loveday – Carol – nods enthusiastically. ‘A boy and a girl.’

‘Right.’ Laura’s heart is thumping.

‘Well, of course, I asked him who they were.’

‘And?’ Laura is trying not to shout.

‘He said they were his niece and nephew.’

Laura’s blood runs cold. ‘Are – are you sure that’s what he said? His niece and nephew?’

Carols looks at her as though she’s completely stupid and nods. ‘Of course I’m sure. I asked him their names but he just changed the subject and put the keys back in his pocket. At the time, of course, I didn’t think there was anything odd about it, just that he was in a hurry and didn’t have time to chit-chat. But it was only when I was thinking about it again after you left that it occurred to me his behaviour might have been construed as being a bit odd.’ She stops, and looks at Laura expectantly, but Laura can’t speak. She feels as though she might fall over so she pulls out a chair from the kitchen table and slumps into it, her heart thumping erratically, her legs feeling like jelly.

‘Are you all right, dear?’ Carol sits next to her and rubs her back gently, and Laura doesn’t even have the energy to pull away from her touch.

‘I—’ she starts, and feels tears welling in her eyes again.

‘Oh, no, dear, I didn’t mean to upset you, I am sorry,’ Carol says. She stands and heads over to the kettle. ‘Let me make you a nice up of tea, to calm your nerves,’ she says, and starts bustling around looking for cups and teabags and milk. Minutes later she plops a mug of tea in front of Laura, who takes it gratefully, then turns to look at her neighbour.

‘Jim doesn’t have a niece and nephew,’ she says, her voice shaky. ‘He’s an only child.’

Carol tries to hide her surprise, and places her hand gently on Laura’s arm. She doesn’t pull it away this time.

‘Oh, dear, I am sorry to throw this at you like this. I mean, I could have been mistaken—’ she knows she isn’t ‘—but I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.’

Laura shakes her head. ‘But why would he have said that?’

‘Perhaps he just didn’t want a nosey old biddy like me asking questions,’ Carol says, smiling kindly.

Laura nods. ‘Maybe. But it still doesn’t explain why he had a keyring with photos of children on. I’ve never seen him with a keyring like that.’

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