Page 50 of The World Outside My Window

‘It’s Laura.’

‘Laura, hi. Everything okay?’

‘Yes, yes. Sorry, are you in the middle of something?’

‘No, it’s fine. Has something happened?’

‘Not really. I just wondered if you have any idea how to pick a lock.’

‘Oh, that’s not what I expected you to say.’ She can hear his smile down the line.

‘Well, no. I’m doing what Jane suggested and I’ve found a locked drawer in Jim’s study that I want to open.’

‘I see.’

‘Can you help?’ She knows she sounds impatient.

‘Well, I’m not famous for breaking and entering, but I can give it a go.’

‘Thank you.’

‘I’ll just have a quick shower and I’ll be over.’

Ben arrives half an hour later, his hair damp and wearing a dark blue shirt that makes his eyes shine. Laura tries not to notice how handsome he looks as he steps inside and removes his shoes. Instead she takes another sip of her second glass of wine and smiles at him.

‘Would you like a glass of wine before we start?’

‘Please.’

Ben follows her through to the kitchen, which Laura has made a half-hearted attempt to clean since he was last there. She’s been sitting here since she rang Ben, going over her worries in her mind. She thinks about the things that have begun to occur to her as strange: the fact Jim never wanted to go on holiday for longer than a few days; that she never knew where he actually worked, or met any of his colleagues; and now the fact that he has a locked filing cabinet in the house. Is it all pointing towards a dark hidden secret, or is she just a victim of an overactive imagination?

Laura hands Ben a glass of wine. Their fingers brush and he snatches his hand away quickly.

‘Shall we go straight up?’

‘Sure.’

They walk towards the stairs and up to the study. At the top she pushes the door open and gestures vaguely in the direction of the desk.

‘So you never come in here?’ Ben says, hovering in the doorway.

‘Not really. I mean, there was never any need.’ She feels foolish even admitting it out loud. After all, her world has been confined to these four walls since they moved here, how could she have willingly made it even smaller?

Ben walks across the room and stands in front of the desk. ‘You’ve checked all these drawers?’

‘Yes. They’re almost empty.’

Ben nods, then sticks his hand in his pocket and pulls something out. ‘These could be our secret weapons,’ he says triumphantly, and Laura watches as Ben takes a paper clip and straightens out one end of it, leaving the other end curved round.

‘What are you going to do with that?’

‘I’m not convinced it’s going to work, but someone once told me that this is an easy way to pick a lock,’ he says, gripping it between his thumb and finger. ‘Apparently you can find the mechanism if you wiggle it around a bit.’ He frowns, and turns towards the cabinet. Laura moves to stand next to him, holding her breath.

‘Right, here goes.’ Ben sticks the thin piece of metal into the lock and moves it around, back and forth. Laura holds her breath as Ben continues to move the paper clip gently backwards and forwards, listening carefully. His tongues sticks out of the side of his mouth and his brow is deeply furrowed.

‘If I can just… make… it… move… ‘ he says, pressing his ear against the cool metal.

‘Shall I have a go?’ Laura says.

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