Page 54 of Don't Let Him In

The couple look at each other. “Not sure, really,” says the woman. “I think she moved for schools? For her children? Something like that. Is there something wrong?”

Ash shakes her head. “No. Just… she was a friend of my father’s. And my father just passed away. And I just wanted to let her know. That’s all.”

The couple exchange another look and then the woman says, “You could try asking our landlady?”

“Oh. Yes! Wow, that would be great, if that’s OK?”

“Yes. Sure. She’s called Petula. She runs the salon on the high road.”

“Oh! Great! What’s it called?”

“Petula’s.”

Ash gives them both a double thumbs-up and a stupid grin. “Great. Thank you. Do you think it’ll be open now?”

“No idea. But I can’t see why not.”

Ash thanks the couple and puts the salon into her Maps app. It’s a four-minute walk away.

Petula is an older woman with bright blond hair and a nice way about her. She hands her client over to a junior to have the dye washed from her hair and then takes Ash to the sofa in the window, where a small white dog slumbers on a fleecy rug.

“Laura,” she says sighing heavily. “Ah, yes, poor Laura. She got well and truly done over. In my opinion.”

“What do you mean—done over?”

“I mean that guy, her husband, Justin. He scammed her.”

Ash feels a jolt of energy pass through her. “Really?” she says.

“Well,” says Petula, “like I say.In my opinion.She maintained that he was a good guy, but she put up with all sorts of nonsense.”

“Were you friends?”

“Well, sort of. We were neighbors for a while. I own the house next door as well and I was living there when she moved in. I lived there for about a year and we kind of rubbed along a bit during that time. I could hear things through the wall, get an idea of the dynamic, and oof.” She blows out her cheeks. “I did not like that man. Not at all. He had this way about him, so charming, perfect husband, perfect father…”

“So those were his children? The two girls?”

“Well, yes. Or I assumed so. He used to refer to them as his daughters.”

“And they were married?”

“Again, I assumed so. They both wore rings. He referred to Laura as his wife.”

Ash gets a slightly panicky feeling in the pit of her stomach and into her bowels. Here it is. It’s coming. It’s like a tornado or a tsunami, it’s over there somewhere, she can’t see it yet, but it’s getting closer and once it arrives, all hell will break loose. And she wants it to happen, but at the same time she really doesn’t, because this, on top of Dad’s death, not to mention Ash’s own mental health crisis not that long before—all of it might be too much for her mum, might tip her over, because she has been so strong, so brilliant during all of this, but can she take this too? Is Ash going to blow her mother’s life into smithereens? In the process of trying to save her from doing it to herself?

“So, what did you hear? What happened?”

“Psychopath.”

Ash cocks her head questioningly.

“Classic case,” Petula continues. “Gaslighting. Word salad–ing. Love-bombing. All of it.”

Ash nods but doesn’t really know what Petula is talking about.

“And then, one day, he just disappeared completely. Left her alone with two little girls and thousands of pounds of debt. I mean…” Petula blows out her breath and widens her eyes. “You’d think she was a stupid woman, from me saying that. But that was the thing. She really wasn’t a stupid woman. She was a clever woman. Funny. Confident. Great company. She had a proofreading business, used to do work for some really famous writers. She was well-known in Cambridge, had a great reputation. She was very well-liked. And this man, Justin, he somehow managed to persuade her that he had her best interests at heart when he really, absolutely did not. Or at least, not in my opinion.”

“Where did she go—Laura?”

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