Ruth does the sum in her head, never an easy task for her. 慡o, she was born in 1963??
慪es. I suppose so. Why??
慏awn 1963,?says Ruth. 慖t was on that photograph I found in my mother抯 belongings.?
慖 remember you saying something about it.?Nelson dismisses this, as she knew he would. 慣he point is that your next-door neighbour is a murderer.?
慛o, she isn抰。 I抦 going to talk to her.?
慡he抯 out,?says Nelson. 慖抳e been knocking all the time you were away. And a bloody long time it was too.?
慡he抯 probably at work,?says Ruth. But it抯 six o抍lock now and Zoe is normally home at half past.
慉re you staying??she says to Nelson. For almost the first time since she抯 known him, he looks awkward.
慖抎 like to,?he says. 態ut it抯 difficult with Laura . . .?
慖 understand,?says Ruth. 慦ell, you抎 better get back to her.?
Nelson stands up. 慙ock your doors,?he says. 慉nd if Zoe comes back, let me know immediately.?
But, although Ruth watches the window all evening, her neighbour does not return.
Chapter 31
At first, she thinks that he抣l be coming back. It抯 all a mistake, she thinks. He can抰 mean to leave her locked in the dark for ever. And it is dark. She doesn抰 have her phone. Where did she leave it? There are blanks in her memory which scare her even more than the locked room.
She tries to pace it out. Eight paces forward, eight paces across. When she reaches a wall, it抯 cold and clammy. There抯 no window. The door is metal. She heard it clang behind him. She can抰 remember entering the room. Did he drug her? She thinks, from the cold and damp, that she must be underground. She imagines earth above her head, fathoms of it. Is she in the basement of a house? Is anyone above her?
What did he say? That he抎 be coming back later? Why can抰 she remember any more than that?
She sits down on the stone floor. Tries to breathe. In for four, out for eight. 慚y breath is my anchor, my anchor is my breath.?But her mind keeps skittering away. She can抰 keep the rhythm going. Why is she here? What did he mean when he said he would see her later? She gets up again and, in her pacing, barks her shins against metal. What is it? She bends down and touches slippery nylon. There抯 something familiar about it, something that takes her back to childhood camping trips. Of course, it抯 a sleeping bag. And it抯 lying on a camp bed, the old-fashioned metal kind that opens out like a concertina.
For some reason, this discovery makes her more scared than ever. He must have planned this, she thinks. He抯 prepared a bed for her.
Does he, in fact, mean to leave her in the dark forever?
When Zoe still isn抰 home in the morning, Ruth starts worrying about Derek. She can hear him meowing from the other side of the wall. He hasn抰 got a cat flap because Zoe抯 worried about him getting lost. Zoe had mentioned giving Ruth a spare key but it never materialised. Is that strange? Ruth wonders. She and Zoe have become friends quickly, by Ruth抯 standards, but Ruth hasn抰 been inside the next-door house since its new occupant moved in. They抳e shared a bottle of wine; they抳e been for a walk and played tennis on the sand, but they抳e never been inside each other抯 houses. Lockdown, of course, is partly to blame but is Zoe actually slightly reluctant to let Ruth into her life?
慖抦 going to try the back door,?she tells Kate.
慍an I come??
Ruth is torn. If there抯 something terrible in the house next door, she doesn抰 want Kate to see it. But she doesn抰 want to leave her daughter alone either.
慜K,?she says. 態ut stay with me all the time.?
They walk round the side of the houses. Ruth抯 cottage, being in the middle, is the only one without side access. Zoe抯 back door, like Ruth抯， is the stable kind with a lower and upper part. Ruth tries the top handle and it opens. She reaches in and opens the lower door.