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Back A Change of Circumstance Save as PDF
Chapters (67)
  1. Cover
  2. One
  3. Two
  4. Three
  5. Four
  6. Five
  7. Six
  8. Seven
  9. Eight
  10. Nine
  11. Ten
  12. Eleven
  13. Twelve
  14. Thirteen
  15. Fourteen
  16. Fifteen
  17. Sixteen
  18. Seventeen
  19. Eighteen
  20. Nineteen
  21. Twenty
  22. Twenty-One
  23. Twenty-Two
  24. Twenty-Three
  25. Twenty-Four
  26. Twenty-Five
  27. Twenty-Six
  28. Twenty-Seven
  29. Twenty-Eight
  30. Twenty-Nine
  31. Thirty
  32. Thirty-One
  33. Thirty-Two
  34. Thirty-Three
  35. Thirty-Four
  36. Thirty-Five
  37. Thirty-Six
  38. Thirty-Seven
  39. Thirty-Eight
  40. Thirty-Nine
  41. Forty
  42. Forty-One
  43. Forty-Two
  44. Forty-Three
  45. Forty-Four
  46. Forty-Five
  47. Forty-Six
  48. Forty-Seven
  49. Forty-Eight
  50. Forty-Nine
  51. Fifty
  52. Fifty-One
  53. Fifty-Two
  54. Fifty-Three
  55. Fifty-Four
  56. Fifty-Five
  57. Fifty-Six
  58. Fifty-Seven
  59. Fifty-Eight
  60. Fifty-Nine
  61. Sixty
  62. Sixty-One
  63. Sixty-Two
  64. Sixty-Three
  65. Sixty-Four
  66. Sixty-Five
  67. Sixty-Six

‘It barely has but it’ll go in the property pages of the Gazette next Friday and of course it’s on our website. It’s a very desirable property. It won’t hang around.’

Serrailler knew the spiel. He also knew that the agent was probably right.

‘I have to get back now for a viewing of an apartment in the Old Ribbon Factory. Those get snapped up. Can’t get enough.’ He reversed, stopped and wound down the window. ‘Nice to meet you. You’ve got my details. And if you are interested in this, you need to jump on it.’

When he had gone, Simon paused, then went back, round the side of the house to the terrace, the garden. The fields. The sheep. The horses and the steely river. The cathedral tower, receding now into the gathering dusk. The close. His own flat at the top of the building he could not make out. But it was there, it was home.

He looked for a long time at the view, and then at the house, its windows darkening, chimneys half hidden.

When he had seen this first, as the pictures had come through onto his laptop screen, he had felt a stab of something – excitement, recognition? The feeling had intensified as he had driven here, down the track to see it before him, not a photograph, a real house.

Now, as darkness gathered, he no longer felt the same, his emotions about it and about himself were blurred again, uncertain.

He drove away too fast, sending a rabbit racing into the ditch for safety.

Fifty-Nine

‘Shall I do those?’

Cat handed him the potato peeler. ‘Drink while you work?’

‘No, thanks. I’m not on duty but that hasn’t been making much difference just lately.’

‘Any more news?’

‘On the Wangs? Fire investigation is pretty conclusive – crude incendiary device, on a timer . . . it was lucky it didn’t go off while anyone was in the shop.’

‘Depends what you call lucky.’ Cat sat at the kitchen table, watching her brother carefully. There was something. In spite of his tough working week, there was a barely suppressed fizz waiting to surface.

‘Story to tell?’

‘Maybe.’

Something fell with a crash above their heads.

‘Oh God. Sam. He’s decorating his room, and the bathroom, after which I gather the plan is the corridor, the landing and the stairs. They do need doing but if it’s going to take him weeks I’d rather have got in a professional.’

‘I can give him a hand on Saturday, all other things being equal.’

‘You might not be all that welcome.’

‘Good a way as any other of mending a broken heart. When does he start back at the hospital?’

‘He’s got a bit of a wait. There’s a job for him but they’re doing some sort of restructuring, new shift patterns. If it ain’t broke . . . but who listens?’

‘Poor Sam.’