Dorothy tried to get it right in her head. It was about that time the investigation business started, so she wasn’t sure whether it was up and running when Simon went missing. Shit, maybe Jim started it because of what happened to Simon, did that make 55sense? Jim had always told her the PI stuff came about because a bereaved customer from the funeral side wanted to find a long-lost cousin. But Dorothy was starting to doubt everything. Jim definitely lied about Simon, he told Dorothy that Simon just quit, but he told Rebecca that he never showed for work. Why would he lie? Why wouldn’t he offer to look for Simon? Why did he pay Rebecca?

‘Tell me about the life assurance,’ Dorothy said.

‘Jim came here when Simon was declared a missing person. He said Simon had taken out a scheme with the company, that the Skelfs owed me money.’

Dorothy shook her head. ‘You know how weak that sounds.’

Rebecca pushed away from the worktop, arms by her side. ‘You should leave.’

‘I guess you didn’t want to think too much about free money.’

Rebecca opened the kitchen door. ‘Go.’

‘Is that my snack?’ Natalie said from the other room.

‘In a minute,’ Rebecca shouted back.

‘Unless there’s something you’re not telling me.’

Rebecca shook her head. ‘How dare you come here and call me a liar. If you don’t leave right now I’m calling the police.’

What did Dorothy have except confused ten-year-old memories and a history of payments? She walked past Rebecca, feeling the anger radiate from her. She pictured bad juju seeping through her own skin and into her soul.

She stopped at the doorway to the living room, saw Natalie watching something with talking animals and ghosts.

‘Nice to meet you, Natalie,’ she said.

Natalie turned. ‘Bye.’

Dorothy felt Rebecca’s touch on her shoulder and walked to the front door. Rebecca showed her out, a firm hand on her back.

‘Don’t come back,’ she said as the door closed.

56

12

JENNY

King’s Buildings was a rabbit warren. Hannah had warned her, but Jenny presumed her sense of direction would win out. But the campus seemed designed to confound, full of cubbyholes, nooks and crannies, hedges and foliage hiding the pipes, concrete and chipped paint of the science buildings.

It was weird being surrounded by students, like they were an alien species. There was an energy here, though, a recklessness to their goofing around that suggested they had no idea of the shitshow life had in store. Jenny pictured herself at the end of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, waiting for them all to point and scream then lunge after her. She felt out of place with her slouchy, middle-aged body, her cloud of cynicism, her slack skin. And she felt short too, how were young people all so bloody tall?