Dorothy hadn’t heard that in a while, meaning anxious and exasperated. One of the Scottish phrases she had to get used to when she first arrived.

‘And?’

An exhale down the phone, definitely smoking. ‘And nothing. I did all the usual stuff, spoke to friends and family, checked his phone and bank account. No trace.’

‘What about at work?’

‘I went to the funeral home. Do you work there?’

Dorothy stared at the dead sparrow on the floor. Its chest punctured with teeth marks, loose plumage drifting in the swirls of air caused by Dorothy’s movement. ‘Yes, it’s my business now.’

‘I spoke to the owner, nice old guy.’

‘Jim.’

‘And a younger guy who did odd jobs.’

‘Do you remember what they said?’

‘If there was anything suspicious it would be in my notes. Did Thomas show you them?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, that’s all there is.’

‘But how did they seem, the men at the funeral home?’

‘How do you mean?’

‘What were they like when you spoke to them?’

Dorothy wanted a corner to pick at.104

‘They were just regular guys,’ Lorna said. ‘You work with them, right?’

Schrödinger approached on his haunches, like it was a game. Dorothy thought she saw the sparrow’s chest rise, but maybe it was just a shimmer of feathers.

‘So what was your hunch about Simon?’

Lorna laughed, a friendlier sound than before. ‘It’s not about hunches.’

‘You must’ve had some opinion about what happened.’

A pause, no sound of inhalation, maybe the cigarette was finished. ‘Honestly, I can’t remember. But if you’re asking me now, with his pregnant wife and all, I think he just panicked and left, changed his name and started over somewhere else. Maybe he’s got another wife and kid now.’

Another wife and kid. Dorothy let that roll around her head.

There was a clatter in the background down the phone and a child’s wail.

‘To be honest,’ Lorna said, ‘I wouldn’t mind that myself, disappearing and starting again. Who doesn’t dream of that?’

Dorothy glanced out of the window. The kids had got the Frisbee back from the dog and had stretched into a wider triangle. They were hurling it fifty yards, still landing it in each other’s hands.

‘I have to go,’ Lorna said.

‘Thank you,’ Dorothy said. ‘I really appreciate it.’

‘I hope you find what you’re looking for, whatever that is.’

Then she was gone, just the dial tone.

Another wife and kid. A secret life. Starting over again.

Dorothy stared at Schrödinger, who was sitting in a strip of sunlight on the chair. She picked up the sparrow from the floor, felt the tiny weight of it in her hand. She wanted to sense life, breathing, but there was nothing.

‘Goddamn cat,’ she said, putting the sparrow in the bin.