The pushchair safely through the gate, she hurried down the road, wheels bumping over the uneven pavement. Several of the street lights were not working but she didn’t mind that. It was easier to avoid attracting attention in the dark. The last thing she wanted right now was nosy neighbours prying into her affairs. As she was passing across the badly lit space between two working street lamps, she heard footsteps behind her and involuntarily quickened her pace and, as she did so, the footsteps speeded up too as though someone wanted to keep pace with her. Without slowing down, Ella glanced over her shoulder but she couldn’t see anyone behind her. Whoever had been walking behind her must have disappeared into a house.

Shrugging off her momentary unease, Ella continued briskly on her way, telling herself she had been an idiot to worry. Just because someone else happened to be walking along the street at the same time as her was no reason for her to be jittery. She had done nothing wrong. In any case, whoever had been walking behind her probably hadn’t even noticed her. But as she pushed the buggy round the corner at the end of her street, she heard the footsteps again, quite distinctly. They didn’t seem to be getting any closer, yet when she looked round, no one was there. Doing her best to reassure herself that she was worrying needlessly, she kept going, regretting her decision to go out at a time when the streets were likely to be deserted.

With the small shop on the next corner in sight and an occasional car speeding past along the well-lit street, Ella relaxed. Up ahead she saw an old woman shuffling out of the shop clutching a couple of carrier bags, another woman went in, and a man passed her on the other side of the road. No one was going to confront her in full view of so many people. All she had to do was fill the bottom of the buggy with much needed cigarettes and booze, and get back home without being challenged.

She did her shopping quickly, avoiding meeting anyone’s eye, but when she did glance up, no one was paying her any attention. Leaving the shop, she made her way as quickly as she could back along the main road. Turning into her own dark street she hesitated but the pavements were empty and there was no sound of footsteps. All the same, she walked as swiftly as she could and reached home without any further interference. She hurried back inside, this time struggling to negotiate the buggy up the steps. Eventually she abandoned her attempt to wiggle it over the doorstep, instead lifting the baby and all her shopping out into the hall, before yanking the empty buggy inside. Shoving everything back into the buggy without bothering to do up the straps, she pushed it into her front room.