There were eight numbers in the address book: three mobiles, five landlines. No names, just initials. It hadn’t occurred to me that I might want to write something down, make a note of phone numbers I had never seen before. I had not thought past the idea of finding out whether she had a second mobile or not. I patted my jacket pockets for a pen and something, anything, to write on. Nothing. Looked around the lounge. We tended to keep pens and pencils out of reach after William had gone through a stage a few years ago of drawing pictures on the walls.

Shit shit shit. No time.

Come on, think. Mobile phones are designed to make pen and paper obsolete.

I stood there, a phone in each hand, my breathing hard and ragged, staring around for something to write with. Think. The sound of water running reached me from the bathroom. William was still cleaning his teeth. He didn’t like doing it. Said he wanted his teeth to fall out quickly so the tooth fairy would come sooner, and she would give him pound coins that he could buy more cars with.

Why do you always think of useless crap at times like these?

Something clicked in the back of my mind at the thought of the word tooth.

That was it. Bluetooth.

The bathroom light click-clacked again and the landing went dark.

In her phone settings, I switched the Bluetooth function on, doing the same on mine. Now the two devices would talk to each other as long as they were within six feet or so.

Just Mel’s feet crossing the landing. She was carrying him.

I set Mel’s phone to find other handsets within range, and two showed up: my Sony and Mel’s iPhone, which was still in my jacket pocket. I selected the option to sync with my Sony and went back to the address book, selected all the numbers and pressed send. A blue bar started to progress across the screen from left to right.

1 of 8 sent.

‘Night night, Big W.’ Mel’s voice from William’s room.

2 of 8 sent.

I checked my phone to make sure it was receiving. It showed two new numbers.

3 of 8 sent.

A click from upstairs as Mel pulled William’s bedroom door shut.

She turned the landing light off.

Out of time.

4 of 8 sent.

Mel’s feet reappeared at the top of the stairs and began to descend.

Chapter 48

48

5 of 8 sent.

I shoved the two phones into the back pockets of my jeans as Mel reappeared.

‘He wants a Daddy kiss.’ She looked at me, at my empty hands. ‘Are you not having a drink, then?’

‘I was just about to get –’

‘Mummy! Mummy!’ William’s voice, shouting from his bedroom.

‘Not quite as tired as I thought he was,’ Mel said.

‘Mummy!’ His voice was high and frightened.