They sat in silence for a few minutes, squinting in the autumn sun.

‘You believe now, don’t you?’ she said eventually.

Will nodded. ‘I think so.’

‘You should. You have very important work to do.’

Will was sure he could detect a sadness in her expression.

‘Why me?’ he asked. ‘These messages, why are they coming for me?’

‘I don’t imagine you’re the first person to find themselves in this situation. I’m sure you’re not.’

‘Don’t think that really answers the question.’

‘Why you?’ she said to herself, mulling it over. ‘Why you?’

She was silent for a full minute. Will gazed at her, hanging on an answer.

‘It’s hard to say. I think you’ll find out, though.’

It was the look she then gave Will that really haunts him. So sorrowful. Enough to make him wish he’d never asked.

‘You must stay open-minded,’ she said. ‘Be open to new ideas. That really is most important.’

Will smiled, struggling to imagine how better to prove his openness to new ideas than what he was doing at that exact moment.

‘Be open-minded,’ she said again.

The booze is starting to make Will feel comfortable among this crowd of beautiful, carefree and careless people. He takes one last look at the ball of MDMA in his palm. ‘Yeah, fuck it,’ he says to Alfie beside him, chucking it down the hatch and washing it away with beer. ‘Fucking open-minded enough for you?’ he mutters to himself.

‘Let’s get mingling, wingman,’ Alfie says.

‘Right behind you,’ Will says. He looks around as they move through the crowded place, knowing at some point this evening it’ll be time to act.

The old lady and Will sat silently on the bench as a few people walked past. Only once there was nobody around to overhear did she tell Will about the Halloween party: how Alfie would be going anyway to deal, how he’d invite Will along, how Will should go.

‘What do I need to do?’ Will asked, sounding bolder than he felt.

‘You need to go up to the top of the house.’

‘The top of the house?’

‘It’ll all make sense when you’re there.’

‘Right. When?’

‘You’ll know when it’s time to go. When you realize who the man is, that’s the time to act.’

‘I don’t get it.’

‘You will. I promise.’

And she told him what had to be done.

‘Can I do anything for you?’ he asked.

‘Not at all,’ she said emphatically, like an older relative batting away any suggestion that favours need be returned.

‘I’d like to help you,’ Will said.

She shook her head. ‘I do know,’ she said.

‘How do you mean?’

She nodded at the pram. ‘I do know she’s not …’

‘You don’t need to say.’

‘Those we love only die when we stop thinking about them.’

Sadness washed over Will. ‘I guess.’