He opened the rear door and took a suitcase from the back seat. Tucked the laptop bag under his arm and walked up to the front door of the house.

The key fit the lock.

“Helen? It’s Ria . . .

“Helen? It’s Ria. Sorry to be so direct, but Ernst and I are worried about Werner.”

“Why? Is something the matter?” Helen braked for a red light. It was early in the evening, and the roads were busy; most people were on their way home for dinner. Her workday was only just beginning.

“We’ve been trying to get ahold of him for a week, but he isn’t answering his phone.”

“The signal in the Gers isn’t great,” said Helen as the traffic started moving again.

“That’s not the reason. At first, his phone rang when we called it, but it hasn’t done that for a few days now. Instead, we hear a sort of cut-off tone.”

“Werner wanted some peace and quiet. He probably just turned his phone off.”

“Have you heard from him in the last week?”

“No. The last time I saw him was when he came over to pick up his things last Thursday.”

“Did he say anything? Did you talk to each other at all?”

“Barely. He collected what he wanted to take with him and then left for France.”

Her mother-in-law sighed and was silent for a moment. “I might as well tell you that Ernst and I think it’s a real shame you two are fighting. So unexpectedly too. It was such a shock when you came back from England separately.”

“I’m just glad he was able to stay at your place,” she remarked.

Ria sighed again. “Werner told us that you two had been having problems for a while now. He’d expected your trip to turn out very differently.”

“Oh yes, I’m sure he did. You could say the same for me, of course.”

“He kept saying there was no way to patch things up.”

“I don’t know what else he told you, but it wasn’t a real fight, Ria. If you ask me, he’s struggling with his own feelings more than anything else. He’s been working far too hard over the last few years. But it’ll all blow over, I think. We’ve been together for such a long time.” Helen drove onto the hospital parking lot and looked around for a good spot, as close to the staff entrance as possible.

“Well, Helen, there’s something else.”

Helen felt her eyelid twitch. “What?”

“I asked the neighbors to pop over and take a look at the house. They said his car is parked in the yard, and the bed has been slept in. The lights were on, but Werner himself is nowhere to be seen.”

“Huh. You’re right; that is strange. Maybe he went hiking? Or camping? He did take the tent with him.”