‘I’ll wait outside his office this evening. I can be there about four to make sure I don’t miss him. Then when he leaves, I’ll follow him, and if he doesn’t come home, at least we’ll know where he’s going and who he’s meeting.’ Her eyes met Sara’s. ‘The only way to sort out problems like this is to confront them, and if you’re not ready to ask him… Well, this is the only way to find out the truth, isn’t it?’

Sara thought about it for a moment. What harm could it do? Hailey was right: knowing would be better than not knowing. Then her mind could stop racing around looking for solutions to problems that maybe didn’t exist.

‘Okay, you’re on.’ She almost managed a smile. ‘Thank you, I really do appreciate your support, you know.’

Hailey shrugged off her thanks. ‘What are big sisters for, eh?’

‘I’m going to see if I can find anything in the house that might give me a clue as to what he’s up to. Because I honestly don’t think it’s work.’ She frowned as she tried to put her thoughts into words. ‘When he says he’s going to be late, he always looks away. Seems a little antsy.’ She sighed. ‘It’s hard to explain, but when you’ve been with someone for as long as we’ve been together, you just know that something’s not right.’

Hailey checked her watch and pushed back her chair. ‘Gotta go. Look, I’ll keep in touch and I’ll see you later.’

Sara stood and went to the door with her, gave her a quick hug. Will Matt recognise her car? she wondered as she watched her sister drive away. It was a silver hatchback, very common, nothing standout about it, she reassured herself, and Matt wasn’t the most observant of people.

She crossed her arms and leant against the door frame, letting her eyes take in the scenery, the view over the jumble of slate roofs and gritstone buildings of the town to the moors above. Their terrace would have housed quarry workers back in the day, and stood proud on the lower slopes of the valley. If she looked to her right, the road was elevated enough to give a panoramic view over Wharfedale. This was her world, where she’d felt safe bringing up a family, but she had a horrible feeling the past was about to repeat itself, rupturing the life she’d crafted, and there wasn’t a thing she could do to stop it.

Chapter Three

A comprehensive search of drawers and cupboards uncovered nothing obvious to explain Matt’s recent change in behaviour. Sara had been so absorbed in her task that she’d lost track of time and now, she realised with a start, it was time to pick up Ezra from nursery.