As she pushed away her half-eaten meal that evening, it occurred to her that no one round here knew about her, let alone cared what she was doing. Which was exactly how she wanted it to be.

But she had never been one to fool herself and as she sat staring into space, she admitted to herself that she didn’t like being this isolated. The loneliness was biting already, even after only three days on her own. It’d be a relief to start work and have someone to talk to in the daytime.

She’d never felt so alone in her whole life.

It wasn’t fair that Darren had chased her away from everyone she knew, but there you were. Life wasn’t always fair.

At least she and her father had made it hard for him to find her. Well, she hoped they had, couldn’t think of anything else to do about it.

Surely he wasn’t going to continue stalking her once she was out of sight? She had to hope for that. She didn’t know what she’d do if he continued to pursue her unremittingly.

Chapter Thirteen

Angus looked up from his electrical work briefly, as someone knocked on the door of Number Three for the second time. He ignored it again, because he had freed up today for some solid work on this house. If whoever it was couldn’t see that these houses weren’t occupied, they could stand there and knock till kingdom come, for all he cared.

A short time later the knock was repeated for a third time and then someone had the cheek to open the front door and call, ‘Hello! Anyone there?’

‘Damn you!’ Angus muttered and set his screwdriver down carefully. He strode out into the hall and found a man in a very smart overcoat standing just inside the front door.

‘Ah, there you are.’ The stranger was staring at him in a manner that was distinctly appraising.

‘Who the hell asked you to come in?’

‘Are you Angus Denning?’ He sounded doubtful.

‘What’s that to you?’

The man stuck out one soft, manicured hand. ‘Bryce Dorling. If you could just spare me a few minutes, Mr Denning?’

Angus made no attempt to shake the hand. ‘You won’t want to get your hand dirty by touching mine and anyway, I’ve no time to spare. I’ve got a lot of work to do today. Close the door as you leave.’

Dorling’s eyes narrowed for a moment. ‘If this is an inconvenient time, I can come back later today or even tomorrow.’

‘It’s extremely inconvenient. I’ll be working till the light fades and the same tomorrow, so tell me what you want in two minutes flat, then leave me to get on with my day.’

A card appeared in the man’s hand and he held it out.

He’d have made a good conjuror, Angus thought sourly, making no attempt to take it off him. ‘Your minutes are ticking away. What – do you – want?’