He pulls the blankets back on the bed and rumples the sheets. He empties the remaining five hairs in the ziplock bag into the shower, then he runs the hot water for a moment. He mops up a little of the water with one of the towels then leaves it on the floor. He does one last walk through, eyes searching for any sign that he has been here, but everything is in place.

In the glow from the streetlight he locks the keys away, as per the instructions on the Airbnb listing, and gets into the rental car. He can come back again, so long as the place isn’t booked, so long as no one is here. Tomorrow morning the hosts will receive a message letting them know he has checked out. Then it will be a matter of waiting.

PART ONE

1

‘LINA’ CAIN SAYS.

A current shoots down my spine. I’m deleting the app before he has a chance to see what it is. When that tiny blue app disappears from my screen, I turn my head back.

‘Yeah?’

‘What are you doing?’

I turn the rest of my body now, phone still squeezed in my fist. ‘Oh, nothing. I just downloaded the wrong app.’

‘Right,’ he says, he’s in his towel and the shower is already running. He takes up his protein shaker and gives it a few pumps. ‘I’ll be quick in the shower, are you ready?’

‘Yeah,’ I say, my voice a little tight. ‘Almost.’ I notice a slight tremble in my hand holding the phone, and I look at it as if my eyes will keep it still. Thankfully he doesn’t seem to notice as he drains the liquid, the muscles in his throat working. He has clipped his hair again, a few millimetres of salted black. The towel is loose on his waist and it’s clear now beneath the kitchen downlights he has trimmed up. He’s getting his SAS body back, but it’s more than that, more mass, a bulging chest and shoulders.

‘Love you,’ he says, stepping closer now, laying a kiss on my forehead.

Everyone has secrets, I tell myself as my palm and fingers begin to ache around my phone. And it’s true. Or is it just one of those things people, bad people, tell themselves? Whispering little lies to get through the days. It’s easy to do wrong, the trick is learning to live with it. And secrets, most secrets, are harmless. A secret like mine is a snake in a box, so long as it stays inside it can’t hurt, right?