I release Gran’s hand gently and sit back in my chair. Gran is mumbling to herself again. I’m not going to get anything more from her today. I should never have mentioned the bodies. It was unfair. Of course she’s not going to know anything about them. Why would she? Instead I reach over and help Gran with the jigsaw in companionable silence, just like we used to do when I was a kid. Edges first.

5

Theo

THEO PULLS UP ONTO THE DRIVEWAY, PARKING HIS OLD Volvo next to his father’s black Mercedes, which looks like a hearse. The old, rambling house looms over him like something from a horror film, eclipsing the sun and causing him to shiver. He hates the place. Always has done. His friends thought it was impressive when they visited, which was rarely – he tried to keep them away as much as possible – but the depressing grey stone and the ugly gargoyles that peer down from the roof as if they’re about to swoop still give him the creeps. The house is much too big for an elderly man living by himself. Theo doesn’t understand why his dad refuses to sell it. He doubts he holds on to it for sentimental reasons. A status symbol, he imagines. Theo has never felt the need to show off about what he’s got. Not that he’s got much in the material sense, but that’s not how he measures his self-worth anyway. Another thing his dad doesn’t understand.

He lets himself into the cavernous hallway with the wood panelling and the winding staircase that he has hated with a passion since his mother’s death, and the deer heads on the wall. Those heads gave him nightmares as a kid. He breathes in the familiar smell of woodsmoke and floor polish. His dad has a housekeeper, Mavis, who comes in every few days to do the cleaning and his washing but she’s not due in until tomorrow.

‘Dad! It’s Theo,’ he calls. There’s no answer so he darts upstairs to the study, which is at the front of the house, the rubber soles of his trainers squeaking against the polished floor. His father spends a lot of time in his study, doing what, Theo can only imagine. He’s been retired for years.

He opens the study door and he can tell instantly his dad is in one of his moods, anger seeping off him. His large face with the familiar flat nose that Theo has inherited is redder than usual. Even the bald spot on the top of his head is pink, poking through the remains of his wispy white hair.