The police are treating the death as suspicious, which goes without saying, as he couldn’t have buried himself in the woods. The national press have started to turn up; things are getting exciting around here. Any café I walk into, it’s all anyone is talking about. So far, a few stories have emerged about him in the newspaper, things I had heard before and some things I hadn’t. He was full of secrets, anyone with eyes could tell that. The local people who remembered him said he was homeless but I knew that wasn’t true. Anyone he truly interacted with was either dead or gone, like me. Now would be the time for me to go to the police and tell them what I know, but I am still not sure what I know. I know that Tim had a brown car, the same brown car I thought I saw on the road just the other night, unless I was just imagining it. Maybe I was seeing what I wanted to see. Did I know all this time he was dead? I need to start picking at those scabs again, I need to set the past free so that I can get away from it. Even if I end up in prison, I don’t care anymore. It’s no less than I deserve after what I have done. I still don’t have all the pieces and I need to know before I speak to the police.

As I go to leave the hotel room I notice a piece of paper has been pushed under my door. I stare at it for a moment before opening the door and looking into the hallway. The paper wasn’t there before I put my make-up on, so it definitely hasn’t been there long. I open it. The words appear in an unsteady scrawl.

I KNEW YOU WOULD COME

I fold the paper and put it aside. I look at the minibar and consider taking a drink or two to steady myself before I leave the hotel but think better of it. I go to the window to try to see the person who left the note. There are a couple of people walking along the front, but they are too far away to make out. Grabbing my bag, I rush out of the room, down into the lobby and outside. Unsure what I am looking for. Who I am looking for.

Why would they reach out to me like this? How could they know I would come? I had to think. This confirms that I have missed something, that there is something I should know but I don’t. Something that links me to Mandy Green, something that would make me come back when she disappeared. I need to find out more about Mandy.