Hockey Sticks slowed a little to let Wiry Man catch up, so they approached him together, then thrust the map out at him. ‘Would you be able to point out where we are?’

Brody nodded. He was so familiar with his little corner of the moor that it didn’t take more than a second before he jabbed a finger at the map.

The woman squinted at where he’d pointed and looked back up at him. ‘Is it far?’ She tipped her head up to look at the sky, which was taking on a golden tinge as the sun threatened to set behind one of the tors on the horizon. ‘We’d like to get there by dark, if possible.’

‘Five…’ he managed to utter, but it sounded as if he was talking with a tablespoon of gravel in his mouth. He held up his hand so she could count his fingers.

‘Five miles?’

He nodded vigorously and pointed to the lane that headed west and down into a little wooded valley.

‘Well… Thank you,’ Hockey Sticks said, even though her face suggested she wasn’t sure her thanks were welcome. She was mostly right, not because Brody had lost the ability or will to be helpful, but because he was counting down the seconds until the pair disappeared from view and he could implode or lie on the floor or whatever else his body felt like doing to compensate for dealing with their intrusion.

Lewis was sitting beside him, looking hopefully up at the woman, tail wagging so hard it was flinging up a little cloud of dust and dirt. She bent down to stroke his head quickly, then she and her partner were off with a jaunty wave.

When they turned the corner into the lane, Brody let out the breath he’d been holding and supported himself by resting his hands on his knees. He was feeling more than a little shaky and his pulse was still galloping.

But you did it, the usually unhelpful and accusative voice in his head said. You didn’t make a fool of yourself in front of them – well, not much. You didn’t vomit. You even spoke!

I did, he thought, as he dragged in a couple of deep breaths. I did all of that.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

IT WAS A warm night for September, so when Brody let Lewis out for his last run down the garden for the evening, he didn’t stay at the back door as usual but stepped out onto his patio.

As he waited for his dog, he dialled Anna’s number. If she hadn’t already called him by this point in the evening, he’d got into the habit of phoning her instead.

‘Hey,’ she said softly when she answered, and he could tell she was smiling, as pleased to hear his voice as he was hers. ‘I was just about to call you, but you beat me to it!’

Brody began to pace lazily back and forth as they filled each other in about their day. Anna had met her sister-in-law and baby nephew during her lunch break. ‘Teresa mentioned Gayle again,’ she said wearily. ‘I understand it’s awkward for her and Scott. I have to keep making sure there’s no chance of Gayle and Richard popping around every time I go to visit them. It can’t be fun for them being piggy in the middle.’