‘I know I’m late. I got caught up at work,’ I say, stretching my arms but it does little to ease the tension. ‘Someone new started and she had a bunch of questions after the shift, so I had a chat with her, then I dropped her home.’ Something else occurs to me. ‘Then I went to the jeweller. He opened at eight. I picked this up.’ I hold up my ring finger. He feels it with his thumb.

‘Oh good,’ he says. ‘Still seems a little loose.’

‘Yeah, it’s better than it was though,’ I lie.

‘I thought maybe you were doing overtime, or something went wrong.’ His voice is lighter now.

‘No,’ I say. ‘And you’ve slept in.’

‘Arsenal versus Tottenham at 2 am,’ he says. ‘Had to watch it. I’m knackered now. Suppose I should get up soon.’

‘Well, good morning, I’m going to sleep myself.’ I pull my sleep mask on and in my head I hear those words. Be careful.

•

When I get up in the afternoon, I find him flat on his back, legs in the figure-four stretch, pulled down towards his chest. He wears a pained expression.

‘Good sleep?’

A yawn seeps out. ‘Yeah. I need coffee though.’

He rolls over onto his front now, starts arching his back, pushing up. His shoulders bulge in his singlet.

I turn the espresso maker on. He comes over, begins grinding coffee beans.

‘Sit down, I’ll make your coffee.’

‘Thanks, I’ll make food.’ I go to the toaster with a pair of bagels. ‘You hungry?’

‘A little.’

Right then my phone rings. It’s an unknown number. ‘Hmm,’ I say. ‘I’ll have to take this.’

‘Who is it?’

‘I’m not sure, but I think it’s someone from work. Maybe the new girl I’m on with.’ I slide outside into the backyard and bring the phone to my ear.

‘Hello?’

‘Lina, Detective Rata. We’ve heard back from Vodafone. The phone at the property didn’t belong to Daniel Moore.’

‘I know, the other cop told me that.’

‘So, is there anything you want to tell me?’ The tone of his voice has changed.

‘No, you know it all now.’

‘Why is that phone attached to your Vodafone account?’

A chill rushes over my skin despite the heat of the sun. ‘My account? But I’m on my phone now.’

‘The phone we found in the house was used that night to access a Tor browser and we believe the Peephole servers. Your sim card was in the phone, it pinged the towers near Lake Tarawera.’

I swallow hard, look inside. Cain is watching the TV but at that moment his eyes shift towards me.

‘No,’ I say. ‘Impossible. The sim card is here, it’s in a shoebox at the bottom of my wardrobe.’