He looked up.

‘But look, I’ll see you at the weekend. On Saturday. Home at last.’

He waved, still trying to get his debit card out of the front pocket of his bag.

Ellen did an awkward half-wave, realizing that she was a little drunker than she thought, and then ran up the stairs to the platforms. Just as she boarded her train, she saw Jack walk on to the other platform. He didn’t see her, but she waved nonetheless.

31. Jack

Elias’s bulk took up the whole doorstep of 49 Rokeby Close. He wore a shiny grey suit with brown shoes, and his long hair was slicked back behind his ears. His face was flushed, which might have been the heat, but might also have been because he was yelling. He seemed to have recovered since Alexa’s dad’s email.

‘… and you’re meant to TELL ME when you change the locks.’ Elias paused here, to draw breath for his next explosion. ‘And in fact, I don’t understand why you’ve CHANGED THEM without my say-so, what was wrong with the existing locks? They were TOP-OF-THE-RANGE locks – and I’m supposed to be allowed to let myself into the property whenever I wish to –’ Jack heard Alexa try to interrupt, but Elias did not notice. ‘And so you have to provide me with one of the new keys, DO YOU HEAR ME? And from what I could see through the front-door window here it doesn’t look like you’ve been hoovering the stairs AT ALL and you know that’s in the tenancy agreement, I checked it myself this morning.’

Elias paused to gulp a breath again, and Jack noticed there was white spit in the corners of his mouth. He returned to staring very hard at his shoes, in case Elias made eye contact with him. Cynthia stood on the path, tapping at her smartphone with long, blue nails.

Alexa’s voice sounded small and far away, although she was standing beside Jack. ‘Sorry, yes, we’ll make sure to hoover the stairs this afternoon –’

‘It’s just not good enough!’ Elias was bellowing now, arms waving, spittle in the corner of his mouth. ‘I go to all this trouble to make this house PERFECT for you, charge you barely ANYTHING, considering what it’s worth, and this is how you repay me – by not hoovering the stairs. Those carpets are CUSTOM MADE and you’ve already ruined. Most. Of. Them.’ With each word, he punched his left fist into his right palm.

In silence, they cowered. Jack could hear Cynthia’s nails tapping on the phone screen, and felt Ellen shuffle from foot to foot.