Louisa walked towards her road from the opposite end to which she’d set off. As she pushed Noah up the steep incline, with the tree-lined street looming in front of her, she remembered Emily telling her that was where Oliver had been parked on Friday morning. She slowed down, and then crossed over to the opposite pavement. From that position, Louisa could see the front of her house clearly. This would have been the view Oliver had: far enough up the road to not be immediately noticed, but close enough to see any comings and goings.

Had he been waiting for everyone to leave so that he could visit her alone?

He couldn’t have known that Emily would leave the house with Noah that early in the morning, but perhaps he’d been waiting for her to walk to school.

Louisa realised he’d probably been there all night, watching the house. Watching them.

She shivered.

‘Morning, Louisa,’ a voice came from her left.

‘Oh, hi, Arthur.’ She turned to face her neighbour. ‘Lovely day, for a change.’

‘Not bad, is it?’ He deposited a bag of rubbish and banged the wheelie bin lid closed. ‘How’s the little ’un?’ Arthur hobbled down his garden path towards Louisa and popped his head inside the pram.

‘He’s doing great, thank you. Better now, actually – we’ve had a bit of a rocky start.’

‘Oh, I can still remember our lot. Noisy buggers they were, all of ’em. My poor Pearl, always up at night, had to sleep during the day whenever they did. We have the grandkids every now and then, but to be honest, it doesn’t matter anymore – I don’t sleep anyway.’

‘No? How come?’

‘Bloody back pain. For some reason I find it easier to sit than lie down, so I don’t spend a lot of time in bed. I just stay in my armchair by the window and watch the world go by until the sun’s up and I can get moving.’

Louisa looked to Arthur’s window, then back at the street again. ‘So, you see all the comings and goings then?’

‘Yep, your local neighbourhood watch, me.’ He smiled.

‘Any cars parked along here lately that you don’t recognise as being from this road?’

‘Just the one. A dark grey Citroën. Noticed it parked by the trees a few nights on the trot. Gone by early morning, mostly. I reported it, like. Police non-emergency number, as you’re meant to do these days, and they took details. I haven’t seen it since Friday, so I assume they’ve had a word.’

‘Yes, probably. Well, keep up the good work, Arthur. Nice to know you’re keeping an eye on our road.’

‘It’s a good little village. People feel safe here. I want it to stay that way.’

So do I, she thought.