I listen to the heavy tread of his footsteps going back down the stairs. How will I ever fall asleep knowing that Kate is probably back home by now too? What will she make of the broken window? I don’t even know if Shaun will remember what happened. But if he does, at least he was semi-delirious, so he’s not exactly a reliable witness. I should try to relax. Try to do what Matt suggested and get some sleep. There’s nothing I can do about the Morrises right now anyway. If they call the police, they call the police. I’ll simply deny everything.

I turn onto my side and close my eyes. But my heart is still racing, my stomach still churning. Sleep won’t come for me tonight. I’m sure of it. Especially as I’ve already decided what I’m going to do tomorrow.

30

The road into London has been surprisingly quiet. I’m only a few miles from my destination and I thought it would have taken me a lot longer to get here. In the end, I decided to drive, as the train fare was ridiculously expensive, and the coach was going to be too slow to get me home in time for school pick-up. Plus I couldn’t risk either service being cancelled and leaving me stranded. Luckily I know the route well, but I hadn’t banked on the strange and unsettling emotions it’s stirring up to be back this way again. I haven’t visited London since I moved away, and I keep being thrown off guard by odd fragments of memories as I draw closer to the area where I used to live.

No one knows I’m here – not Matt, not Dee. It’s my day off today and I was supposed to be doing some last-minute Christmas shopping, but that will have to wait until the weekend. I still have no idea what I’m going to buy anyone, and it will all have to go on the credit card as I have nothing left after the expense of the DNA test and today’s petrol. That thirty quid I gave Shaun towards the window was the last of my cash.

After breaking into the Morrises’ house last night, I was fully expecting Kate to call or text, or maybe even send the police over. But I’ve heard nothing. I guess that means either Shaun thought he hallucinated me, or Kate thought he was too delirious for his story to be reliable. Either that, or she’s worried that I’m on to her. The thought of the Morrises leaving the area with Bella is far scarier to me than a visit from the police.