Does he hate me? Harri wondered as the door clicked shut.

‘Well, go on then,’ Cynthia urged.

Harri stepped into the small room and found an old-fashioned brass-lever light switch. She flipped it on, before closing the door and sliding the lock into place.

The tiny room was lined with family photographs, and Harri studied them carefully. The biggest was on the wall beside the mirror, and it was the only one that featured the three Ashas with Ben Elmys. He was as handsome as ever, and the photograph captured some of the charms that had attracted Harri the first time they’d met, but the warmth and kindness that had struck her was absent. The others were smiling, but he seemed angry, and she got the sense he was looking out of the image and accusing her. She caught sight of her reflection and told herself not to be such a sensationalist. It was just one bad photo.

Then she saw it, hanging on the other side of the mirror, by the door. A picture frame, but this one wasn’t home to a photograph. Instead, there was a piece of paper with words printed in a font Harri recognized. She stepped closer to read it.

At the edge you stand

Searching for truth

From Elsewhere

I watch and wait

Back turned

Soul distant

But I keep faith

Now and forever

We will be together

When this life is done

Chapter 19

Harri cried out, startled by a loud knock.

‘Everything all right?’ Cynthia asked through the door.

‘Yes,’ Harri lied and she heard Cynthia mutter disapprovingly, before moving along the corridor.

Harri was trembling. Had he followed her to Arthog? Had he been watching her on the cliff? Why? What had happened to the man she’d fallen in love with?

She flushed the toilet and washed her hands. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the poem as she dried them, and she inhaled deeply to settle her nerves before opening the door. She pinned a smile to her face and stepped out.

Cynthia Hughes was nowhere to be seen, but the door opposite was partly open again, and Harri caught sight of Elliot through the gap. He had his head down and seemed to be concentrating, so she edged closer in an attempt to see what he was looking at. The house was strangely still. No radio or television, not even the sound of a computer fan. Just the tick of a distant clock, which did little to mask the sound of Harri’s breathing. It seemed loud to her, so she held her breath and crept forward until she was at the threshold and could peer through the gap in the doorway. She leaned against the frame and watched him.

Elliot was reading handwritten notes scrawled in what looked like indecipherable code. What was it? Why was he reading it? She scanned the page, looking for something, anything she might understand, but the letters and symbols were beyond her.