He left his coffee and he ran up the two flights of stairs back to his small room in the eaves of the house. He turned on the TV and stood, watching the news, blindsided by emotion. He didn’t hear the knock on the door, hardly noticed when it opened and Mr Bradshaw came in.

Will paid him no attention, he was fixed on the television but Mr Bradshaw came right up to him and said something loudly, right into Will’s ear.

‘Excuse me, Mr Bradshaw, I can’t hear the television.’

‘Daisy’s come all this way to see you and you can’t even pay her the courtesy of—’

‘I need to listen to this.’

‘The TV is more important than my daughter?’

‘Please, Mr Bradshaw, could you move out of the way?’

‘I will not move out of your way. You were a rude, inconsiderate boy and you’ve grown into a rude, inconsiderate man.’

‘Sorry?’

‘You heard me! And what’s more, you’ve been sneaking about my house, stealing my alcohol.’

‘What?’

‘Oh, don’t try to deny it! I’ve got motion-sensitive CCTV in all the private rooms. You waited until I was out and then you sneaked into the living room and drank my Bristol Cream. You didn’t even have the decency to pour it into a receptacle. Drank it straight from the mouth of the decanter; disgusting. I’ve had to tip the rest down the drain.’

The facts were inarguable and Will, at a definite moral disadvantage, could think of nothing to say in his defence.

‘I’ll replace the sherry,’ he muttered.

‘It’s too late for that. I want you out of here,’ said Mr Bradshaw. ‘Now!’

‘OK, OK. I’ll be down in a tick.’

‘I’m standing here until you’re done.’

Will opened his mouth to say: ‘Seriously?’ but thought better of it.

The sooner he was out of this place, the better.

Under the gimlet eye of his landlord, Will gathered his possessions together, stuffed them into his rucksack and hefted it over his shoulder. He settled his bill and was off the premises within a few minutes. Daisy was watching from the bay window in the living room, sipping from her teacup and he didn’t imagine the self-satisfied smile on her face.

Fair enough, thought Will. She’d earned that small victory.

52

Marnie never made it back to bed. As dawn broke, blood-red streaks across a bruised sky, the wind still beating across the land, she took a cup of tea up to Lucy, signed that she was going out again to look for Luna. Lucy nodded, yawned sleepily, and snuggled down.