Each morning his reflection gazed back at him like a ghoul, both eyes faintly black. His cheeks were gaunt, hollow.

“I need a favour,” he said.

Lauren sat down, watching him.

“I’ve arranged to meet with the husband, Markus, tomorrow. But I can’t go. You’ve probably seen Casey waiting for me after school.”

“I have. Standing there like one of those Real Housewives. Have you ever watched that? My partner loves it, but it drives me crazy. So much arguing about nothing.”

Scott let the comment pass. “Will you meet with him for me? I can pay you.”

“I don’t want your money. Of course I’ll go.”

“Of course,” he repeated. “I still have no idea why you’re being so helpful.”

“Are you complaining?”

“No. I just… why?”

“I’ve told you. I’m a curious person. I like you. Not everything has to be complicated.”

Scott ran a hand through his hair, winced when his fingers brushed against the sore spot. Meat tenderisers worked just as well on people as dead things.

“He’s expecting me,” Scott went on. “I’d message him to let him know plans have changed, but…”

Lauren nodded, and Scott was relieved he didn’t have to explain. Casey was checking his phone constantly. She’d started searching him more regularly, not that Scott would ever try to record her now. It wasn’t even the video and the photos anymore; it was her, this devil he was married to, and all the painful things she’d do to him.

He thought of the church near their house; he’d been eyeing that one every day, staring out the window, feeling a strange pull. Like he could give his problems to somebody else, something else: bigger, stronger, more capable of carrying them.

“You have to be careful,” he went on. “You can’t be followed. And Markus needs to know he can’t tell Casey, under any circumstances. That’s important.”

“I’m worried about you.” Lauren leaned forwards, looking solidly at him. “Maybe this is all too much. Maybe you should just let her release the videos. I know it’ll change your whole life. I get that. But Scott… look at you. You flinch every time a door closes. You’re letting the kids walk all over you.”

He rolled his stress ball from one side of the table to the other. He couldn’t squeeze it; both hands hurt from Casey’s games. “I haven’t come this far just to give up.”

“Come this far?” Lauren narrowed her eyes. “What have we accomplished, really? From where I’m sitting it seems like the only thing that’s changed is you. She’s breaking you–”

“You’re telling me shit I already know,” he snapped.

Lauren shrugged. “All right. Have you got Markus’s address? What time are you supposed to visit him?”

Scott reached into his top drawer, past the mouthwash, and brought out the piece of paper. He slid it across the desk. Lauren tucked it into her pocket.

“He has to help,” Scott said. “She’s left him alone for over a year, he said. He must have a way to make her stop.”