He smiled at her tenderly, taking her in his arms and leaning against her. Elspeth put her arms around him and rubbed his back softly. That was nice. It was something his mother might have done. ‘You’re just as good as Angela. Better, even. Do you like remembering our wedding day? I wish our families could have been there.’

‘I do,’ Elspeth smiled. ‘I think about it all the time. It was …’ She paused, swallowing hard.

It was wonderful to see her so emotional, he thought. It was so good that she felt the same way he did.

‘… magical.’

‘I should bring you more food. I hadn’t even thought about that!’ He slammed the palm of his hand into his forehead and Elspeth took a half step away. ‘Stupid, stupid, stupid me.’

‘You’ve had a lot on your mind, and we still have plenty of biscuits, cheese and tinned fruit from the last supplies you brought. Worry about that tomorrow. How about I make Xavier comfortable, and you bring us supplies in the morning. We’ll have the flat all tidied up by then, won’t we, Meggy?’

The girl folded her arms and glared at the floor.

‘Someone’s hormonal. You do what your mother tells you, young lady,’ Fergus chided.

‘What the fuck is going on here?’ Xavier panted.

Elspeth put her arms around Fergus’ shoulder again and gave him a brief tight hug. ‘I think everyone’s overtired. Bedtime for us.’

‘Thank you,’ Fergus said. ‘You’re doing a good job.’

‘Thank you,’ she replied.

‘He killed Danny,’ Xavier repeated. ‘He’s insane!’

‘Nonsense,’ Elspeth said. ‘Fergus was just doing what needed to be done, isn’t that right?’

‘It is,’ Fergus said. ‘I was just keeping my family together. Everyone needs a family.’

‘Absolutely,’ Elspeth said, pulling him gently towards the front door of the flat then standing back to let him exit. ‘We’ll see you tomorrow. Fresh milk would be good. I expect Xavier’ll be wanting a cup of tea by then.’

‘Fresh milk,’ Fergus said, locking the door behind himself.

It was all working out fine. He remembered what he was doing now. He had a wife who loved him. A daughter who might need to be taught a lesson if she didn’t buck up her ideas, but wasn’t that the way with children? Now his brother was home too, and he’d be grateful to have been saved from his lonely existence.

He plodded down the stairs towards his bedroom. Sleep was, apparently, the only thing his corpse required to the same extent that his living body had.

‘Soon, we can all leave together. One big happy family, forever.’

Chapter Twenty-Five