There was a smell of garlic and something frying when I opened the door of the farmhouse. When Waffles didn’t appear at the gate, I assumed he was in the house with Daniel. Sure enough, my dog greeted me at the door, tail wagging. The house felt cosy. Daniel had turned on lamps and there was a fire burning in the hearth. As I entered the back room, I could see he’d set the table and was standing stirring something on the stove.

‘Hi,’ I said, feeling a ridiculous nervous flutter in my stomach. ‘What’s cooking?’

‘Seafood pasta,’ said Daniel, turning around to face me.

It felt familiar and new at the same time. I fought the urge to go to him, to cup his face in my hands, to kiss him. Instead, I sat on the other side of the bench and watched him cook. It was safer that way. Waffles sat next to me and leaned into my leg, declaring his allegiance to me no matter how many seafood scraps Daniel had fed him during the cooking process.

Daniel poured two glasses of wine and asked about my day, and there were moments where it felt like we were still together. I told him about the bail hearing and the courthouse steps.

He grimaced. ‘Bloody hell.’

‘Noah Shepherd is in a coma and Gemma’s dad is in custody.’

‘There are no winners in this,’ said Daniel sadly.

‘No, there aren’t.’ Our eyes locked in a long silent moment, more intimate than if we were touching.

‘You could always come back to the city.’ Daniel’s voice was casual but I could tell he was nervous. Most unlike him.

I looked around Nan’s kitchen, patted Waffles, realised I was settled here.

‘Waffles is settled here,’ I said.

Daniel nodded. ‘Will you at least unblock my number?’ He spooned the pasta onto two plates.

‘I’ll think about it,’ I said, picking up the plates and carrying them to the table.

Between dessert and coffee, my phone rang. It was Wozza. No funny greetings. No Vincent Price voice. A bunch of teenagers having a holiday bonfire on the beach had discovered a body washed up in a bank of seaweed.

‘Which beach?’ I asked, knowing the answer before he said it.

‘The one at the bottom of the cliffs at the Devil’s Corner.’

CHAPTER 35: SEAWEED

CHAPTER 35

SEAWEED

In the movies, when a body washes up on a beach, it looks like the person it used to be, only wet and pale. In reality, if a body is in the water for any length of time, it becomes food for all creatures great and small. Sharks. Crabs. Sea lice. Everything stops for a nibble. Often the smallest critters do the greatest damage.