‘Orpheus looks back. Eurydice is pulled back into the darkness forever, while Orpheus is torn to shreds by vicious, hungry beasts. The story really got to me. I’m up for parole in fourteen weeks, three days, two hours and…’ He paused to look at the clock on the far wall. ‘Eighteen minutes. I’ve been in this place for more than two decades. Want to know how I survived?’

‘How?’

‘I stopped looking back. For the first few years it was hard to do anything else, but it got easier as time went on. Then, I hardly thought about the past at all. It might be denial, but it’s got me here in one piece, so who gives a shit what you call it.’

‘What’s this got to do with John?’ Kate asked.

‘When John came to tell me about Annabel Stemple’s death, I told him what I just told you: I’d stopped looking back a long time ago; he should stop looking back too.’

Without another word, he stood up and walked away.

26

THE WIFE

‘I can’t be in this house right now,’ Lori said. Abby had returned home to find her waiting at the bottom of the stairs with her suitcase packed. She was draped in layers of black: torn black jeans, oversized black T-shirt, scuffed and worn Doc Martens. Her hair was high and tight, her face as soft and white as fresh snow. Abby’s face, in comparison, was like snow freshly trod on, pummelled down by dirty boots and rain, grey and puffy and aching.

‘Well, unless you have enough pocket money saved to afford a suite at the Blue Whale, you don’t have much of a choice. Go back upstairs and unpack.’

‘I called Bobbi,’ Lori said. ‘She and Maggie said it’s okay if I stay there for a while. A few days, maybe a week.’

‘No.’

‘Mum.’

‘This isn’t a discussion.’

‘I can’t stay in this house because it terrifies me,’ Lori snapped. A single black line of mascara streaked down her left cheek. ‘I’m scared. I’m scared of what everyone must be saying about us. I’m scared of the police. I’m scared of … Dad. I’m trying to tell you I’m not okay, Mum.’

Abby tried to hug her daughter, but Lori recoiled.

‘I don’t want a hug,’ she said.

‘Then what do you want?’

‘I don’t fucking know,’ she shouted. ‘I want this not to have fucking happened. I want a dad who didn’t … I want … I just want a ride to fucking Bobbi’s house.’

Abby stared at her daughter and saw a woman with child’s eyes. ‘Go put your suitcase in the car.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah,’ Abby said.

Surprised to have won the battle, Lori brushed a loose strand of hair from her face and gathered herself.

‘Where’s your brother?’ Abby asked.

‘He’s in the backyard, regressing.’