She cried for a long time that night. She wanted to sob, craved it, but she didn’t want to be heard, so she let it out in dribbles, fits and starts. She was a champagne bottle whose cork was slowly edging out, but she couldn’t allow herself to pop. After several painful hours, her mind began to quieten, and her body slipped into a sort of stand-by mode. It didn’t feel like sleep, exactly. More like entering a state of suspended animation. Wake me up when John gets home. She must have slept though, because when the phone rang, it took her a few long moments to recognise the sound.

‘John,’ she whispered. Her voice sounded heavy and spooky in the darkness. She scrambled for her phone. She had gone to bed clutching it and now it was lost in the tangle of sheets. She could see its glowing screen beneath the top sheet, hear its muffled ring. She found it and hit the answer button without looking at the caller ID. In her heart, she knew who it was.

‘John?’

There was a pause on the other end of the line, then a man with a Middle Eastern accent said, ‘I’m sorry to call so late, ma’am, but this is Tom from Sanctuary Security. We have an alert registering in our system that says your home alarm has been triggered.’

Thinking of Mia, Kate swung her feet off the bed and switched on the bedside lamp. Her legs were hot and sweaty; she’d gone to bed in jeans.

‘Are you sure?’ she asked. ‘I don’t hear an alarm going off?’

‘That’s strange,’ the man from the security company said. He had started chewing something. It sounded like an apple. ‘Can you confirm you’re at 118 Neef Street, Belport Island?’

‘Belport Island? No. I’m at home, in Caulfield. You must be calling about our holiday house.’

‘Are you saying you’re not at that address, ma’am?’

‘No, I’m not.’

‘Well, someone is,’ he said.

6

THE WIFE

The last couple of hours before close were always especially slow at the Buy & Bye. Abby alone in the store, with nothing but her thoughts and the sound of muzak to keep her company – an instrumental version of Cat Stevens’s ‘Father and Son’.

Bobbi had promised to drop in with all the juicy details about what her sergeant said might be a big one, but so far, she was a no-show. While she waited, Abby restocked the Schweppes fridge, topped up the liquor cabinet, updated the specials basket, swept the floors, mopped the cool room, scrubbed out the deli, rotated the fruit and vegetables, cleaned out the break-room refrigerator, oiled that damn shopping trolley with the damn squeaky wheel, then checked her watch.