By the time she reached the village, Helen’s breathing had slowed a little, but she still felt shaky and on edge. She had spent the rest of the walk checking over her shoulder and peeking around hedges, her skin tight around her throat, her mind scrambling for an explanation.

Helen knew she and Matt weren’t exactly close, but surely he didn’t dislike her that much? But then, how well did she really know him? He was very much a closed book and it wasn’t like she had tried that hard to bond with him. He had made it clear very early into her relationship with Hugh that he would always be on his mother’s side and she hadn’t pushed it further. So she didn’t really know him or understand his feelings towards her.

But he surely couldn’t hate her enough to want to hurt her? She must’ve been mistaken. There were plenty of silver Renault-style cars around. She hadn’t seen the licence plate because the headlights were blindingly bright, so she couldn’t be sure of anything.

The skin under her eye was stinging. It felt like there was a scratch where the hedge branches had raked across her face and it was tacky to the touch. Definitely bleeding. She could feel the back of her hand throbbing too, the skin already looking discoloured and purpling. Instead of going straight to the shop to open up, she headed over to the small tea shop on the square and ordered a latte and a big slice of carrot cake. The woman serving her winced when she looked up, said, “Are you ok, Helen? That’s a nasty scratch.”

Helen couldn’t remember her name, had bought coffee and cakes from her for years but had never bothered to ask her name. “I’m fine, just stupidly didn’t see a low hanging branch.”

“You should get that cleaned. You don’t want it getting infected. Something like that happened to my cousin Gina and she got lockjaw.”

Helen smiled thinly and fumbled her change into her pocket. Her hand shook as she carried the plate and mug back outside.