I woke to the loud sound of a car pulling up roughly. There was the skid of tyres on gravel. I opened my eyes to see the light in the room quite changed – both brighter and colder, a strong midday light diffusing everything, but the yellow spotlight glow of morning gone.

I sat up. Around me on the floor was a semi-circle of grass and little white flowers. Small sprigs of flowering wattle were placed among the display. I sat up further and looked at the decorations. It was pretty and pathetic, like the offering of a small child. ‘What the fuck?’ I said. All I could think was that it was a prank from Basil. Was he here? Had he been upstairs? Was that Leonie driving in to pick him up?

I went to the window and looked outside to see Hessel’s car with the empty horse float attached to the back. He had brought the float back without Polly. I could think of only one reason he wouldn’t have just left it there until the foal was safely born, or until Polly was well enough to come home in it.

My heart sank.

I picked my phone out from among the strewn botanicals, staring at them for a moment again. If it wasn’t Leonie driving in, then . . .

On my phone there were bars of reception, a battery of messages that hadn’t woken me with the volume so low. They were all voice messages, from missed calls that had happened much earlier in the day. There was one from Basil and, surprisingly, several from my mother.

I put it on speaker. Anna. It’s Basil. I really shouldn’t have let you go without telling you something yesterday. I’m trying to catch a lift over there.

A chill crept across the back of my neck. I looked at the ceiling above my head, at the flowers on the floor around me. And then the messages from Mum began to play.

‘Anna, Leonie’s just called me.’ It was my mother’s voice but strange, changed almost beyond recognition. ‘Why are you there? Why?! Why would you –’ A strange breathlessness and then her message cut out.

And then there was another one from her.

‘Anna. You listen to me.’ Mum’s voice was scaring me. ‘Anna. You have to get out. Are you listening to me, Anna?!’

What the hell was going on? My skin was prickling all over. A sharp pain suddenly skewered through my abdomen.

There was one last message from Mum. ‘It’s . . . 7.15. I’m coming now. I’m getting on a plane. I’m only a few hours away. I’m coming to get you.’

There were still bars on the phone. I dialled Mum’s number but it went straight through to her voicemail. She must be in the air. I tried to think. I couldn’t think. But in the end it didn’t matter what I could or couldn’t think, because there, outside the window was Hessel, standing on the back porch of the small house, roaring across the gravel patch.