Luke woke on Sunday feeling jittery and unsettled, able to do nothing but wait while the events he’d set in motion in the Lake District played themselves out. Was Mel going to show up? Would Ted bother to stay around to play his part?

He kept himself busy, moving furniture and cleaning up the house. He’d kept in touch with Anna’s grandparents since her death and had received a letter a few months ago, telling him they’d moved into a residential home, giving him their new contact details. The house was going up for sale, but when he’d phoned them a few days ago, they’d said they were waiting for the spring to put it on the market and it was fine for him to use the place while he got himself sorted out. Better, they’d said, that it was lived in and kept aired and it would be a great help to them if he could tidy it up a bit. His shoulders ached, not just with all the lifting and carrying he’d been doing, but because his muscles were so tense, the waiting an excruciating form of torture. Conversation in the house was sparse, all of them on tenterhooks, listening for the call to tell them that Mel had arrived and when it finally came, there was a collective sigh of relief.

Stage one was complete. But would the rest of it work?

Later, when everyone had gone to bed, Luke lay in the dark, listening to the noises of the house and its inhabitants as they settled, unable to relax for the flow of thoughts that sped through his mind, all the what ifs and maybes queuing up to be inspected and sent on their way, only to be replaced by another batch of worries. He was distracted by the sound of his mother’s voice coming from the next room, the gap under the door big enough to let the sound through. He listened, puzzled because he knew his father was in the bathroom, so she wasn’t talking to him. She had to be on the phone.

‘Mountain Rescue?’ his mother said. Then there was a silence. ‘Good, good. Thank goodness… Yes… yes. Well done, Ted.’ Silence for a few minutes. ‘Okay, well we’re all going to bed now… What’s that? Yes… Keep up the good work, Ted. See you in a couple of days then.’

Luke tensed, his heart stuttering in his chest.

Ted’s coming here?

Had he misunderstood, or had she gone back on her word, not able now to let Ted be the scapegoat? Ted’s involvement in the plan was something he’d had to grudgingly accept, and, in truth, he wasn’t totally convinced it would work, but when he voiced his concerns earlier in the day, his mother had said he had to trust Ted to do whatever was required to solve the problem that was Mel.

‘He’s not like you, Luke. That’s what you’ve got to remember. He doesn’t mind using brute force to get what he wants. Man or woman, there’s no difference to him, because she is a threat to our safety. He has a loyalty to this family that means he will do whatever it takes to make her go away.’

There’d been a curious look on her face and he hadn’t been sure how to take her comments. What on earth has she told him to do? And was she proud of Ted’s lack of morals, his loyalty at all costs? Was she telling Luke that he’d fallen short in that department? It had puzzled him for the rest of the day as he’d debated with himself whether there was anything else he could do to make amends for all the trouble he’d caused.

Now, all he could hear in his mind were her last words. ‘See you in a couple of days.’

Ted’s coming.

He tried to ignore the rattle of annoyance that reverberated round his brain, frustrated that his mother had insisted on her plans instead of letting him sort things out his own way, without any involvement from his cousin. He didn’t understand the logic. Probably because there isn’t any, he told himself, his mother’s mind seeming to flit between reality and fantasy, the past and the present. It was becoming a worry and he wasn’t sure what he could do about it. He wondered if she was taking her medication, if that was perhaps the problem, and he resolved to talk to Ceri about it in the morning.

He was too agitated for sleep now, so he sat up and scrolled through his new phone, checking to see if there was any news about their disappearance, but there was nothing and he knew it was probably too soon. They’d have to wait for the Mountain Rescue to draw a blank before the police got involved.

More waiting.

It was unbearable.

He sat staring into the darkness and finally he realised that Ted wasn’t coming at all. He was getting himself all worked up about nothing. Ted had no idea where they were, had no idea his family had gone; his mother was just playing him along so he’d stick to the plan, but Luke's panicked brain had taken her words at face value. However, a connection had been made in his mind, a joining of dots to create a picture of what needed to happen. And as it unfolded, he was clear that it was the exactly what he had to do to give his family the biggest gift of all. Peace.