The next morning, David came round to the house to do some handyman bits for Cora.

Holly walked into the kitchen to find him glueing the handle onto a cream jug.

‘Morning, Holly. How are you finding things at work?’ he asked her hesitantly.

‘It’s turned out to be very good week in the end, thanks,’ Holly replied. ‘No doubt you’ll hear all about it on Monday.’

‘Hear about what?’

‘Emily’s in serious trouble. Pieces of a broken vase were found in her bag after she spent hours basically accusing me of damaging it in front of everyone.’

David didn’t say anything, but she thought the ghost of a smile passed over his lips. Probably because he disliked Emily as much as she did.

‘How about you?’ she asked. ‘I bet time drags stuck outside in that cramped little kiosk.’

‘My office is really very comfortable,’ David said, looking back down the jug. ‘It’s warm and dry in there and everything is organised. More space than that would be a waste, really.’

‘Well, yes,’ Holly said. ‘I suppose when you put it like that…’

‘And there’s lots to do, of course,’ David went on. ‘Monitoring the car park, recording car registrations, issuing tickets and ensuring time restrictions don’t lapse. Then there are the odd jobs I often do for Mr Kellington and sometimes Josh. Favours.’

‘You must be very busy.’ Holly nodded, eager to avoid further tedious details. ‘I see that now. Well, I don’t want to distract you from what you came here to do.’

She selected a glass from the cupboard and ran the cold tap.

‘I have plenty of time,’ David said behind her. ‘I wondered…’

‘Yes?’ She turned.

‘Well, it’s fine if you aren’t interested, but…’

She waited.

‘It’s just that you said about that book… the film… I thought, if you weren’t busy… would you like to go to the cinema next weekend, to see Rear Window?’

Holly stared at him.

‘It’s fine! Don’t worry. I thought you’d more than likely be busy, it was silly of me. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…’ His words tailed off and he coughed and turned back to his repair job.

‘It’s really nice of you to ask, David, and… thank you. I’d love to go to the cinema.’

He didn’t look up and she suspected he was holding his breath, as his face seemed to become more flushed by the second.

‘Were you thinking of going on Saturday, or Sunday?’ she asked lightly.

He turned to look at her. His whole face was twitching, as if he’d just been given a slight electric shock. Not the most attractive look, she thought.

‘Whichever you’d prefer,’ he said, speaking quickly now. ‘Saturday, Sunday… it’s all the same to me. I’ll find out the times, shall I?’

‘Good idea.’ She beamed. ‘Thank you.’

‘No,’ he said quietly, clasping his hands together in front of him. She was reminded of a child standing in front of a present-laden tree on Christmas morning. ‘Thank you, Holly.’

The house phone began ringing in the living room, so she left David to his mending and walked out of the kitchen.

Before she could get there, the ringing stopped and she heard Cora speaking.

‘No, this is not she. My name is Mrs Cora Barrett… Yes. Yes, she does live here… Certainly. Who shall I say is calling?’

Holly froze just outside the door, her mouth dry.

‘Very well. Hold the line, please.’ Holly watched through the crack in the door as Cora put her hand over the receiver and called out, ‘Holly!’

She held her breath and didn’t move.

‘Holly… Call for you, dear!’

To her horror, Cora shuffled forward and perched on the edge of the seat cushion before speaking into the telephone again.

‘I’ll have to go and get her,’ she sighed. ‘Can you hold the line a moment?… Hello? Hello?’

She replaced the receiver, muttering.

Holly pushed open the door and Cora looked up.

‘Oh, there you are. Cheeky devil, just ringing off like that. Some people have no patience whatsoever.’

Holly swallowed, her mouth and lips suddenly parched.

‘Who was it?’ she croaked.

‘A woman. Wouldn’t tell me her name, can you believe it? Said it was confidential, about some kind of unpaid bill.’ Cora narrowed her eyes. ‘Are you managing all right? I know it’s a while until payday.’

‘Yes, of course,’ Holly said briskly. ‘Listen, Cora. Could I ask a massive favour of you?’

‘Certainly.’ Cora beamed, seemingly pleased to be helping out.

‘Can I ask that if anyone else rings the house, you don’t say that I’m living here?’

Cora’s face dropped. ‘Why would you want me to do that, dear?’

Mindful that David was still in the kitchen, Holly pulled the door to behind her and dropped her voice lower.

‘I want to put my old life behind me, Cora. Some of the people I knew in Manchester weren’t good for me and I like living here with you. I want to make a complete fresh start, that’s all.’

It was the right thing to say. Cora smiled back at her.

‘Consider it done.’ She nodded. ‘I shall make sure I don’t drop you in it in future.’

‘Thank you,’ Holly said and blew out a long breath. ‘I’ll just dial 141 and see if it registered the number they called from.

A disconnected robotic voice informed her that the caller had withheld their number.

She replaced the receiver.

‘Is your phone number ex-directory, Cora?’ she asked, trying hard to keep her voice level.

‘Oh no, I don’t think so. I don’t really see the point in keeping it private, otherwise why have a phone line in the first place?’

‘Perhaps you ought to think about it. You’d get fewer nuisance sales calls that way,’ Holly said, wondering how long she could keep the panic from her face. ‘I’m just going to sort out some bits in my bedroom. I won’t be long.’

Upstairs, she went straight to the bathroom, worried she was about to throw up. She hung over the toilet bowl but she wasn’t sick, just had the feeling she might be.

She splashed water over her hot cheeks and stood for a moment until the feeling receded, then crossed the landing into the cool privacy of her bedroom.

When she lay on her bed, her insides felt as if they were turning to liquid.

Who had called Cora’s landline? The words unpaid bill sounded like one of the debt collection agencies, which seemed feasible on the one hand; after all, there were about a dozen of them after her back in Manchester. She had all their ignored communications in the bag she’d stuffed under the bed.

On the other hand, it didn’t make any sense for a debt collection agency to refuse to tell Cora their company name but then disclose that Holly had an unpaid bill. That didn’t follow at all and didn’t conform to strict data protection practices.

So then – she bit her lip – who was it who had called? Who knew she lived here? If they had this phone number, they probably had the address, too. She’d heard Cora give her own name, so it wouldn’t be difficult to trace her through the electoral roll.

She had a sudden urge, and before she could talk herself out of it, she’d rummaged at the back of her underwear drawer and grabbed the bottle of wine hidden there. It was unchilled and cheap, but that didn’t matter. It would help, and that was what counted.

She picked up a glass from the floor, glugged back the inch of water in there and half filled it with wine, which she gulped down in one. She refilled the glass, taking another few sips, then put it on the bedside table before lying back on the bed again.

She covered her face with her hands.

She felt like crying but was too tense to even try. It felt like every muscle in her body had pulled taut enough to snap.