TOYL

up at the top window. ‘Maybe we’ve got this all wrong. It might not have anything to do with Stephen’s family – anyone could have found out what had happened to Stephen and could be doing this.’
    ‘You’re right,’ Will agreed. ‘Dad might not even have come up here, might he, if he suspects or knows that it was someone else?’
    ‘Exactly,’ Emma said. ‘This could be a red herring.’ She paced up and down the pavement, clutching at the back of her neck. ‘Why won’t this end?’ she shouted in frustration.
    Then the door of a neighbouring house opened.
    ‘I’m really sorry,’ said Emma, as the man, dressed in striped pyjamas, glared at her.
    ‘You looking for Mrs Myers?’ he asked sternly.
    ‘Yeah,’ Emma replied.
    ‘She’s gone,’ he said. ‘They took her away a few days ago, into a hospital. She’s been getting worse recently.’
    ‘Oh, right,’ Emma said. ‘Is Mr Myers around? Doesn’t he live nearby?’
    ‘Used to. Peter moved to London a few months ago. I think he just wanted to get as far away from her as possible. Can’t say I blame him really – she fell apart after her son died. I know it’s all been extremely difficult for him.’
    So he’d been living in London. He had to be behind all this. ‘Do you have an address for him?’ Emma asked.
    ‘Why do you want to know?’
    ‘I just need to see him,’ Emma said. ‘It’s really important.’
    ‘Funny, that,’ the man noted, suppressing the hint of a smile, ‘because you’re the second person to come looking for Peter Myers in the past hour. Never knew he was so popular.’

67

    ‘Eh?’ Emma lifted her head from the passenger seat and turned towards Will. She felt dizzy with tiredness.
    ‘Hi,’ said Will, his hands wrapped around the top of the steering wheel.
    Emma noticed that they were parked in a residential road: houses tightly packed on both sides, a couple of homes boarded up with green metal panels. The sun had come up and birds were singing.
    ‘Are we here?’ Emma said, rubbing her forehead.
    ‘We’re here,’ Will confirmed.
    ‘But what time is it?’ Emma peered at her watch. She’d been asleep for over three hours. ‘You’ve driven all the way back down to London yourself? You should have woken me up.’
    ‘It was okay. You needed the rest and I wanted to help.’
    ‘Have we just arrived?’ she asked, trying to shake off the grogginess.
    ‘We’ve been here a couple of minutes. I was just thinking about what we should do.’
    ‘Which one is the house?’ Emma asked, looking out at the street, house by house.
    ‘That one just there.’ Will pointed. ‘I did a slow drive-past when we first arrived.’
    ‘Any sign of Dad’s car?’
    ‘None,’ Will replied. ‘It’s not in this street.’
    ‘This might still all be a wild goose chase.’ Emma looked across at the house. ‘But there’s only one way to find out. C’mon.’
    ‘Maybe we should wait,’ Will said, putting his hand on Emma’s arm.
    ‘For what?’
    ‘I don’t know. Maybe we should wait and think about what to do.’
    ‘We haven’t got time. Every second we wait here increases the chance that something bad might happen. Are you coming?’
    ‘Okay,’ said Will, getting out of the car.
    ‘It’s open,’ whispered Emma as they reached the door and noted that it was ever so slightly ajar. But no light was coming through the gap.
    They looked at each other, both breathing heavily, wondering what to do.
    ‘Maybe we shouldn’t,’ Will said, as Emma went to push at the door. ‘Maybe going in there isn’t the right thing to do.’
    ‘You don’t have to come in.’
    ‘I will,’ he replied. ‘If you go in, I’ll go in too.’
    ‘Thanks,’ she said, pushing the door.
    They both slid into the darkened house. As Emma closed the door behind them to block out the light from the street, it became apparent that at least one light in the house was on. The light was coming from one of the back rooms, down the end of the corridor in which they were now standing.
    They moved slowly along the wall, aware of each other’s breathing. The place smelt of damp and dirt, and it was a strain not to cough. As they passed a door to their left Emma heard a tapping sound.
    She stopped.
    ‘What is it?’ Will whispered from the darkness.
    ‘Someone’s in there.’ Emma pointed at the door. Slowly, she opened the door and the tapping sound stopped. ‘Hello?’ she said. ‘Who’s in here?’
    And then they saw. In the