The evening haar was claggy against the skin on her arms, she should’ve worn another layer. She walked with Indy through Bruntsfield Links towards the Meadows, Einstein sniffing along Leamington Walk. The sea fog gave the late evening an eerie glow, oak trees looming over the cycle path like ancient sentinels.
They crossed over Whitehouse Loan with Einstein behind. Hannah was unsettled about everything, her and Indy’s lives upended so quickly, from graduation to engagement to home broken into by her dad. Maybe it wasn’t him, but she felt deep down that he’d been watching her. Maybe this was a one-time thing, he’d leave her alone now. But the idea he could get to her whenever he wanted made her sick. He could still get her at Gran’s house, but at least they had safety in numbers. Mum would rip his bollocks off if she ever saw him again.
‘You OK?’ Indy said.
Hannah nodded, realised she’d stopped walking. She wiped drops of haar from a bench and sat, felt it damp against her leggings. Indy joined her.
‘This isn’t exactly how I pictured being engaged,’ Indy said.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Hey.’ Indy touched Hannah’s chin and kissed her. ‘Don’t be stupid. You’ve nothing to apologise for.’
Hannah knew that was true, but she felt it all the same. Craig was her dad, they had the same genes, there would always be a thread between them. Whatever he did was down to her too.
‘I don’t feel like planning a wedding right now,’ Hannah said with a laugh.
Indy leaned into her. ‘Neither of us are the wedding-planner type, are we?’
‘I suppose not.’
‘Let’s just do something simple,’ Indy said. ‘I love you, you love me, cut the cake.’
‘You don’t like cake.’
‘But you do.’
Hannah smiled. ‘Sounds good. But we can’t do anything until…’
‘Don’t worry, babes, I’m not going anywhere.’
Einstein barked at something along the path, hidden in fog. Another bark then he went back to following the scent of other dogs around a tree.
‘I can’t believe he found a foot,’ Hannah said, shaking her head.
‘It could only happen to the Skelfs. Where do you think the rest of the body is?’
‘That’s only one of a million questions I have about this.’
‘Dorothy likes a mystery,’ Indy said. ‘I’m sure she’ll figure it out.’
Hannah ran her tongue around her teeth. ‘I forgot to tell you, I have my own mystery, I took a case.’
Indy leaned back. Her brown skin and green hair were damp with haar droplets. ‘Do tell.’
‘José, the postgrad who showed me round the observatory yesterday.’ Hannah smiled. ‘He thinks he’s being gaslighted by aliens.’
Indy gave her a sideways look. ‘What?’
Hannah angled her head and put her hands out. ‘Not exactly. He says he’s being gaslighted by someone trying to make him believe he’s receiving a signal from aliens.’
Indy frowned. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘It’s to do with SETI data, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.’
Indy held her hands out wanting more.
‘I don’t really understand it myself,’ Hannah said. ‘I’m going to chat properly with him tomorrow, get more details.’
Indy shook her head. ‘But you’ve taken the case anyway.’
‘A girl’s got to keep busy.’
Indy nodded sarcastically. ‘That’s right, you’re starting a postgrad soon, getting married, nothing to occupy your time.’
‘And there’s Dad,’ Hannah said, regretting it.
The silence of the haar closed in as Hannah stared at the empty cycle path. Einstein stood to attention, looking along the path, ears pricked. He barked twice nervously, and Hannah imagined her dad out there in the fog, waiting and watching.
‘I know you know this,’ Indy said, ‘but you can’t let him get to you.’
‘I know.’
Einstein stepped back, tail on the ground, and yelped. Hannah had never heard him make that noise before. She looked in the direction he was pointing, nothing but soggy gloom, overhanging tree branches making a tunnel of the path.
Then a shadow started to form on the right of the path, a thick black shape, sinewy and languorous. It was about waist height and long, a couple of metres, a flash of something at the back.
Hannah and Indy stood and stepped onto the path. Einstein cowered behind them. The shadow was twenty metres away as the haar separated and they saw its thick head, four powerful legs, a long tail making a slow sweep across the concrete. It was a panther, shoulders rolling as it walked into the middle of the path, paws silent, belly hanging between its legs.
‘Fuck,’ Hannah said.
She felt Indy take her hand and squeeze. ‘Babes.’
The panther stopped at the sound of their voices and turned its head. Its eyes were yellow pinpricks amongst black fur as it stared at them. Indy squeezed Hannah’s hand until it hurt. Einstein was lying down, making himself as small as possible behind them. Hannah’s breathing was so loud in her ears. And her pulse, her swallow. Her body was a clarion call to come and get her.
They stood like that for a few moments, then the panther lifted its head and opened its mouth, let out a guttural roar like a motorbike engine, chest inflating. Muscles in its shoulders and legs flexed as the noise kept coming, reverberations seeming to run from the cat’s throat to Hannah’s guts.
Eventually the growl ended. The panther burst away at shocking speed towards The Meadows. It was gone, leaving them surrounded by haar. But its thick roar still vibrated in Hannah’s stomach, in her ears and brain.
She turned to Indy, shared a wide-eyed look.
‘Fuck,’ she said.