CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE

Hazel is lying on the brass king-sized bed she shares with Jonny in his flat.

Their flat now.

She can hear him frying onions down the hall in the kitchen. The clatter of saucepans and the smell of roast meat, caramelised vegetables and garlic, floats around the flat. Now it is a comforting aroma. She lies on the bed and drinks in the warmth of their space, the feeling of her partner just feet away from her, the anticipation of a meal together, a glass of wine, everything ahead of them. Their future together.

‘It’s ready,’ Jonny calls as he passes the doorway carrying a large serving dish. ‘Are you coming through?’

Hazel gets off the bed and follows him to the dining table, which has been laid with silver cutlery, table mats, and a single white candle. Hazel turns on some music before she sits down, glancing out of the windows at the wet streets below, the shimmer of car bonnets, the cold night mixing with the convivial light of the flat in the window’s reflection.

‘Thank you, my love,’ she says as she sits down.

Jonny pours her a glass of white wine and they touch glasses, smiling at each other, content.

‘Here’s to us,’ he says. ‘What a time it’s been.’

‘To us.’

‘Did you see the flowers that Romilly sent?’ Jonny drinks his wine, looking over at the sideboard where a huge vase of pink roses bloom in the corner. ‘To congratulate you for that TV show and all the press you’ve done this week.’

‘She’s sweet.’

‘By the way, I forgot to mention, sorry,’ Jonny says as he picks up his knife and fork. ‘Evie’s coming to stay at the weekend. Now you’re all moved in, I called her. Said I’d like her to spend some time with us. Get to know you better. She put up the usual fuss, blaming her mother . . . but then finally she agreed.’ He points his fork at Hazel. ‘I think she’s impressed with all this media you’re doing. Seems all the kids at school are fawning over her about it. Said if you could get on The One Show, she’d love you forever. Her words.’ He smiles at her as he cuts a piece of chicken. ‘So thank you for that.’

‘I’m so pleased, Jonny. She’s really a lovely girl.’

They eat in silence for a moment.

‘So much has happened in the last few days. I feel like I haven’t seen you for ages.’ Jonny clears his throat. ‘I was just thinking the other day . . . Did you ever hear anything again from the police down in Devon? That woman officer?’

‘Why are you asking that now?’ Hazel asks neutrally.

‘No reason,’ he replies lightly. ‘I just wondered, with all the publicity you’ve had, whether she’d got in touch about anything. Asked any more questions about that girl going missing.’

Hazel picks up her fork and spears a carrot. ‘She did come to see me actually. I didn’t mention it because it was so stupid. It was the day before we signed the contract. The day Max died from the heart attack.’ She bites into the carrot and chews as she speaks. ‘She was asking questions about the timings at the hotel when we were having tea that day. You know, after we came back from the beach?’

‘Yep,’ Jonny says, after swallowing his wine. ‘We came back and had tea together in the lounge. And then we went to get changed for dinner.’

‘Right. She was going on about it, like it mattered. So I just told her that we were together the whole time.’

‘Which we were.’

‘Yes. Well, apart from when you went to take that call, remember?’ Hazel says, glancing up at him. ‘You were gone for a while. That business call you took. You went outside because when you came back in, you didn’t have your jacket and your shirt was soaked with the snow.’

‘Did I?’ he says. ‘Was it?’ He reaches across the table for the salt. ‘I can’t say I remember.’

‘Yes,’ Hazel says. ‘I remember.’ She smiles at him and sips again from her glass. ‘We never did find your jacket, did we?’

Jonny’s lips turn down and he jerks his head imperceptibly.

‘I didn’t say anything, though,’ Hazel continues as she bites into a piece of chicken breast. ‘What’s the point? The girl just wandered off, right?’

‘Right,’ Jonny says, his eyes on his glass.

‘Just one thing, though, darling,’ Hazel says softly.

He says nothing, but stares at his glass.

‘If it happens again, make sure you see it through.’

He whips his head up, looks at her.

‘You were lucky this time, my love,’ Hazel says. ‘You won’t be again.’

She leans over and turns up the music, the strains of ‘Dido’s Lament’ filling the room.

‘So everything’s OK now, isn’t it?’ she says, stroking his arm. ‘We’re the same, you and me. I knew it from the moment we met. You, me and Evie. The three of us. All together. And also . . .’

Jonny lifts his eyes.

‘. . . I found out today,’ Hazel says, ‘we’re going to have a baby.’ Her eyes are shining.

Jonny makes a sound like a cry and a laugh rolled into one. He finally meets her gaze. ‘A baby?’ he asks, his voice trembling. ‘We’re going to have a baby?’

Hazel nods, smiling at him. ‘Yes, darling. A baby all of our own.’ She reaches over and strokes the back of his hand. ‘So there’s no need to worry about anything. Is there, my love?’

‘No,’ he replies, wiping a tear from his cheek. ‘There’s no need to worry at all.’

Hazel exhales as the music swells, moving her hand over her stomach, feeling the burgeoning life within it.

Her own child, her own daughter.

Her own little precious girl.