I stared out of the window through the shutter blinds. I didn’t have a very wide field of vision because of the box hedge at the front of our yard, but from the angle I was at I could see past the ‘For Sale’ sign on my right towards the road outside.
It had grown darker again. The street lamps glowed electric yellow. Tree limbs swayed in the breeze.
I could see a plumber’s van parked on the other side of our gate and next to it the front nose of a small city car that had been nestled there for so long it had collected litter and leaves under the windscreen wipers, a patina of dirt and tree sap.
A handful of lights had come on in the windows of some of the houses opposite, but most people wouldn’t be home from work for more than an hour yet.
I bounced on my toes, craned my neck and strained my eyes, but it made no difference. Bethany wasn’t there.
I checked my phone again, willing her to call me back, then tapped at her name on the screen and dialled her once more. Placing the phone on speaker, I cradled it in my upturned palm as I stepped back from the window, turning to gaze at the open door to the basement.
A void opened up inside me.
The phone droned on.
I reached out stiffly and clicked on a floor lamp.
Better.
We’d had multiple ceiling lights fitted across the kitchen and they burned brilliantly, reflecting back off the countertops and the appliances, the butler’s sink and the floorboards.
I half expected Donovan to hear the ringing of my phone from down in the basement. I thought he might call up to me, say he was on his way back up.
But he didn’t say anything.
I had a funny thought then. I asked myself if he really was in the basement. I knew he had to be because I’d watched him go down there. There was no other way out. And he couldn’t have snuck out without my seeing him.
Unless he did it while you were peering out of the window.
The thought got its hooks in me.
Irrational, yes, crazy even, but as I stepped carefully to my left, past the coffee table and the sofa, I found myself ducking and glancing up the staircase towards the landing above me, knowing I was being ridiculous listening for some trace of him up there, some hint of what was happening, but doing it anyway.
All I could see was the empty landing.
Leading to the bathroom.
‘Shit.’
I turned swiftly towards the front door, paused for a half-second, then reached for the snap lock and put it on the latch.
I opened the door a fraction.
A draught of street air swept in.
Better.
It smelled of grit and soot, ozone and tarmac.
Part of me was tempted to open the door fully and go outside. I could wait by the gate for Bethany. Or for Donovan when he emerged from the basement. Or for Sam when he got home.
But if I was honest with myself, I knew that part of me wanted to make sure I could make a quick exit if it came to it.
Stop it. You’re overreacting.
But was I? Hadn’t I had a bad feeling since before the viewing had started? Since I’d first got Bethany’s message?
But you always have a bad feeling.
Even on a good day you have bad feelings.
You get scared just vacuuming the damn house.
My phone stopped ringing and the connection quickly switched to Bethany’s voicemail again.
I cut the call, weighing the phone in my hand.
From outside on the street I heard a shout from one of the builders followed by a reply from one of his mates, and it occurred to me that I could go out there and ask them to come inside with me. They’d probably agree to go down into the basement for me to check if Donovan was OK.
But should I?
Again, I worried how it would look to Donovan. Sam would be so disappointed if I let my paranoia screw up this viewing.
Donovan probably hadn’t even been down there that long.
And he had told me the basement was important to him. He could be preoccupied with his own thoughts, inspecting the space, maybe picturing where his gym equipment would go, maybe asking himself if the house was right for him and what kind of offer he might be prepared to make.
You need to give him just a bit longer.
I reached out and touched the door behind me again, making certain it was still hanging slightly open, then I tightened my grip on my phone and walked slowly back towards the basement.