Perry was, as ever, good company. Affable, amusing and thoughtful. He let me set the pace, and the conversation. He smiled ruefully and said nothing when I bid him goodnight.
Sunday morning, while we were eating breakfast, Perry’s nose in the papers, Sam called.
No hello.
‘He’s here.’
‘What?’
‘I saw him. Out walking with April this morning. He’s here, Faith. He’s found me. He’s going to kill me.’
‘Wait. Take a couple of deep breaths,’ I said. Perry looked up from his paper as I got up and moved into the hotel foyer.
‘You have to come round,’ Sam said. ‘Now. I need you. I don’t know what to do. I can’t handle this by myself. What if he comes today?’
‘Let’s take this slowly and work through it. Okay?’
All I heard for a while was his ragged breathing. ‘Okay.’
‘Are you absolutely sure it was him?’
‘Of course I’m sure. Well… I was sure. He’s a lot older. His hair looked different. Longer. And he’d put on weight.’
‘Did he see you?’
‘No. I don’t think so. He could have.’
‘Did you see where the man went?’
‘He got into a car and drove off. Why are you saying, “the man” like you don’t believe me?’
‘We need to phone Gwynne. Tell her you may have seen him in Houghton.’
‘Not in Houghton. We were in Brooksby. April wanted to show me where you sing.’
‘You went to Brooksby?’
Sam hadn’t been there since I had come back from London, when we sold the House of Hideous Memories and bought his flat. ‘April wanted to go.’
I spoke very carefully. ‘Sam, do you think, bearing in mind where you were, that there’s a chance you made a mistake?’
‘I don’t know.’ I could hear him crying now. ‘I thought it was him, Faith. I really did.’
‘I spoke to Gwynne a couple of weeks ago. She said he’d been making all his meetings. She’s going to tell us if he stops.’
More sobs. ‘Please come over. I can’t cope with this without you.’
We both knew what that meant. What Sam did when he couldn’t cope.
‘I’m in York with Perry.’
‘What?’ When Sam fell off the cliff, he never considered anyone else maybe having a life not involving him. ‘You’re coming, though?’
I looked up and saw Perry standing in the doorway. His expression impassive, he took a sip from a cup of coffee.
‘Where’s April?’
‘She had to go to work. She started at the garden centre this week. When will you be here?’
