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And although she was trembling inside, she managed to keep her voice even.

“I’m sure that’s why my husband didn’t mention it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the car?”

“What?” Sam said. “What car?”

“At the day care yesterday.”

She was sitting in the driver’s seat outside, her phone pressed to her ear, trying to contain the anxiety inside her. Our experiences and fears collect in the backs of our minds like dry kindling, and Katie’s were constantly smoldering. What the day care worker had told her had sent a lick of flame across them. They were burning brightly now.

“Oh,” Sam said—too damn casually for her liking. “I don’t know. You were out. And then… I guess I forgot. What did they say?”

“That the police can’t do anything. They didn’t get a good description.”

“Yeah, that’s what they told me too.”

“That it’sprobably nothing.”

“Exactly. And anyway, the security there is really good.”

“Yes. I know that.”

She glanced at the building beside her. She had every faith in the measures they had in place. The solid front door with its keypad; the high railings outside; the security cameras at every entrance and exit. She’d noted them all down approvingly when they’d first looked around, because if they hadn’t been here then Siena wouldn’t have been either.

“So no big deal, right?” Sam said.

“I think it’s a big deal. You should have told me.”

“Sorry. It didn’t seem that important. Like I said, I just forgot.”

Katie sat there for a moment. Her nerves were still humming, but there was anger mixed in with the anxiety now. She didn’t believe him. While her husband likely did think it wasprobably nothing, that wasn’t the reason he had neglected to mention it. He hadn’t just forgotten either. No, he had kept quiet because he had decided it was better she didn’t know. Because he thought she worried too much. That she was prone to overreacting.

How dare you?she thought.

It wasn’t his call to make to keep things from her like that—especially when it involved their daughter. It wasn’t his place to police her reactions as though he knew what was best for her.

“Katie?”

“Still here,” she said blankly. “But I do have to go. Love you loads.”

“Okay. Love you too.”

She ended the call and then sat there, staring out of the window at the day care, trying to dampen down that fire in the back of her mind. She was pissed off with Sam because heshouldhave told her, but what she was feeling right now wasn’t really his fault. He didn’t know what had happened at her brother’s apartment or about the car she’d seen on the way back. Of course, she had no idea herself whether it actually had been following her, or if it was just that her nerves had been on edge. And regardless, there was no reason to believe it was connected to anyone who might have been watching the children here yesterday.

But what if it is?

What if there was danger circling her family and she just couldn’t see it yet?

The thought set the anxiety inside her burning more brightly. What if this was one of the moments when, if you allowed yourself to imagine everything was fine, you ended up regretting it forever? She thought back to what she’d been told last night—that James Alderson, her brother’s boyfriend, was doing a PhD in art at the university. There had been an address on the old letter he’d been sent. She could just about remember it.

A fool’s errand, perhaps. But it was something.

Katie took out her phone and called in sick to the school.

And then, spurred on by that anxiety, she started the car and went in search of James Alderson.

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