Page 45 of My Husband’s Wife

Forty-Four

Madison inhales the fresh morning air at the front door while trying to work out how the gate could have opened.

It’s too old and stiff to blow open in a breeze.

Once again, Theo had put the fact that she had felt watched down to her being forgetful or postnatal, and that she probably left the gate open.

The way Buster darted out last night had convinced her even more that someone had been there, and why did he return with butter on his face?

The scent of veggie sausages wafts under her nose but her nerves are jangling.

‘I’ve made you breakfast.’ Theo stands behind her in the cartoon owl apron she bought him for Christmas.

He teases her tangled curls away from her shoulders and kisses her neck.

She doesn’t even remotely feel the tingle of last night that left her overcome with desire.

It’s like that button has been switched off, along with her sense of security in this house.

She closes the front door and ambles to the kitchen, wondering if she should have showered first. Like most mornings when she doesn’t go to the salon, she feels grotty. Her slippers, leggings and maternity top have become her home uniform, and they are becoming too comfortable.

‘I’ve fed Emily and she’s asleep so make the most of this,’ he says.

The sandwich is huge. She sits and begins to nibble the edges, trying hard to stop worrying and further making her stomach churn. ‘I think making the most of it will mean me putting my feet up.’

‘You should. I might head to the cabin. I have a few enquiries to deal with.’ He grabs the other half of his sandwich and leaves her alone with her thoughts.

Buster lays his head in her lap under the table, remaining hopeful that she’ll throw him some food. She drops a whole sausage into his mouth and he darts away with it.

She leaves the table and heads upstairs. As she enters Emily’s bedroom, she hears gurgling. Her baby wriggles in her cot, her little legs outstretched, pushing all her blankets off her.

‘Morning, sunshine. It looks like you’re starting to teethe.’ She strokes Emily’s red-cheeked face, then Emily pops her knuckle in her mouth. ‘Shall we go for a little walk?’ She puts the baby sling on and places Emily in it.

As they leave the house, Emily gets her hands tangled in Madison’s hair but Madison ignores the little tugs.

She leaves the front garden under the arch and begins to nudge the gate back and forth.

It’s hard to move, like she knew it would be.

She tries to recall coming home yesterday.

After leaving the Sea Horse Hotel, her mind had been on other things, like the feeling of being watched.

Her hand had been sore from the burn – another distraction.

She remembers pulling up and getting out of the car with only her handbag over her shoulder.

Had she forgotten to close the gate? No.

It didn’t matter because last night while she was looking out of the upstairs window, the gate was definitely closed.

She walks along the dirt track. On reaching the gate to the woods, she stops.

It’s closed, but it’s never locked. A gust catches the branches.

If there were anyone lurking around today, she’d have no chance of hearing them over the tweeting birds and branches slapping against one another.

The further she gets into the woods, the bumpier the ground gets which makes her uneasy.

If she falls, Emily might get hurt. It’s also carpeted with stingers that she’s trying hard to avoid, but one catches her ankle.

The shed that Theo built is ahead and it doesn’t look like anyone has tampered with it.

For a fleeting moment, she imagines someone hiding in there.

What if there is a person behind that door?

If she were to startle them, would they attack her?

Every instinct she has is telling her to run back home.

But she can’t. She eventually reaches the windowless structure.

The only way to see out from inside is to open the flap that Theo positions the camera in to film.

It’s stuck. Her heart begins to pound as she accidentally kicks a tin feeding bowl towards the edge of the clearing.

Open the door, open the door , her inner voice keeps saying.

She walks around the back and tugs at it.

Like everything else in the house, it’s stiff to budge, but it’s not locked.

Although the land belongs to them, ramblers very occasionally pass through, and he sometimes leaves a camera in there so she half expected it to be locked.

She uses her shoulder to fully open the door.

The shed is as big as she remembered. It contains a desk and a chair, a small bookcase filled with tin mugs, animal feed, baby wipes and bowls, all of which are stacked precariously.

She sits in his chair and opens the flap then peers outside while wondering how Theo can do this for hours.

Emily tugs her hair again, just to remind Madison that she’s still there.

As she bows her head to untangle her hair from Emily’s soggy fingers, she notices the waste bin.

She reaches down, moving aside the crisp wrappers and empty drinks cans to reveal something strange.

It’s a small raven toy with a sucker stuck to its base.

She places it on the desk and wonders why he has it.

Shrugging, she cleans it with a wipe and gives it to Emily in the hope that she’ll prefer playing with that over pulling Madison’s hair.

Rolling backwards in his chair, she spins around to face the desk.

She goes to open the drawer, but it’s locked.

She reaches underneath, feeling for a key, but there isn’t one.

The bookcase. She checks all the mugs and the animal bowls but again there isn’t a key.

Emily is starting to gripe. She quickly takes the sling off and places Emily on the floor before kneeling underneath the desk.

There is a corner of paper sticking out of the back.

However much she tries to pinch it with her fingertips, she can’t.

That’s when she spots another piece of paper stuck against the wall.

She grabs it and sits up. It’s a newspaper cutting with a picture of a boy on it, but the article isn’t included.

She stares into the eyes of the smiling kid and she can’t think where from, but she recognises him.

Her phone rings, making Emily cry. She ignores the call and takes a photo of the clipping on her phone before throwing it back on the floor.

She goes to answer the call but Theo has hung up.

She pops the sling back on, instantly soothing Emily, then hurries out of the shed.

The face in the clipping keeps whirling through her mind but for the life of her, she can’t think who it is, and she can’t think why Theo would be hiding it away in his shed.