‘Sure, I’d love to,’ Glenda says. ‘Everything all right?’

Olivia hasn’t decided how much she’s going to tell Glenda. ‘Yup. Fifteen minutes?’

‘Perfect.’

When Olivia arrives at the local coffee shop, Glenda is already there. The Bean is a comfortable place, with an old-fashioned coffee bar and mismatched tables and chairs and walls covered in funky, thrift-shop art. Not a chain, and very popular with the locals, in an area where many people seem to work from home. Glenda has found a table at the back, where they can have some privacy. Olivia orders a decaf Americano at the counter and joins Glenda at the table.

‘What’s up?’ Glenda asks. ‘You don’t look that great.’

‘I haven’t been sleeping well the last couple of nights,’ Olivia admits, looking at Glenda. She really needs to confide in someone. She and Glenda have been close for sixteen years – they met in a moms’ group when Raleigh and Glenda’s son, Adam, were infants. Their husbands have become fast friends as well. They socialize together frequently; it was Glenda and her husband, Keith, who had been over for dinner on Friday night when Raleigh was out getting into trouble.

She can tell Glenda. Glenda will understand. Mothers can be awfully competitive these days, but she and Glenda have never been that way. They’ve always been honest and supportive with each other about the kids. Olivia knows that Adam has had his problems. Twice now, at sixteen, he’s come home so drunk that he’s spent the night hovering over the toilet or collapsed on the bathroom floor. Glenda has had to stay awake watching over him to make sure he didn’t choke on his own vomit. Parenting is hard; Olivia doesn’t know what she’d do without Glenda to help her through it. And she knows Glenda is grateful for her, too.

‘You’re not going to believe this,’ Olivia says, leaning forward and speaking quietly.

‘What?’ Glenda asks.

Olivia glances around to make sure they can’t be overheard and says, lowering her voice even further, ‘Raleigh’s been breaking into people’s houses.’

The shock on Glenda’s face says it all. Suddenly tears are brimming in Olivia’s eyes and she’s afraid she’s going to have a full-blown meltdown right there in the coffee shop. Glenda leans in and puts a comforting hand on her shoulder while Olivia scrabbles for a paper napkin and holds it to her eyes.

The girl picks that moment to bring Olivia’s coffee over, sets it down, and moves swiftly away, pretending not to notice that Olivia is crying.

‘Oh, Olivia,’ Glenda says, her face shifting from shock to sympathy. ‘What happened? Did he get caught by the police?’

Olivia shakes her head and tries to recover her composure. ‘It was Friday night, when you guys were over for dinner.’ She’d thought about asking Raleigh to stay home for the dinner party. He’d already made plans with a friend to go see a movie – or so he’d said. She could have insisted he stay home. He and Adam used to be friends, but had drifted apart that spring, when Adam started drinking. But part of her didn’t really want Raleigh around Adam. She was afraid he would be a bad influence; she didn’t want Raleigh to start drinking. Of course, she couldn’t tell Glenda that. Instead she’d told Glenda that Raleigh had already made plans and Glenda had been fine with it. Adam found something else to do. And now it turns out that her own son had found something else to do, too. Olivia tells Glenda the whole mortifying story. Except for the part about the apology letters; she keeps that to herself.

‘Why would Raleigh do something like that?’ Glenda asks in genuine bewilderment. ‘He’s always been such a good kid.’

‘I don’t know,’ Olivia admits. ‘It seems—’ She can’t continue. She doesn’t want to put it into words, to make her concerns real.

‘It seems what?’

‘Odd. Why would he want to snoop around people’s houses like that? It’s abnormal! Is he some kind of – voyeur? Do you think I should get him some help?’

Glenda sits back and bites her lip. ‘I don’t think you should get carried away here. He’s a teenager. They’re stupid. They don’t think. They do whatever seems like a good idea at any given moment. Kids do this kind of thing all the time.’

‘Do they?’ Olivia says anxiously. ‘But don’t they usually steal something? He didn’t take anything.’

‘Are you sure? Maybe all he took was a bottle of booze, or maybe he drank some alcohol out of a bottle and then topped it up with water. Kids do that shit. Believe me, I know.’ Her face goes grim.

‘Maybe,’ Olivia says, thinking about it. Maybe that was all it was. She hadn’t checked Raleigh’s breath when he was sleeping. She hadn’t known anything was wrong until the next day. Maybe she should keep an eye on their liquor cabinet at home. ‘Anyway,’ she says, ‘we’re seeing a lawyer this afternoon. We’ll see what he says. We’re mostly doing it to scare him.’

Glenda nods. ‘Probably not a bad idea.’ They sip their coffees. Then Glenda changes the subject. ‘Are you still going to book club tonight?’ she asks.

‘Yes. I need to get out,’ Olivia says, looking glum. ‘Don’t tell anybody about this, okay? It’s strictly between us.’

‘Of course,’ Glenda says. ‘And honestly? It’s great that you caught it early. Nip it in the bud now. Get the lawyer to scare him shitless. As long as he never does it again, you’re good. No harm done.’

Glenda Newell makes her way back home from the Bean, her mind on what Olivia has just told her. Poor Olivia – Raleigh breaking into houses! Still, it’s a comfort that other families have their problems, too. It does make her feel just a little bit better about her own situation.

She herself is worried sick about Adam – his impulsiveness, his inability to regulate his behaviour. She can hardly sleep at night for worrying about her son. And she’s worried that he has the addictive gene. He’s taken to drinking with a shocking enthusiasm. What’s next? The thought of all the drugs out there makes her panic. God only knows what the next few years will bring; the last one has been harrowing enough. Sometimes she doesn’t know if she will survive it.

Keith seems to have his head buried in the sand these days. Either he doesn’t want to face things, or he genuinely sees nothing wrong with binge drinking at sixteen. But then Keith isn’t a worrier. So handsome, with his bluff self-confidence and easy charm – he always thinks things will turn out just fine. He tells her that she worries too much. Maybe he’s right. But she’s a mother. It’s her job to worry.

Chapter Five

ROBERT PIERCE IS leaving for work when he opens the door and sees a tall, dark-haired man in his late thirties and a shorter, mousy-haired woman about ten years younger. Both are well dressed. His first thought is that they are soliciting for something.

Then the man holds up his badge and says, ‘Good morning. Robert Pierce?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’m Detective Webb and this is Detective Moen, from Aylesford Police. We’re here to talk to you about your wife.’

He’s never seen these two before. Why are they here now? He hears his heart suddenly drumming in his ears. ‘Have you found her?’ he asks. The words come out sounding choked.