The Half Truth(40)

More lies. More half-truths.

She didn’t know who or what to believe any more. She was even beginning to question herself. Had she really seen Sasha the other night?

It sounded implausible at times and as the days drifted on, she began to believe that she must have been mistaken. Sasha would not have put her through all this. He had loved her with such ferocity, with such tenderness, with such warmth; there was no way he would have intentionally hurt her. He had no reason to.

As she lay in bed, listening to the occasional car pass by in the still of the night, Tina could hear John once again prowling the ground floor of the house. She wished he would tell her what was causing his sleepless nights. She had listened to him go into the kitchen and run a glass of water. After that the living-room door opened and she assumed that was where he was now.

Tina listened for any sign of Dimitri being woken and was glad that he appeared to be fast asleep. Dimitri was becoming more and more attached to John. He badgered John to play football with him in the garden, delighted in looking at worms and spiders with his new-found friend. Unlike Tina, John didn’t squeal at spiders and comment on how disgusting worms were. No, John took a great interest in examining and studying these things with the five-year-old. Tonight Dimitri had even asked John to read him a bedtime story.

Tina wasn’t sure how she felt about that. How she felt about the whole John thing, really. If she could put her life into compartments, with no overlaps, she could think straight. She knew she was growing fonder of John each day. Yet it was happening very quickly. It had only been a few weeks that he had been about, but at the same time it felt as if he had been around forever. John just fitted into her and Dimitri’s little world like a hand in a glove. It seemed so natural for him to be there.

A thud from the party wall to Mr Cooper’s house brought Tina around from her thoughts.

‘Not that bloody door again,’ she muttered out loud. After the last episode of randomly banging doors, she had ended up putting a door wedge either side of the door to keep it from shutting. One of the wedges must have slipped somehow.

The noise she heard next set her senses on fire. It wasn’t the gentle bang of the door against the frame, it was a regular pattern of muted footsteps. Tina strained to listen properly. A floorboard creaked and groaned as weight was placed on the top stair. A loud creak that sounded even louder in the dead of the night – then there were more footsteps. Someone was going downstairs in Mr Cooper’s house and she knew, for certain, it wasn’t Mr Cooper.

Tina jumped out of bed and grabbed her dressing gown. The sound travelled so easily through the party walls. With this in mind, Tina took her stairs as lightly as possible. As her feet hit the hall carpet, she felt herself bundle into someone and one arm wrap itself around her, while a hand covered her mouth, muffling the scream she let out.

‘It’s okay, it’s only me.’

Tina relaxed immediately, recognising John’s voice before her eyes adjusted to seeing his face.

‘You heard it too?’ she said.

‘Yes, you wait here. I’m going next door to investigate.

‘Don’t go on your own. If Mr Cooper wakes up and sees you, he won’t know who on earth you are. I’ll come too.’

‘What about Dimitri?’

‘He’s fast asleep. Besides, I’ll lock the door behind us. No one can get in.’

‘But you’re not dressed.’

‘I have my pj’s on underneath,’ said Tina sticking out a leg to show the pink-checked cotton fabric. ‘Just let me put my shoes on.’ She shuffled her feet into her ballet pumps and, as an afterthought, exchanged her dressing gown for a hoody hanging in the hall.

‘You sure you don’t want to nip upstairs and do your make-up before we go? Wash your hair? Paint your nails?’ He smiled, but Tina could tell he was impatient to investigate next door. ‘Come on then, Tonto.’





Chapter 20


Tina grabbed a torch from the kitchen cupboard as she followed John out of the back door, locking it behind her. She passed the key to him. ‘Can you put that in your pocket, please?’

He pushed it into the front pocket of his jeans and took the torch from her at the same time. ‘Right, how do we get in? Through this gate?’

‘Yes, it goes straight into Mr Cooper’s garden. The back door will probably be unlocked. I always tell him to lock it, but he never does.’

Tina followed John through the gate and round to the kitchen door. ‘When you said open, did you actually mean open, like this?’

The circular beam of light from the torch illuminated the kitchen door. It was ajar, not properly closed.