Adam left Hannah whimpering on the veranda and went inside, dustpan and brush in hand. He stopped in the kitchen and made himself focus on his surroundings to steady his nerves. Applying a technique a work colleague at Chattergull’s had shown him, to help calm him down after an irate caller had made death threats, he paid attention to things he could see, one at a time. The kitchen was lit by a single opaque globe hanging in the centre of the ceiling beneath a lacquered metal shade in the shape of a dinner plate. He noted the plainness and the square dimensions of a room that spoke nothing of Delilah’s aesthetic. The exits to the bar and veranda created an invisible passageway. In the far wall, another door led to Delilah’s quarters. It was closed. The rest of the wall space was taken up b
