30
Slim awoke to knocking on his bedroom door. He sat up, dazed, looked around and found he was lying crossways over his bed, the fuzz of the TV still buzzing after the video tape had finished and switched off.
He didn’t remember how far he had got into the last tape before falling asleep, but he had been so engrossed in the gentle home videos of the Birches’ family life that he’d continued watching well into the small hours. Now he had a sleep-deprived hangover worse than many he’d had on the bottle, and rubbed his eyes as he stumbled to the door.
‘Mr. Hardy, are you in there?’ Mrs. Greyson called through the door. ‘A package arrived for you.’
He opened the door to find her holding something large with both hands. It was irregularly shaped and wrapped untidily with packing tape.
Mrs.
