19
In the bright light of morning everything looked different, and I felt foolish for having been unnerved the previous evening. My neighbour was just a lonely woman, who missed her daughter. There was no reason to believe that Lorna’s cryptic references to ‘S’ were in any way related to Alice’s daughter. The fact that Alice was by nature introverted didn’t mean there was anything sinister about her. Far from being nervous, I should feel sorry for her. If anything, she was the one who ought to be feeling upset that I had stopped asking her to read Sophie’s letters to me. On reflection, that had been rather rude of me, and I resolved to put matters right as soon as possible.
We were busy again that day in the café, and I had no time to contemplate my neighbour’s reclusive behaviour, or
