CHAPTER 32 – MATTY
LONDONHe knew that something was wrong before he opened the door. There was a grey hollowness in the air, a sense of change. As he entered the narrow hallway he saw that his instincts were right – Ellie wasn’t home. He called out her name anyway, just in case. Nothing. In the kitchen, he spotted the note telling him what he already knew, that her absence wasn’t temporary. She hadn’t just left to buy milk.
Gone to stay with mum. Need some time. E.
He rushed to the bedroom and found it almost clinically tidy. The bedside table on Ellie’s side, usually overflowing with nail varnish bottles, scrunched up tissues and magazine cuttings, was empty. He could almost glimpse a shadow of her on the floor, sitting cross-legged, her curtain of hair shielding her face, as she swept
