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And she is not afraid anymore.
She has stopped running from the monsters. She has turned to face them.
She wants the truth.
AFTER
“Coffee?”
Hannah is staring out the window, thinking, when the question comes, and at first she doesn’t hear it.
“Coffee, madam?”
She turns to see a uniformed attendant standing beside her, braced in the narrow aisle, holding out a silver pot. There’s a trolley behind her, rocking as the train goes over a crossing.
“Oh, sorry, I was in a dream. No thank you, I’ve had enough caffeine already today.”
“I’ve got decaf,” the woman offers. “It’s all complimentary.” But Hannah shakes her head. She knows what train coffee will be like—weak instant with powdered milk in little sachets.
“No, thanks, honestly. I’ll—” She racks her brains to try to think of a way to accept this kind woman’s hospitality. “I’ll take a bottle of water, if you have one?”
“Still or sparkling?”
“Still, please.”
She is twisting off the cap when her phone rings, and glancing at the screen she sees it’s Hugh. The name gives her a slight jolt of surprise. What would Hugh be phoning about?
“Hugh!” It seems rude to open with Why are you calling, so she settles for “How are you?”
“Good.” Hugh’s deep, rather drawling voice comes down the line, instantly distinctive. “How are you? How was Oxford?”
Hannah frowns. Did Will tell him about the visit?
“It was… um… confusing,” she says. She doesn’t want to talk about it here, in front of the other passengers, who are mostly attempting to work or sleep. “I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about it all. But… I think we can rule Myers out. He wasn’t there. He was at a conference.”
“He wasn’t there? But Will said you and April’s sister had an arrangement to see him?”
“No, I mean he wasn’t there that night—you know—” She glances over her shoulder. “Back then. When it happened. He was out of college.”
“Oh!” Hugh says. He sounds surprised, and a little disappointed. “So… back to Neville, then?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure. I realized…” She lowers her voice, looks up and down the carriage again. No one is watching her. “I realized something while I was there, Hugh. Someone… someone could have been in the room.” She is almost whispering now, trying not to use any words that would make her fellow passengers’ ears prick up. She doesn’t want to say Pelham or April or murder. “While we were coming up the stairs. They could have shinnied down the drainpipe.”
“What are you saying?” Hugh’s voice is uneasy. Hannah makes up her mind and then stands up.
“Hang on, I’m on a train, I’m going to go out into the corridor. Just a sec.”
There is a pause as she maneuvers out of the narrow gap between the seat and the table, makes her way down the aisle, and opens the door into the little foyer between the carriages. It’s empty, the window slightly open so that the rushing sound of the air covers their conversation.
“Sorry, I wanted to get out of the carriage. I’m not sure what I’m trying to say. But Hugh, we always assumed that the fact that you and I were watching the bottom of the stairs meant no one else could be involved. What if that’s not true?”
There is a long silence. Hannah can almost hear Hugh’s brain ticking, realizing what she’s saying, realizing what this means. She’s not sure what she’s expecting him to say, but when he does speak, he sounds… she can’t quite put her finger on it. Alarmed, almost.
“Who have you told about this?”
“Just April’s sister, November. She was there. I—I didn’t tell Emily. I couldn’t. I—”
She can’t bring herself to say the words—I was too afraid.
