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bone?”
    “You’re very funny.”
    He doesn’t mean to be cruel to her, it’s just his way. He loves Addie, she’s his favorite child. She’s probably his favorite person in the world.
     
    BEFORE SHE LEFT to go back downstairs, she filled up his water glass for him from the jug on the bedside table. She checked that his stick was where it should be, leaning against the desk.
    “I have to go and walk the dog. But I’ll check on you later. Be good, now.”
    He was glaring out the window.
    “Be careful out there. He could be hanging about the place.”
    She had the laundry slung over her shoulder like a bag of swag.
    “This is ridiculous,” she said as she backed out of the room. “We’re practically prisoners in our own home.”
    He raised his voice. He had his eyes fixed on the road.
    “I don’t like your complacency. Not with the enemy in the vicinity.” He was enjoying himself now, the drama of it. He had nothing else to be doing.
    He heard the door closing but he kept talking to her as if she were still in the room.
    “That fellow,” he was saying, “touch of Deliverance about him.”

Chapter 5
    S HE SPOTTED HIM AS soon as she crossed the road, you couldn’t help but notice him. A big man in a big padded jacket and a mad hat, he was sitting there on the last bench, the one right beside the steps.
    People don’t really sit on the benches at that hour of the morning. At that hour, they tend to be engaged in some kind of activity. They’re either walking their dogs up and down the promenade, or they’re jogging, or they’re speed walking. Underexposed figures that pass you by in the half-light. They tend to be hooked up to some kind of a personal stereo, or else they’re obscured by a big scarf or something. Nobody pays any attention to anyone else at that hour of the morning, it’s an unspoken agreement.
    Maybe that’s why he stood out. There was something strange about somebody who would just sit there on a bench at that hour of the morning. There was something not right about him.
    She decided to take a closer look.
    She crossed the road at the usual place. She stepped off the curb, waiting for a break in the traffic. She couldn’t be bothered to wait for the lights to go red. When she got to the far side, she picked the dog up and tossed her over the seawall, then she climbed over herself, sitting on the wall sidesaddle first, then swinging one leg over after the other.
    To get to the steps she had to walk right past him. She made sure not to even look sideways at him, she just walked by and sat down on the top step just like she usually would. She made a play of unclipping the dog lead, talking to the dog while she was doing it.
    Even with her back to him, she could feel his eyes on her.
    “There we go now. That’s my girl. Stay still now or I won’t be able to unclip it, you silly thing. Now , off you go.”
    And the dog was gone. Down the ramp and out onto the beach in a wide arc, her tail spinning with the wild joy of it all.
    Addie hovered there for a minute on the step, her knees hugged into her chest, soaking up the sight of the happy little dog and the beach and the beautiful morning. There were patches of white frost here and there on the sand and the dog seemed confused by it. She was dashing back and forth, sniffing at the frost suspiciously. She looked up for guidance, a baffled expression on her face. You couldn’t help but smile, she looked so funny.
    From the bench, there was a noise that sounded like a laugh.
    Addie turned round. The least little turn she could make, she twisted her body from the waist, peering back over her shoulder. He was watching the dog with this familiar look on his face and he was chuckling away. You’d swear it was his own dog he was watching.
    She didn’t give him time to speak. She snapped her head back round to look at the beach. Jumped up and skipped down the ramp and out onto the sand. She raised the ball thrower and gave the tennis