Danny looked at the screen. There was a red T-shirt on the washing line, the yellow buds of a magnolia tree in the background.
‘I just wonder if it was this she saw and…’ Richard paused.
‘She mistook it for a child because she wanted to,’ Danny finished the sentence for him.
‘Yes. I’ve thought about it all week, whether to tell you or not.’
‘I’m glad that you have.’ He handed back his phone. ‘Juliette hasn’t mentioned anything to me about it.’
‘Perhaps she’s realised and doesn’t want to say.’
‘Perhaps so.’ Danny felt deceitful lying about Juliette.
‘I can imagine as a mother she took the death of her child hard,’ Richard went on. ‘Both of you, really.’
Danny said nothing. Richard was right. It hadn’t just affected Juliette. But he supposed as a mother she had more of a bond with their daughter.
‘We’re just setting up a seating area in the garden where we can sit and remember her,’ he said. ‘Emily was a busy child, always up to something. She would have loved all this space to play in. I miss her too.’
‘Danny? Oh, hi, Richard.’
Danny turned to see Juliette in the doorway. She waved but stayed where she was.
‘I’d better see what she wants.’ Danny threw his thumb over his shoulder. ‘Speak soon, yeah?’
‘Yeah.’ Richard nodded. ‘Hope everything is okay about what we discussed.’
‘It’s fine. Thanks for telling me.’
Inside the house, Danny found Juliette hanging up a pair of curtains at the window. ‘Could you hold the bottom of these while I thread them through the poll, please? They’re so heavy, my arms are aching.’
‘Here, let me hang them for you.’
‘My hero.’ She rolled her eyes before grinning, stepping down from the ladder. ‘What did Richard want?’
He’d thought he wouldn’t say anything about it straight away, but he couldn’t help himself. ‘He mentioned the child you allegedly saw in the garden.’
‘There was no alleged,’ Juliette said. ‘I saw a little girl.’
‘That’s the thing, Jules. He showed me a photo of a red T-shirt hanging on the line. He says you were mistaken.’
Juliette gasped. ‘And you believe him?’
‘Well, I…don’t you think it’s weird that he’s denying it?’
‘WhatIfind strange is you’re saying you don’t believe me over someone you’ve met a handful of times.’
‘It’s not that. It’s – what if there wasn’t a child andyour tablets are making you see things? Are there any side effects?’
‘I don’t have any, and you know that.’
‘But you’ve been under a lot of stress lately and it just explains things. Perhaps you’d be best getting it checked out. Have you registered at the local surgery yet?’
‘No.’ Juliette folded her arms.
‘Perhaps you could get an appointment in London and come to stay with me for a week?’
‘I have work to do.’
