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‘I’m not sure I follow?’

She turned to look at him. ‘The dog is there.’

His alarm was giving way to confusion. ‘What dog?’

‘The new neighbours’. Their dog is in the back yard.’

‘Right.’ He walked over to the window and looked at the labradoodle. ‘I see it. Isn’t that where it’s meant to be?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘It – she, Ruby – shouldn’t be there.’

‘Where should she be, then?’

She turned to face him. ‘I saw Trent this morning, on my run.’

Ryan pointed at the neighbours’ house. ‘That Trent?’

‘Yes. I was coming across the soccer fields at the end of the street—’

‘Crimmins Field?’

She nodded. ‘And there was a man at the exit, watching me. He was silhouetted against the sun – it was just coming up – and I couldn’t see his face. But he was standing there, motionless. I felt like he was waiting for me, like he knew I’d be there. Like he’d been watching me.’

‘And you thought he was behind the notes?’

‘Exactly. So I stopped running. More than stopped. I turned and ran back the way I’d come.’ She took a sip of water. ‘He started chasing me.’

‘Jesus, Mary’ – he grinned; it was an old joke between them, but the grin did not last long. ‘He chased you? Trent did? What the fuck?’

‘I didn’t know it was Trent at first. It was terrifying, Ryan, honestly. Then he called out, and told me it was him,’ she said.

‘Why was he chasing you?’

‘To let me know it was him, and not to worry.’

‘I see.’ Ryan nodded slowly. ‘In fact, I don’t. What was he doing? Why was he even there?’

‘That’s what I asked him.’

‘And?’

‘He said he had let the dog out and it had run away, so he was looking for it.’ She pointed out of the window. Ruby was walking along the fence, sniffing the base, perhaps seeking the gap she had escaped from. If there was a gap. She tried to see, but it was too far. ‘Yet the dog is there. At the house.’

‘I see now. So you think he was lying?’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘He was lying.’

‘Unless they have two dogs,’ Ryan said.

The window was cracked open, letting in the fresh morning air. Trent’s wife clapped her hands and called the dog, her words floating into their kitchen.

Come, Ruby.

‘She called her Ruby,’ Mary said. ‘He was lying.’

‘Well, maybe he just wanted an excuse for being out so early?’

‘Why? There’s nothing wrong with being out early. If he was up early and wanted to go for a walk he could have said so. Why lie?’ She shook her head. ‘He was worried because I’d seen him – he didn’t realize I couldn’t see his face – and he wanted me to think there was nothing unusual about him being in the car park.’ She paused. ‘When in fact he was following me. So he chased me and made up a story.’