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‘And all this stuff has started happening,’ Ryan said. ‘He moves back home, sees you again – the woman he always loved, who inspired him to marry someone who looks just like you – and he can’t control himself, so he tries to ruin our marriage.’

‘He’s been back a year,’ Mary said. ‘Why now? Why not before?’

‘Maybe he’s been fighting the urge. Or maybe he planned it like this all along. If he’d started all this as soon as he had returned to Barrow, it would have been too obvious that it was him. So he gave it some time.’

It made sense, in a twisted way. Mary was quite certain Carl was not the kind of person who would do this, but then again, who was the kind of person who would do this? The kind of person, probably, who would kill their wife.

She paused. Was she really thinking that Carl had killed his wife? That Carl was a murderer? It seemed so outlandish, but this whole thing was outlandish.

Which was what made her so terrified.

‘So what do we do?’ Ryan said. ‘Should I talk to Carl?’

‘I think someone should talk to him,’ Gray said. ‘I’m just not sure it should be you.’

‘Who, then?’ Mary said. ‘Me? I’m not sure I’m comfortable doing it.’

Gray shook his head. ‘No,’ he said. ‘Not you. I’d be happy to do it. In fact I think that might be the best idea. I can tell him that I’m making some inquiries into these events and just want to discuss it with him. Ask him if there is anything he knows. I could also mention his wife, ask him if he has heard anything from her, and see if there’s a reaction.’

Mary considered what he had said. ‘I think that makes sense. And that’ll also let him know – if it is him – that he’s being watched. And maybe that will make him stop.’

Gray nodded slowly. He did not look convinced. ‘Could do. I’ll talk to him this evening. I know where he lives.’

‘Thank you,’ Mary said. ‘And thank you for the information about Allison.’ She forced herself to smile. ‘It feels like we might be making some progress, finally.’

Off the Hook

Mary and Ryan looked at Carl’s wife’s Facebook page. It was the usual thing: photos of Allison with friends, photos of her with what looked like her parents, posts advertising her political views, posts promoting GoFundMe campaigns on behalf of people she knew.

It could almost have been Mary’s Facebook page. A slightly younger Mary, yes, but the resemblance was truly striking.

And it made Mary feel hollow inside. Maybe it was true that Carl was obsessed with her, that he had been since high school. It was hard to comprehend. How had he hidden it all these years? She would have told someone – maybe not the person she was obsessed with, but a friend, or multiple friends, and word would have got out. But it seemed that, if it was true, Carl had managed to keep this to himself for three decades. Had Allison known that her husband was in love with another woman? A woman who she resembled so closely?

Was that why Allison had left? She’d realized that her husband had married her because she reminded him of someone else?

Mary sat upright. That was what one of the notes had said. Ask Ryan why he had really married her. Was that some kind of a clue? A reference to Carl’s own marriage?

‘Everything OK?’ Ryan said.

‘I was just thinking,’ Mary said. ‘About Carl. Wondering if it is him.’

‘I think it is,’ Ryan said. ‘She’s almost like your twin. If it wasn’t for that, I’d put the rest of it down to coincidence – him arriving a year ago, the events starting now – but with an ex-wife who is your double, who disappeared in odd circumstances? I think it’s obvious who is behind this, and what happened to Allison.’

‘Maybe,’ Mary said. ‘But I still don’t understand what he hopes to get out of it. When we finally find out it’s him I’m hardly going to want to invest in and develop a deep friendship with him, not after he posted fake nudes of me on a local Facebook page. It just doesn’t make any sense.’

‘He doesn’t seem like the most rational person,’ Ryan said. ‘Who knows what he’s thinking?’

Her phone was on the coffee table. It began to ring. She glanced at the screen; it was Ben Cox. She frowned. He rarely called her in the evenings. She answered the call and walked into the kitchen. She had never liked taking work calls in front of her family.

‘Ben,’ she said. ‘Everything OK?’

‘Yes,’ he said, ‘yes. Not bad at all.’

There was a distracted, slightly tense edge to his voice, which Mary did not like at all.

‘Then how can I help?’

‘Well,’ Ben said. ‘I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this for a few days. It’s about Mack, and how best to support him and his family. Legally, I mean.’