ANNA

MONDAY, JULY 22, 2013
MORNING
Tom woke me up early with a kiss and a cheekygrin. He has a late meeting this morning, so hesuggested we take Evie around the corner forbreakfast. It’s a place where we used to meet whenwe first started seeing each other. We’d sit in thewindow—she was at work in London so there wasno danger of her walking past and noticing us. Butthere was that thrill, even so—perhaps she’d comehome early for some reason: perhaps she’d befeeling ill or have forgotten some vital papers. Idreamed of it. I willed her to come along one day, tosee him with me, to know in an instant that he wasno longer hers. It’s hard to believe now that therewas once a time when I wanted her to appear.
Since Megan went missing¹ I’ve avoided walking thisway whenever possible—it gives me the creepspassing that house—but to get to the café it’s theonly route. Tom walks a little way ahead of me,pushing the buggy; he’s singing something to Evie,making her laugh. I love it when we’re out like this,the three of us. I can see the way people look at us;I can see them thinking, What a beautiful family. Itmakes me proud—prouder than I’ve ever been ofanything in my life.
So I’m sailing along in my bubble² of happiness, andwe’re almost at number fifteen when the door opens.
For a moment I think I’m hallucinating, because shewalks out. Rachel. She comes out of the front doorand stands there for a second, sees us and stopsdead. It’s horrible. She gives us the strangest smile, agrimace almost, and I can’t help myself, I lungeforward and grab⁴ Evie out of her buggy, startling⁵ herin the process. She starts to cry.
Rachel walks quickly away from us.
Tom calls after her, “Rachel! What are you doinghere? Rachel!” But she keeps going, faster and fasteruntil she’s almost running, and the two of us juststand there, then Tom turns to me and with oneglance at the expression on my face says, “Come on.
Let’s just go home.”
EVENING
We found out that afternoon that they’ve arrestedsomeone in connection with Megan Hipwell’sdisappearance. Some guy I’d never heard of, atherapist she’d been seeing. It was a relief, I suppose,because I’d been imagining all sorts of awful things.
“I told you it wouldn’t be a stranger,” Tom said. “Itnever is, is it? In any case, we don’t even knowwhat’s happened. She’s probably fine. She’s probablyrun off with someone.”
“So why have they arrested that man, then?”
He shrugged⁶. He was distracted⁷, pulling on hisjacket, straightening his tie, getting ready to go toand meet the day’s last client⁸.
“What are we going to do?” I asked him.
“Do?” He looked at me blankly.
“About her. Rachel. Why was she here? Why wasshe at the Hipwells’ house? Do you think?.?.?. do youthink she was trying to get into our garden—youknow, going through the neighbours’ gardens?”
Tom gave a grim³ laugh. “I doubt it. Come on, thisis Rachel we’re talking about. She wouldn’t be able tohaul her fat arse over all those fences. I’ve no ideawhat she was doing there. Maybe she was pissed,went to the wrong door?”
“In other words, she meant to come round here?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. Look, don’tworry about it, OK? Keep the doors locked. I’ll giveher a ring and find out what she’s up to.”
“I think we should call the police.”
“And say what? She hasn’t actually done anything—”
“She hasn’t done anything lately—unless you countthe fact that she was here the night Megan Hipwelldisappeared,” I said. “We should have told the policeabout her ages ago.”
“Anna, come on.” He slipped his arms around mywaist. “I hardly think Rachel has anything to do withMegan Hipwell’s going missing. But I’ll talk to her,OK?”
“But you said after last time—”
“I know,” he said softly⁹. “I know what I said.” Hekissed me, slipped his hand into the waistband of myjeans. “Let’s not get the police involved unless wereally need to.”
I think we do need to. I can’t stop thinking aboutthat smile she gave us, that sneer¹⁰. It was almosttriumphant. We need to get away from here. Weneed to get away from her.

1 missing   

adj.遗失的，缺少的，失踪的

参考例句：

• Check the tools and see if anything is missing.检点一下工具，看有无丢失。
• All the others are here;he's the only one missing.别人都来了，就短他一个。

2 bubble   

n.泡，水泡，气泡；泡影，妄想；v.(使)起泡

参考例句：

• The water begins to bubble.水开始起泡了。
• Their hopes of success have burst like a bubble.他们成功的希望已经成了泡影。

3 grim   

adj.严酷的，令人害怕的，不愉快的，讨厌的

参考例句：

• I've had a grim day.我过了不愉快的一天。
• His expression was grim when he told them they had lost their jobs.当他告诉他们说他们已被解雇时，他的表情十分冷酷。

4 grab   

vt./n.攫取，抓取；vi.攫取，抓住(at)

参考例句：

• It is rude to grab a seat.抢占座位是不礼貌的。
• The thief made a grab at my bag but I pushed him away.贼想抢我的手提包，但被我推开了。

5 startling   

a.令人吃惊的，惊人的

参考例句：

• He asked us to be quiet and then made a startling announcement. 他叫我们安静下来，然后宣布了一条令人吃惊的消息。
• We should draw a moral from the startling fact. 我们应当从这些触目惊心的事实中吸取教训。

6 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 distracted   

a.注意力分散的，思想不集中的

参考例句：

• When working, one should concentrate and not allow oneself to be distracted. 工作时要集中精力，不要分心。
• Noise outside distracted her mind from her studies. 门外的噪音使她心神不宁，无法集中注意力学习。

8 client   

n.委托人，当事人，顾客

参考例句：

• She can't come to the telephone;she's serving a client.她不能来接电话，她正在接待一位顾客。
• The lawyer produced a clever defence of his client.律师机智地为委托人辩护。

9 softly   

adv.柔和地，静静地，温柔地

参考例句：

• He speaks too softly for her to hear.他讲话声音太轻，她听不见。
• She breathed her advice softly.她低声劝告。

10 sneer   

v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语

参考例句：

• He said with a sneer.他的话中带有嘲笑之意。
• You may sneer,but a lot of people like this kind of music.你可以嗤之以鼻，但很多人喜欢这种音乐。