My wife had gone to the mall in Manchester; it was around a ninety-minute drive from home, so I knew I had a decent amount of time alone. I locked the front and back doors; that meant that you needed a key to get in, and we only had three of them, so I was sure I would be undisturbed. I had a key, my wife had one, and her mother had one, and there was no reason why she would call in with Gillian out of town. This was a da...

It was the anniversary of Paul's death. I felt maudlin and had booked a 'get away from it all' Airbnb in the dales. It was at the end of a long grass track, about two miles from the nearest road. The road itself was little more than a single track. The webpage had said it had slow WIFI, it had electricity, and it had a wood-fuelled AGA wood stove that also heated the water and the cottage in winter. It sounded perfect. I...

My wife Jessie was away on business, a trip to London for a few days to negotiate the terms of a contract her company would be undertaking. We texted as she sat on the train, we FaceTimed as she walked through Euston, we FaceTimed again as she sat in the cab to her hotel, and then later, once she was settled in her room, she FaceTimed me again. "I hate being away from you, sweetheart," she said, her face close to the scre...