Fog swirled through the trees, their fallen leaves weaving a red carpet over pavements and parked cars. Lianne turned up her coat collar, shielding her face from the crisp morning air as she strode towards her Ford Fiesta. While peeling slimy leaves from between the wipers, her fingers snagged on something different—papery and crinkled…

A fine mist of rain on the windowpane blurs her view onto the street and the rambling green hills in the distance. She's already on her second cappuccino, but still no sign of him. She's seated in the far corner of the picturesque little cottage turned café, farthest away from…

I check my watch and sigh. Henry's bedtime came and went. I'm on my feet all day, and the scar below my navel feels like it's tearing me apart. Shuffling steps on the worn carpet make me look up.

A pale hand, veined like spiderwebs with bulging blue lines, drops silver coins on the counter. They look like relics, lost a century ago in a lake or fountain—perhaps by accident, perhaps for luck. I don't have much luck, and neither does the man before me, by the look of him…