Chapter 13: The basement

The shoe box I’d placed Mr Meow in sat atop my fold out table. As I lit my morning cigarette and sipped a cup of tea I wondered if it was disrespectful to smoke next to a body.

I decided that disrespect was in the eye of the beholder.

I’d often thought of Essie as I smoked. Remembering how we bonded over a few spare cig’s. That hadn’t made me feel disrespectful. I was smoking more than usual with the stress I was under too, I found it was a welcome few minutes break from life.

I’d wanted to sit on my balcony that morning to try and get some light and escape from the claustrophobic feel of the flat. I knew that with my determination to find Derek it might be the last I saw the sun, but the window cleaner was out there, just howling and scratching at the door.

To be honest the flat felt so empty without Jamie, Mr Meow or even the vine, that for a moment I almost considered letting him in.