The Empty Table

The woman at the other guesthouse asked whether they wanted breakfast too. Liv had eaten bread in her car outside home, before starting the engine. She said they'd only come to see Daan. Els looked at the laid tables and asked whether she could at least order coffee.

‘Always,’ the woman said.

The small dining room faced the street. Its curtains were open, three plants on the sill growing in the same direction. A couple ate silently at one table. In a corner stood a highchair without its tray. Daan sat beneath the clock, his case already beside his chair.

‘Morning. You're early.’

Els checked the clock. ‘Half eight.’

‘Yes. I didn't mean too early.’

He moved the plate of rolls to make space. Liv took the outside chair. She had to stop herself asking at once whether he'd slept. She didn't want the question to become proof that noises in the other house were ordinary.

Els put a little bag beside his plate. A charger inside.

‘This was behind the table. Thought you might need it at the school.’

‘I've been looking for that.’

Daan took the bag, checked the plug and pulled out the lead. He draped it over his case before sitting again. Two small actions that visibly eased his hurry.

‘Thought I'd packed it in the other bag.’

Els nodded. Did he have everything else? He'd made good use of the papers and ironed his shirt. He didn't point at himself. A jumper covered the shirt; Liv could only see its collar.

The woman brought coffee. Els kept her hands away from the jug as the woman poured. She was the guest here. Liv saw the movement stop halfway, then become an adjustment to her spoon.

‘I slept reasonably well,’ Daan said. ‘You can ask.’

Liv smiled. ‘I was going to.’

‘There's a door upstairs that shuts rather hard. But I just thought: someone shutting a door.’

No triumph in it. Els looked down. Her phone was out. She wanted to settle his bill and first establish whether breakfast was extra. The woman had included it, as agreed. Daan said he'd pay the difference if that made it easier.

‘It isn't difficult,’ Els said.

‘I just don't want you treating me as though I fell down the stairs.’

‘We're not.’

The sharpness was audible. He held her gaze without answering in kind. Nothing to negotiate: he hadn't fallen. She'd arranged another room because he didn't want to think every sound was directed at him.

‘That wasn't why,’ Liv said. ‘You asked to stay elsewhere. We could arrange it.’

‘Yes. And I'm glad.’

Els put her phone down. ‘Last night I kept thinking I should have told you when you arrived.’

‘Told me what?’

‘What we'd heard.’

Daan drew his coffee closer. ‘Difficult, isn't it? Tell someone a voice sometimes comes out of the wall and they'll definitely listen for it.’

‘But you'd have had the choice.’

‘True.’

He was quiet a moment. A girl came in carrying a large tray and put it on an empty table. The woman called her back: the cups didn't need clearing yet. Daan looked up and smiled at the mistake. Liv couldn't tell whether the girl worked here or was family. She didn't need to know to see that the person calling her was there.

‘I shouldn't have asked for the exact words yesterday as though you'd got something wrong,’ Liv said.

‘It did feel a bit like that.’

He didn't soften it. She was glad he hadn't let her think she'd imagined the problem.

‘I wanted to know whether it was the sentence I'd heard. But you'd just been hanging onto the banister.’

‘I don't have to remember every sentence to know why I went upstairs.’

‘No.’

Els looked between them. She didn't need Liv to explain every circumstance for her. She asked which account to use for refunding Daan's original booking. She'd pay this guesthouse directly, as agreed. He found the confirmation on his phone and showed her the name on it.

‘Then I'm not paying for a night's stay at all.’

‘I know. That's what I want.’

She kept her phone ready while he found the details. She'd already told the other guesthouse to send its bill to her.

Liv moved her chair back a little. The couple got up to leave. The woman brought a trolley and offered more coffee. Daan declined; he had to go soon. Els asked whether he had enough time to reach the school. She'd checked the bus, but he'd found another that took him closer.

‘I'll make it.’

He put the charger in his case and clicked it shut, the papers going into a separate folder. Liv stood to give him space. School didn't start with his meeting, he explained. He needn't be trying the door as the first bell rang. Still, he'd rather be early.

‘Time to sit for a bit without having to open the computer.’

Els offered him a lift. She hadn't brought a car. From the look she gave Liv, she'd offered Liv's help before asking. Liv said nothing. Daan shook his head.

‘I'll get the bus. I've bought the tickets now.’

He put on his coat and thanked them again. Els began something about coming back another time, but stopped at time. Daan said he hadn't tried the soup; she needn't use that to persuade him yet.

Liv held the door. He went along the street, case trailing at an angle. At the corner he checked his phone, looked up at the bus-stop sign and carried on. His own appointment. No reason to ring him afterwards about the same sound.

Els came to stand beside her.

‘I shouldn't have offered to have you drive him.’

‘I could have.’

‘That's different.’

Liv nodded. A long drive for two coffees and a conversation she couldn't improve. Els watched the corner until Daan was gone.

Inside she paid for the coffee. The woman asked whether there was anything to pass on when Daan collected his case later. He'd taken it, Els said. Everything was all right. They needed nothing more from him.

On the pavement, Liv took seven's key from her bag. She hadn't returned it yesterday. It lay beside the cable she'd deliberately remembered this morning.

‘This is yours.’

Els took it. ‘I used the spare.’

‘Seven and eight?’

‘Both locked. Eight isn't let anyway. I've taken seven off the calendar.’

She spoke quickly, as though it were a little job to fit in before breakfast. Liv didn't ask how many days. Els pulled up her coat zip.

‘I want to hear what Bram says first. Not about the voices. About the system. Then I'll decide.’

Liv pointed towards her car. They could drive back. Els had walked, she said. It had been good to get away from seeing somebody else's breakfast waiting. Liv waited for her to get in before shutting her own door.

On the way, Els asked about the roofing bill. Liv said the explanation was clearer and she still had to settle the hours. Had the photograph actually shown anything?

‘Battens they couldn't put back. I think so.’

‘Not a pretty sight.’

‘They are now.’

They laughed briefly. A cyclist came from the right; Liv braked. Els's hand went automatically towards the dashboard, though it couldn't stop anything. She took it back without comment.

Light rain fell on the guesthouse. The breakfast card had been brought inside. Liv hadn't seen it missing from outside before. Els got out. She didn't use the key Liv had just returned for the front door; she had another on her own ring.

Quiet indoors. Nothing on three's table. Yesterday the empty place hadn't struck Liv. Now Els looked at it before taking off her coat.

She straightened the mandarin bowl and went into the kitchen. Liv waited at the counter with her bag. Help remember what Bram said, then home. That wasn't an agreement to come every day. She mustn't silently make it one.

‘I don't want to listen again today,’ she said when Els came back.

‘I'm not asking you to.’

‘No.’

‘I just want to know where the thing is.’

Els looked at the stairs. Liv heard how much effort that just cost her, keeping this an ordinary visit from a maintenance man. She wanted that too. She didn't need recordings of her own to point out an old tube.

They drank water in the kitchen. Els found half a loaf in a bag and inspected the crust. She still had an order with Roos. Usually she kept extra for the weekend. Now she didn't know whether she'd need it.

‘Can you cancel?’ Liv asked.

‘The bread's already made.’

She took her phone. Liv didn't help her find the words. Els told Roos she'd collect the order, but tomorrow's could be smaller. She didn't begin with Daan's whole story. Then she asked Roos to ring when she'd finished work.

‘No, nothing to do with the bread. Something here.’

She put down the phone. The oven showed one time, the microwave another. Liv looked between them, then at Els.

‘That one's always fast. I set it wrong and never put it right.’

Liv felt caught out. She hadn't said anything. Els pulled the half-loaf closer, set down the knife and offered her some.

‘I've had breakfast.’

‘So have I. Doesn't mean it'll last all day.’

Liv took a piece. More crust than she'd expected; she had to pull it apart with both hands. Els put the other bread in the freezer. She wrote the date, reconsidered, then drew the bag back to label its type too. Work continued while the rest remained uncertain.

Roos rang before Bram arrived. Els neither left the room nor used speakerphone. Liv heard yes, then a long silence. She wiped the worktop so she wouldn't just sit watching.

‘Perhaps tonight,’ Els said. ‘I need to hear what he says first.’

Liv put down the cloth. Apparently Roos had offered Els somewhere to stay. Els didn't ask Liv to stay as well. Every safe bed needn't become a verdict on another house.

Afterwards Els took a small notebook from a drawer. She listed the door, the downpipe and the speaking tube. Liv saw she'd first written tubes, then crossed out the s.

‘There are two branches,’ Liv said.

‘One thing bothering me, though.’

Els put a full stop after the last word. Liv left it. Outside, an engine slowed. No immediate ring. A car door, a second door, then the bell against the glass.

Els got up, took the notebook, put it back in the drawer and went to the front door. Liv stayed a moment to swallow her last mouthful. Then she picked up the old plan and followed her into the hall.