Extract From Notebook 4
I wonder what you would do, Nell, if you knew where I spend most of my free time.
If you took a little more interest in the area where you live, if you stopped and chatted to the neighbors, you might have discovered that the house opposite yours is for sale.
Fortunately for me, the current owners, who live abroad—China, I believe—don’t want a “For Sale” sign advertising that the property is empty so it’s only by looking on estate agents’ websites that someone can see there’s a house for sale in the very street where you live.
I came across it by chance, when I happened to be wondering how much your house was worth.
I was looking at similar properties in the area to get an idea of the value when I found it.
I went there in the dead of night to see if it had a lock I could easily pick and I was inside within seconds.
It was empty, no furniture, nothing. I groped my way upstairs and into the room at the front, from where I had a spectacular view of your house.
It’s made my life so much easier.
When I’m there, in the house across the street, I make sure to stand well back from the windows, although the chances of anyone seeing me are slim. And because you always come out of your house with your head down, I could stand stark naked in the center of the window without fear of you seeing me.
Do you have any idea how much your house is worth, Nell?
I think you’d be surprised if you knew. If I were in your shoes, about to die, I’d sell it and go on a wonderful holiday, or do something I’d always dreamed of doing.
I wonder what you would choose to do, Nell, if you knew you would soon be dead?
Not that it matters. We’ll hardly be discussing our bucket lists when I kill you.