Chapter and then I'll be down..." He said already fixating his eyes on the page once again, "hold on..."

So I got up alone, wandered along the dark hall to the stairs and then down to the dark kitchen. The house was deathly quiet. With every step, the floorboards groaned and the clock on the wall in the kitchen ticked intensely against the silence.

It was the stark contrast to the usual noise in the house that you can hardly hear yourself think over.

As I opened the fridge, the quiet shattered with the ringing of the doorbell.

I looked at my watch. It was the crack of dawn. Hardly a time to pop round with good news.

My thoughts immediately went to Luca and how we'd be one of the first to be told if something awful had happened.

Panic already setting in, I rushed into the hall and tried to peer out the window to make out any shadows but there was nothing. The only thing suggesting I hadn't imagined it was Max appearing at the top of the stairs.

"Do not open it," he ordered, "I'll get my gun just to be sure."