At the beginning, Carl meets and old friend, John, and he decides to tell him his story. He says that when things started to be wrong between Linda (his wife) and him, they bought a house by the sea to spend their weekends. But Carl was very busy and he worked every weekend. One day, he asked Linda to come to their holiday house with him. She had to meet her husband at Little Moreton’s station, but she did not arrive. Then Carl tells John about is worry and his tiredness after his route to find Linda.