It was a surpise to discover that grandad's home disappeared down the sink hole. The ground literally swallowed him up, not a trace for over ten years.

Now I was grown up, I was allowed to stand around with the paramedics and police and watch the removal of the body. I didn't avert my eyes like Mrs Wozniak standing next to me, one moment excited and chattering, eating ham and mustard sandwiches, spitting crumbs, next moment for once in her life she was quiet. The reality of life versus CSI on tv. Soon after turning her thick neck away she dropped the plastic tupperware and rushed home. To be sick I imagined.

She'd always had a soft spot for grandad, so I had overheard from mom telling her sister in a whispered aggressive way. I didn't understand back then what it was all about.

I stood about until the body was driven away then slowly walked back to my car. Wondering what the autopsy would show. Murder or the hand of God.

Mr Wozniak disappeared soon after grandad, suitcase in hand.