Leanne pulled the bedclothes away and braved the cold, hoping the shock would get her brain firing on all cylinders.

‘What about the second seat along?’ she asked. Two complimentary tickets had been issued, even though Claudia had used only one. ‘Could she have been sitting there?’

‘Hmm, I don’t think so,’ Carole said, quashing Leanne’s remaining hope. ‘There was another lady, but no, I’m absolutely certain it wasn’t Claudia.’

‘Are you sure? Would it help if you took another look at her picture?’

‘No. I’m one hundred per cent certain it wasn’t her. And I’m sorry, but I do have to go. More babysitting duties.’

‘That’s OK.’

‘Bye then,’ Carole said. The line went dead.

Leanne grabbed her dressing gown, pushed her feet into her slipper boots, and hobbled through to the galley where works surfaces had been cleaned, and dishes washed and cleared away. She was too cold to admire her handiwork, and moved towards the back of the boat and the equally tidy saloon. The log burner had been cleaned and stacked with fresh kindling and logs. She thanked her former drunken self as she struck a match to the firelighter and watched the flames take hold.

As she crouched down to absorb the heat, she noticed the rolled-up seating plan resting next to the steps by the door. She should be relieved that she hadn’t left it in the pub, but at that precise moment, she was more inclined to feed it into the fire. As her cheeks began to tingle with warmth, she sat back and crossed her legs, resting her back against the corner of the futon.

Claudia wasn’t Carole’s hysterical woman, nor was she in the second seat, which made sense, because surely Claudia would have mentioned giving away the spare ticket, or taking a companion – not that Claudia had ever given information freely, but still. Breathing in through her nose, Leanne let go of her disappointment with a long exhalation. Her mind stilled.

‘Oh. My. God,’ she said out loud.

Cogs whirred inside her head and she ignored the fresh wave of nausea. Neither of the two women had been Claudia. So where the hell had she been sitting?

24

Leanne became fascinated by the droplets of condensation that shimmered like pearls on the inside of her windscreen. Once they reached critical mass, they etched a seemingly random path down the film of moisture clinging to the glass. Or were they random paths? Like her thoughts, the droplets zigzagged this way and that, absorbing whatever they touched, growing in weight, moving faster, and then plop. Game over.