Karin went to the sink to wash her hands. The leathery patches of healed burns on her palms had become invisible to her, as were the sharper scar lines, but Claudia noticed.

‘I can remember switching it on,’ Karin said, ‘but that doesn’t mean anything. I have this infuriating need to fill in my memory gaps and sometimes, when I read someone else’s account, it’s as if I lived it too.’ She chewed her lip. ‘Even what happened to Amelia. I dream that it was me with her.’

With her head bowed in shame, Karin rinsed the soap suds from her hands. She thought she was stealing Claudia’s memories instead of recapturing her own. That was good.

‘Beth still has her torch though,’ she continued. ‘That reporter was looking at it.’

‘She was?’

Picking up a tea towel, Karin took time to dry her hands. She hadn’t looked up yet and for the first time, Claudia suspected she wasn’t being as open as she could be.

‘Did they talk for long?’

‘Quite a while.’

‘And what else do you think they chatted about? Beth must have said something to you.’

‘Bits,’ she admitted. ‘There must have been some talk about our theatre tickets because Beth asked if Declan had told me who he got them off. I presumed it was Phillipa, but Beth asked if it might have been you.’

‘You know that’s not possible. I’ve told you before, I don’t think I ever met him.’

‘I know,’ Karin answered quickly. ‘I’m not suggesting there was something going on.’

Claudia felt a rush of blood to her cheeks. She didn’t like the way Karin’s mind had made the leap to a suggestion of impropriety, or how her brow remained furrowed. ‘Good,’ she said.

‘But, are you sure you didn’t see him inside the Empress?’ Karin asked. ‘Isn’t it possible you bumped into him? I have this image of him looking down at me. And I see you too.’

As Karin spoke, she held out her hands in front of her. It looked as if she were reaching for the ghost of her brother only to grasp thin air, but Claudia knew differently. She was mirroring something she had seen.

Noticing the look of horror on Claudia’s face, Karin said, ‘Sorry, I told you my memories are jumbled. Of course you weren’t up there.’

Claudia rested a hand on the kitchen counter. ‘No, I wasn’t, and if it’s not too much to ask, I’d rather you didn’t say things like that again, not to anyone, not even to Beth. The press would love to link me to your brother just for the fun of it.’

‘I can’t believe they’ve let Phillipa off the hook.’