‘Why do you think?’ she hissed, clutching Toby’s hand like a lifeline. ‘And I can’t talk about it now!’

Eventually a tube came and they stuffed themselves on to it. Belatedly, Thea realised it was the rush hour, and they’d have a very squashed journey. She felt Toby’s hand become sweaty in her own, but she wouldn’t release it. It was her fault he was lost and she couldn’t risk it happening again. ‘I expect we’ll start steaming soon,’ she told him. ‘Like in a rainforest.’

It was still raining when they emerged and the warmth they had felt in the tube was washed away. ‘OK Rory, we’re in your hands. Which way?’

Rory lead them to the gallery quickly enough, but when they got there it was closed.

Thea rattled the door in frustrated disbelief. ‘They can’t just close it. They must have known we’d come back with Toby. Veronica must be beside herself with anxiety.’

‘My nanny will be more worried, I expect.’ Toby began to look nervous himself.

‘It’s all right, Toby,’ Thea soothed. ‘We’ll sort it out. Where’s Ben at the moment? Up here, or down in Bristol?’

‘Here.’

‘Were you going to go home with Veronica?’ The thought of Toby spending time with that harpy made Thea shudder.

Toby shook his head. ‘No. She’s too busy to see me this weekend, which is why we visited her at the gallery.’

‘Then why didn’t she stay there? Now we must think what’s the best thing to do.’

‘Get out of the rain,’ said Rory.

‘Should we go back to your house, Toby? Or Veronica’s?’

‘Mine, but it’s miles away.’

‘Then why in God’s na—I mean, then why did you visit Veronica at the gallery if it’s miles away from where you live?’

Toby shrugged. ‘I think she thought it would be fun for us, coming on the bus.’

‘You don’t remember which bus, Tobe?’ asked Rory. ‘We could get one back.’

‘We had to change. It took ages.’

‘Well, I’ve had enough. I’m going to lie down in the road outside Harrods until a taxi stops.’

‘But Thea,’ protested Toby as he was pulled along behind her, ‘they won’t see you if you’re lying down.’

‘Well,’ said Rory a few moments later. ‘I was a bit shocked by the way you pushed that old lady aside, Thea.’

‘I didn’t push her aside and she wasn’t old. She was warm and dry, and had just indulged in a lot of retail therapy. Our need was the greater.’

‘It’ll cost an awful lot to go by taxi all the way to my house,’ said Toby, who had given the address to the driver.

‘Too late to think about that now, old man.’