Tired from all the walking, and with her shoulders aching from carrying so many bags and hunching over a screen, she closed the software down and decided to get ready for bed, but not before trying on her purchases again. Yes, she had given in to another pair of dark blue jeans, a couple of plain T-shirts, and a pack of M&S undies, because she needed them for practical, day-to-day life, but she had bought a few other things too. Things that she would definitely call surprising. A long skirt with an uneven hankie-shaped hem that skimmed her knees at the front and almost reached her ankles at the back. A bright red top with zips on the shoulders – she had never worn anything quite so red! A pair of soft brown leather trousers which she was on the verge of convincing herself to take back in the morning until she realised how much of a rebel they made her feel, and that being a rebel was a whole new experience she felt suddenly ready to embrace.

Curled on the sofa and back in her cosy pyjamas, she put her romance novel aside and started on a psychological thriller, the tension building up as she turned each page until she worried that the dark and disturbing images it was conjuring up in her mind were getting a little too scary and might keep her awake. A cup of tea, a couple of slices of toast and a comedy programme on TV soon settled her thoughts back to normal levels, and she took herself off to bed with no further thoughts of Joe or Luke, just Madi’s mystery man gazing down at her from the photo frame beside the bed as she turned off the light. There was something about his face that seemed familiar. Something about the eyes, although it was impossible to tell if they were brown or blue. If only it had been a clearer image, better focused, or even in colour, she just might be able to work out why she thought she recognised him.

When she woke, later than usual, the sun was already slanting its way in through a gap in the curtains. She pulled them back and looked out over the small garden down below. Somehow, what with the typical chilly March weather and her being out and about during the daytime, she still hadn’t found her way down there to investigate, but the wonky wooden bench still stood there beneath the tree, looking for all the world as if nobody ever used it. Maybe today she could try sitting outside for a while. If she wore her coat and took a hot drink with her, she might manage an hour or so reading in the fresh air. It was the thing she missed the most in winter, that daily dose of warmth on her skin as she sat and listened to the birds and lost herself in a good book.

She never had identified what the third key on Madi’s keyring was for, and was banking on it opening a back door or a gate somewhere downstairs that would lead her out to the garden. Unless, of course, it wasn’t communal land at all, but belonged to one of the ground-floor residents. In which case, she would go out to that little park where she’d fed the birds and read there instead.