‘Emer, thank goodness. It’s Dee. I’ve been trying to call you the last few days but your phone’s been disconnected. You didn’t tell me you were going back to Ireland. Is everything okay?’

‘Excuse me, I think there’s been some mistake. What did you say your name was?’

‘Dee. Your cousin.’

‘And how am I meant to know you?’

‘Because we’ve met,’ Dee said. ‘In London.’

But she already knew it was pointless. This woman sounded different. Her voice was deeper, her accent stronger.

‘I think I must have dialled the wrong number,’ she said. ‘Sorry.’

‘Hang on,’ the woman said. ‘You said your name is Dee?’

‘Dee Doran. Your cousin.’

‘I do have a cousin called Dee,’ the woman said. ‘But I’ve never met her. Which means she wouldn’t be calling here asking to speak to me, pretending we’d already been in touch. So maybe you can start again. And this time, tell me who the hell you really are.’

Twenty-four

‘I doesn’t make any sense,’ Emer said.

‘But you were in London in July?’ Dee said. ‘And that incident on the London Underground really happened?’

‘That’s right.’ Emer could still feel it. The shock of recognition when the woman had looked up from her book. ‘But it’s not her. My stepfather hired a private detective who told him she’s definitely not Kitty.’

‘What else did you stepfather tell you?’

‘He said she’s not Kitty. Her name is Annie Holden. She’s an artist from Sussex.’

‘Which is right,’ Dee said. ‘But it wasn’t a private detective who found this out, Emer. It was me.’

Emer didn’t reply, because she had no idea what to say.

‘Are you okay?’ Dee asked.

‘Not really,’ Emer said. ‘If what you’re telling me is the truth, then that means Robert has been lying to me.’

‘When did your stepfather tell you about Annie?’

‘Tuesday,’ Emer said. ‘Why?’

‘On Monday, I went for lunch with the woman who was pretending to be you. That’s when I told her that Annie Holden wasn’t Kitty. Then the next day – the very next day – your stepfather told you the same thing.’

‘So the woman who was pretending to be me,’ Emer said, ‘she was the detective hired by Robert?’

‘I don’t think so,’ Dee said. ‘Why would a private detective need me to do their dirty work for them?’

‘Robert didn’t want you involved,’ Emer said. ‘That’s why he hired the detective. But maybe she contacted you without him knowing about it.’

Or maybe Robert had been spinning her a load of bullshit. It wasn’t cold in the house but Emer was shivering. Her body was reacting faster than her brain to what she was being told.

‘How do I know you’re telling the truth?’ she asked. Because now she thought about it, the person making this phone call could be anyone.