‘I’m sorry that I haven’t better news,’ said Eileen. ‘Both Grace and my mother are buried up at Highgate Cemetery, as are my grandparents. Grace is in my grandparents’ grave and Minty was buried with my mother and father. Amelia Jeffrey, it says on the gravestone. That was my mother’s married name and, of course, my surname.’

I prayed that Heather didn’t reveal that we’d been up in the cemetery or else Eileen would really be suspicious. Luckily she didn’t.

We left half an hour later, and as we got into the car and drove away, Heather burst out laughing.

‘What’s so funny?’ I asked.

‘Think about it. Consciousness is the greatest mystery in the world, but it’s pretty clear now that what your lady in India said was true; in which case, you were Grace, and that elderly woman back there, Eileen Jeffrey, was your niece.’

I groaned. ‘That’s too weird to even think about. In the meantime, I think I need a stiff drink.’

‘Me too,’ said Heather, ‘and we need a new plan.’

‘Which is?’

‘Obvious, idiot. Billy. We have to find out who he is now. No question about it, after this latest development. Grace was real, Minty was real, Billy was real. You knew Minty’s nickname, and even Pete with all his sleuth skills on the ancestry sites couldn’t have found that out. The whole story was buried in your subconscious somewhere.’

‘It was amazing looking at those photos. They were exactly the people I saw in my regression session. I have Grace’s memories.’

‘So you believe it all now?’ asked Heather.

‘I do. Absolutely. No doubt.’

‘Me too. So, you’re here again and, as Saranya Ji said, so is he. You have to look for him, discover where he is now, and who.’

‘The latest model.’

‘New version Billy.’

‘My new edition soulmate.’

‘Talk about blast from the past!’

We both laughed. Today had changed everything and I felt fired up to continue the search for who Billy was now.

35

When I got home, I made a quick note of who was on my contenders’ list.

• Kevin
• Bruno
• Sam
• Michael
• Jon

Get out of my head Jon Howard, I thought as I crossed his name off the list, then I texted my brother Matthew to ask about Bruno. He texted straight back. ‘Look on my Facebook page, Bruno’s on there, but we haven’t actually been in touch for years. You thinking of looking him up? Think he got married.’