‘Seriously? What’s the point? So you find two people who had those names, they could be the names of people she met the day before she saw us, and now today she’s telling some other sucker that they were Bea Brooks or Marcia and Peter Rodgers in a previous life. Grace and Billy could be the names of people she met anywhere on her tour. And if, by some miracle, you find that they did exist in the past, in London, there would be nothing to prove I was a Grace Harris in a previous existence.’

‘We’re going to look into it,’ said Marcia. ‘Let’s see what we can find.’

I looked over at Pete who was still looking at his laptop. ‘Can’t you stop her?’ I asked.

‘I think you already know the answer to that … And what harm will it do?’

‘Exactly,’ said Marcia. ‘Keep an open mind, Bea. So, second part of the plan, we look at your past lovers, where they are now and if, by any chance, there’s someone you overlooked. It can happen. Twin souls or soulmates sometimes have stuff to work out on their own before they get together as a couple. So. Men. How many?’

‘I’m not answering that,’ I said.

‘Well, I probably know most of them,’ said Marcia.

Pete peered over his laptop. He had a mischievous look in his eyes. ‘And so do I.’

No you don’t, I thought. Although I’d known both of them through the ups and downs of most of my relationships, I’d had a few secret liaisons they knew nothing about.

‘But maybe there have been others that we don’t know about,’ Marcia continued as if picking up on my thoughts. ‘Was there anyone you felt that feeling of familiarity with that Saranya Ji spoke of? Think, Bea. Someone you let go and always regretted that it didn’t work out?’

‘All of them. All of them were my soulmates. I regretted that it didn’t work out with all of them. Happy?’

‘No, don’t forget I lived through most of it with you, which is why I care so much.’

‘Er … there was that bloke Michael,’ Pete said. ‘The musician. You were pretty keen on him as far as I remember.’

I ignored him.

‘Yes, he was the first one who came to my mind,’ said Marcia.

‘Then you’ve both forgotten what happened with him. Anyway, what qualifies as a lover? I had a crush on my art teacher, Mr Doyle, at school – loads of us did, remember Marcia?’

Marcia wrote down the name. ‘Course, he was gorgeous; half the school was in love with him. OK. We can make a first-division list and a second. Crushes can go on the second because they might be people that you recognized but didn’t get to act out the feeling with.’