I don’t know what I want to ask Jess. I don’t know if I want to ask her anything. I need to hear what she has to say. She claims to have more she couldn’t tell me in an email. My heart jumps as I try to imagine what it might be, whether I’ll believe it. Twenty-four hours ago, I’d never heard of this woman. Now I’ve driven to the other end of the country to find out what she’s got against Tom. But I need to hear it.

The Garland Ox is a small pub on a busy street. I step inside, realising I don’t even know what Jess looks like. I can only imagine I’ll stand out like a sore thumb, though, and that she’ll be able to spot me a mile off.

I order a lemonade and sit down at a small table by the window, and watch as people slowly file past on their way home from work or just out walking the dog. A couple of minutes later, the door opens and a woman walks in. My heart lurches as I see her. She looks almost identical to me. Her hair, face, body shape. We could almost have been twins.

She sees me and walks straight over to me.

‘Grace?’ she says.

I nod. ‘Hi,’ I say, standing and shaking her hand.

‘I thought I’d recognise you. Tom’s certainly got a type, hasn’t he?’

‘So it seems.’

Jess gets herself a drink, then comes and sits down opposite me.

‘I hope I didn’t shock you with that email,’ she says, ‘but when I found out he had a new partner I had to warn you. I totally get it if you don’t believe me, or if you think I’m some sort of nutter. But I’m guessing that you probably don’t, seeing as you’re here.’

‘Yeah. I don’t really know why that is,’ I say. ‘Well, I do. Normally, I probably would have emailed you back or phoned you. But I read your email last night, and when I woke up this morning it was gone. I remembered your name, though, and that you said you were a police officer here.’

Jess’s eyes narrow. ‘Does he know you’re here?’

‘No. He’s in Japan. For work.’

‘Okay. Switch your mobile off.’

‘What? Why?’

‘So he doesn’t know where you are. He’s clever, Grace. Too clever. That email didn’t just delete itself. I bet you any money Tom did it. That’s what he does. He’ll be able to access your emails remotely. Probably your messages and phone calls, too. And he’ll almost certainly be able to see where your phone is. You need to switch it off so he can’t track you any further. He’ll probably already know you’re here and that I’ve called you, but there’s not a lot we can do about that. We definitely don’t want him to narrow it down any further. When’s he due back in the country?’

‘Not for another few days. He’s not even landed in Japan yet.’