‘Is this a chat over a glass of wine in the kitchen, or a chat in bed?’

Tom laughed. ‘Shall we go straight to bed?’

‘Sounds like a plan.’ She gave his thigh a gentle squeeze as he parked the car on the drive.

Tom draped his arm around Louisa’s shoulders as they walked towards the door. As he put his key in the lock, he could hear the answerphone pinging and hoped it wasn’t anything that was going to ruin his plans for the night.

‘Sorry, but I’m going to have to check that isn’t something important,’ he said. ‘Nobody’s tried my mobile, though, so that’s a good sign.’

‘It’s okay. I’ll get a glass of water to take up. Do you want anything?’

He shook his head and Louisa walked towards the kitchen. ‘Did you leave the light on, Tom?’ she shouted over her shoulder.

‘Doubt it,’ he said, pressing ‘Play’ on the phone. He listened for a moment to some salesman suggesting that Tom change his energy supplier and then hung up. As he put the handset down he thought he heard a faint gasp.

‘You okay, darling?’ he called. There was no response.

Tom hurried down the corridor towards the kitchen. The door was open. Louisa was just inside. She was standing perfectly still and Tom couldn’t see beyond her into the room.

‘Louisa?’

She didn’t turn, but moved one step to the side. Tom took a pace forward and froze. In his kitchen, sitting at his table, was a man with a scruffy beard and wild black hair held back loosely in an elastic band, a laptop computer open in front of him. He looked up and smiled.

‘Sorry if I gave you a fright,’ he said.

Tom knew he should say something, but he couldn’t speak.

‘Lost for words, little brother?’ the man said.

CHAPTER 37

37

I haven’t drunk my tea yet. I know I’m being ungrateful, and I can see why Thea wants to keep me well, but I need to organise my thoughts and I have learned that her tea doesn’t help; it makes me groggy, sleepy.

A foggy recollection of the woman sitting on my bed insisting I drink my tea nags at me, and I suddenly recall what she said as she walked out of the room.

She said her name was Judith. Did I imagine that?

I don’t think I did, so is she the original Judith, the first of what Thea called her ‘waifs and strays’? I got the impression that the first Judith was long gone, but if that’s who the woman is, why is she still here? And why do they call me Judith too? Weird as I’ve always found it, it now seems twice as weird, and I feel a shudder run through my body.