The car pulled to a stop directly in front of her old Toyota, and someone got out. She couldn’t make out much because the person was on the far side. Then she saw the beam from a torch. He was approaching her car, the beam searching its interior.

Oh God. Was this some kind of a set-up? Had the man in the club lured her to a deserted location for someone else – maybe more than one?

When he realises the car’s empty, he’s going to come hunting for me.

The man tried the door – thank God she’d locked it – and flashed the light around a bit more. He went back to the front of the car and shone the torch on the number plate. He was noting down her number! Why would he do that?

He walked away from the car and she thought he was leaving, but then he stepped onto the path, shining the torch first away from her and then the other way – towards her.

Sharon crouched as low as she could, dipping her head so her white face wouldn’t show in the beam of light, praying her black coat would keep her hidden. She slipped off her high-heeled shoes and hid them under the bush in case she had to make a run for it.

She heard the crunch of his feet on the gravel.

He was coming.

CHAPTER 2

2

As I wake up, I wonder for a moment where I am. I didn’t think I would sleep – my internal clock is totally confused by travelling so far east – but maybe it is relief at all I have left behind.

I nearly didn’t come, and had Ian had his way I would still be at home tending to his every need.

I’m here because of my grandfather, who for over seventy years had wanted to return to a place that was close to his heart – Burma, or Myanmar as it is now known – where he was stationed during the war. He never made it, but he bought me a ticket and asked me to promise to make the trip for him – to be his eyes and ears.

Pops died before my trip began, so he was never going to hear about the places I’m visiting, but in those last days as I sat by his sickbed he still begged me to go.

‘Take a break, love,’ he said, his voice breathy and faint. ‘Get away from here and give yourself some space to think about your future – the kind of life you deserve. I only want you to be happy, you know that. And I don’t think you are.’

It was as if he was shining a bright light on my life, especially on my relationship with Ian.