It must have been planted to celebrate some major event in their lives – perhaps an anniversary – and I give Thea a gentle smile and turn back towards an open doorway leading into what I imagine they would call the drawing room. I can see the doctor, sitting on a dark red leather chesterfield, nursing what appears to be a large brandy.

Thea walks into the room ahead of me. ‘Look who I’ve brought to see you, dear.’

He looks up, and I notice that his eyes are slightly vacant, as if his mind was somewhere else, but like the gentleman he undoubtedly is, he pushes himself to his feet to take my hand. ‘Welcome, Judith. It’s good to have you with us.’

For a moment I’m taken aback by his greeting, and I’m about to open my mouth to speak when I see Thea give me a hard stare and a quick shake of the head, so I hold my tongue.

The doctor is still speaking. ‘Come and take a seat, my dear. Thea, would you like your usual?’ he asks, walking towards a silver drinks tray holding various decanters, each of which contains a dark brown liquid. He pours her a drink and hands it to her. ‘What about you, Judith? What will you have?’

He indicates the array of decanters in front of him, but I don’t know what to say. I glance at Thea again, and she’s watching me. I have a funny feeling it’s a test.

Before I get the chance to answer, the doctor speaks for me. ‘A sweet sherry?’ he asks, a decanter already in his hand.

‘Thank you,’ I answer, my voice so quiet it’s almost inaudible. ‘That would be lovely.’

It seems like the only possible response.

But what I really want to say is, ‘My name is not Judith.’

CHAPTER 22

22

‘Becky, you’re with me,’ Tom called across the incident room. He knew she was as frustrated at the lack of progress with the Pennington Flash case as he was. Maybe it would do her good to get out for a while, and he needed some inspiration.

They were still no closer to identifying the woman the team had nicknamed Penny. The missing-persons’ database had revealed nothing of note, and although they had tried to match her DNA to any samples held on file, they had drawn a blank.

A search of similar cases had revealed that a woman’s body had been found on a golf course some months ago. Just like Penny, she appeared to have died as a result of hypoxia with no explanation for how that had happened. Without knowing Penny’s identity, though, it was impossible to look for connections between the two women that might give them the answers they were so desperate for.