When she is finished, Edna says, “You are to go nowhere near that man ever again.” As though she has any intention of doing so! “If he talks to you, you will tell me. Immediately.”

Lily bristles at this but finds herself saying, “I won’t. Of course I won’t. But I’m sure he isn’t responsible for this. It’s why I think we should go on this trip. We can talk to people. See if anyone is behaving unusually.”

“Lillian, this is not a game!” Edna slams her hand down on the arm of her chair. “This isn’t some pulp-fiction detective novel, you do realize that?”

“Of course I do, Edna, I—”

Edna tuts over her. “Such nonsense. Of course we are not going to Whitby, and there’s an end to it.” She folds the letters in her hand and tucks them back into her cardigan, taking ownership, taking back the reins.

Lily is furious. Edna has no right to cut her out of this. “Well, you can please yourself,” she says, “but I think I’m going to go.”

“You can think again.”

“I have, and I’m going.”

Edna doesn’t reply, and Lily realizes she is physically exhausted. It must have taken every last ounce of strength she had to get up the stairs and carry the footstool back down. It makes Lily wonder how she knew. She must have, of course. How had Lily given herself away? Perhaps it was earlier when Edna asked what she had been doing upstairs. Is she really so easy to read? Or is there some part of that conversation she can’t remember? Lily wants to cry. To be unable to trust your own memory; it is so terribly unfair. But she refuses to ask. She will remember!

Lily turns away and moves into the kitchen to start on dinner. In this way the conversation ends, since Edna will not shout between rooms and has no energy left for pursuit. Lily wonders why she’s never thought of this before. It’s the perfect escape strategy.

This won’t be the end of it, of course. Edna will raise the subject again at bedtime, but far from dreading the argument, Lily finds herself ready for it. She has made her decision. This time she will not quietly acquiesce. She has done far too much of that in her life already. She knows Edna only wants to protect her, but it is becoming increasingly obvious to both of them that she won’t be able to for very much longer. It’s Lily’s turn to do the protecting now, and to do that she needs to find out what happened—what she did—to make someone attempt to blackmail her. She is determined to piece it together, whether Edna likes it or not.

—

When Tyler gets to the pub, Oscar is waiting outside. He’s sitting in a silver BMW convertible, the top down, the black flames of his tattoo wrapped round the headrest of the passenger seat. “Get in,” he says.