I felt my stomach contract, a wave of sickness not just from the stale cigarette smoke wash over me. I drew in a breath.

‘Julie, there was an identical arrangement left at the side of the road where Clare died.’

‘So someone got a job lot,’ she said.

‘No,’ I told her. ‘No. Those words, Julie. Don’t you get it?’ My hands were shaking now. I wanted to shake Julie from her drunkenness and get her to understand. ‘Someone’s trying to frighten us. That note, the one left at the side of the road. That’s not what you write to offer condolences. That’s there to scare us. The other note said something about consequences …’

I glanced out of the window, saw a lone figure, jeans and a hoodie, hood pulled up to cover his face – clothes that were much too heavy for this weather. I fought the urge to pull the curtains. Or shout at him. I relaxed only when he walked past, not so much as casting a glance at Julie’s house.

‘I’m phoning the police,’ I said.

Chapter Twenty

Rachel

There was something about the way the young policewoman looked at the flowers then nodded to her tall colleague that told me I’d been right to call them. This was no simple coincidence, or someone trying to wind us up.

‘And when did these arrive?’ Constable King asked.

Julie, who’d pulled on some yoga pants and a loose sweater, and who’d thankfully pulled a comb through her hair, wrung her hands. ‘I phoned my husband. He thinks it arrived this morning. I was in bed. I didn’t even look at it until Rachel arrived.’

She lifted her glass and drank some more. The ice clinked and clattered as her hand shook. She was just as spooked as I was.

‘And, Rachel,’ the policewoman, turning to look at me, said, ‘what drew you to these flowers and the cards?’

‘I was up at Coney Road this morning. I’d seen an identical arrangement where Clare was found. The card with it was bizarre. The wording, I mean. I was sure I was just being overly dramatic, given what’s happened, but when I saw the flowers here, too …’

‘We are just being overcautious, aren’t we?’ Julie asked, her eyes wide.

She, and I, needed the police to tell us that yes, of course we were being completely overcautious and there was nothing to worry about.

‘That’s possible,’ Constable King replied unconvincingly. ‘But I think we should take these and the card for examination all the same. And perhaps you can get your husband to call us. Just to see if he can fill us in on any details about the delivery.’

‘Is that really necessary?’ Julie asked.