Elsa paused and ran her fingers through her already untidy hair. ‘All we know so far is that Jock and Philip were sent from Changi to work as slave labourers on Philip’s rubber plantation. One of the Malay workers recognised them, but they were not amongst those who were liberated.’

‘Slave labour? On their own plantation?’ gasped Sybil in horror.

Elsa gave a weary sigh. ‘They could have been sent anywhere after that, Sybil. The lack of documentation is our biggest problem in trying to find the thousands of men still out there, so you could have a very long wait ahead of you.’

‘I’ve waited three years, Elsa. A few more weeks won’t hurt.’

Elsa regarded her thoughtfully. ‘To be brutally honest, Sybil, you and the girls will simply be in the way – but if you want to do something useful while you wait for news, I suggest you go to the hospital and help on the wards. They’re desperate for more pairs of hands.’

Sybil didn’t want to appear unhelpful, but she shuddered at the idea. ‘I’ll go there once I’ve found somewhere for us to stay,’ she murmured.

‘You and the girls can bunk in with me at the bungalow,’ said Elsa as a girl rushed in with an armful of brown cardboard folders and fidgeted impatiently by the desk. ‘It’s a bit basic, I’m afraid, but better than nothing. Come back at seven and we can go together.’

Realising she was being dismissed, Sybil gathered up her handbag and wandered back through the maze of corridors to the Palm Court which had always been a favourite place of hers to socialise and while away a pleasant afternoon in idle chatter or games of bridge.

Ordering a long, cold drink, she lit a cigarette and watched the comings and goings of people she didn’t know, overhearing snatches of conversation that worried her deeply. She finally came to realise that all her plans and dreams added up to nothing in the light of what Elsa had told her, and that she’d been foolish in the extreme to think otherwise.

She shouldn’t have come – and certainly shouldn’t have insisted upon her girls making this long, hopeless journey. For the first time in her life, Sybil Fuller felt out of place, utterly useless and very much alone.

Much later that evening, Jim stood on the front steps of Raffles and gave a deep sigh as he watched Sybil climb into Elsa Bristow’s car and be driven away. He felt very sorry for her and the situation she’d found herself in, but he was actually quite glad to see the back of her after a very long, difficult day. His life was fraught enough without the added burden of having Sybil to look after.

Very much against his advice, she’d insisted he take her to the hospital, but the scenes of so much suffering had horrified her, and she’d hurried away, unable to contemplate spending another minute there, or in the overcrowded clinic and makeshift camps that had been set up for the returning prisoners. When he’d suggested she might help Elsa in some way, she’d confessed she wouldn’t know where to start as she’d never worked – let alone in an office.