Please, please, have a gossip.

Lizzie gave an audible sigh when the people at the till lowered their voices to such a level she couldn’t make out any of their conversation. It’s like they knew what she was there for. Frustration bubbled inside her. She’d have to think of a way in, something to pique the man’s interest to enable her to ask a few questions without ringing alarm bells. She waited for the customers to leave, then slammed her basket on the counter.

‘Makes such a change to have the time to peruse what your lovely shop has to offer. There aren’t any shops like this one where I live now – I do miss this village,’ Lizzie said. It garnered a frown from the man. She could almost see the cogs working overtime trying to place her.

‘Oh? You used to live here? I don’t …’ He shook his head, giving a cautious smile.

‘Years ago now, you wouldn’t recognise me – I don’t recognise you either.’ Lizzie took a carrier and began putting the items in after he’d slowly scanned them.

‘So, who do you belong to?’ He said it in a light-hearted way, but Lizzie sensed the undercurrent of uneasiness. Like immediately he hadn’t believed her. She had to be careful now, although at this point there was little to lose. Should she drop Anna’s name, even though she didn’t know her surname, or who she belonged to? She could play it relatively safe and mention Muriel Fisher instead. At least she had the full name and knew she’d been a villager back then. She’d checked death records and hadn’t found an entry, so she assumed she was still alive. And as Anna had jokingly said yesterday, people didn’t often leave Mapledon, so it was a good bet she still lived here. She couldn’t remember, or didn’t know, if she had siblings, though. She wondered if she could get away with saying she was a niece. Sod it, she had to try something.

‘No one anymore, my own parents are gone, sadly – but I do have a cousin here. I’m making a fleeting visit before I go abroad to work.’ Lizzie inwardly cringed – she didn’t know where that came from, she hadn’t planned to say cousin, she’d meant to just say aunt. She moved on, quickly changing it in the hope he hadn’t taken it in. ‘My aunt is getting on a bit now. Muriel – do you know her?’

She’d done it now. No backtracking would change it.

‘Oh, of course! Everyone knows Muriel. She’s a good friend of my mum’s. They’ve been friends for donkey’s years, and her daughter is roughly my age so we kinda grew up together in Mapledon.’

Lizzie smiled, but not wishing to get caught out by not knowing the daughter’s name, carried on without comment. ‘Yes, so anyway, being back here is a bit odd, really.’ Lizzie lowered her head, watching his expression through her fringe. ‘You know, the timing and all.’ She hoped that would be enough to elicit a remark from him. Unfortunately, he simply said ‘hmmm’ and continued scanning.