‘It’s always possible. Karene said Harry had an uncanny visual memory, so there’s a chance he might store and recall such details from elsewhere in his brain. The problem is we could never prove it.’

‘Unless someone else noticed. Harry said it’s not a mistake any genuine naval officer would make.’

‘So that would make him an imposter and definitely part of the team who came for Harry.’

‘Exactly. So, was your cross-Channel jaunt worth it?’

‘I think so. Isobel tells me the young girl in the photograph was a friend of Julian’s stepdaughter who was staying for the summer to improve her French. She can’t recall the girl’s name but confirms the picture was taken in July 2015.’

‘The year Harry worked on Operation Weald.’

‘And when I pushed Isobel to tell me more about the girl, she said the teenager appeared to be painfully shy and that when one of the male neighbours attempted to greet her with a kiss on the cheek—’

‘The girl flinched?’

‘Not only that. Isobel said when she thought about it now, the girl’s reaction had struck her as odd at the time, as if she was not so much shy as scared.’

‘You’re thinking she’s a migrant?’

‘That was my guess. And possibly one who has experienced a degree of trauma.’

‘To help or harm. You’re thinking Harry and Julian helped this girl.’

‘Yes. And if I’m right she’s the key. We just need to find her.’

55

Alina bought some groceries on her way home. She spoke briefly to the man behind the counter about the weather then hurried out. She never liked to interact with people for too long. She’d thought her world would expand when she escaped her past, but it had only contracted. It was partly down to her own paranoia, but it made sense to be safe rather than sorry.

She picked up the post from the mat. The water bill was addressed to Lindsay Adeyemi. She placed the letter on the small kitchen table and put the vegetables in the fridge and the tinned soup in the cupboard. It was taking her a while to get used to her new name. In her new job as a receptionist at the local leisure centre she often failed to answer when people called her Lindsay and she’d had to blame it on poor hearing.

Her shift started in half an hour so she had time to listen to the news on the radio. There had been no further reports about Harry Peterson and she hoped that was a good thing. She hoped that he was safe. God forbid he should suffer the same fate as Julian. She couldn’t abide having both men on her conscience.