‘Rear Admiral Grey does not believe your current work at Northwood is controversial enough to warrant an attack on you so we’ve been looking further back. Do you have any recollection of a search and rescue operation off the Italian coast?’

Harry shook his head.

‘You were the Commanding Officer for the Air Fleet in support of HMS Bulwark which had been deployed to save thousands of migrants crossing from Libya to Europe. Does that ring a bell?’

Harry shook his head again.

‘Operation Weald,’ said Jameson.

‘OK,’ said Bloom when it was clear that Harry had no idea what they were talking about. ‘We are wondering if this is significant because this postcard was pinned to your cousin Julian’s noticeboard.’ She handed Harry her iPad.

He studied the image for a moment. ‘“To help or to hinder. Your choice”,’ he read. ‘Did I send this?’

‘We have no idea. It was blank on the back so we think Julian, or someone he knew, may have ordered it from Quickcards, which is a company that produces cards using pictures you upload.’ Contact with the company had drawn a blank. They couldn’t identify who had created the postcard without a client account or order number.

‘So it hadn’t been posted to him?’

‘It doesn’t look like it. There was no address on it.’

‘You think he was planning to send it to me then?’

‘We have no idea.’

‘Right.’

Karene placed Harry’s coffee in front of him. She thought it unwise to join him on the sofa. She didn’t want to make him uncomfortable so she perched on the far end of the coffee table.

‘Thank you,’ he said, attempting a smile.

She knew she made him feel awkward and that broke her heart. They had been so close, the closest she’d ever experienced with a partner, and he’d said it was the same for him. How could that all have gone? She realized that things might have been easier for her if Harry had been killed by the bomb. At least then her memories would be unblemished. The thought made her sick with guilt. She was aware of Augusta watching her and turned her body away.

‘I’m sorry I don’t remember anything,’ Harry said to her when Bloom and Jameson had left them alone.

‘There’s no need to apologize,’ she said. ‘We’re asking the impossible.’

‘Not really. They’re my memories. I should know my own life.’

‘But if they’re gone, what we’re actually asking you to do is gaze into your future and guess what you might have done.’

He was quiet for a moment. ‘You think they’re gone for ever?’

Karene tried to smile but she knew it looked weak.

‘And you’re absolutely sure someone did this to me on purpose?’