‘Taunting emails?’ Harry felt suddenly protective of Karene. To him, she was one of the investigators but to the outside world she was more than that. She was his partner and therefore also a target.

‘Someone’s been sending her questions for the past week. Is Harry a good man? Does he help or hinder? Is he safe? I expect whoever’s after you is showing off but Augusta seems to think someone may be trying to help us.’

‘If you want to help, don’t you just help? You don’t send cryptic messages.’

‘My thoughts exactly.’

51

‘How sweet that you remember where I like to sit.’

Bloom looked up from her table and saw Seraphine Walker in the flesh for the first time in three months. She wore a tailored white dress, simple but expensive, with navy-blue heels. Everything about the woman – from her favourite table in the cafe to her twisted mind games – was permanently etched in Bloom’s memory.

‘I was intrigued to receive your message,’ said Seraphine. ‘What exactly is it you think I’m up to now?’

‘In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.’

‘You’ve lost me.’

‘I doubt that, Seraphine. You believe that you and your kind see things more clearly than the rest of us.’

Seraphine thanked the waitress for her flat white and crossed one long, tanned leg over the other before taking a small sip. ‘How’s my Marcus?’

Bloom felt her jaw tighten. ‘He’s not your Marcus.’

‘Is he still angry with you?’

‘I’m not talking about this, Seraphine.’

‘Oh, he’s not angry. He’s disappointed. Yes. That’s much worse for you.’

‘Why are you sending Karene Harper emails?’

‘Is Marcus seeing anyone?’

‘What’s your involvement in this?’

‘Or is he struggling to get over me?’

‘He is more than over you. You were nothing but a lesson learned. Now, are you going to answer my questions or is your coming here just another game?’ She was not having this woman messing with Jameson’s mind again. She had presented herself as the ideal girlfriend in order to get close to Bloom. He’d been broken by not only the heartbreak but by the deceit too. And what concerned her most was that his continued hurt suggested that his feelings for the woman might still run worryingly deep.

Seraphine smiled.

‘What do you know about Harry Peterson and the people who are after him?’

‘I know that he’s a good-looking fella. And presumably he can’t remember his lady love any more so that would pretty much make him single.’

‘So you have been watching him and Karene. I suspected as much from your little hints and tips. As soon as I saw the phrase your choice on that postcard I suspected your involvement.’ A year earlier Seraphine had used Bloom’s advice about choices to justify playing games with people’s lives.