‘Come with me,’ she said.

Grace took Anna to the café around the corner where she ordered tea for them both, and eggs on toast for Anna.

‘But I’m not hungry,’ Anna protested.

‘You have to eat something.’ Grace looked at her friend’s fleshless face, her skin drawn over sharp bones and shadowy hollows. Underneath the lipstick, her lips were chapped and bitten. It was obvious she hadn’t been looking after herself.

Their tea arrived and Grace poured it. She added three spoons of sugar to Anna’s cup, then pushed it across the table towards her.

Anna stared down at it, her brown eyes troubled. ‘I’m sorry, I’m being a nuisance,’ she said. ‘I don’t want you to miss the wedding.’

‘The wedding doesn’t matter,’ Grace dismissed. She reached for Anna’s hand. ‘Now, tell me what happened.’

At first Anna couldn’t speak. She sat with her head down, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

Grace waited patiently, still holding on to her friend’s hand. The skin was dry and papery, like an old woman’s.

Then, gradually, between sobs the story began to emerge.

It was exactly as Grace had feared, ever since the day she’d read Edward’s notes. She had tried to tell herself it might be different with Anna, that he loved her and would never hurt her. But as her friend tearfully unfolded her story, it became clear that Edward Stanning was not capable of loving anyone.

Grace could only imagine how frightening it must have been for Anna to live with someone like him. Constantly tiptoeing around his moods, never quite sure what was going on behind that smiling face. He wielded his cruelty like a knife – not stabbing, but inflicting a thousand tiny wounds that seemed like nothing on their own, but that gradually ate away at her confidence, her self-esteem.

‘He was so clever,’ she said, sniffing back her tears. ‘He always made me believe he was doing things out of love, because he cared about me and wanted to protect me. I couldn’t argue with him. And if I tried, he’d twist my words around and make it seem as if I was the one being unreasonable.’

Grace remembered the night Edward had confronted her on the ward. The way he had begged and pleaded with her, convinced her not to deny him his chance of happiness.

And she had believed him, even though she had read his notes and knew exactly how manipulative he could be.

Anna was right – he was dangerously clever.

‘I wish you’d come to us,’ she said.

Anna shook her head. ‘I couldn’t. Edward made me feel as if I didn’t have a friend in the world.’

‘You know that’s not true.’

‘I do now.’ Anna looked around her. ‘The last time we sat in this café was the day I left the Nightingale. We had tea and cakes. Do you remember?’

‘Of course.’ Grace silently cursed herself. ‘I’m so sorry, I should’ve thought – this is probably the last place you’d want to come.’