‘Lucy, this is Rachel. Rachel, Lucy,’ Maggie said. ‘She’s the woman who used to live in your place. I’ve been wanting you two to meet.’

Rachel was draped in diaphanous layers over dark purple leggings, her hair pulled back into a low knot at her neck. Dusty ran toward her eagerly, as if reuniting with a long-lost lover. We both smiled, and Maggie, head pivoting back and forth, placed a hand on her hip. ‘Wait a second. You’ve already met.’

‘Briefly,’ Rachel said, kneeling to pet Dusty. ‘When Lucy first moved in. I was missing a crucial piece of mail.’

‘You could have asked me,’ Maggie said, her voice suddenly hollow. ‘I would have gone over and gotten it for you.’

Rachel lifted Dusty and nuzzled him again. ‘I didn’t want to bother you.’

‘Oh,’ Maggie said. ‘Well, you know if you ever need anything … I mean, it’s not like you’re going to ask Vera. Not after everything.’

Rachel’s lips pressed firmly together and her eyes found mine, only for a moment, as if checking for a reaction before she gingerly set Dusty down. ‘I know I can always count on you, Maggie,’ Rachel said.

Maggie turned to me, smiling, obviously proud of the fact that she and Rachel were friends. ‘You want to join us for tea?’

‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘But we really should finish our walk.’

‘Well, next time.’ Maggie glanced nervously between us, as if either one of us might disappear from her life at any moment. ‘Rachel comes over on Thursdays. We’ll make sure to invite you, since you know each other and all.’

‘Every Thursday?’ I asked.

‘When I can,’ Rachel said quickly. ‘There’s a miraculously not-yet-shuttered – pardon the pun – photography shop only a mile or so up the road. I get my film developed there, and sometimes I swing by on my way home.’

They followed me to the door, Dusty hesitant to leave.

‘Next time,’ Maggie said again.

‘Yes,’ I said, an echo. ‘Next time. Nice to see you again, Rachel.’

Maggie shut the door behind me, and I urged Dusty back onto the road. At the end of her driveway, I heard my name. I turned to see Rachel walking toward me, her top flowing in the wind.

‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I told Maggie I had to ask you about another piece of mail.’

‘Oh, I haven’t seen anything else important. But there’s loads of junk.’

‘No, it’s not that,’ Rachel said. ‘I just didn’t want you to think, based on the way Maggie was talking, that Vera and I are huge enemies. Maggie likes to make it all sound way more dramatic than it is.’

I narrowed my eyes. ‘What did happen between you two, then?’

She shifted from one foot to the other. ‘Honestly, it was all a big misunderstanding.’

‘Was it about –?’