It was midday when they arrived at their parents’ house. The doctors had let him leave after breakfast. It was the first time they had arrived there together in more than a decade. Roland pulled up and switched off the engine.

‘I can’t believe this,’ Tom said. ‘Any of it. Who Alice was, what she did …’ His voice tailed off. ‘I don’t know how it happened. Or what’s next.’

‘There’s not much from my life which is of use to you,’ Roland said. ‘But in a weird way I know what you mean. I’ve gone over what I did and wondered how it came to that. How it went so wrong. And here’s what I learned: it doesn’t matter. You have to move forward.’

Tom smiled at his brother. ‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘And thanks for being there. If you hadn’t showed up Jo and I would be dead.’

‘I just did what I could,’ Roland said.

‘You did great.’

They got out of the car and walked to the house. As Roland put the key in the front door it opened. His mum hugged them both.

‘Thank God,’ she said. ‘Thank God you’re safe.’

‘I’m sorry, Mum. I’m sorry this—’ Tom started to say.

‘Shhh. You have no reason to apologize. This is all on her. On Alice, or whatever she was called.’

‘Is Jo here?’ Tom said. ‘I want to see her.’

‘She’s sleeping upstairs.’

Tom walked up to his old bedroom, which was where Joanna slept when she was here. She was in her crib, lying on her back, her arms above her head, her mouth parted. She looked utterly peaceful. She would have no memory of any of this.

She would have no memory of her mother.

She resembled Alice, there was no mistaking it. She had the same grey-green eyes. A shiver ran through him.

One day you’re going to find out who your mum was, he thought, which is going to be an interesting conversation.

He pushed the thought away. He was too tired to worry about it now. There’d be people with expertise in this kind of thing – how they got it he had no idea – who could help them deal with it when the time came. Maybe he would lie and say she died. A boating accident, perhaps.

He kissed Jo on the forehead, her skin soft and warm against his lips, then went downstairs. His mum and dad and Roland were talking in the kitchen and he paused by the door.

‘Poor Tom,’ his mum was saying. ‘This is going to be terrible for him.’

‘In the short term, yes,’ Roland said. ‘But he’s better off without her. There was something wrong with her. When she’d stopped pretending to be like a normal person it was like looking into the eyes of an animal. There was nothing there. Nothing human, at any rate.’