‘How can you be here without a car?’ Grace gazed up at her, the question clearly confounding her. She took the mug of tea with one hand, the injured shoulder still obviously causing pain if she moved it. ‘It makes no sense.’

‘I agree. It’s ridiculous. But I thought I’d be fine just pottering about on foot, having a few meals at the pub, doing a bit of sketching. It’s only for a week or so. The weather’s going to be quite nice, I think.’ She looked out of the window at the road outside, where there was no sign whatever of any human activity. ‘I thought I might find somebody who’d give me a lift now and then, perhaps. It all sounds terribly vague, I know. Really, I just needed to be by myself for a bit, somewhere different.’ She was feeling more normal now they were indoors. Grace’s obvious fear had been more contagious than she’d realised. There had been a tightness in her 51chest that was only noticed now that it had almost gone.

‘And now I’m here to spoil it for you.’

‘Don’t worry about it. So, what are we going to do about that shoulder? It ought to be X-rayed, and strapped up, even if it isn’t dislocated. You could have torn a tendon. They take ages to heal up, if so.’

‘You can strap it up for me as well as a doctor, I expect.’

‘I doubt that. Besides, I can’t see that it would be of much help.’

‘You’re probably right. So have you anything I can put on it? A gel that might ease the inflammation? Did you say you’d got some Ibuprofen?’

Thea went to find her bag and upended it on the table. ‘Sorry – doesn’t look as if I have.’ Helplessness swept through her. ‘I’m almost entirely useless to you.’

‘You’ve been kind and concerned. That counts for a lot. And nobody’s going to find me here.’

‘That’s true. I’m not expecting any visitors. Although there will be builders here on Monday,’ she remembered. ‘They’ll see you. So you’d better be gone by then, like you said.’

Grace settled herself more deeply into the sofa, looking pale but determined. ‘I’ll have to consider my options and find some money somehow. And you’re right, of course. I should have spare clothes and a toothbrush. I just wish I knew if those … people have stopped chasing me.’ She gave Thea a narrow look, her black eyes suddenly suspicious. ‘I can trust you, can’t I, not to call the police?’52

‘I suppose so. What were you saying about being ashamed of yourself? Do you mean you’ve done something illegal?’

Grace attempted a lopsided little shrug. ‘That’s my secret,’ she said. ‘I can’t tell you.’

‘You’re in some kind of gang, then? And your friends, or whatever they are, don’t like something you’ve done. Or they’re scared you’re going to get them into trouble somehow? You’ve obviously upset them in a big way.’