I reached inside the bag and pulled out my scarf, my blue and pink scarf with its wild abstract patterns and its soft, tender touch. The one Harry had bought me because he loved me. The scarf Tom had taken from me in the middle of the night because I loved Harry.

I could barely speak, my mouth was so dry. “Where did you get that?”

“Dad gave it to me,” he said. “I told him I’d been to your flat and he asked me to give it to you the next time I saw you. You forgot to take it when you left home; he knew you loved it.”

I breathed out. I knew I hadn’t left it here. Tom had known that, too.

CHAPTER 77

Ruby

Oliver came out of his house as Josh was leaving. He gave the boy a hug and they stood talking for a moment. I didn’t go out there to join them; I worried that Josh would get upset again.

I went upstairs to the study and stood to the side of the window, so that I could look down at them unnoticed. Oliver said something and Josh laughed. I held my scarf to my face and breathed in. I could smell the perfume I’d worn in Paris, the weekend Harry and I decided to be together.

Oliver and Josh talked for a while, then Josh pointed toward the road. Together they walked down the drive and I guessed they were going to look at Josh’s car.

As they walked I noticed that from behind Josh looked just like Tom. He walked like him. They were the same height now, the same build, though Tom had filled out a bit over the years. But now, looking at Josh as he walked away I saw how alike they were. It was odd I hadn’t noticed it before. I wondered which was his car; I hadn’t seen it when he came to my flat. I would have thought he’d have parked on our driveway, enjoying showing me how he’d managed to reverse in without bashing the fender on the low brick wall.

They crossed the road. Just beyond Oliver’s house, on the bend of the road, was a car. Josh held out his key fob and the lights on the car flashed.

I held my breath. I’d seen that car before. It looked like the one that had driven past me that night when I was walking home from the wine bar, the night when I was sure I was being followed. It had stopped just in front of me, on the darkest part of the road, and I’d been terrified. I’d known that something bad would happen if the driver got out.