‘Onslow Square. I remember. I’ll let you be on your way.’ Ruby steps aside to allow her to pass, sweeping her arm in a graceful arc and beaming at Harriet. ‘This is no place for a lady, after all.’

No one had seen it happen, and Harriet was too flustered by the encounter to notice, but the carefully folded handkerchief was no longer in her pocket when she came to search for it later.

Ruby turns the key in the door of her apartment. She will gather up her clothes and take them back to the Borough. Some of her clothes. Now that she is with the Forties again, she needs her ordinary daytime coats and hats to be at Solly’s. She’ll leave the nightclub gowns here. Even with Peter gone, she might still come this way sometimes, take a bath, wander out to a club or restaurant with someone… The rent is paid for a couple of months, and the apartment is useful.

She breathes deeply as she enters. There is a light, fresh aroma in the air. She can smell his cologne.

He is in the bedroom, stretched out on the bed, waiting for her, a picture of ease and contentment.

‘What are you doing here?’

‘I have a key, remember?’

‘I thought you’d be on the run,’ she says. She pulls open the drawer of her bedside table and drops in a gold pocket watch and, next to it, a diamond ring, marquise cut, recently acquired. She pushes Harriet’s handkerchief back into her coat pocket.

‘I am, after a fashion,’ he says, pulling her onto the bed. ‘I need to leave London. Not for long. Just a few months. I’ll be back when the dust settles.’

‘You think you’ll avoid the coppers?’

He laughs. ‘I don’t need to avoid them, sweetheart. I’ve been speaking with them all morning – the ones I know. We’ve agreed that I’ll lie low for a while. As I told you, I have friends I can call on when I’m in trouble.’

‘Where will you go?’

‘Paris, I thought.’

‘What about me?’ She slips a hand under his shirt and traces her fingers over his stomach. ‘Take me with you. I’d like to go to Paris.’

‘Not this time.’ He reaches for her hand and clasps her fingers. ‘I’m travelling alone. Besides, I hear you’re back with Diamond Annie.’

‘I am. But I’d still prefer to be in Paris. What happens if I’m in trouble? Who do I call on?’

‘Annie will look after you. The Forties.’ He begins to unbutton her dress. ‘Annie knows what she’s doing. I only called to see you before I go.’