Lori goes to get up, but it’s clear she’s still having problems catching her breath, and lowers back down in her seat. ‘Oh God. I’m not sure I’m up to it, if I’m honest.’

‘I’ll stay with Lori.’ Mitch has been to the bar, grabbed himself a glass. He fills it with brandy, so full some spills over the top of the glass, and splashes the table.

‘Surely if we can’t all go, none of us should,’ Christine says. ‘You just made a big thing about us all staying together, Leon.’

Lori looks over at Gabriela, who has moved away from everyone, and is now sitting on a stool at the next table, her head in her hands, her dark hair hanging over her face. ‘Maybe if Gabriela and Mitch stay with me … Gabriela doesn’t seem to know what’s going on anyway, and it will confuse her further if she goes with you. We’ll stay here in the bar together.’

Alice furrows her forehead, stares at the woman who is stroking the thick mane of hair hanging over her shoulder. ‘Are you sure?’

Mitch drops down in a seat next to Lori with a thud. ‘I’ll take good care of her,’ he says, as Gabriela gets to her feet and heads back behind the bar. ‘I have the feeling it’s going to be a long night,’ he goes on, as everyone heads away. He gulps back the brandy, drains the glass. Picks up the bottle and takes a long swig from it.

Chapter 25

1989

Verity

Verity was surprised by the pang of sadness she felt when Pippa Larkin died. Though, if she really thought about it, it wasn’t exactly a pang. A pang would imply a shock-like feeling, a pinball ricocheting through her body bouncing off her emotions, tears maybe, heart thumps, even tremors. She certainly hadn’t felt any of that nonsense. A tingle then – yes, she’d felt a tingle of sadness that her brother had lost the love of his life.

But, for the main part, Verity was glad Pippa was out of her life – gone. Vanished in a puff of smoke, the way her father had made women disappear in his magic tricks. Though Pippa hadn’t exactly vanished. Pippa was buried in the wood. A cross, which Verity had made, placed on her grave. Not that Verity or Hugh were religious. How could they believe in a God who had dropped them into Felix Flynn’s world when they were too young to fight it? But the cross felt like the right thing to do, for Hugh’s sake. Verity was a good person like that. The thing was, Pippa had no family. She had nobody to miss her but Hugh, so it seemed foolish to involve outsiders in her loss. They might even blame Verity for Pippa’s death, and she couldn’t have that.