His first sight of Caroline Jackson had made his heart skip a beat. His chest had constricted, his legs had trembled. He’d doubted the evidence of his eyes, convinced he was having some sort of psychotic episode that had produced this hallucination. But as soon as she’d spoken, he’d realized this was reality, not some pathetic projection of his deepest desire. He’d never have conjured up a Katerina who addressed him in English, that much had penetrated even his bewildered and alarmed state.

Luckily, years of guarding his face and tongue had allowed him to cover the worst of his confusion. At least, he thought it had. Whatever the truth of that view, she had shown no sign of being aware of the effect her appearance had on him. He’d been dry-mouthed and bemused, unnerved by a resemblance that stirred up the morass of memory.

And as if it wasn’t enough that he’d come face to face with a woman who could have been the twin sister of the woman he’d adored, the conversation had lurched into the most dangerous of areas almost from the beginning. This woman who made his stomach churn and his skin turn clammy knew who he really was, knew what he really did. Either she had discovered enough about his business to comprehend exactly what he needed right now, or else this was another example of the eccentric serendipity that had brought Katerina’s double to his door in the first place. Either way, it was a set of circumstances so strange it turned on its head everything he knew about how the world worked.

He had no idea how he’d managed to hold it together during their subsequent conversation, only that he’d never felt so relieved as he had when that apparently interminable first interval had drawn to a close. He’d sat through the next act oblivious to the music, completely absorbed in the private drama that had unfolded in his immediate ambit. The tension in his body had made his muscles ache, but he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her.