“No.” I reach for his hand. I can’t let him go. I can’t deal with this on my own any more. I have to trust him. I have to trust someone. “Please. I’m sorry, Will. Don’t go.”

He sighs resignedly and grips the back of the bedside chair with his hand. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

I nod. “Yes. Yes, I will.”

Will listens in silence as I tell him everything that happened at Ekanta Yatra. He audibly gasps several times and his eyes widen with horror when I tell him what happened with Frank. When I get to the part about Al selling her story, he holds up a hand for me to stop speaking.

“Okay, I know that part.”

He stares at me for the longest time, shock, worry and concern written all over his face. When he does finally speak it’s a single word.

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.” I pull the hospital sheet further up my chest. It’s not cold but I feel exposed, and not just physically. “That’s why I wanted to start a new life.”

“And you think the text message is from someone who knew you as Emma?”

“It’s not just the text message. I received a letter at Green Fields last week. They said they knew my name wasn’t really Jane Hughes. A day later, an email came through the website at work saying Daisy’s not dead. Then, when we were at Chloe’s school fair, I got some Facebook messages pretending to be from Daisy, saying she was cold and I’d left her for dead. Then the woman in a blue hat talked to Chloe about me, and then” – I hold out the phone – “this.”

“Do you think Daisy could be alive? You didn’t see her body, did you?”

“No, but …”

“I know.” He purses his lips. “It doesn’t seem likely. And Isaac and Leanne are definitely dead?”

“I think so, yes. If Daisy’s dead, then Isaac must be, too, and as for Leanne … Al got in touch with her mum several times after we returned to the UK but she said she hadn’t heard from her, so …”

“You think she died in the fire at Ekanta Yatra?”

“Yeah. I don’t know whether it was arson or accidental, but the whole place burned down when everyone was sleeping. They think it happened a few nights after we escaped. The Nepalese police found bodies everywhere, some of them so badly burnt they couldn’t be identified. There were people there who’d cut all ties with their friends and family, and they’ll never know if they’re alive or dead.”

“Shit.”

“I know.”

“So that just leaves Al.”