“But they’re not lies. Other than my name, nothing I’ve told you was a lie. I just … I just missed out some parts of my past.”

“And I get that. I get that you wanted to leave all that behind and start a new life for yourself, but I couldn’t help wondering if there’s more.”

“More?” My pocket vibrates as my phone bleeps, but I don’t reach for it.

“You told me about Ekanta Yatra, but have you been hiding more than that?”

My phone bleeps again. “Like what?”

“Like a husband? Children?”

“No.”

“A criminal past?”

There’s a third bleep and I grimace apologetically. “No!”

Will glances through the window towards Chloe. He’s quiet for what feels like the longest time.

“I understand,” I say, when I can’t bear the silence a moment longer. “You have to protect your daughter. I get that, Will, and if you want to break things off between us, I … I’ll accept it.”

“But I don’t want to.” He looks back at me, with fear and confusion written all over his face, and my heart seems to squeeze in my chest. “I like you, Jane. Sorry, can I keep calling you that? You’re not Emma to me, not yet.”

“You can call me Jane. I’d rather you did, actually.”

He smiles the smallest of smiles. “Good. To be honest, Jane, this is really hard for me to wrap my head around. It’s not the sort of thing that you can have just sprung on you, and I need some time to process it. Can you do that? Can you give me a bit of time?”

“Of course. Shall I tell Chloe that I can’t make it to her school fair this afternoon? I could make up some kind of excuse about work.”

“No.” Will shakes his head. “She’d be really upset. Let’s go to the fair, then, you know …”

He leaves the sentence hanging and I don’t finish it for him.

“You should answer that,” he says as my phone bleeps for the fourth time. “I’m just going to go and let Chloe know that it’s nearly two.”

“Okay.” I reach into my pocket, grateful for an excuse to turn my back so he won’t spot the tears that are pricking at my eyes.

I swipe my fingers over the screen as Will opens the door to the cat living room and slips inside. The bleeps were alerts from the Facebook App telling me I’ve got four messages. But when I look at them, they’re not from Al: they’re from Daisy. Daisy, who is supposed to be dead.

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Five Years Earlier

Al stares at the river of water that’s cascading down the stone steps. “Shitting hell. Where’s this come from?”

“Want to turn back?”

She shakes her head. “We’ve made it this far.”