She thought of the guy next door, leering old Mr Henderson. At least he too thought her name was Gemma. Nobody would be searching for Anna Masi. She had ceased to exist a long time ago.

But regardless of the safety of her fake name, questions would still be asked. If she used a taxi from the house, the driver might come forward, might have CCTV in his cab. No. A taxi firm was out of the question, which meant she would have to take only what she could actually manage to carry to the bus depot or train station.

Unless…

She darted out of the room, into William’s bedroom, and pulled open the old-fashioned bureau. In a shoebox he kept blank greetings cards, old now, left over from when he had people to send them to, and the energy and the balance to go out and buy them. She pulled one out, a hare on the front, a relic from a long-ago outing to one of the museums in London. With a faint smile on her lips, she scrawled inside:

Dearest William,

Thank you for everything you did, it was a pleasure working for you. I’ll miss you!

Enjoy your new life in sunny Spain!

Love, Gemma

She stood back and scrutinised her work before bending over and adding yesterday’s date. Satisfied, she propped the card up on William’s bedroom mantelpiece. She reached for the rest of the packet of cards and shoved them in her pocket to put in the bin later.

Perfection. And a brilliant idea.

But she had to get a move on now. It wouldn’t do for the son to turn up tomorrow and find the farewell card with yesterday’s date on only for nosy old Mr Henderson to catch sight of her today and impart that bit of information to Jason.

Back in her room, she worked quickly, picking out clothes, discarding some, packing others. No time for neatness. No matter now if she left something behind; time was of the essence and there was no room for sentimentality, even though it caught at her as she pulled out the beautiful clothes she had been sneaking away for months. She glanced at the bag of money and smiled as she tossed a dress onto the pile to be binned. She could buy anything she wanted now, replicas of everything she couldn’t take with her if she so desired.

The room spun suddenly, and lights floated across her vision. At first she thought it might be excitement, the possibility of potential, until her stomach grumbled loudly and she recognised the feeling as hunger. She sighed, closed the lid of the suitcase. She didn’t have time to eat, but a cup of warm water with a slice of lemon should sort her out for a while.