Rachel took a breath at the truth she could have done without hearing. Gilly actually looked a little regretful at what she had said. They were quiet for a while, looking out at the passing landscape, shining bright and bonny in the late summer sun.

‘Where’s the van now?’ Gilly asked later.

‘Oh, I imagine it’s buried beneath five years of scrap by now.’

Gilly said nothing, and Rachel thought that the girl was probably considering the lost boon of a roof – any roof – and four walls. For all Rachel knew, as Gilly had so bluntly pointed out, sometime soon she’d be thinking the same thing.

There were three charity shops in Great Dunbar. Gilly searched through all of them, refusing Rachel’s offer of money.

‘I’ve got my own cash,’ she said. ‘You’re already paying me, remember?’

‘Yes, but I don’t expect you to buy your own work clothes,’ Rachel told her, remembering how important it had been, in those days on the road, to watch where every penny went.

Gilly gave her a withering look. ‘You think these will be work clothes?’ she said. ‘I have clothes. That’s it.’

Rachel went off to the bank and by the time she’d come back Gilly had found two pairs of jeans, a couple of T-shirts and several shirts, some of which appeared to be men’s. There was a blanket in the mix, too. Rachel made no comment.

‘There’s a big Sainsbury’s at the other end of town, isn’t there?’ Gilly asked.

‘Yes,’ Rachel told her. ‘What do you want to go there for?’

Gilly gave her a look, but didn’t answer. When they arrived it became clear that the answer was ‘underwear’. Rachel suggested shoes, too, but after looking, the girl declared that her battered trainers could last a bit longer.

‘I can buy you a pair, if you like,’ Rachel offered, but was greeted with a venomously stubborn look. She wondered what had happened to make it so imperative that Gilly didn’t owe anyone a single thing.

Back in Newton Dunbar, Edie had presided over a quiet afternoon. When Gilly and Rachel returned, she looked up from a copy of The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike with, if not quite a smile, then not quite a scowl.

‘Right,’ she said, holding out a hand for the bag Gilly carried. ‘Give those to me, I’ll get them washed and dried.’

‘They’re fine as they are,’ Gilly said, refusing to surrender her new belongings.

‘Look,’ Edie said. ‘I’m offering to do a nice thing. It doesn’t happen often. Take advantage of it. What do you think I’m going to do, anyway? Steal your wonderfully curated haute couture?’

Gilly hesitated another moment and then handed over the bag. Edie peered inside. ‘Well, style’s a personal thing, I suppose. Come and pick them up later. You’re supposed to have a lesson today as well, don’t forget. Just because you’re working doesn’t mean you can shirk that. We’ll do it once the bookshop’s shut. Don’t keep me waiting.’