He booked a holiday to Dubai the following week. There were many more hospitals than he’d expected and it took three weeks of painstaking work before he saw Jodie heading through the staff entrance of the American Hospital. After that, it was easy to wait and follow her home. Over the years, he visited several times to keep an eye on her. He had the money, and a holiday in the sunshine of Dubai was no hardship.

He briefly lost track of her when she left Dubai and fell back on a version of the same trick to locate her. Time had passed but memories were long. It was neighbours he tried this time. The first woman he spoke to looked at him blankly before shutting the door.

The next listened to the same tale he’d spun before of a dead mother and his sadness at having lost contact details for Jodie. ‘The last address we had for her was in Dubai, but we heard she’d left. Such a shame, I know she’d have wanted to know about Mother.’

The woman took in his reddened eyes and nodded. ‘Everyone loved Jodie. She called around when she came home from Dubai.’

Victor tried not to let his excitement show. ‘I don’t want to impose and ask for her address but perhaps you could pass on the news for me, the next time you see her.’

‘I don’t have her address anyway, I’m afraid. And I don’t know if she will call again, there’s not much here to bring her back apart from memories.’ The woman tilted her head. ‘I do remember she said she had changed career somewhat. She was tired working in operating theatres and had taken a job in a nursing home in…’ The woman frowned in thought, then smiled. ‘Gravesend. I remember commenting that it was an unfortunate name for a town with nursing homes.’

Gravesend. Victor had thanked the woman and left. Back home, he’d done an internet search. Four nursing homes in the town. It only took fifteen minutes to find out where Jodie worked. A simple, ‘Is Jodie Armstrong on shift today?’ getting a negative response in the first two and a positive response in the third. Victor hung up before the call was put through.