‘That, and because I thought your mother was in some kind of trouble.’

I jumped at that. ‘But she is,’ I said. ‘We all are.’ And I told him again about Thierry, and his plans, and how nothing was the same any more, and how I missed the old days when everything was simple.

Roux smiled. ‘It was never simple.’

‘At least we knew who we were,’ I said.

Roux just shrugged and said nothing. I put my hand in my pocket. There was his peg-doll, the one from last night. Three red hairs, and a whispered secret, and the spiral sign of Ehecatl, the Changing Wind, drawn in felt pen over the heart.

I closed my hand around it, hard, as if that could make him stay.

Roux shivered and pulled his coat tighter around him.

‘So – you’re not really leaving, are you?’ I said.

‘I was going to. Perhaps I should. But there’s still something bothering me. Anouk, have you ever had the feeling there’s something going on, that somebody’s using you, manipulating you somehow, and that if only you knew how and why . . .’

He looked at me and I was relieved to see no anger in his colours, just reflective blues. He went on in a quiet voice, and I thought that it was the most I’d ever heard him say all at once, Roux being a man of not many words.

‘I was angry yesterday. So angry that Vianne could have hidden such a thing from me that I couldn’t see straight – couldn’t listen – couldn’t think. Since then I’ve been doing some thinking,’ he said. ‘I’ve been wondering how the Vianne Rocher I knew could have turned into someone so different. At first I thought it was just Thierry – but I know his type. And I know Vianne. I know she’s tough. And I know that there’s no way she’s going to let someone like Le Tresset take over her life, not after everything she’s been through . . .’ He shook his head. ‘No, if she’s in trouble, it’s not from him.’

‘Then who?’ I said.

He looked at me. ‘There’s something about your friend Zozie. Something I can’t put my finger on. But I can’t help feeling it when she’s around. There’s something too perfect. Something not right. Something almost – dangerous.’

‘What d’you mean?’

Roux just shrugged.

Now I was starting to feel annoyed. First Jean-Loup, and now Roux. I tried to explain.

‘She’s helped us, Roux – she works in the shop, looks after Rosette, she teaches me things.’

‘What kind of things?’

Well, if he didn’t like Zozie, I was hardly going to tell him that. I put my hand in my pocket again, where the peg-doll felt like a little bone wrapped up in wool. ‘You don’t know her, that’s all. You should give her a chance.’