She shakes her head and withdraws her hands, wondering why she didn’t flinch when he first took them.

‘Dr Varma will know more,’ Jake says. ‘I’m no expert, but what you’re experiencing sounds remarkably like Capgras. This whole thing with the doubles – it must all be in your head. Must be.’

She turns away. It’s the first echo she’s heard of their old relationship. Jake used to think she imagined a lot of things, their lack of money, the leaks in the boat windows, her unhappiness. Maybe he thought she’d imagined his affair too, the one she saw with her own eyes on the cameras.

‘And this lookalike who met Rob on a beach in Thailand nine years ago – is he in my head too? You tell me – you’re the one Kirby poured his heart out to.’

She’s suddenly angry, struggling to keep her voice down. One false step and they seem to slip so easily into their bad old ways.

‘I’m just saying there’s likely to be a simple explanation for all this, that’s all.’

Jake was never one to raise his voice in return, always preferring to avoid conflict. It was Kate who did all the shouting.

‘I shouldn’t have come here,’ she says. Too many memories are flooding back and not all of them are great.

‘Why did you get off the train?’ he asks, glancing up at her.

They look at each other in silence. And then his eye is caught by something in the other room.

‘What is it?’ she asks, watching him walk through to check on Bex’s computer.

‘It’s probably nothing,’ he says, coming back into the kitchen and closing the door behind him. ‘The computer screen just came on, that’s all.’

But she can tell he’s worried.

‘Will you walk me back to the station?’ she asks.

It’s time she went to see Rob.

55

Silas

It’s as Silas is driving away from the station that he sees Kate and Jake strolling through the village, past the vegan café, now closed and boarded up. He slows beside them, opening his window. They made a good couple. Silas is sad that their relationship ended how it did. Guilty too.

‘I was going to call you, but I’ve got to head back to Swindon,’ he says to Kate. Jake looks a little sheepish standing beside her. The last time Silas spoke to him, it was about his hastily arranged boat insurance.

‘Did you see him?’ Kate asks.

‘No luck.’ Silas pauses. ‘Thanks for calling it in though. Like old times, eh?’

Kate turns away. Silas regrets the comment at once, wishes Strover were there to keep him in check. She’s going to ring Kate later, tell her about the matches for Rob that they’ve found around the world.