She walks over to the bin with the bag. She knows she should ditch the dress, but she can’t bring herself to do it. Damn Jake. Damn his sentimentality. Her brief stop in the village has affected her more than she expected. It was good to be back. Good to see Jake. For months after the accident, every memory of the place – of the narrowboat, of Jake – was tainted by the image of him kissing another woman on the CCTV. But today has changed things. They talked without sniping at each other. Maybe they can be friends after all.

As she walks back across the street with the bag, she sees someone familiar. Cara. The woman who got off the train with her in the village. She struggles not to stare. What’s she doing here? It’s definitely her. Big eyebrows. She’s waiting for a bus on Praed Street, glancing briefly in Kate’s direction, but there’s something odd about her manner.

Kate turns away, trying not to panic, and looks back at her again. Is she a tail? Kate saw it in her old job, when colleagues were pursuing suspects in crowds. The telltale glance. Why would Cara be following her? She must have got back on the same train as her in the village. The late runner. Kate was distracted, chatting with Jake.

Half an hour later, Putin pulls up outside a converted factory on Nile Street, between Hoxton and Shoreditch. Rob told her about its history once, when he was facetiming from his bedroom. He was shy about showing her the rest of the flat, embarrassed by its size. A former printworks, it was given the Manhattan loft treatment in the late 1990s and transformed into fashionable warehouse apartments. His is the penthouse, of course.

She takes her bags and reassures Putin that she’s fine as she stands outside the main entrance. She tries the door but it doesn’t open. Putin points to the camera above the patchwork of buzzers.

‘Smile and it will recognise your face,’ he says.

She presses the number for the penthouse and waits. A moment later, the door swings open and she’s in the foyer, waving goodbye to Putin. How does the camera recognise her if she’s never been here before? She takes the lift to the third floor, presses the buzzer and pouts like a movie star in front of another camera. Childish. She does that when she’s nervous. Why was Cara watching her at Paddington? And then she’s standing in an open-plan living area that makes the home in Cornwall seem like a garden shed.