‘He used to have this fear, a phobia, of meeting his double,’ she says. ‘I need to put his mind at rest, tell him there isn’t anyone out there who has the same distance between his blue eyes.’

If Strover and Hart know she’s not being honest, they don’t show it.

‘What if there is?’ Strover says. ‘We’re all meant to have a doppelgänger, aren’t we?’

Kate’s about to reply when Hart interrupts them. ‘Hold up,’ he says. ‘Our man’s on the move.’

They all focus on the far end of the beach, a steep flight of steps that runs up to the coast path. Herman is taking them two at a time. Has he seen them? At the top, he turns and looks back across the bay. And then he starts to sprint.

33

Jake

Jake stares at the French TV footage on Bex’s desktop computer in a small room adjoining the kitchen. It’s on a sliding desk, built into a bookcase. Bex said he could use it, which is helpful as he doesn’t have any data left on his phone. As far as he can tell, the geek being interviewed is Rob. And it makes for painful viewing. Rob not only comes across as intelligent and successful but charming too. And he’s speaking fluent French. Jake leans in closer. The man looks like the Rob that Jake met briefly at the hospital, but it’s not a face that he cares to remember.

He pulls up his notes on Capgras syndrome. Ever since Bex rang earlier, he’s been researching the delusion and thinks he’s found something important.

He calls Bex again on his mobile. Crazy. She’s been avoiding him in the village for the past six months, but now they’re like besties, bonding over the possibility that Kate might have Capgras.

‘Give me a sec,’ Bex says.

He hears her talking to Stretch, Kate’s dachshund. ‘Are you with Kate?’ he asks. It’s important he talks to Bex when she’s on her own.

‘She’s still with the police.’

‘She’s not going back to the old job, is she?’

Her police work was a far cry from portrait painting, but it gave her some independence – and money too. And it was Jake who originally introduced her to DI Hart.

‘No chance,’ Bex says. ‘Have you seen her house down here? The life she has now?’

Jake falls silent. He’s often thought about visiting, trying to talk to Kate, but he has so far stayed away.

‘Sorry,’ Bex says. ‘That wasn’t kind. Tell me what you’ve found?’

‘Listen to this,’ he says. ‘“Capgras is a full-blown psychiatric disorder caused by anything from dementia to paranoid schizophrenia.”’

‘So why would Kate have it?’