Alex was looking at her with skepticism, and she rounded on him defensively. “Just listen a moment. I’m no longer vegetarian, have such unfathomable dreams.”

“Medication.” He said this without meaning to be condescending. “You’ve got such a powerful cocktail of drugs in you for the first six months to a year. They’re beasts, Lucy.”

“OK, yes, Courtney said as much, so I went with that. But every time I met someone from your circle of friends, I knew them. Siân, for instance; and Simon. They were so familiar to me.” Alex looked dubiously at her, and she managed half a laugh, aware that it seemed crazy. “I know I sound loopy, Alex, really; but I’m not losing my mind. I assure you, there are just too many things. I knew your house in Hampshire; and I felt like I’d come home here, as soon as we walked in.”

“Lucy, you were relieved to find a safe haven…Nothing mattered to me except creating that for you as soon as we got here.”

“Yes.” She smiled appreciatively. “But think how that headache seized on me, Alex, that day in Longparish. The sensation of nausea and pain and chill. I honestly thought I was going to die. I’m sure it was seeing Will’s place, the churchyard—everything.” He was going to interrupt, but she kept on. “And I’ve wanted to call you ‘Sandy’ half a dozen times, which was far too intimate when we were just getting to know each other; but I think that’s what Will must have called you?” She challenged him softly.

Alex laughed with surprise. It was true—his pet name to Will alone since their childhood; but while he didn’t want to prejudge her, this was strange territory for him. “Have I let that slip? Or did Siân?”

“No, Alex, no one’s told me. And I think he called you that because of your…”

They finished the words together: “…sandy hair.”

He looked at her, thinking, trying so hard not to be closed to this for her sake: but it was odd.

“I want to ask you a silly thing. Was Will left-handed?”

Alex’s eyes shot up. “And you’ve been more left-handed since transplant surgery. Lucy, these things are interesting: really.” He responded sympathetically to her stressed expression. “But it doesn’t add up to a case. Your antirejection drugs could account for a lot of this.”

“So they could, I quite agree. Would you put it on the line? Are you able to find out?”