April didn’t like reaching a dead-end so soon, but as she slumped against her pillow, she felt defeated. If only she knew Erin’s surname. Dexter nudged her hand with his wet nose. It wasn’t much encouragement, but it was enough. She rubbed the dog’s floppy ears before resuming her search, this time putting as much information as she knew about Erin into the search engine, which wasn’t much. After a couple of attempts with different combinations of where she had lived, the year she died, and her illness, April found a fundraising page. It had been set up to raise money for the hospice where a young woman called Erin Peters had been cared for in her last weeks. There was a collection of photos that confirmed April had found the right person. Her heart sank.

The page had been set up by Erin’s husband and he was in some of the photos. He most definitely wasn’t Nick.

April pulled out her earphones and dropped her phone as she jumped out of bed. She needed to do something, but what? She paced the room to shake off the shock before picking her mobile up again and sending the link to Tara. Despite the early hour, Tara responded immediately.

What’s this? X

It’s Nick’s girlfriend x

As she waited for the next response, April pictured Tara skimming through the page’s updates. Her phone lit up and she answered the call before it could ring out.

‘Are you sure it’s her?’ asked Tara.

‘Nick showed me a picture of Erin,’ April whispered in reply. ‘It’s definitely the same woman, and the description of her illness and everything she went through ties in with what Nick told us.’

‘Except the bit about her being married to someone else. Do you think he knew her at all?’ asked Tara. ‘I can’t see him in any of the photos.’

‘And Nick wasn’t in the photo he showed me of Erin,’ April reminded her.

‘Shit,’ hissed Tara. ‘Who the hell is he?’

‘Not the grieving husband, that’s for sure. We need to let Faith know.’

April’s phone picked up thuds and bangs coming from the other end of the line until Tara was able to speak. ‘She’s thousands of miles away, in another country with a man who’s been lying to us all,’ Tara said at last. ‘If we show her this, she’ll want to confront him there and then and there’s no telling how he’ll react because we don’t know him – at – all. We’re going to have to wait until she’s home.’

There were more thumps and crashes. ‘Tara, where are you?’

‘I’m in the shop.’

‘It’s …’ April paused to check the time. ‘It’s four thirty. I know you start early, but I didn’t realise it was this early.’