It didn’t take me long to get to Charles II Street, but when I reached the grocer’s it was in darkness. Silly girl. Didn’t think of that, did you? I’d been so keen to get here, to see Lucien, that I hadn’t considered that the shop would be shut. I tapped lightly on the door. If Lucien was upstairs or in the back, he probably wouldn’t hear me, but I didn’t want to bang too loudly and draw attention. Not in this sort of neighbourhood. No answer. I couldn’t stay outside, though. The whole way here I’d been looking over my shoulder, waiting for someone to come after me. Lucien will understand, I told myself as I withdrew one of my hairpins and forced the lock.

‘Lucien, are you there? It’s me, Zillah,’ I called out as I entered, closing the door behind me.

The shop floor had been swept down and the counters gleamed with polish. The jars of tea and spices had been filled and the displays of candles and lamp black replenished. I lifted the counter and stepped behind it. I couldn’t resist turning and facing the shop as though I owned it. Were African shops the same as British ones? The thought of all that I didn’t know made me anxious. But what choice did I have? After what I’d done tonight it would be too tough to stay in London.

I parted the beaded curtain that led to the back room and walked through. Here all was spick and span too, and just as I remembered it, with its bookshelves that reached from floor to ceiling and took up the whole of one wall. The only other furniture was a dining table and two easy chairs before the fire. There was a pamphlet on the table. The very one that had been given out when we went to Exeter Hall. I sat down in the chintz-covered chair that faced the flames, and yawned. Now that Nosizwe was safe with Elvira, the evening’s events were slowly catching up with me. I thought of the shock on the faces of the audience when I’d exposed the Great Amazonia as a fake; the pain of seeing Nosizwe’s son trapped inside the cage and then her smile of relief when she held him in her arms. I’d burnt all my bridges, but for that moment, and knowing she’d got away, it was worth it. I leant back and closed my eyes, thinking now of Lucien. I imagined him calling my name, touching me lightly on the arm.

‘Zillah, what are you doing here? Wake up.’