Why had she assumed Maria was single? It was because she looked so young, and the rucksack had marked her out as a student traveller. Her English was good but full of short hesitations, and her face switched between anxiety and open joy in half a second – the muscles were always at work. She had very dark hair, drawn back from a small, oval face, and it was held somehow under a denim cap. She wore a light pink waterproof, and a crucifix was just visible against her throat. She had small, fine hands that tapered to carefully painted nails, and she looked up from her tea suddenly so their eyes were locked together for a moment. Maria’s were almost black, and luminous. She smiled and her teeth were perfect.

‘Where’s your hotel?’ said Ayesha.

‘I don’t know.’

She laughed.

‘Some… very small place. I have a map, but first I get to Burnley.’

She drew a ticket from the wallet.

‘Burnley Manchester Road. Do you know Burnley Manchester Road?’

‘Don’t ask me.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because… Because I gave you the wrong information, earlier. You shouldn’t trust me.’

Maria laughed again.

‘I see, you’re joking! – of course I trust you. But honestly… Listen. I take the C4 bus from the railway station. The C4 bus goes to the hotel, so they say. I hope it does. I hope it will come.’

‘You seem well prepared,’ said Ayesha.

‘I stay two days in the hotel. One long walk.’

‘And that’s holiday?’

Maria nodded.

‘Very special holiday.’

Ayesha smiled, wishing that conversations like this didn’t have to be interrogations. Why only two days? What’s so special? Will you be alone, and if so won’t you be lonely? Or is it an organised walking-adventure you booked weeks ago with friends? And why Lancashire? What is your job here, or was I right in my first assumption, that you’re studying? If so – if not – does your extraordinary beauty make your life difficult, and what is your experience of this strange, strange country?

‘My brother died,’ she said suddenly.

Maria’s eyes opened wider than ever.

‘He died, and I’m taking his guitar back home – I can’t even remember why I’d been looking after it. He came to visit me, but I don’t know why he left it. He did, though – and it’s time it went somewhere else.’

‘He died?’ said Maria softly.

‘He was in an accident, just over three years ago. A road accident, and… it affected us all pretty deeply. Well, it would.’