Then she halted. Piero had called her out on taking flight rather than facing things. If it was a new bad habit she needed to scotch it. Without giving herself another moment to freak out she squared her shoulders and started up the path, hearing Ursula’s footsteps hurrying to catch up. They rounded a trellis and a flower garden burst into view, every colour jumbled together in jam-packed flower beds as if someone had given a pack of cub scouts an unlimited number of bedding plants and begun a growing competition. At an angle to the path stood a long, low wooden building.

‘A cabin,’ Zia murmured, pausing to admire the way French doors were set in the walls of broad horizontal boards. Beneath a gable was a green front door with a chrome knocker. She strode up and rapped smartly. Then, washed with a fresh wave of apprehension, she exchanged wide-eyed, ‘Eek!’ grimaces with Ursula.

A rattle from the door and she held her breath. Five seconds passed. Ten. The door opened. A man regarded them through silver-rimmed glasses.

What was left of his hair was grey and his lined face was pale. He leaned on two sticks, a droopy fleece open over a T-shirt and paunch. Then he smiled and his eyes crinkled. ‘Hello, ladies.’

Memory stirred as she looked into his kind blue eyes and Zia let out her breath. ‘Harry Anstey?’ She hadn’t realised she’d remember his eyes or the way they’d twinkled when he’d produced Dip Dabs and Fizz Wizzes for her from his pockets.

The smile broadened. ‘I am! But you’re going to have to remind me who you are, I’m afraid.’

She had to clear her throat. ‘I’m Zia-Lucia Costa Chalmers. You used to know—’

‘Zia!’ The bark of surprise was so loud that it seemed to make Harry totter on his sticks.

Relief dissolved some of Zia’s tension. She half-laughed. ‘I remember you from when I was a kid. This is my friend, Ursula.’

He darted Ursula a wide smile but returned to staring at Zia with an air of incredulity. Then he visibly shook himself. ‘Come in, come in. This is wonderful!’ Beaming like a child at a party he helped his stiff legs along with energetic taps of the sticks as the two women followed him through a square hall that opened into an open-plan living area furnished with reclining armchairs, a sofa, a dining table and a modern kitchen to the side.

‘I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,’ Harry crowed, executing a pirouette on his sticks and one foot. ‘Zia!’ A slow, beatific smile broke over his face. ‘How did you find me? You must think I’m bonkers, flapping about like this. What a wonder!’ He put both his sticks in one hand to reach out and pat Zia’s arm as if reassuring himself she was real.