Ewan remembered the way, didn’t he? He just needs to find a familiar road and take the same route as before.

Was he in a fit state to agree when I told him the plan ?

Is he deliberately taking his time? Does he need the cool-off period that badly?

There was a creak at the top of the stairs behind him. Jack didn’t worry: the footstep was so loud that it couldn’t have been made by someone sneaking up on him. He turned around and saw Gracie, her hands trembling and eyes pointed at the carpet.

‘Jack?’

‘You OK, Gracie?’

At first she gave no answer. But just before Jack turned his head back to guard the approach to the house again, she spluttered her words out.

‘Did I kill Raj?’

Jack stared back in confusion.

‘What?’

‘Did Ewan mean it? Is it my fault he died?’

Jack gave a long sigh.

‘Ewan was angry because he’d just lost a friend. He was saying it out of hurt, nothing more.’

‘But he’s right… if I’d brought Raj out with me, we’d all be alive.’

‘You’re assuming you could have made Raj give up and run. He was a stubborn guy.’

‘But I could have…’

Gracie began to sniff, and Jack gritted his teeth. Situations like these were beyond his social understanding, according to the many people who had made him feel bad over the years. And from a logical perspective, it was difficult to argue with her. If Gracie had been more forceful, maybe it really would have saved Raj’s life.

But maybe it wouldn’t have.

It would be so easy, pretending to know what he’d have done in the same situation. But Gracie had been the one inside Oakenfold, not him. And he had spent many years enduring those who had judged him without knowing his background, so he would never judge others in the same way. Gracie would spend the rest of her days wondering about the what-ifs, being judged by other people who definitely would have done this or that in her position. Jack refused to become one of them.

‘You did what you needed to do, Gracie,’ he finished. ‘If you’d stayed, you could have both got trapped.’

Before he could turn to face the street again, Gracie was hugging him. He did not know whether it was a friendship hug or a romantic hug, whatever the latter was. But it lasted longer than most of the hugs he endured.