I had meticulously logged times and lengths of his vigils outside my flat for the past three days. By 8.50am he was either slumped down in his car across the road in the side street or else sitting in the café on the corner. My view of him was as clear as his would have been of me. I was sure he wouldn’t arrive any earlier and as I shuffled my friends into the flat, I went to the window and pulled the blinds tightly closed. Jodi and Taylor needed to be invisible.

‘Right, Rebecca. Spill the beans. We’ve been worried about you.’

Jodi hugged me so tightly I thought she’d crack my ribs. Taylor came round the side and we formed a group hug. I fought back the tears. Taylor’s shoulders came level with mine and her short cropped hair, although mousy brown, was shaped not unlike my own.

‘I’ve got everything ready,’ I said. Impatient to get going, I ushered my two friends into the bedroom.

‘Pink? You’ve got to be kidding me.’ Taylor stripped down to her underwear, a faded vest and boxer shorts, and winked at me as she pulled my top on over her head.

‘Here’s looking at you.’ She positioned the baseball cap so the brim covered her eyes and pulled the sweatshirt hood up over the top. It was still raining outside which played into our hands; visibility would be poor. We listened to the rain lash against the skylight.

‘Remember,’ Jodi assured Taylor, ‘you only see what you’re expecting. Arthur won’t see what’s really there. He’ll be expecting Rebecca, will see the clothes and follow blindly.’ Jodi leant across and kissed her partner on the lips while I agitated to get going. As my friends drank their coffee and devoured the bacon and eggs I’d prepared, I stood silently by the window. Like Arthur, I’d become adept at watching and waiting. Panic set in when there was no sighting of him by nine.

‘Calm down, Rebecca. He’ll be here. Patience!’ shouted Jodi, who had begun to deal cards from a random pack taken from her pocket. Perhaps Arthur had backed off. Perhaps he had decided it was no longer worth hanging around now he realised I wasn’t sloping off for clandestine meetings. As the minutes ticked by and my friends became more boisterous, I thought maybe we should abort the plan.

‘He’s turned up.’ My heart missed a beat and I drew back from the window. It was fifteen minutes past. Arthur was unusually late. ‘Five minutes, ladies.’ Jodi neatly stacked the cards and put them back in the box while Taylor readjusted the hood over the baseball cap, securing it tightly.

‘Face down at all times. Jog on the spot. Stretch out on the street below until I text you. Keep your face averted towards the shop fronts and don’t turn round.’