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thanks for asking how I am.’
    Another pause from Ann as she realised her mistake. ‘Sorry,’ she said, almost sounding like she meant it. ‘So how are you? You sound OK, for what it’s worth.’
    ‘I’m not, as it happens. I feel bloody awful. I’ve got half a dozen stitches in my head and a battered face and a body that feels like hell.’
    ‘But nothing broken? No internal damage?’
    ‘No, thank goodness.’
    ‘Well, that’s good,’ Ann said. ‘What about the car that hit you, what are the police doing about the driver?’
    ‘The driver didn’t stop.’
    ‘ What? Were you able to get the number plate?’
    As she always did, Ann managed to make Floriana feel inept, as though she had been deliberately negligent in this oversight. She explained that she had no actual memory of being hit, that it was a blank.
    ‘Any witnesses?’
    She told her sister about her Good Samaritans, then to her horror Ann said, ‘I’d come and be with you if I could, but I can’t get away from work right now. Why don’t you come to us?’
    ‘There’s no need,’ Floriana said quickly, knowing she had to downplay the accident or who knew what her sister would unleash on her. ‘I’m just a little bruised and shocked, nothing serious. Really.’
    ‘You’re sure?’
    ‘Yes, totally sure. All I need is a good night’s sleep and I’ll be as right as rain in the morning.’ Nothing like a bit of misplaced optimism!
    The kettle began to boil and switching it off she heard her sister say, ‘I think it would be better if we didn’t tell Mum and Dad about this, it would only worry them and it would be awful if you spoilt their holiday. You know what Mum’s like, she’d come rushing back if she knew you’d been in an accident.’
    Their parents were part-way through a round-the-world cruise. The trip, many years in the planning, had been a present to themselves after Dad had finally sold the family business and retired, so Floriana knew that what Ann had said made sense, it would be wrong to ruin the holiday for them. But as was so often the way, it was the manner in which her sister made the comment that rankled.
    ‘Of course I won’t tell them,’ she said defensively, ‘I’m not that stupid. Now I’m sorry to hurry you, but I need to have something to eat and go to bed, I’m shattered.’
    ‘Of course. I’ll ring you in the morning to make sure you’re all right. Oh, and please, have a think about Christmas, I need to know final numbers.’
    And I need to come up with a twenty-four-carat-gold excuse why I can’t come to you for Christmas, Floriana thought when she rang off. She feared that only her death would provide a plausible excuse for not fitting in with her sister’s exacting plans.
    Not funny, she told herself with a shiver. Had the timing been fractionally different this evening, that car could very well have finished her off. A tingle ran down her spine and it suddenly came home to her that the nurse at the hospital had been right; she had been lucky.
    Lucky also that two such helpful people had been there on the scene. She would have to thank them properly tomorrow for their help. It was the least she could do.

Chapter Six
    Saturday morning in Summertown and Adam had woken with the stark reminder that Jesse really had gone. Work commitments had meant that Monday to Friday it wasn’t unusual for Jesse to be absent from their bed, but Saturday and Sunday morning she had always been there; it had been one of the constants in their relationship.
    To distract himself from dwelling on her absence, and despite the perishing cold, he had gone for an early morning run and then after he’d showered and dressed, he’d walked down to the shops and returned home from the new bakers with a bag of freshly baked croissants for his breakfast.
    Now, as he poured himself a second cup of coffee from the cafetière, he contemplated the day ahead.
    At twelve o’clock Jesse was coming to collect her things. As