‘You can’t blame me for asking. He didn’t look like he was about to give up any time soon.’

Evie looked into the distance, into the night and the hubbub of the city that never slept. ‘He’ll be back, but I’ll deal with it.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Why are you here? Why did you come back?’

He looked at her for the longest time, and then said, ‘I came to get the necklace. I thought I’d get it fixed.’

‘Oh.’ She took off a glove and fumbled in the front pocket of her jeans until she pulled out the chain and the heart pendant. She dropped it into his hand, and he opened his coat and slipped it into the inside pocket for safekeeping.

‘Goodnight, Jack.’ Evie started down the steps to her basement apartment, and without looking back, shut the door behind her.

Jack stood there for a time, watched the yellow glow from behind the curtains turn to black. He’d done his best to trust Evie and thought he’d made progress, but seeing her with that man made it difficult to give her the benefit of the doubt, impossible to trust she knew what she was doing. Who knew what she was involved in. Was it drugs? Prostitution? If it wasn’t sinister, then why wouldn’t she tell him?

Exasperated, he realised he probably didn’t know this young woman at all. And worse still, Nicole didn’t seem to either.