When Ruby gets an idea, she goes for it. She’s already striding along the pavement and into the Costa two doors away. As Annalise and I push our way in, she’s heading up to the till.
“Hello there!” she begins cheerfully. “I“d like three lattes, three doughnuts, three plain croissants, three almond croissants—”
“Ruby, stop!” I start giggling.
“Three pains au chocolat—we’ll give them to the patients if we can’t finish them—three apple muffins—”
“Three tins of breath mints,” chimes in Annalise.
“Breath mints?” Ruby turns to regard her scornfully.
“And some cinnamon swirls,” Annalise adds hurriedly.
“That’s more like it. Three cinnamon swirls … ”
My phone rings in my pocket, and my stomach lurches. Oh God, who’s this? What if it’s Magnus?
What if it’s Sam?
I haul it out, taking a step away from Ruby and Annalise, who are arguing about what kind of cookies they should buy. As I see the screen, I feel a dreadful squeezing sensation inside. It’s Unknown Number. Whoever-it-is has finally phoned me back.
This is it. This is where I find out the truth. For good or for bad. I’m so petrified, my hand is actually shaking as I press
“Hello?” a girl’s voice is saying down the line. “Hello? Can you hear me?”
Is that Clemency? I can’t tell.
“Hi,” I manage to utter at last. “Hello. This is Poppy speaking. Is this Clemency?”
“No.” The girl sounds surprised.
“Oh.” I swallow. “Right.”
It’s not Clemency? Who is it, then? My mind is scampering around frantically. Who else could have sent me that text? Does this mean Lucinda’s
“So.” I try desperately to sound dignified and not at all like someone who’s about to be totally humiliated and have to call their entire wedding off. “Was there something you wanted to say to me?”
“Yes. I’m urgently trying to get in touch with Sam Roxton.”
The tension that’s been growing inside me breaks with a crash. It’s not Unknown Number after all. At least, it’s Different Unknown Number. I don’t know if I’m disappointed or relieved.
“How did you get this number?” the girl is demanding. “Do you know Sam?”
“Er … yes. Yes, I do.” I try to gather myself. “Sorry. I misunderstood for a moment. I thought you were someone else. Can I take a message for Sam?”
I say it automatically before I realize that I’m not forwarding things to Sam anymore. Still, I can get a message to him, can’t I? Just for old times’ sake. Just to be helpful.
“I’ve tried that.” She sounds quite high-handed. “You don’t understand. I need to speak to him. Today. Now. It’s urgent.”
“Oh. Well, I can give you his email address—”
“That’s a joke.” She cuts me off impatiently. “Sam never reads emails. But, believe me, this is important. I
I gape at the receiver, wondering if I’ve gone crazy. How does some strange girl know what phone I’m holding?
“Who
“No one remembers who I am, do they? I worked for Sam. I’m Violet.”
Thank God I didn’t eat the cinnamon swirls, is all I can say. Violet turns out to be about ten feet tall, with skinny legs clad in frayed denim shorts and massive dark eyes with traces of makeup around them.92 She looks like a cross between a giraffe and a bush baby.
It turned out that she lives in Clapham and it would take her only about five minutes to get here to see me. So here she is, in Costa, chomping on a chicken wrap and swigging a smoothie. Ruby and Annalise have gone back to work, which is a good thing, because I couldn’t cope with having to explain the whole saga to them. It’s all too surreal.
As Violet has told me several times, if she hadn’t
“My parents are on this stupid