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“Wait,” she said. “Stephen’sthe lead in Switzerland?”

Ket Siong’s forehead furrowed. “The lead…?” His eyes widened. “You hired the PI firm that contacted Stephen.”

Renee looked away. “It’s not that I didn’t believe you. I tried to read up online, but it was hard to piece it all together. I thought if I had more information… I don’t know, I thought it’d help me figure out what to do. But it’s too late now.”

Hopelessness bore down on her again, the sense of being trapped with no way out. She shivered, her breathing speeding up.

Panic rose in her. She couldn’t break down again, not in front of Ket Siong. Renee opened her mouth to give some kind of excuse, lay the ground for an escape.

But Ket Siong spoke first. “You shouldn’t stay out here in the cold. You were running?”

Renee nodded, though it had to be obvious. She was in running leggings and an ancient, pilling T-shirt, near-translucent from the washes it had been through. Her hair was a mess, and the state of her face didn’t bear thinking of. She must be looking like a complete wreck.

Ket Siong, of course, looked great. He had on the same charcoal-grey coat he’d been wearing the last time she’d seen him, the evening before the pitch to Freshview, though this time he was wearing a green hoodie under it. She’d registered all of this before she realised he was shrugging off his coat.

“No, no,” said Renee. “I’m all gross and sweaty. I don’t want to stink up your coat.”

In fact the sweat had dried on her skin. Any warmth generated by her run was long gone. She clasped her hands, noticing for the first time that they were freezing.

Ket Siong paid no attention to her protests. He draped his coat over her shoulders. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”

“I’m fine,” said Renee feebly, but it would have taken far more energy than she had to resist Ket Siong in this mood. The moral force of his concern was irresistible.

Without quite knowing how it happened, she found herselfscudding along the path, with him beside her. It was like she was being borne along in the wake of a large ship. Ket Siong wasn’t even touching her.

Renee glanced up at him. “Do you know where we’re going?”

It was harder to navigate now darkness had fallen. Around them, the amber glow of the streetlights picked out trees and benches and patches of grass, casting them in sharp relief. Beyond, the surrounding parkland fell away into mystery.

This didn’t seem to worry Ket Siong. “I’ve been to your place before.”

It felt weirdly natural being with him like this, despite how they’d last parted. In a way, it always felt natural being with Ket Siong. Maybe that was why it hadn’t occurred to Renee before to wonder how he’d happened to stumble on her.

“What were you doing here?” she said. “When you found me, I mean.”

There was a brief pause. Ket Siong said, “I was on a walk.”

Renee had been expecting him to say he’d been teaching a class nearby, or had been meeting a friend. She blinked. “Really?”

It would have taken Ket Siong an hour to get here from Edmonton. It was an odd place to choose for a stroll.

Ket Siong seemed aware of this. He looked a little embarrassed. “I’ve been coming here a lot. I was hoping I’d bump into you.” He paused. “I would have texted, but you weren’t receiving my messages.”

“I blocked your number,” admitted Renee.

“I thought so.” He gave her a sidelong look, his brows knitted. “I know you said you didn’t want to see me again. But I wanted to apologise, for what happened last time. It wasn’t fair to you.”

“Oh, Ket Siong, no.” Renee touched his arm. “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have flown off the handle like that. I knew I was in the wrong. I was just so mixed up, with everything going on.”

Ket Siong’s eyes dropped to her hand where it was resting on his bicep. Renee had reached out without thinking, but she wassuddenly conscious of the muscle under her palm. They had been closer less than ten minutes ago, her head resting on his chest, but this touch felt more intimate, somehow. As though she’d transgressed a boundary.

She lifted her hand, heat flooding her face.

But Ket Siong caught her hand in his. His eyes were fixed on her. The look in them made Renee’s heart start beating wildly. He opened his mouth.

At this pivotal moment, Renee’s body elected to let out an enormous sneeze. This was followed by two more sneezes, equally seismic, in rapid succession.

“We’d better get indoors,” said Ket Siong.