Sant smiled. ‘Actually, I came here to do some newspaper research, but I’ve left it a bit late. Umm, I didn’t catch your name.’
‘I didn’t offer it,’ she replied. ‘But since you ask, I’m Mia.’
She offered her hand to him and he accepted, though the force of her conviction made him somewhat reluctant to dwell further. He enjoyed talking to strangers – and sometimes felt more comfortable with people he didn’t know than those he did – but this encounter felt all wrong. It was strangely familiar. Yet there was nothing familiar about a clout to the head from Dorothy’s flying book.
‘I’m Carl. Nice to have met you.’
He tore his gaze away and climbed the stairs, overcome by an inexplicable urge to look back at the woman. Staring down at her petite frame he called out a question.
‘Do you know w
