‘I’ve spoken to a woman who heard him calling out to you,’ Leanne said. ‘Her name is Carole and she was with you and Beth as you fought to get out. She saw him up in the circle and my guess is you saw him too.’

‘I didn’t just see him, I saw him fall,’ Karin said in a hushed whisper as if she were sharing her worst secret. ‘I mean, I picture him falling. The doctors say my memory won’t come back.’

‘Maybe those doctors don’t know everything. What else do you remember?’

For a while, the only thing Leanne could hear was the sound of water lapping against the side of the boat.

‘Can I really trust you?’

‘Look, I know Beth told you not to talk to the press, but—’

‘It wasn’t Beth.’

It was Leanne’s turn to leave a pause. ‘Claudia?’

‘She came over the day after we saw you. That’s what started the argument with Beth,’ Karin said. ‘She doesn’t think Claudia … Actually, I don’t know what she thinks.’

‘Beth doesn’t trust her,’ Leanne surmised. She would have punched the air, but she was too nesh to raise an arm outside the duvet.

‘You told her Declan was having an affair with Claudia, but Claudia said it was Phillipa. Now she says forget all about it, let Dec keep his secrets, but I can’t. I need to know what happened that night.’

‘The difference between me and Claudia is that she will tell lies and make you believe them. I can only give you my best guess. I can’t prove that Claudia was having an affair with your brother, but she knew things about him that no one else did, like the fact that he’d slept with his sister-in-law.’

‘What— What did you say?’ Karin stammered. ‘How did you … No one was supposed to know about that.’

‘Is it true?’

Karin groaned as if her thoughts hurt. ‘He was so ashamed. He made me promise not to breathe a word of it to anyone. And I didn’t, not even to Beth.’

‘And his ex-wife still doesn’t know, so I doubt her sister’s been talking. Declan only told the people he thought he could trust.’

‘And he trusted Claudia? But she said she didn’t know him. How could she lie to my face like that? And not only that. You think she gave us our tickets?’

‘Yes, and that’s not a guess. It’s a fact.’

‘Claudia knows you’re on to her, doesn’t she? That’s why she took my pendant.’

Leanne bit down hard on her lip to stop herself swearing. ‘Claudia took your necklace? The one with the initial?’