Clancy, who’d opened her mouth to ask this same question of Alice, was wrong-footed. ‘I haven’t put a limit on it,’ she said eventually. ‘As you know, I’m doing the caretaker’s job and it’s pretty busy at the moment. Every property’s booked up.’

‘Aces.’ Alice took two big gulps from her wine glass, her throat working as she swallowed. ‘All dosh welcome, frankly.’ She rolled her eyes.

‘Right.’ Clancy waited for her to elaborate and when she didn’t said, ‘So where have you been since I saw you last?’

‘All over!’ Alice waved the hand that didn’t hold the wine glass. ‘I bought a motorhome to drive around Europe. Met really interesting, rewarding people, you know? Broadened my horizons and made up for all the bloody years in one bloody village or another. I mean, the UK’s just one small patch on the world map, isn’t it? After Europe, I went over to Morocco, then Algeria and Libya …’ She gulped more wine, as if just the mention of such hot countries made her thirsty. ‘Came back to Europe, left the van with a friend, went to America, met Hugo in the Carolinas, married him in Vegas, came back to Europe.’

Clancy examined the tattoos twining their way up her arms, fairies with pink wings and elves in green hats. ‘What did you do in all those places?’ she asked curiously, trying to picture Alice in a motorhome rather than a posh villa or hotel.

Alice’s eyebrows arched and she lifted a hand, palm up, her shoulders shrugging nearly to her ears while she apparently searched for a suitable answer. ‘Hung out,’ she declared eventually, ‘soaked up the culture, you know? Met interesting people. Travelled,’ she pronounced, as if that conveyed it all. ‘Like your family did.’

‘Not really,’ Clancy felt the need to point out. ‘My parents are workaholics. They build schools and hospitals and government buildings.’

Alice shrugged as if the distinction escaped her. ‘So, anyway, Hugo’s a bit bloody expensive. Never done a stroke in his life, I don’t think, and the Bank of Mummy and Daddy has withdrawn its support so it seemed sensible to come back here. Bit sick of the van and credit card’s too full for hotels.’

Clancy’s heart began to beat in big, apprehensive thumps, the flash of joy she’d felt at seeing her cousin again fading fast. She licked her lips. ‘For how long?’

Alice gave another of those elaborate shrugs. ‘I haven’t put a limit on it.’ Then she laughed at repeating Clancy’s own words back at her and glanced round. ‘Is there another bottle of wine? Bloody Hugo took that one up with him.’

The possible consequences of Alice’s return beginning to dawn on her made Clancy feel temporarily too heavy to leave her seat. ‘Don’t think so. You could have a look, I suppose,’ she answered mechanically. Her mind was spinning. She wanted to ask Alice why she hadn’t contacted her ahead of time but had the feeling Alice would be incredulous at the very notion that she should. Clancy would be the usurper in this scenario, not Alice.