As it happened, Tara did know Turville Court. It had been the property section’s front page in the Gazette; an ivy-covered Brideshead, up for sale now the semi-aristocratic family had fizzled out in a disappointed splutter of elderly sisters. The kettle boiled and Tara poured the hot water into the pot. She let the silence brew along with the tea bags.

‘So, as I was literally a few miles from Longhampton I thought I’d drop by to see you,’ he went on. ‘Worth a knock, on the off-chance, surely?’

Tara turned to examine his face. No mention of the phone call to Toby. No mention of the house. No mention of her mother, or condolences. What did he want?

‘Why didn’t you come to the front door, like a normal person would? What were you doing in the garden?’

‘Well,’ he said, a touch self-deprecatingly, ‘this is going to sound silly, but I wanted to check that silver birch in the garden hadn’t come down in the storms. So many trees down in Perryfield. Lots of damage. That silver birch always bothered me. We should have taken it out years ago, it’s not safe.’

‘Really.’

‘Yes, really, if you don’t get it lopped back it could easily come down in a bad storm, right on top of the studio.’ Keith read her expression and changed tack. ‘And when I was so near, it felt wrong to be in the area and not try to see you. Especially after what’s happened. I wanted to say how sorry I was about—’

‘Don’t!’ It snapped out of her. ‘I don’t want to talk about Mum. And there’s nothing you can do, before you ask. Everything’s under control.’

It wasn’t. She didn’t know why she’d said that.

Keith raised his hands. ‘OK. I’m sorry.’

Silence spread between them, and Tara’s shoulders dropped. Mum had been acknowledged, and she’d managed to put up a boundary. Her brain hadn’t left the building yet, but her heartbeat was still skittering anxiously.

‘Bloody awful mess in the town, where the river went over,’ he went on. ‘Cheering to see how people have been pulling together, though. The land agent was telling me about the community response. I had a look at the Flood Relief website – you’ve been a real pillar of the community, I hear!’

Tara pretended she didn’t feel pleased he’d seen it. ‘Why were you looking at that?’

He sipped his tea. ‘Due diligence for the client. Turville Court’s on the edge of the flood-risk area – you need to factor these things in. Where was the worst hit? Much Larton? Yarrold?’

Tara was surprised he could remember – and he was right. ‘Yarrold was cut off for a few days. They had to rescue people in boats. Human chains for pets and valuables.’