‘I think he’d have done anything to keep a child safe. Although I’m struggling to accept that there might be this whole other part of his life I didn’t know anything about.’

‘How could you have known?’ Louise said. ‘You were living in London then, weren’t you?’

‘1997. The year I got married. I had a job I loved and a husband I adored. The truth is, I didn’t give much thought to what was going on in my parents’ life back then. I was so caught up in my London life. Do you think my mum knew? I hope so. I’d hate to think of him keeping secrets from her.’

‘All couples keep secrets from each other,’ Louise said. ‘It doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with their marriage.’

‘You said the trial was weird,’ Dee said, once again moving the conversation onto safer ground. After the catastrophic end to the affair that had almost ruined Louise’s marriage, Dee wasn’t ready to hear about any other secrets her cousin might be keeping from her husband. ‘What was weird about it?’

‘Everything,’ Louise said. ‘Mike Holden had never been in trouble in his life. Then out of the blue, he killed a man but never gave a reason for why he did it. He had psychiatric assessments but I don’t think anyone was ever able to find anything wrong with him. He always claimed he didn’t know the victim, and the police were never able to prove otherwise.’

‘There must have been theories about why he did it.’

‘Lots of theories,’ Louise said. ‘Most of them that Mike was involved in something dodgy. But I never really believed that. If he was, it would have come out sooner or later, and it never did. What about you?’

‘What about me?’

‘Oh come on, Dee. You must have your own idea of why Mike killed that guy.’

‘Maybe,’ Dee said, ‘but for now that’s all it is: an idea. I don’t want to jinx it by talking about it just yet.’

‘Even though I got you the address and now I’m driving you to Alfriston?’

‘Sorry.’ Dee smiled. ‘So, if you didn’t think he was involved in something dodgy – what did you think?’

‘All right,’ Louise said. ‘But remember, I want to hear your clever idea as soon as you’re ready to share it.’

‘You’ll be the first to know,’ Dee said. ‘I promise.’

‘I thought he was being blackmailed. It’s the only thing that made sense. I don’t believe he suddenly turned into a psychopath and killed a random stranger for no reason.’

‘Being blackmailed about what?’

‘I assumed he was having an affair, something like that. But now I’m wondering, if you’re right and Annie isn’t really their child – that would be a good reason for blackmail.’ She glanced across at Dee. ‘How am I doing?’