‘It’s because of Annie,’ Ed said, ‘isn’t it? All this time you’ve been protecting her. From what, Fiona? You need to tell us, because right now we’ve got one dead man, one abduction, and a prominent Irish politician who’s caught up in all of this for reasons I don’t yet understand. Robert’s in custody at the moment, but there’s going to be hell to pay if we’re not able to explain very soon to the Irish authorities why he’s been arrested.’

Together, Emer and Fiona told Ed everything they’d worked out so far about Kitty Doran’s disappearance.

‘Robert killed Michael,’ Dee said, when they’d finished. She looked at Emer. ‘He wears a distinctive cologne, doesn’t he? I smelled it at Michael’s flat on Sunday morning when I discovered his body.’

‘He’s gone into crisis management mode,’ Emer said. ‘He’s a great man for sorting out a mess. Normally it’s other people’s messes and he hires people to help. With this, he’s had to do it by himself. Because Kitty’s his weakness. Until today, Kitty was the only person left alive – apart from my mother – who knew that Robert killed Lucy and hid her body. Ursula’s not going to say anything, but Kitty might. He’s decided he can’t risk that, so he’s come here to sort it out himself.’

‘I should have stopped it years ago,’ Fiona said.

‘You had your reasons,’ Ed said. ‘Although if we’d known everything earlier, Michael may have got a more lenient prison sentence.’

‘But we’d have lost Annie,’ Fiona said.

‘Kitty,’ Emer said. ‘Her name’s Kitty.’

They were sitting in the elegant sitting room Dee had seen through the window earlier. If someone looked into the room now, they’d think it was five friends sitting around sharing a pot of coffee and some biscuits. So far, Ed had managed to avoid pointing out that Dee had broken her promise about staying away from Alfriston. Although Dee was sure it was only a matter of time before he cracked and said something.

She reached up to touch the wound on her face, remembering the fear she’d felt as the blade had cut her skin. Rachel had already examined the cut and told Dee the wound was superficial. She’d offered to take Dee to A&E to get it properly checked out, but Dee had refused. She wanted to see this through to the end.

‘What will happen to Robert now?’ she asked.

‘Depends.’ Ed looked at Fiona. ‘Do you think Kitty will be willing to tell the Irish authorities the truth about Lucy?’

‘If we ever find her, then yes, of course she’ll want to tell them what she knows,’ Fiona said. ‘The only reason she hasn’t already done that is because I didn’t want her to.’