‘Well I’m glad too. But don’t think this means I forgive you, Kitty. I’m not ready to do that just yet.’

‘I don’t blame you,’ Kitty said. ‘I’d feel the same way if I was you.’

‘Well, you’ve done the right thing now. That’s got to count for something, I suppose.’

‘What would you have done if you’d killed me?’ Kitty asked.

‘I don’t know.’ Maeve shrugged. ‘I hadn’t thought that far ahead. All I could think about was making you suffer.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ Kitty said. ‘I know how pointless it is to say that now, but it’s the truth. I wanted to contact you, Maeve. There were plenty of times when I almost got in touch.’

‘What stopped you?’

‘I was scared. It’s no excuse, I know. I’m sorry.’

‘You’re right,’ Maeve said. ‘It’s no excuse.’ She nodded at Kitty’s legs. ‘You’re going to have to stay like that until I can find something to cut you loose.’

‘I’ve got a nail clipper in my bag,’ Kitty said. ‘Try that.’

‘Maybe I’m not ready to untie you.’ Maeve walked over to the window, stood with her back to Kitty for several minutes.

‘Oh, to hell with it,’ she said eventually.

She crossed the room, out of Kitty’s eyeline.

‘Got them,’ Maeve said. She came back to Kitty, nail clipper in hand, and set about cutting the ties. It took a while but eventually Kitty’s wrists were free and she was able to sit up while Maeve started on the cable ties around her ankles.

‘I’d been thinking about going into business with Robert,’ Maeve said, as she worked on the cable ties. ‘We’d been talking about opening a hotel together. I was keen to expand to another part of the country, and Robert was looking for a sound investment. I know it’s a risk going into business with someone else. But I really thought I could trust Robert.

‘We’d arranged to meet at his house to discuss next steps. When I got there, he was in the garden with your mother. They were talking about you. Emer had told them about seeing you in London, and Robert was asking if it was possible you could still be alive. Your mother kept insisting it wasn’t. She said you’d drowned that day, and that was the end of it.

‘I must have made a noise then, because suddenly they stopped speaking. So I went around the corner and pretended I’d just arrived. But later, during my meeting with Robert, I told him I’d overheard some of their conversation. And I told him if there was any chance you might be alive, I wanted to help find you.