‘She would,’ Helena snapped. ‘He dumped her.’

‘No. Really? Dan did?’

‘When the ghastly Torquil left her she thought she was a shoe-in with Dan, but she underestimated him. After a few dates, he made his excuses. Nance might have been one of them, I don’t know. Anyway, don’t make the same mistake, Luce.’

‘What?’

‘Of underestimating him. There are hidden depths.’

‘Good ones?’

‘D’you think I’d be mentioning them if they weren’t? Anyway, I’ve got to go.’

We hung up and I marvelled yet again at how my sister fitted so much into one day. Management buyouts, equity partner meetings, criminal procedure advice plus relationship counselling – all in a day’s work. I wasn’t quite sure what I’d been doing with my life.

A second later, she was back. ‘My point is, Luce, you need to carry on as normal. For you, your sanity, for Mum and Dad, for the kids, but also from the police’s point of view. This could go on a while. Hold your nerve. And don’t get all jumpy and confessional. Keep calm and carry on.’

‘Got it.’ About five minutes ago actually, oh sister of mine.

Nevertheless, less recently, perhaps not. Perhaps I’d been hiding. I’d certainly been avoiding a few messages I’d received. One from Frankie, wondering about lunch some time. I tapped away now and agreed I’d look at dates if she sent me some. One from Josh, letting me know it was one o’clock on Sunday, to which I said great, look forward to it. Then I replied to a text of Dan’s, agreeing to meet him for supper the following Wednesday. I put my phone down beside me. Life going on as normal, but how normal was that? To be seeing two men? Except … I was doing nothing of the sort, was I? I was spending time with two nice people. Friends, that was all. I conveniently forgot about the kiss in the car. Which, in the scheme of things, was immaterial anyway, I decided, as I got to my feet. Because anything I did right now was basically irrelevant. All I was doing was rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Oh, I knew what was coming. I was facing up to the blindingly obvious by the minute. I took a deep breath to steady myself. Then I made my bed, tidied my room, tucked my phone in my pocket and went downstairs.