Susan turns to me again and holds out her arms and I fall into her stiff embrace. ‘We didn’t get a chance to talk the other day before Annie stole you away. I imagine she was telling you to leave the island.’ Susan pulls away and turns back to the two figures below. ‘Good on you for coming back.’

‘I’m not sure anyone else will see it that way.’

‘Probably not. She has your best interests at heart, but she still thinks she owns this place and everyone on it,’ Susan murmurs before saying, ‘You’d have thought he’d realise I can see him from our house, wouldn’t you?’

‘Why are you watching him?’ I peer over the edge.

She glances at me like I’ve asked a stupid question, but doesn’t answer. ‘Do you think he’s guilty, Stella?’

‘Who, Graham?’

‘No!’ she laughs. ‘I know he is. I mean your brother. Danny.’ She pulls out a packet of mints from her pocket and squeezes one to the top before offering it to me.

I take it, holding it in my hand. ‘No, I don’t think he is.’

‘Everyone on the island does,’ she says. ‘And by association, they’ll think you are too. It’s a risky move coming back again.’

‘I know.’

‘Why are you? Back, I mean.’

‘Because I want to know what happened.’

Susan nods. ‘There’s nothing wrong with putting people on edge,’ she says. ‘Just look at him.’ She gestures her arm towards her husband. ‘People get too comfortable, but that’s when they make mistakes.’

I squint at her, trying to fathom what she’s actually talking about. It seems like there are multiple strands twisting in her head.

‘Some people seem very excited that Danny confessed to killing that girl,’ Susan tells me. ‘There’s a lot of gossip about him. Stories that aren’t actually true.’

‘Like what?’ I ask, but she brushes away my question with a swipe of her hand.

‘The fact is, he was a good boy. Painfully introverted, but …’ Susan pauses. ‘He wasn’t bad.’ She looks up at me sharply. ‘You know, my daughter later told me he never actually grabbed her in the cave. Do you remember that happening? Maybe you were too young.’

‘No, I remember.’

Susan watches me with wide eyes. ‘They set him up. Or someone set Tess up to do it. I was so cross with her. I never brought her up to be like that, but that summer she was – she was different. She was sucked in by someone who pretended to be her friend.’ Susan turns back to the beach, and I realise she must be talking about Iona. ‘I didn’t realise why at the time, but it was all to do with him.’ She flicks a hand in Graham’s direction.

‘Graham …?’

‘And now she’s moved to London and I barely see her or my grandchildren.’