‘Only you choose now to come back.’ Annie shakes her head as if this is a grave mistake on my part. ‘I wish you hadn’t. This isn’t a good time for you to be here, Stella.’

‘I was so shocked when I saw the news,’ I say. ‘I couldn’t believe it.’

‘And that’s why you’ve come?’

‘I don’t know,’ I admit. ‘It’s part of it.’ I look out towards her garden. In the summer it used to be filled with heather and roses and bushes of lavender. Now it looks bleak and stark. ‘There are things I need to find out,’ I say. ‘Things that have been playing on my mind for too long.’

Her eyes are wide and she pulls her hand away and wraps it around her mug, dipping her eyes to her tea as she slowly takes a sip. I expect her to ask what I mean but she doesn’t. ‘Have you seen anyone else since you arrived?’

‘Only Emma Grey,’ I tell her, frowning at the oddness of our encounter. ‘Oh, and Freya Little – the journalist.’ My mind drifts back to what she’d told me about Annie being one of the few the police had been keen to talk to. I hate the idea that she expected me to interrogate Annie, yet the fact Freya clearly knows more than I do means I’m loath to tell her I want nothing to do with her. ‘It’s very quiet everywhere,’ I add.

‘People are frightened. First the body and then all the questioning. Journalists like that Freya try to turn us against each other, I swear.’

‘It must be horrible.’

‘It is.’ Annie’s gaze drifts out of the window. ‘You’d hope something like this would bring a small community together, but …’ She shakes her head.

‘Why do you think it hasn’t?’ I ask.

‘Because of people like her, as I said.’ Annie turns back to me. ‘The police have to ask their questions, but those journalists want even more from us. It’s better to keep to yourself. Then you can’t be drawn into farcical conclusions.’

‘Are you alright, Annie?’ I ask. ‘No one’s hounding you, are they?’ Annie was always the matriarch of our island. The thought of her being pestered by someone like Freya bothers me.

Annie shrugs. ‘Oh, I can look after myself,’ she says, though her tired eyes say different. ‘For some reason everyone thinks I have all the answers, though.’ She gives me a thin smile and I shrink back. She must know that’s why I’m also here, though it’s different answers I’m looking for.

‘Tell me what you’re up to now.’ Annie plumps out her words as if this is much more important than anything else.

‘I’m a counsellor,’ I say as I relax my shoulders, picking up my mug. ‘I counsel families.’