‘WiFi,’ she says. ‘You can use the café’s if you want?’

‘Oh, God, yes, that would be great,’ I say as she passes me a card. I pull out my phone and tap in the code.

‘Mum said you went to see her yesterday. How did you find her?’ Meg asks.

‘She was fine,’ I lie, smiling. ‘It was lovely to see her.’

Meg shakes her head and sighs. ‘No, she’s not. She’s anything but fine. That’s a shame, I was hoping you might see it for yourself.’ She shrugs as she turns her back and continues to slice a carrot she was midway through chopping.

I want to tell her I did see it, but at the same time I don’t know what good it would do Meg. When the door pings and a customer walks in, I instead find a seat in the corner of the café and call Bonnie’s number.

‘Where the hell are you?’ she shouts as she answers the phone.

‘It’s good to hear your voice,’ I say. She thinks I’m being sarcastic, but she doesn’t realise how much I’ve missed it in the past day and a half.

‘I tried calling you and even went to the flat. Where are you?’

‘I just came away for a few days.’

There is a moment’s pause and then she snaps, ‘Oh God, no. You haven’t gone back there. Tell me you haven’t.’

‘I am on Evergreen,’ I say, glancing around at the customers. ‘But only for three nights. I’m coming back Friday.’

‘Why, Stella?’ she cries.

‘I had to.’

‘You just couldn’t stay away.’

‘No, I couldn’t.’

‘And what do you think you’re going to find exactly?’

‘I just want to know what happened.’

‘And you can’t watch the news like any normal person?’

‘I don’t just mean that,’ I say, dropping my voice as I hold the phone closer. ‘The reasons we left—’

‘You’re not going to tell me you think our parents put the bloody body there, are you? Is that what this is about? You think we left because they murdered someone and buried her in the garden?’

‘No! That’s not what I’m saying. It just – us leaving changed everything, Bonnie. It wrecked everything,’ I say.

‘And you think you want to know why?’

‘Don’t you?’

The truth is I have no idea if I do or not. I’ve spent twenty-five years convincing myself I don’t. That I know who my parents are, that my life on Evergreen was exactly what I always believed it was. But I know my parents had secrets too.