I know I should go back to the café and call Bonnie straight away, but Annie has noticed me and splinters from her group as she beckons me over. The closer I get, the more the others line up like a mini row of soldiers, waiting for me to reach them.

‘Stella.’ Annie holds out her arms. ‘I take it you’ve heard,’ she says gravely.

‘I can’t believe it’s Iona.’ I let her take my hands.

She nods. ‘You remember the rest of us?’ she says, waving her arm behind her.

‘I do.’ I turn to Susan. ‘It’s good to see you again.’

‘Only wish it were in better circumstances,’ she says, then she holds out her arms too and pulls me in for a hug, murmuring in my ear, ‘I am so sorry about your mum. She was a dear friend. I missed her a lot when you all left.’

‘Thank you,’ I say as she releases me, and when I look up I notice Graham has walked away.

‘My dear,’ Annie says, taking hold of me again. ‘Let’s have a walk.’ She steers me on to the path that leads to the village. She is walking slowly and it looks like the weight of her heavy coat is drowning her small body. ‘I was rather hoping you wouldn’t still be here,’ she says once we are safely out of earshot. ‘Especially now we know who the body belongs to,’ she adds, her voice dropping even though there’s no one else around.

‘What do you mean by that?’ I ask.

Annie pauses, her arm still linked through mine. Worried eyes search my face and I can see how much this is putting a strain on her. ‘I know what some of them will be saying, I’ve seen how it works. They draw their own conclusions. Of course Iona was only here that one summer and—’ She breaks off and looks back at my old house. ‘And then as far as everyone understood it you all had to leave, only days apart. It’s better you go home, Stella. Back to Winchester and your sister.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘I think you do.’

‘No, I mean she was called away, I remember that. But she must have come back.’

Annie shakes her head. ‘The day she got on that ferry was the last time anyone saw her.’

I turn away because I can’t bring myself to look at Annie.

I know this isn’t true. I know that Iona came back again before we left because I saw her. Only I never told anyone else.

And I know that one other person saw her too, and it’s time we spoke.

Chapter Fifteen

There are so many people milling about the village that I’m reluctant to use the café’s internet to phone Bonnie, but I have no choice.