‘No. They all cleared off back to their homes when it got dark,’ she says and I sit next to her, studying her expression. Her eyebrows are arched into a small frown. There is more she wants to tell me, but I’m afraid to ask.

‘I still can’t get my head around it,’ I say, not taking my gaze off her.

‘Of course.’

‘My sister’s upset and I feel like I need to be there for her. I think I should probably leave in the morning,’ I rattle on, realising I need her to understand I’m not running away.

‘Yes, I guess,’ she says. It’s not the answer I expected.

‘Bonnie relies on me quite a lot, you see,’ I go on. ‘She has Luke and the boys, but whenever anything goes wrong it’s me she turns to. To be honest, it gets a bit too much at times, you know, the pressure of always having to put her first.’ I give a short laugh. ‘Do you know, in some ways I think I was rebelling against her when I came back to the island? I knew she would hate it and that made me more determined. But now—’ I break off. ‘Actually, Freya, I thought you’d tell me to stay,’ I admit. ‘I thought you’d want me to carry on talking to people, especially now we know it’s Iona.’

She turns away and stares at my closed door. ‘I feel like I’m the bearer of bad news every time I see you.’

A familiar sensation of numbness spreads through me again, starting at my fingertips, making me squeeze them tight. ‘What’s happened?’

Freya dips her head, looking at her hands clasped in her lap.

‘Will you just tell me what’s happened,’ I snap.

‘I’m sorry,’ she starts, ‘and I shouldn’t even know this, but a couple of hours ago someone confessed to Iona’s murder.’ Already her words are ringing in my ears.

‘No. No,’ I say. ‘Oh God, no.’ I cradle my head in my splayed hands, rocking it back and forth as my stomach sinks. Dad, what have you done? I should have been with him. I should never have broken the news on the phone. He doesn’t understand what he’s just done. He can’t realise what this will do to his life.

Freya’s words are muffled but they come through anyway. ‘I could get into trouble for telling you.’

‘It’s my fault,’ I cry. ‘I spoke to him earlier. I told him everything. I should have done it face-to-face.’

‘Really? I thought you hadn’t seen him in years.’

‘What?’ I look up at her. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Your brother,’ she says. ‘Danny’s just confessed to killing Iona.’

Chapter Seventeen