Then a voice called ‘hello!’ from the kitchen.

In a big rural house like that at the stud, the old custom of friends and neighbours walking in through the back door still held true. It rarely ever happened because the late Captain had gone off friends in his decrepitude, Ronnie hadn’t had the time or inclination to make many locally, and they had few near neighbours. To walk in after dark was a liberty preserved for only those oldest and dearest friends one knew intimately. Ronnie supposed Bay loosely fitted one of those three categories.

‘We’re in the snug!’

Tucked to one side between the breakfast and sitting room, the little tapestry-lined nook was close enough to the Aga to be warmer than the cavernous reception rooms – toastier still with the fire going – and was regrettably easy for a gate crasher to navigate.

‘Darling Ronnie! Gorgeous feathers, Minnehaha.’ Bay shouldered the doorway. Handsomely doing as handsome does, his hair flopped over his eye and he had a shirt tail poking out from the hem of his sweater. ‘Forgive the intrusion. Lost a gundog across your fields. Bitch on heat. In the car now, thought I’d pop in and see how you are.’

‘Bay. This is Kester Forsyth, my grandson and Pax’s son.’

‘Splendid to meet you.’ Bay shook Kester’s hand, glancing at the screen. ‘Are you a Woody or a Buzz man?’

‘I like the dinosaur,’ Kes said, craning to see the screen round him.

‘And your children, Bay?’ Ronnie asked pointedly.

‘At home with our nanny,’ Bay told her, watching Buzz trigger his wrist laser. ‘Monique’s at one of her charity things.’

Ronnie wondered whether one should make a point of turning off the film and being hospitable as her mother would have been. She decided not. Times moved on. This was her night with her grandson.

Bay was helping himself to popcorn. ‘Pax not around?’

‘Mummy’s gone out with Luca,’ said Kes, not taking his eyes from the screen.

Bay gave Ronnie a shock-horror look which she ignored, riled by his hypocrisy. Rogue males always started circling when a pretty wife broke free from the pack, she’d found.

‘They’re at a health class.’

‘Good for them.’ Like a moth drawn to the light, his attention was also now rapt as Woody tried to convince Buzz he was a toy. He reached for more popcorn. Soon he was groping his way to the spare sofa. ‘Bloody good film, this.’

‘Not there!’ Kes looked round in alarm.

Bay sprang back up, peering down at it. ‘What is it, guinea pig or hamster or something?’

‘Oliver’s sitting there. You can sit over there.’

‘Can I offer you a drink, Bay?’ Ronnie asked wearily.

‘Marvellous idea! Now this is a really good bit, Kes…’

*

Luca found Pax pacing tight circles outside the Friends Meeting House fire exit, anxious and nail-chewing. ‘She didn’t see me, did she? Knowing I was there would make it so much worse.’

‘No, of course not. Who is she?’