‘Yeah, I’m bilingual. My mum’s Dominican. We spoke both at home, growing up.’

‘So obviously Jas and Suze know Becca, too?’

‘Yes. She and Lucy used to come down for the weekend when I was at uni and since I’ve been back, we’ve hung out together here.’ He glanced out into the main room. ‘But they don’t know that Becca and I …’ he said more quietly. ‘Lucy said she’d told you.’

Robin was surprised. ‘You knew she knew?’

‘I never talked to her about it but I guessed. I guessed she’d guessed.’ A twitch at the corner of his mouth.

‘In that case, why not just tell her?’

‘She said, didn’t she?’

‘Because you didn’t want to mess up your friendship, the three of you?’ Maggie said. ‘Yeah, but I don’t know.’ She shrugged. ‘If you’re such good mates, surely it’d withstand the two of you having a fling, even if it didn’t work out?’

‘It wasn’t a fling.’

‘All the more reason not to hide it.’

‘What’s she like?’ asked Robin. ‘Becca.’

Harry smiled for the first time. ‘Lovely. I think she’s gorgeous, obviously, but it’s not that. She’s got kind of an energy. She’s really … alive, not just … going through the motions. She’s funny, she makes things fun – her sense of humour’s filthy.’ He stopped. ‘But she’s also quite aware of people – she always knows if someone’s upset, she’s good like that. She listens. When you talk to her, she ends up knowing more than you actually say.’

‘You met at school?’

‘Yes. Grafton House. My mum teaches there – Spanish – so …’ He sounded apologetic, as if he were embarrassed about having a private education.

‘When did you first start thinking something unusual might be going on? She wasn’t answering messages or …?’

He picked up a paperclip and started to bend it apart. ‘Friday. I knew she’d left her phone at home on Thursday because she didn’t reply to my texts so I called her at Hanley’s. We spoke then and that was the last time.’

Last. Robin remembered the interview with Thomas and Patel, the realization that she’d sent her last-ever text to Corinna.

‘Were there any signs she was thinking of taking some time away?’ Maggie said. ‘Has she seemed stressed lately, for example?’

‘No. I’ve been racking my brains. There was no warning. I’d remember.’

‘Was anything bothering her, that you’re aware of?’

He shook his head.

‘And how had things been between the two of you just before? Did she have any reason to be angry with you? Had you argued at all?’

‘No. It was … great. Things were great.’

‘Why were you really keeping it quiet, Harry?’ Maggie sat back, crossed her legs. ‘Why did it matter if people knew? What were you afraid of?’