Much, much later, Edna tells her the rest. She makes Joe Wentworth drive the car to the station. She empties the bottle down the sink and takes it to the recycling point at the supermarket. Lily wonders if it even smashes then, when it drops into the green-glass bottle bank. Edna searches the house for evidence of what Gerald was up to. Some of it, like his shady business deals, she leaves for the police to find, but other bits—the tapes and DVDs, the photos—she takes and burns on a bonfire in the garden.

Oscar comes home the next morning. He apologizes, tells them he stayed at Sophie’s. They go along with the story. Lily thinks they should get him some help, but Edna tells her if he doesn’t want to talk about it then it’s probably best left. They both fuss over him. Edna tells him his father has left early for his business meeting in Frankfurt and that he’s to stay with them until he returns.

Lily and Edna spend much of the week talking. Getting their stories straight. Edna tells Lily what she’s to say and what she is not to say to the authorities. Lily wants to tell them the truth, but Edna says it’s far too late for that. Besides, they must think about Oscar and what’s best for him.

The following Monday, Edna rings Gerald’s office. The secretary tells her that he missed his meetings. Edna feigns some concern, but not too much. She calls the police. She handles them so well. Her answers are perfect, her timing impeccable. Lily never has to lie, not even once.

They turn their attention to Oscar. He wants to know where his father is. They tell him they don’t know. He’s a weak link, weaker in fact than Lily. If he should tell someone the truth about what Gerald was doing . . . But strangely, he doesn’t. In fact, he stops communicating entirely. He grows cold and sullen. It breaks Lily’s heart to see him change. First his mother, now his father. He thinks he has no family left. She wants to tell him differently, but she can’t. It’s too difficult. There are too many questions to answer.

Months later they wake to sirens in the night. They see the flames through the trees. The Old Vicarage burns. The police say it’s arson. Probably kids taking advantage of the empty house. The officer investigating Gerald’s disappearance is a suspicious ferret of a man who scares Lily until she can no longer talk at all. Thankfully, and just as Edna said, things begin to die down. As the truth about Gerald and his unscrupulous business dealings comes to light, the police begin to look further afield than sleepy Castledene.