The important thing was that the house could be saved. There was no doubt in her mind about that. If the will was there, and it surely was—or would be once the initial horror had passed—she saw no reason it wouldn’t be possible to re-create what had been destroyed and turn it back into a beloved home again.

Claudia would want to know that. Maybe not today, but at some point soon.

Checking her mobile as it rang, she clicked on right away. “Hi, Dan, are you at the hospital?”

“Yes. Henry and I have just spoken to Claudia, but I’m afraid it didn’t go well. She’s furious that we knew who she was and never told her.”

With a sigh, Andee said, “I don’t suppose we can blame her for that, but she’s still in shock. We need to give her some time to understand that there was nothing malicious on our part in keeping it from her. What’s bothering me more, right now, is that I didn’t tell her about this Miles Montgomery character right away.”

“You can’t go there,” Dan cautioned.

“It’s hard not to.”

“Then ask yourself what she’d have done if you had? She’d still have gone to the dress rehearsal, because no one could possibly have known that the danger was so imminent, or going to take the shape that it did.”

Knowing that was true kind of helped, and she was glad he’d been the one to say it, but she knew that, like her, he was having a very bad time with his conscience. Whichever way they looked at it they’d let Claudia and Marcy down. And in doing so had played a part in bringing about these horrific consequences. If they could change things, of course they would, but it was too late for that. Too late for anything. All they could do now was try to be there for Claudia and her family in every possible way, if they’d allow it. And perhaps as they dealt with their guilt—their responsibility—they should take a long hard look at the way they took decisions on behalf of others.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“Outside the house. I think the structure is sound, but obviously we’ll have to get an expert to check it out. I haven’t been inside yet.”

“Do you know if they’re insured?”

Waving to someone she recognized, she said, “I put Claudia in touch with the broker Graeme and I use, so I’m hoping the answer is yes. There’s a house-to-house going on up here at the moment. Apparently someone saw a youth running away from the scene.”

“Yes, Gould told me. Do you know if anyone else has come forward to say they did too?”