He watched as she continued to undress, curiously detached about the whole thing, not even conscious of the overwhelming physical attraction he had experienced earlier.

The secret graces of a woman’s body. Something utterly fundamental to life itself, something of the quiet places where a man could find peace. Was this what he wanted?

He turned and looked down into the rain again, and from the music room below the sound of Chuck Lazer’s playing rose into the night. He was working his way through all the standards, Berlin, Cole Porter, Rogers and Hart. The kind of stuff nobody seemed to be writing any more. A hint of summer that had gone and memories only now.

Jean came into the room wearing a pair of dark trews and a quilted jacket, her face wiped clean of make-up so that she seemed startlingly young and innocent.

‘What would you like – coffee or tea?’

‘Tea if that’s all right with you, then I must be going.’

Her smile was replaced by a slight frown. ‘Must you?’

He nodded. ‘I’m still on duty.’

She went into the kitchen and filled the kettle and he leaned in the doorway watching her. She prepared a tray, spooned tea into an old brown pot, then sat on a stool, hugging her knees, waiting for the kettle to boil.

They had lost something, some essential contact they had found earlier, and Nick searched quickly for the right note.

‘It’s much larger than I expected.’

‘The school?’ She nodded. ‘At first there was just this old house and then Miss Van Heflin had extensions made. We have additional classrooms at the rear now. You can only see them properly in daylight.’

‘How long have you been here?’

‘Five years. Ever since I qualified. When Ben was arrested, I didn’t think I’d be able to continue my training. The Principal of the teaching college where I was supposed to be going wrote to say he couldn’t offer me a place after all.’

‘What did you do?’

‘At first I cried, then I got mad.’ She smiled. ‘Funny how a kick in the teeth brings out the best in you. Somehow a teaching college wasn’t good enough after that so I decided to go to University. Bella couldn’t help. She had enough on her plate, but I managed to get a small grant from the local authority. I made it up by working in the vacations. One year I even took a job as a barmaid in the evenings.’

‘That must have been tough.’

‘It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. When I got my degree, I came here to work for Miss Van Heflin. She was marvellous.’

‘Things always seem to come out right in the end if you live right.’

As the kettle boiled, she moved to the stove and started to fill the teapot. ‘What about you?’