‘Ah.’ Jude was puzzled. She wasn’t sure whether Natalie was building up to some great revelation about her son. Everything she’d said so far sounded pretty imprecise and innocuous. ‘Could you explain a bit more about what’s wrong with Tom’s behaviour?’

‘Well, it’s just … I suppose the problem is that he doesn’t really appreciate all the advantages he has.’

‘This lovely house …’ Jude gestured around the room. ‘That kind of thing?’

‘Yes. More than that, though. Gerald saw to it that the boy went to his own old prep school and public school, and yet Tom didn’t seem to realize how fortunate he was. It was almost as if he always wanted something different from life.’

‘There’s a long history of young people rejecting their parents’ values.’

‘I am aware of that. But, with Tom … I mean, he actually had to leave the public school … under something of a cloud. Gerald was mortified. And, since then Tom’s been … I don’t know … a drifter. He never settles to things. He’s done all kinds of training courses and started jobs. Oh, goodness, there have been so many of them. I mean, it was clear at school that Tom was never going to be university material, so the professions were sort of barred to him. But Gerald and I reconciled ourselves to that.’ Something in her tone implied it hadn’t necessarily been an easy process.

‘So, we – well, I – started looking out more practical forms of training, you know, apprenticeships, that sort of thing.’ She couldn’t keep a slight edge of distaste out of the word. ‘We enrolled Tom in computer courses, electrical engineering, carpentry, you name it. He even started learning auto mechanics. But none of them worked out. We considered the hospitality industry. Tom has an easy manner with people, he’s well-spoken, we thought he might fit in there. But again, after a few months, for some reason or another, it came to an end. He never seems to stick at anything. Something always goes wrong.’

Jude was beginning to think that she should end the interview. She hadn’t exactly been brought to the Shorelands Estate on false pretences. But the ‘people round the village’ who had recommended her services to Natalie had, not for the first time, misunderstood what she actually did. To the average person, healing was a very vague concept. Though it inevitably encroached on mental distress, the primary focus of Jude’s work was dealing with physical ills. And it sounded as though Tom Kendrick, if he required any therapy, needed the help of a psychiatrist rather than a healer.

She spelled this out to Natalie, hoping to make good her escape, but the widow was not diverted so easily from her purpose.

‘I think you should at least meet Tom, talk to him. Maybe you will be able to find some common ground.’