‘I don’t know. Maybe. Or maybe she knew Dee’s mother. I think that was it.’ Laurie threw the stick for the dog again and it ran after it. Of all of them, she seemed most at home in this place. ‘Dee’s family have always lived in Mardle.’

They’d turned back towards the house on a different track through the trees, when Holly spoke to Susan. The older woman had been struggling to keep up and Holly had to wait for her. The wind was blowing in the bare branches above them, and because Susan seemed not to hear well, at times Holly had to shout to make herself understood. The others had wandered far ahead.

‘How long have you been at the Haven?’

It seemed a safe way to start, but Susan appeared threatened by the question.

‘I don’t have to move, do I? Margaret said I could stay as long as I wanted. I know it’s only supposed to be a temporary arrangement, but she said I was a special case.’ The voice surprised Holly. It was anxious, but soft and articulate.

‘Had you known her for a long time?’

‘Oh yes, we’d been friends for many years.’ The woman paused. ‘But Margaret was always much stronger than me.’ Another pause. ‘My nerves have never been very good. And now my memory is going too.’ She gave a strange little giggle. ‘I’m falling apart.’

Ahead of them the other women had disappeared from view. The wood was all dark shadows.

‘Did you know Margaret’s husband?’ Holly asked.

‘Not him, no. He’d gone by the time we met. I knew her other man. The one she worked for.’

‘Malcolm Kerr?’ Holly was thinking that Vera would love this. There was nothing she liked better than an unexpected connection.

‘Is that what he was called?’ Susan looked around her vaguely as if she couldn’t quite remember where she was. ‘I don’t recall the name.’

‘Were you living in Mardle then?’ Holly wished this woman were more reliable. These might not be memories, but Susan’s weird imaginings.

‘In Mardle? Oh yes. I was living in Harbour Street, in a ground-floor flat. Margaret was in the attic. I had a baby, you know, but they took her away. I wonder sometimes where she might be now. She’d be quite grown-up. But it was all for the best. Yes, I’m sure that it was all for the best.’

‘Do you know what Margaret did for a living?’

There was no response. Holly wasn’t sure that the woman had heard the question and she repeated it.

But still Susan didn’t answer. Instead she started humming. At first Holly couldn’t make out the tune and then she recognized it. She’d had a boyfriend once who was into Nineties music. ‘White Moon Summer’ by Katie Guthrie.