‘She was murdered.’ Kate thought this sounded like a refrain, the chorus of one of those songs Ryan played on his iPod. Shouted noise. If she repeated it often enough to all the people she needed to tell, perhaps she would believe it. She looked at the kids. In both faces she thought she saw a flash of excitement, before disbelief and distress took over. Murder was the stuff of stories. She imagined they’d both be on their phones to their classmates as soon as she released them from the table. You’ll never believe what’s happening in our house . . . For a while they’d have a vicarious celebrity, the popularity they both seemed to seek.

‘Why would anyone want to murder an old woman like Margaret?’

Kate looked at Chloe and thought she had lost weight recently. Had Kate been so wrapped up in Stuart and this strange infatuation that she’d been neglecting her children?

‘I don’t know.’ Kate paused. ‘I never thought of her as an old woman. She had too much energy.’

‘Where was she killed?’ It seemed that Ryan needed details to satisfy his curiosity. She suddenly saw him almost as a stranger. He was a good-looking boy; he’d be a heart-breaker. She’d seen him round Mardle with attractive girls, but he’d never introduced them. Neither of the kids ever brought friends back to the house.

‘On the Metro apparently. On her way home from town.’ Kate looked at him. ‘Did she tell you where she was going when you saw her this morning?’

He shook his head.

‘Only I expect the police will want to know.’

‘The police?’ The question asked with studied indifference. But of course he wanted to hear about the investigation. More snippets of information to stick on Facebook.

‘They’re in Margaret’s room. That’s how I know that she’s dead.’

There was a silence. ‘Poor Margaret,’ Chloe said. ‘Where is she? I mean, where’s her body? Will there be a funeral?’

‘I suppose the police have organized a post-mortem. And that there’ll be a funeral eventually. I don’t know how these things work.’

I expect I’ll have to organize that, Kate thought. Who else would do it? Then it occurred to her that she would have to discuss it with Father Gruskin, a man she’d never liked. She felt suddenly very hungry. ‘I’ll get a casserole out of the freezer. We still have to eat.’ It was a relief to get to her feet and leave the room for a while.