‘I’m starting to think she’s a bit obsessed with Gozo,’ he told Kate. ‘I can’t get a word in edgeways about my own life experiences. It’s all Gozo this and Gozo that.’

Fuming, Kate stalked out of the room. It was obvious what Geraldine was up to – she was targeting previous guests and prodding them for soundbites. If she’d already interrogated Renata and Phoenix there was only one person left to chat to. Damian wasn’t in his room – she’d walked past his open door minutes earlier – and if he wasn’t in the living room there was only one place he could be.

Rather than head back through the house and down the corridor to the back door, Kate left from the front. Outside, she’d be shrouded by darkness and if she could creep close enough she might be able to overhear what Geraldine was asking him. But they were talking so quietly she couldn’t hear a word. When Damian laughed at something Geraldine said Kate took a step closer, and they spotted her. Seconds later Geraldine disappeared back into the house. Damian was about to follow her when Kate called his name. He turned slowly.

‘Yes.’

‘What did she want?’

‘Good afternoon to you too.’

She stared up at him, frustrated. Unlike Renata and Phoenix, who were open books, Damian was impossible to read. She’d watched his therapy recordings but an insight into his past – as a child he’d witnessed the murder of his older sister – didn’t give her an insight into the man he was now. On the Gozo trip he was bawdy, loud, sexually inappropriate and a heavy drinker. Now, two years and nine months later, he was an entirely different person – reserved and anti-social with only the occasional inappropriate comment. In his most recent session with Tom he was practically monosyllabic. There was something dangerous about Damian’s silence that unsettled her.

She decided on the direct approach. ‘Did Geraldine just ask you about Gozo?’

‘No.’

He was lying. Geraldine hadn’t just cornered him for a chat about the weather.

‘What did she want then?’

He smirked. ‘Nosy, aren’t we?’

‘I’m not …’ She stopped herself. He was trying to push her buttons. Well, he’d have to press them a damned sight harder than that. ‘She upset Renata. I’m trying to find out why.’

‘Why don’t you ask her? Or does she intimidate you?’ He bent at the waist so that his face was level with hers. ‘That’s it, isn’t it, Kate? That’s why you’re creeping around in the dark. Snooping. What is it you’re so scared of?’