‘I know. Me too.’ It couldn’t be happening again, could it? Part of me hoped it could all be cleared up somehow. But it couldn’t. Anna was dead. Alex’s wife, Sam’s mum. Things would never be all right again.

I waited till she drove away before I walked down my garden path. I wondered if she’d noticed the van, registered who it belonged to. When she’d gone, Alex got out, and I went to meet him, arms wrapped around myself, still freezing. I wondered if I’d ever feel warm again.

‘Hey,’ I said, awkward.

He blinked at me, and even in the circumstances my body began to respond, thinking: God, he’s handsome, he’s so handsome. The slice of blue eyes in his tanned face, now pale with shock, the rake of dark hair falling over his forehead. He was dressed in his work clothes, the overalls pulled down to the waist, revealing a tight blue T-shirt smeared with grass and soil. How I wanted him. How fragile this felt, our new relationship, like one of the seedlings I nurtured outside the back door. I jerked my head towards the house – we needed to go inside. There was a flurry of police activity around the entrance to the woods on the other side of the green, people in white suits unfurling tape to block it off. It wouldn’t do to be seen with the husband of the victim.

Once inside, I saw him take a breath. ‘Rach! Oh my God.’

‘I . . .’ Already he was moving towards me, arms open, and I rested my head on his shoulder, so grateful he had come, that even in his grief he’d thought to find me. Thank you, thank you. Something I didn’t deserve, yet again. I breathed in his smell, sweat and tree sap and the outdoors. My hands clutched in his T-shirt. ‘I’m so sorry. God, it’s – I can’t believe it.’

‘No. It doesn’t seem real.’

‘Is it really Anna? The police came – I think they’re questioning everyone along here – but they didn’t tell me anything.’ I felt a shudder go through him.

‘Her dad identified her an hour back.’

‘Jesus. And it was definitely – it wasn’t natural causes?’

‘She was stabbed.’ His voice flat and factual. ‘Martin said – they tried to tidy her up, but – her throat . . . they’d cut her throat.’ His voice broke. ‘Jesus Christ. Who’d do a thing like that?’