Of course. Marilyn, gentle soul that she was, loved such documentaries, the gorier the better. ‘You recognised me from it?’ The thing I had always been afraid of. I had thought my appearance changed enough, the case so long ago in the past, that no one would make the connection.

‘I thought she looked familiar, the – Casey. I was curious, so I looked back into your CRB check . . .’

And found out that Rachel Caldwell only went back as far as 2006. I’d told her I’d been ill before that, that I’d been in a car accident and needed several years to recover. My conviction for murder hadn’t come up on the check, because it had been quashed. I was innocent, except in the eyes of most of the world, of course. ‘Oh.’

‘But I swear, I didn’t tell the papers, Rachel! I believe in second chances, and you know I hate the gutter press. I’d never have leaked it to them.’

‘Not even for fifty grand?’ I remembered being offered that for my story years ago – perhaps the rates were even higher now.

She blanched. ‘As much as that? No, no, I never would.’

But someone had. ‘You told Anna, though, right?’

Marilyn looked miserable. ‘I’m sorry. I just felt I had to, really. Once I knew about you and Alex, at least.’

I had never told Marilyn I was seeing Alex. Never told anyone, in fact. And I hadn’t realised Anna knew until that day at the shop. Marilyn’s good friend, Anna Devine. Of course Marilyn would tell Anna that her husband’s new girlfriend was in fact Casey Adams, the British nanny accused of murdering an entire family. Including a child the same age as Sam.

‘How did you find out? About me and Alex?’

‘I drove past your house one morning – I’d been out on a rescue, a farm dog, and I thought you might want a lift. He was coming out. His van, you know.’

‘Oh.’

‘I— I’m so sorry, Rachel. I just showed Anna some pictures on my phone, asked if she remembered the case. I thought perhaps she might see it too, the resemblance between Casey and you.’

‘But – why? You knew about me and Alex – you didn’t want us to be together?’

Marilyn seemed close to tears. ‘They were a family, Rachel. Sam, he needs both his parents. If there was a chance for them to work things out . . .’

‘You thought Anna would tell Alex who I was, and that would be the end of it?’ I said. And she had done, according to Ciaran. Had Alex in fact known for some time that I was Casey Adams?