I force back tears. ‘I hope so too.’ There’s a beat before I add, ‘I thought I saw her earlier.’ I look over at a photo of my sister on the dresser.

Rosamund looks to where I’m staring, and her eyes widen. ‘Really?’

‘Mmm. It wasn’t her, of course. But I sometimes think I see her, you know.’

She shuffles closer, and rests her hand on my knee. ‘I know exactly what you mean,’ she says. ‘I see Elise all the time.’

*

‘It makes no sense. Why would Finn kill Maddie?’ I say to Rosamund, combing my fingers through my hair, a half-drunk glass of wine cradled in my mitts. I hadn’t meant to stray back onto the subject, but drinking on an empty stomach has loosened my tongue, and I’m now flopped in a relaxed state, my legs curled up under me on the sofa, twittering on. ‘And you know what else? I keep thinking about the Monopoly counter.’ I lean forward and splash more wine into both our glasses, knowing I’m being an idiot.

‘Monopoly counter? What Monopoly counter?’

‘The top hat.’ I curl my legs back under me. ‘Maddie picked it up when she left your cottage the night she died.’

‘Did she? Whatever for?’ She leans back in the chair, and takes a gulp of wine.

‘Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing. It’s just she was holding it when Dad brought her back to the cottage, as though it meant something to her. It was from the game you and Elise were playing before she went missing.’

‘Sounds like something and nothing,’ she says. She knocks back the last of her wine. ‘Anyway,’ she says rising to her feet. ‘I should probably make a move. It’s getting late.’ She pauses. ‘You won’t say anything to anyone about the baby?’ she says. ‘Not until I can find the right moment to tell Neil. He’s in Scotland, hoping he’ll find something that will lead to Elise, so I can’t tell him until the weekend.’

‘But you will tell him?’

‘Of course, I just dread it, that’s all. This news on top of Elise’s disappearance will break him.’

She turns and heads for her coat. And as she slips slender arms into the sleeves, she adds, ‘There’s going to be an appeal soon. I just can’t see what good it will do, but I guess the police know best, and Neil is desperate.’

‘It will keep Elise in the public’s mind,’ I say.

‘Well it didn’t do any good in the search for Lark and Jackson, did it?’

I feel her comment like a slap.

‘And all the publicity there’s been around Elise makes me feel violated, as though everyone’s staring and gossiping.’

‘It won’t go on forever, Rosamund,’ I say. ‘Make the most of the press while you can.’