‘If I believed in God, I’d thank him for helping you to find her. How did you do it?’

Even now, he doesn’t imagine that I discovered the address of the Yorkshire house by breaking into his steamer trunk over two years ago. It is a secret, along with many others, that I intend to keep. I say something true, though it isn’t what he is after. ‘I just tried to see the world as Alice does.’

He nods. ‘You understand her so well. There’s something special between the two of you.’ Then he presses the question he really wants answered. ‘But how did you find the Yorkshire house?’

I knew he wouldn’t let it go. I still need to test his responses by pushing on those coloured shapes. There are fewer of them than there used to be, but gravity is still gravity.

I tell a plausible lie. ‘Eliza mentioned it.’

He hesitates. ‘You won’t tell anyone who Alice’s birth mother is?’

‘Never.’

‘Thank you.’ He ruffles his grey-white hair, as if he still isn’t used to finding it there. ‘They aren’t blaming you for what happened? You had good legal advice?’ He looks so worried.

Martin sent a lawyer to my hospital bed, along with firm instructions that I wasn’t to speak to anyone without her there.

‘Excellent legal advice. I told the truth. It must have been consistent with the evidence of what Eliza did to Jane.’ My voice is low, to ensure Alice cannot overhear. ‘I said she was jealous of Jane because of your affair with her, and jealous of me when she figured out I was your supposedly dead ex-girlfriend.’

‘Wasn’t that a problem for you? Their knowing about your pretend death?’

‘I told them all of that. They took their notes, but they were only interested in Eliza and Jane. I’m not the first woman to run away from an abusive relationship.’

He looks down. ‘I’m sorry,’ he says to the ground.

‘I said I threw the stone in self-defence because she was going to push me off the cliff, but that I didn’t anticipate it would result in her death. All true.’

‘We both know your aim is deadly.’ He is picturing the two of us skimming stones across the water. ‘Do you remember how we laughed, Holly? How we’d always end up soaked? Then, afterwards, how we couldn’t wait to get home . . .’

‘Yes.’ I stare at my lap while he stares at me. At last, I continue. ‘I told them I was anxious to get medical treatment for her little girl – that was the only mention I made of Alice.’

‘You spoke to Al last night, didn’t you?’

‘Briefly.’