But he’s pleased to see the familiar wicked glint in Cara’s eyes, to see the sadness dispelled. She’s wearing jeans with a long blue denim overshirt, and deckies on her feet, and because she is so small and slight, her short fair hair barely touched with grey, she looks incredibly young.

‘Well, of course she does,’ snapped Judith when he commented on this to her. ‘She’s had a great life as a diplomat’s wife, living in embassies all over the world, and she’s had no children to worry about. No wonder she doesn’t look her age. She doesn’t act it either. More’s the pity.’

It’s such a nuisance, thinks Max, that Judith and Cara have never hit it off. It’s going to make life very difficult now.

‘Renting is a good idea, though,’ Cara is saying thoughtfully. ‘I might be able to find something quite quickly and get out of your hair.’

‘I wish you wouldn’t talk like that,’ he says irritably. ‘It’s great to spend time with you, especially now that Philip …’

He flounders, not quite knowing where this is taking him, and Cara begins to laugh.

‘Darling Max,’ she says. ‘You are the best brother in the world and I’m just so glad you are here, and yes, I’m going to say it. I am so glad that Judith isn’t. Two’s company and three is definitely a crowd. Now, for this moment, I’m glad it’s just you and me. But I don’t intend to milk it. Let’s go online and look at rented properties around here. Not necessarily Salcombe. Maybe Dartmouth.’

Her earlier preoccupation seems to have vanished. Max heaves a silent sigh of relief and goes to get his laptop.

Cara watches him. As Max sits down at the kitchen table and opens his laptop, she wonders how it is that this young man, Cosmo, has managed to rip the lid from memories she’s hidden away for years. Was it just that extraordinary resemblance: the way he moved, his energy, his smile? That Italian phrase he used? And is she especially vulnerable now that Philip is dead? He stood between her and the past, protective and reassuring. They’d kept each other’s secrets for so many years. Now she is alone, although she has Max. She studies her brother as he Googles properties, lips pursed in a silent whistle.

‘There are a couple of interesting ones,’ he says. ‘Come and have a look.’