‘Can you remember which house?’ Pip asked hopefully.

‘Of course I can. I still can’t walk past without spitting on the door.’ Pip’s jaw dropped, but Jez’s face cracked into a grin again. ‘Not literally. But Jack and I did used to spit at the house when we were lads. We made sure no one saw, though. We reckoned if the woman was a murderer, then we’d better not let her catch us.’ Pip began laughing at him and Jez, playing to his audience, continued. ‘We used to make up stories about her being a witch. Stupid really. I’m sure the woman did no wrong. I mean, if she really had killed her sister, then the police would have arrested her and she’d have gone down for it.’

‘And you don’t know which one died?’ Pip asked.

Jez shook his head.

‘But the other one is still there, in the house?’

‘As far as I know. The place doesn’t look any different.’

Something was ringing a bell in the very depths of Pip’s memory. ‘I think I remember something about a witch,’ she said vaguely. ‘God, kids can be horrible. It’s just like Boo Radley.’

Jez looked at her blankly.

‘You know. In To Kill a Mocking Bird? We did it at school? Oh, never mind.’

‘Did you hear that Jack’s a trader in the City now?’ he said. ‘Worth a fortune.’

‘I always liked Jack,’ Pip mused, a little smile playing on her lips.

‘No, you didn’t,’ snapped Jez. ‘He might be my brother, but he’s always been a dick.’

Pip shrugged. ‘Yes, okay,’ she said. ‘I’ll give you that.’

As Pip cleaned her teeth later that night she thought about Jez. She’d forgotten what easy company he was. For the first time in as long as she could remember she had felt like herself, had almost forgotten everything, just for an hour or two. And he was getting married. That was another opportunity missed, another boat sailed off into the sunset without her. Even though it wasn’t going anywhere that she wanted to go, she couldn’t help but wonder.

19

1979

Evelyn lay in the bath. The water was getting cold now and the last of the bubbles had long since fizzed and burst. It was so quiet without Brenda in the flat. Even though they hadn’t spent that much time together, Evelyn liked hearing someone else moving around the place. The landlord had said she could continue to pay only her share for the time being and she had assumed that he would fill the vacant room, but so far, she had been left very much alone.

She really needed someone to talk to. She had almost come clean to Ted the day before, but something had pulled her up short. Even though he had been such a good friend to her and she could make a fair guess at how he would react, she didn’t know for sure, and she couldn’t risk losing him. Ted was about the only person she had left, apart from Julian, and she definitely wasn’t going to tell him. Not until she had decided what to do.