It wasn’t the first time he’d told her that, but if they were really going to do this – boyfriend, girlfriend – she wondered if he’d feel that they needed to be physical. If she was going to do that with anyone, it was him, but the very idea of sex made her feel unclean. It was okay being naked, if he wanted that. It was okay kissing and holding. She’d just told herself as far back as she could remember that she would always be a virgin.

‘Does it bother you being here?’ Justin asked.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Lake Wales. Where your brother was killed.’

Peach hesitated. ‘Yes.’

‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have suggested it.’

‘No, that’s okay, I told you I would come.’

‘Have you been back since it happened?’

‘I haven’t, but it’s a beautiful place. It should mean something other than death.’

‘Do you remember that time?’ he asked.

‘Bits and pieces.’ She thought about it, and then she said: ‘My parents have mostly faded from my memory. Now Lyle is fading, too. I can’t really hear him in my head anymore. He’s going away. That’s why I work at the foundation. It keeps a little bit of him alive.’

They were silent for a while. The intense sun dried their skin, and she could feel her face and shoulders pinking up and freckling. A jogger with a golden retriever ran along the shore in front of them, spattering water and damp sand.

‘Do you like what we do?’ Justin asked.

‘Like it?’

‘The work. Do you enjoy it?’

‘I don’t really think about that. I’m good at it. It’s important.’

‘Is it?’

She turned her head and shadowed her eyes with her hand to stare at him. ‘What are you saying?’

Justin took a slow breath. ‘It’s just that some days I wonder who the good guys are and who the bad guys are, and whether there’s any difference.’

‘We’re the good guys,’ Peach said.

He smiled. ‘You are, that’s for sure.’

The sky was blue, but there was a cloud crossing his face. ‘What’s going on, Justin? Is something wrong?’

‘No, nothing.’

He leaned closer and kissed her cheek without saying anything more. She was surprised. Usually, Justin beat a subject to death before he would let it go. He would talk and talk until she raised a white flag. Not this time. It made her a little unhappy. She didn’t like the idea that he might be keeping something from her.

‘I only got us one motel room,’ he said. ‘Are you okay with that?’

‘Sure.’

‘One bed?’ he said.

‘Yeah.’

‘But no sex,’ he told her. ‘Don’t worry.’

‘I’m not worried.’

‘You trust me that much?’ he asked.