The horrors just kept multiplying, the more she let the facts sink in. ‘Stop it!’ she ordered brokenly. ‘Stop being so brave and British, and tell me to my face what a useless creature I am. The worst wife in the world, in fact.’

‘Come on, Thea,’ he said, sounding less gentle and forgiving than before. ‘There’s no need for this.’

‘Yes, there is. You know there is. The truth is, I’m impossibly selfish.’ She stood back from him, intent on listing all her failings, purging herself of the accumulated guilt from the past week and perhaps longer. ‘You didn’t tell me you were hurt because you thought I’d find it tedious being here with you, playing nurse. You were scared I’d act the martyr. Weren’t you?’

Drew tried to sit up straighter, but the lounger would not co-operate. Instead he gasped and clutched his chest. ‘Stop it,’ he begged. ‘I can’t defend myself in this position.’

She paused, wondering why he thought he needed to defend himself. Then she remembered the secrecy, which she was trying to explain as all her fault, but which just possibly wasn’t entirely. ‘I’m not attacking you,’ she said, ‘but it’s really not fair that you never even gave me the chance to be here. I can see why – there I was, so self-important with my stupid dashing about after a 348murderer, and not telling you any of the real story, when all the time you needed me here, but didn’t tell me. What sort of a couple are we, if that’s the way we behave?’ She was weeping, her voice clogged with tears.

A small hand gripped her shoulder. ‘Don’t cry, Thea. We understand. Daddy explained that there are some people who like to stay quietly at home, doing boring things, and some who feel as if they’ve got to go out and have adventures. It’s good that there are both sorts. We don’t think you’re selfish or stupid.’

She looked down at the little boy, and forced a watery smile.

‘We think you’re brave,’ said Timmy. ‘And Stephanie’s a really good nurse, you know. She’s looked after Daddy terribly well.’

It wasn’t enough, but at least it staunched her tears. She pulled both children to her in a cumbersome hug, while the spaniel retreated to sit under the rose bush. ‘There’s another thing,’ she said after a little while. ‘Jessica might be in some sort of trouble. Will you divorce me if I dash up to see her for a day or two?’

‘I shouldn’t think so,’ said Drew. ‘Come to that, I forgot to tell you there was a call last night from a person called Lucy Sinclair. Said you looked after her house in Hampnett—’

Thea was instantly transported to a snowy winter and a dead man in a field. ‘Yes, I did. Why? She doesn’t want me again, does she?’

‘She didn’t say much, but I got the impression she just wants to meet up for a chat. No hurry, she said.’349