‘You flew through every exam you ever bothered to take, Conner MacNeil. But while we’re on that subject, there’s something I want to say, so I may as well get it out of the way before we start.’ Ann took a deep breath. ‘We didn’t help you enough. I didn’t help you. That’s been on my conscience for many years.’

Conner’s eyes narrowed. ‘I sense that this conversation is about to make both of us extremely uncomfortable so why don’t we just skip straight to the part where you tell me your symptoms?’

‘In a minute.’ Her voice was quiet and Ann shook her head slowly, a hint of sadness in her eyes. ‘You were the brightest, most able boy that ever passed through my school, Conner MacNeil.’

‘And we both know I passed through it as quickly as I could,’ Conner drawled lightly. ‘I made a point of not resting my backside on the chair long enough to get bored.’

‘You had a brilliant brain, but you were so disruptive and angry that it took me a long time to see it. Too long. By the time I realised the extent of your abilities it was too late to harness them because you were almost totally wild. You were off the rails, fighting everyone. No one could get through to you. Not the teaching staff. Not your father.’ She paused and took a deep breath. ‘We didn’t know how bad things were for you at home. You covered it up so well. We thought your father was the one struggling with you, not the other way round.’

‘I certainly didn’t make his life a picnic.’

‘He let you down. We all let you down.’

Conner kept his expression neutral. ‘This is history and you know I hated history. Science was my subject. I never saw the point of lingering in the past.’

‘There’s a point when the past is affecting the future.’

‘It isn’t.’

‘Isn’t it? Are you married, Conner MacNeil? Are you living with some warm, kind, stable woman who is carrying your child?’

Conner sat for a moment, eye to eye with his old headmistress. ‘My marital status has nothing to do with my father.’

‘Of course it does. Are you pretending that it didn’t affect you? Your wild behaviour was a reaction to everything that was happening at home, I see that now.’ She shook her head again. ‘I’ve been teaching for thirty-one years and you were the only child who passed through the doors of my school that I just couldn’t cope with. The island couldn’t cope with you. We all let you down and for that we owe you an apology.’

‘I don’t suppose the people whose property I destroyed would agree with you.