She cups her face in her hands, allowing a smile to spread. No affairs. No bankruptcy. Just a woman in Verona that Joe spoke to because he was worried about their villa.

‘No problem,’ the woman says. ‘He wanted to know when we’re starting and what the area looked like, how it would affect the value of his villa. I have been meaning to call back – it’s been postponed because of the police investigation. They have a particular area of concern just off the track road. They’re searching everywhere around there, it’s such a pain … there is not an inch of Verona untouched, it seems.’

Lydia thanks her and rings off. Well, she can’t tell Joe that, can she? He’ll just have to find out for himself. It’s only a development. Nothing sinister.

She spends the rest of the day smiling.

46.

Joe

‘Emergency,’ Joe says, rubbing at his forehead. Even though he has washed his hands, his wrist still carries the metallic tang of blood on it. At least, he thinks it does. He smells it sometimes, the blood from that night. It’s a memory, a phantom. He sniffs again, just checking.

‘Yeah?’ Lydia says, her eyes tracking the movement of his arm. She’s sitting on their blue sofa, her socked feet poking out from underneath a white throw. Her body language is easy.

‘What?’ Joe says. He sits down next to her. Even his legs ache. What’s the matter with him?

Fucking hell, he is thinking. They’re searching a specific area. What does that mean? Evan now knows. The ship is sinking, water pouring in faster than they can stop it.

Joe unclenches his jaw and looks at her properly. ‘What’s with you?’ he says.

‘I owe you an apology.’

‘Do you?’

‘I’m sorry I was suspicious. I know what the Verona thing is.’

Joe’s heart rolls over in his chest. ‘What?’

‘I know you’re only worried about the development. So – what? Have you tried to stop it? In some illegal way?’

God, Joe thinks, raking his hair back from his forehead. The guilt. The fucking guilt of this. He can’t cope with it. At every turn there is no right thing to do. Everyone else has aces and kings, and he has a dummy hand.

Joe scoots closer to her on the sofa, small compensation for shutting her out. ‘How do you know about that?’

‘Oh, just Google.’

‘You don’t owe me an apology. Yes, I was trying to stop the development.’

‘Of the woods?’ Lydia asks.

‘Yes.’

‘What did you do?’

‘Just wrote letters …’ Joe says feebly.

‘And you rang a woman? Didn’t you?’

‘No.’

‘I know you did,’ Lydia says. ‘You’re still lying, Joe. But I thought this was just about –’

‘I’ve said I can’t tell you.’

And then she gets up and walks away from him like a skittish animal. She goes upstairs and slams the door to the bathroom. He hears a bath start running, one that she probably doesn’t want. Lydia is prickly about her role in the family. Won’t accept she will always be once removed.