She pulled herself up to sit against the headboard, surprised at this sudden softening towards Jared. ‘I reckon he did like you,’ she said cautiously. ‘You and the others were important to him – aside from how he felt about me. He didn’t want me to tell you, to blow it all apart.’

Devan’s mouth twisted and he let out a long sigh. ‘Bonkers and utterly delusional to think that could work, but I suppose he just wanted to be part of the gang.’ There was a pause. ‘I’d still wring his neck, if I ever saw him again,’ he added, a rancorous note entering his voice. But the bile obvious in previous similar comments was not quite so evident.

Connie reached for his hand and squeezed it. He returned the squeeze, then took his hand away and put it around her, pulling her close. They lay against the pillows in the dappled sunlight for a long time. There seemed no tension between them now. The silence was not loaded. His fingers stroking her bare arm were gentle and loving. A tiny orange-brown bird appeared at the open window, its head darting inquisitively to and fro. Connie watched it for a while, then closed her eyes, nestling into her husband’s chest. She felt, even if just for this tiny, blissful moment, as if the barriers were down and it was just the two of them again. As if they had finally let Jared go.

It was raining and blowy as they drove home from the airport, the February night chilly. As Connie stared through the spattered windscreen at the blur of passing headlights, she felt a spurt of hope. Something had shifted between them since they had driven along the same road five days earlier. ‘Change things up,’ Neil had advised, and Connie sensed they might have done just that.

She looked forward to seeing Riley, who was staying with Bill and Jill until tomorrow. Looked forward to being able to think about ordinary things again, like making the annual batch of marmalade, catching up with her friends, clearing out the spare room, which had become a dumping ground over the past eighteen months. But what she most looked forward to was just waking up in the morning and not thinking of Jared.

Now that she was beginning to feel free of his hovering presence, she realized what a toll it had taken on her. She’d always been optimistic, equable, someone who enjoyed life to the full. Jared had reduced her to a neurotic mess. She cried easily now, her tears always close to the surface, and felt fragile, fearful in a way she never had before. As if she’d lost a layer of skin.