Kelly nods as she looks away to rummage in her bag. When she turns to hand Fraser a yoghurt pot, her smile is back. ‘Or maybe Dad was just a really shit farmer.’ Her smile becomes a grin. ‘So. On to far more interesting things – tell me what you found out in Stornoway.’

I let her change the subject because that closed look has come back into her eyes like it does every time I ask her about her parents, and I don’t feel equipped today to wonder if maybe she’s hiding something from me too. ‘Well, Charlie was right about the dates.’

‘Ah. So, no appearance on Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction for you?’

‘What?’

‘Just some terrible TV show Fraser loves.’ She pauses. ‘Wait. Have you ever actually seen your birth certificate?’

‘Sure.’ But my laugh is a little too high as I try to remember if I actually have.

‘Can I go on the slide, Mummy?’ Fraser says.

‘Have you finished your yoghurt?’

His answer is to turn the pot upside down before jumping off the bench and sprinting towards the mini-playground on the other side of the garden.

‘So, what are your plans now?’ Kelly says. ‘Are you still going to write your story? Are you still going to be looking into whether Andrew was murdered?’

I find myself leaning back. Shaking my head. ‘I don’t know. I don’t think so. I mean, the story, yes; the maybe-murder, no.’ I like lying to Kelly least of all because of everything that I’ve already confided in her, about me, about Mum. But it isn’t just that closed look or the suspicion that she or her parents might know more about Robert than she’s letting on that makes me hold back from telling her the truth. It’s because, for the most part, it’s always been easier to confide as little as possible to anyone in the first place. Safer.

‘So. On to far more interesting things,’ Kelly says, after I say nothing else. ‘You and Will. Spending the night together in Stornoway.’ She raises her eyebrows. ‘Please tell me you had a sweaty twelve-hour sex marathon.’

When I don’t answer, and instead look back out across the sound, Kelly leans across the table.

‘What?’

I shake my head, and then stop. Half nod instead.

‘What?’ Her shriek is high enough to momentarily distract Fraser from his ladder climb. ‘Oh my God. I mean, I know I was acting like that’s what I thought you’d been up to – but I didn’t think that’s what you’d actually been up to.’ She grabs my arm and squeezes. ‘Oh my God, Maggie! You are officially my hero. What was he like? I mean, I’ve definitely wondered.’

I can feel the heat rising in my cheeks and cough out a laugh. ‘He was fine.’

‘Fine? I bet he was a whole lot more than fine. But all right, I respect you respecting his honour. I’ll just have to stick with my fantasies.’