James made some notes, and while he was doing so Stevens asked Daniel to explain why he was waiting outside the school on Friday.

Daniel took a long time to answer, and when he did, he switched his gaze to James.

‘I went there because I wanted to see your wife, Annie,’ he said. ‘I knew she was at the nativity play and I wanted to ask her a question that’s been bugging me for weeks. I didn’t dare go to your house because I couldn’t be sure you wouldn’t be there.’

James felt a dull thud in his chest. ‘What are you talking about?’

Daniel’s face coloured slightly. ‘I know you’re aware that she and I were in a relationship a long time ago, but I was hoping it wouldn’t come up during this interview. I certainly wouldn’t have mentioned it if you hadn’t forced me to.’

‘Just get to the point,’ James said. ‘What is it you want to ask her?’

‘I want to know if something that Janet Dyer told my father is true. I put the question to Annie’s uncle when I saw him today and he said it wasn’t, but I didn’t believe him.’

James felt the grip of anxiety in his stomach as he struggled to grasp what he was hearing.

‘Tell me what it is you want to know,’ he said through gritted teeth.

Daniel took a deep breath and said, ‘Janet Dyer claimed that Annie had an abortion soon after we split up. I want to know if it’s true that your wife killed my baby.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Before Annie left her uncle at The King’s Head, she downed two large glasses of wine. Bill polished off three pints of beer and worked his way through a plate of cod and chips but Annie had lost her appetite the moment he told her about his encounter with Daniel Curtis. She was still finding it hard to believe that Janet had broken her promise never to tell anyone about the abortion.

It was Annie’s father who had insisted on keeping it secret back then. He said he didn’t want Daniel to know and he didn’t want to bring shame on the family.

Annie had confided in Janet because she had needed to talk to someone, other than her mum and dad, and she had mistakenly believed that her friend could be trusted. Over the years the subject was never raised by either of them, but she was now wondering who else Janet had told.

Knowing that Daniel had found out was like a fist clenching Annie’s heart. Bill said he had told him it wasn’t true, but he probably didn’t believe that.

So … what next? she wondered. Would Daniel want to ask her himself? And if he did, what would she tell him?

Of more concern was whether James would find out. She’d never mentioned it to him because she hadn’t wanted him to know that she’d got pregnant with the man she’d foolishly fallen in love with at sixteen.