It was then he halted and looked up towards where Steph was sitting. He seemed to look directly into the camera, his gaze making contact with her own. She gave a small gasp and jolted back, throwing herself off-balance. She put her hand out behind her to balance herself.

There was no way he could have seen her. She was hidden by the bushes. She was too far away, surely, and yet he had looked straight at her. Slowly, Steph poked her head back above the bushes. The car was driving away, dust kicking up in its wake, before disappearing from sight.

Steph stayed where she was, watching the other side of the water, where she presumed the track would come out, and, sure enough, the 4x4 reappeared on the south side of the lake and headed towards the resort. She remained where she was for a minute or so, to be certain it wasn’t returning.

‘Are you all right, dear?’

A woman’s voice from behind Steph surprised her so much, she nearly toppled over as from her kneeling position she twisted round to see who was there. ‘Oh, Mrs Sinclair,’ she said, in relief. ‘You scared me.’ Steph got to her feet and dusted down her trousers.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to,’ said Pru. She turned and called over her shoulder. ‘Girls! Come on! Here!’

Within a few seconds Pru’s three dogs appeared at the head of the path and excitedly ran up to Steph. She stooped to make a fuss of them before they lost interest and scampered off further along the path. ‘I was just taking some photographs of the scenery,’ explained Steph, holding up her camera. ‘The light today is amazing.’

‘Oh, yes. Harry told me you were a photographer. He said he’d asked you to take some pictures.’

‘I’m not officially a photographer. It’s just something I like to do in my spare time.’

‘Harry seems to think you have a flair for it. He said you had some photographs in a gallery for sale.’

Steph felt flattered that Harry had taken the time to tell his mother. ‘That’s right,’ she said. ‘My friend has a gallery and I do sell some prints from time to time.’

Pru came to stand next to Steph. ‘From what I can tell, Harry thinks a lot of you,’ she said.

Steph’s stomach gave a small roll. What else had Harry told his mother? ‘We get on well,’ she opted for saying, avoiding looking at Pru by paying close attention to fitting the lens cap into place.

‘I’d like to see him happy,’ continued Pru. ‘After what happened to Elizabeth, I’d like to leave this world knowing my son was able to live again.’