‘I’m so sorry for you,’ said Steph. She wasn’t sure how she felt about it herself. The bloody woman had tried to kill her but she felt so much empathy for Harry. He was truly heartbroken at his loss.

She led him over to the bed and they perched side by side on the edge of the mattress. Steph put her arm around his shoulder and held his hand.

‘Her heart just wasn’t strong enough in the end,’ he said, after a while. He cleared his throat and sat up. ‘She was dying anyway. She had cancer. It had gone into her bones and vital organs. She only had a matter of months to live.’

‘Did you already know that?’

‘Only found out last week when I came home. Dominic told me.’ Harry looked up to the ceiling and blew out a long breath. Then he stood up. ‘I’m sorry, Steph. I shouldn’t have come. It was really insensitive of me.’

‘No, I’m glad you did.’ She reached for his hand again. ‘And I am genuinely sorry for your loss.’

‘You’re a better person than me. Jesus, Steph, I don’t know how you do it. She … she tried to … she tried to kill you.’ He looked away towards the window. ‘She killed Elizabeth.’

‘Try not to blur the lines,’ said Steph, standing next to him. ‘Grieve for your mother, allow yourself to do that, and keep any other thoughts about what she did separate.’

‘I don’t know if I can.’ He looked back at her. ‘I always knew I came from a rotten family and I blamed my dad for that, but it seems the rot ran deeper and came from more than one source.’

She rubbed his arm with her other hand, not knowing what else to say. It was something he had to work out for himself. ‘Don’t rush anything,’ she said in the end. ‘Take it a day at a time. Have you spoken to the police yet?’

‘Briefly. Someone from CID is coming to see me tomorrow.’

Steph nodded, as much to herself as to Harry – the wheels had already been set in motion. Soon she’d have to hand over the details of the SpyCloud and Harry would find out what his wife was really like. She couldn’t have him find out from the police. That would be too awful, too humiliating.

‘There’s something I need to tell you before you speak to the police,’ she began. ‘Elizabeth recorded a sort of video diary.’

‘I know. My mum had it but she destroyed it.’

‘It was automatically backed up to a cloud. I have the details. I accessed it,’ she said carefully. ‘She said she knew things about your family that could get her into trouble. She was scared.’

‘Fuck.’ He frowned. ‘What aren’t you telling me?’