The interior didn’t disappoint either. The door from the courtyard led into a large open-plan living room, with one wall papered with a scene from what Steph assumed was the Lake District. To the rear of the room was the kitchen, separated by a breakfast bar. A door at the back led to an outside eating area and ensured that at any given time of the day guests could sit out in the sun or the shade, as they desired.

A hallway led down to the bedroom and a large bathroom. It was all very tastefully furnished in a modern style with oak furniture throughout. The bedroom feature wall had also been papered with the landscape of a lake and hills in the background. She wondered if it was of Conmere Lake and made a mental note to ask Harry when she next saw him.

The thought stopped her in her tracks. She was surprised that she should think to ask Harry anything. She’d only had a brief conversation with him and yet she felt drawn to him. Unlike his brother, Dominic. Steph gave a shudder as she remembered how he had looked at her after she had persuaded Sonia to take the taxi home. How he had seemed convinced he knew her from somewhere.

There was no way he could possibly recognise her or even her name. Obviously, he would have met her mother when she had been the investigating officer into Elizabeth’s death, but there would be absolutely no reason why Dominic would suspect Steph was related to Wendy. She didn’t look like her mother, that was for sure, and Wendy had never taken her married name of Durham, but had instead kept her maiden name Lynch. Wendy had always maintained it was because she wanted to keep her family safe from anything that happened at work. Steph had never really bought this as she got older. She didn’t know of any other police officer who went to those lengths. On a personal level, it had felt like another barrier between her and her mother, something that stopped them ever really belonging together. Steph had always felt like her father’s daughter and never her mother’s.

A small lump lodged itself in her throat as she thought of her dad. Oh, she missed him so much. His early death several years ago had left a huge hole in her life.

‘Stop!’ she said firmly. ‘Keep it together.’ She took a deep breath and forced herself to think of something different. Sometimes it was just too difficult to remember her father, and today was one of those times.