He didn’t really but he’d make time. ‘It’s not a problem.’ God, it was a long time since he’d been up to the lake – in fact, it was something he had avoided. He’d been up there twice since Elizabeth had drowned. It wasn’t a nice place to be and it made him feel small, lonely and isolated. The vastness of the Con Point Hills stretching behind like an overbearing watchdog only added to the sense of deep apprehension whenever he was there. Despite all this, his mouth had engaged before his brain and was now offering to go with Steph on her walk.

She reached out and rested her hand on his arm. ‘You don’t have to come if you really don’t want to.’ She spoke so quietly he had to concentrate to hear her. ‘I know what happened up there. I’ll be careful.’

He was touched by her thoughtfulness and surprised all at once. He offered a small smile of gratitude. ‘That’s very kind of you and I appreciate it, but I’ll be fine.’

‘Only if you’re sure.’

‘Positive.’

‘OK, but if you change your mind at all, it really won’t matter.’ She returned the smile and then the thoughtful look settled again and he could tell she was going to ask another potentially delicate question. ‘Why did you come back here?’

He frowned. ‘For the reopening, of course.’

She took her hand away and turned to lean on the wall, looking out across the pool. ‘It’s just, I get the impression that you’re not entirely comfortable with it. And I don’t mean because of what happened to your wife. Is there another reason?’

She was perceptive, he couldn’t deny that, and she sounded genuinely concerned. He was aware he was on the brink of answering sincerely when he remembered she was a journalist. He could easily say far too much and then God knows what sort of trouble that would bring them.

‘You ask too many personal questions,’ he said, aware his tone and manner had changed. He felt like Jekyll and Hyde. ‘The last thing I want is my personal life splattered across a tabloid paper.’

She stood upright, her body rigid as the shawl slipped from her shoulders, and there was a flash of anger across her face. He could see her make a conscious effort to control her reaction.

‘I’m offended you’d even think that, let alone say it,’ she said stiffly. ‘I was actually asking you person to person. I have my own personal and professional integrity and, despite what you think, I wouldn’t consider selling a story to a tabloid when you’ve told me something in person, off the record. I’m here to report on Conmere Resort Centre.’