‘Far be it from me to start talking like a shrink, but don’t you think that maybe she has transferred a little of the evil of whatever happened to the children to the doll? Her constant washing of it is her way of trying to cleanse it, make it pure again. Bring the child back.’

It was Will’s turn to laugh, even if it was a little hollow. ‘You’ve clearly spent far too long talking to psychologists, Professor Ballard. Whatever, being nice about the thing won’t be easy. Not the way it looks at me.’

Matt smiled. ‘Declare an amnesty, mate. Kate will love you for it.’

‘Speaking of which, I should get back to her. She might not even have noticed that I’ve gone, but I worry about her. I can’t begin to thank you for all you’re doing for us. I’m sure I’d have given up by now if it weren’t for you.’

Matt leant forward and clapped him on the arm. ‘Rubbish! You love her. You’d have found the strength. Anyway, it’s stopped Liz and me from vegetating. And I hate to admit it, but I’m thoroughly enjoying this family history thing. I might even dig up a few ancestral roots from my own family tree when Kate is better.’

Will drove home, repeating those last four words to himself. When Kate is better.

* * *

For the next couple of days, Will pulled out all the stops. He thought he noticed a slight change in Kate’s attitude. There were even brief moments of light-heartedness that gave him cause for hope. But they were very brief. Then he noticed her throwing him suspicious glances, and he backed off a little. He suspected that she was weighing up the reasons for his sudden about-face, especially regarding the doll. Kate was far from stupid, and there was a good chance she had put his change of tactic down to advice from an outside source. And that could mean only one thing to her — doctors. So, he reverted to acting more neutrally towards her, her ideas, and her doll.

Today she was in a strange mood. The night before, she had packed up all her work ready to send off to her agent. She had also photographed them all and sent the images electronically. The book was finally complete. She had told Will that she had never been so glad to be rid of something and had told Hubert that she needed a proper break before embarking on Angela’s final volume. Apparently, he had emailed her back saying that Angela was still struggling with this last book, and it would be a while before there was any more news on that front. Kate had then gone online and booked a courier. She had put it in the hall ready for collection, muttering about good riddance to bad rubbish.