‘Stop being an old woman, Will! I love Holland House.’ There was a pause. ‘And the house loves me.’ She blew him a kiss down the line and told him to take care.

He whispered that he loved her, but she had hung up or been cut off.

He prepared for bed, frowning. The house loves me. She had not finished her call with her usual, ‘Love you, Bear.’

Will told himself he was becoming paranoid. She had blown him a kiss and told him to be careful, what more did he want? He rearranged his pillows and tried to get comfortable.

He missed Kate so much. She was his world, his life, more so now that Eva had gone. All he had left was Kate — and little Sophie, of course.

Without warning he was suddenly overwhelmed by grief for his sister. The realisation that she would never again walk into a room wearing one of her brilliant dresses, and turn heads all evening, was just too much to bear. The world had lost a bright light, and it was a duller place now for her passing.

Will cried into his pillow. Memories of a happy childhood came to him, one after the other, and still the tears fell.

After a while he rallied, and he realised that all these raw emotions had been held back, suffocated by his constant, twenty-four-hour worrying over Kate. Now that he was away from her, he was free to grieve.

He undressed and climbed into bed, fully expecting not to sleep a wink, but instead, he drifted off almost immediately, surrounded by images of Guy and Eva’s little daughter, Sophie.

* * *

Matt talked to Liz for ages, loath to hang up despite the cost of the call. They had been together from the moment he retired, and he felt as if he had lost a limb suddenly.

‘I feel like I’m making up for lost time, don’t you, Mattie?’ Liz asked. ‘We came rather late to the party and I don’t want to miss one minute with you.’

He told her he felt the same way. He couldn’t wait to get back to her. ‘Have you seen Kate yet?’ he asked.

‘Not yet. I rang and told her that I was here for her and would be happy to drop by at any time, but she was somewhat cool.’ She laughed. ‘Until I casually mentioned that we had some old pictures of Holland House that she might like to see. Then I threw in that you knew a whole lot about the area and that I was helping you research it. After that, I was suddenly her best buddy.’

‘So, are you going to see her?’

‘Tomorrow, after lunch. She says she’s decorating, but she’ll take a break for an hour or so at around two. I’m going to tie it in with a visit to Emilia.’