I saw him close his eyes in the reflection of the glass. Then he walked to his room. For a moment, I thought he was going to just go inside without saying anything. But instead, he put his hand out to me. ‘Come with me.’

I hesitated.

‘You get the best view of the lake from my room,’ he said.

‘Okay.’ I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling the cool night air through the thin material of my nightie. Then I followed Dylan into his room and towards the large window that overlooked the loch. I could make out some shapes in the darkness of his room: wooden sculptures, books, drawings sent to him by Lumin.

I stood by Dylan, both of us looking out at the lake. The night was still, no snow falling for now. The branches of the rowan tree below stirred, the fire still alight as Alison and Cole tended to it. Cole stared out at the loch, face sombre.

‘I had a friend,’ Dylan said. ‘Her name was Eleanor.’ He smiled to himself. ‘She was a real tomboy. Liked making things with wood like me. She helped me and Cole build the barn up in the mountains.’

‘The E in your sign?’ I asked. Dylan nodded. I thought of our encounter with Gavin a few days before. ‘She was Gavin and Rosa’s daughter, wasn’t she?’ He nodded again. ‘What happened to her?’

‘She fell through the ice. Got trapped and …’ He squeezed his eyes shut. ‘She drowned. That’s why Heather is such a mess. Or was. She saw it all when she was so young.’

I thought of Lumin having to witness a girl drowning at such a young age. No wonder Heather seemed so vulnerable that Christmas I first met them all. It all made sense now, the way she went to the lake. It must have played on her mind so much.

Dylan’s too.

‘I’m so sorry,’ I whispered, placing my hand on his arm.

‘It was Christmas Day. She was walking back from a party we had here. It was the only time the rowan tree fire had gone out … apart from the year we met.’ His eyes flitted to mine then away again. ‘She knew not to go across the loch on the ice. You never knew if it was quite thick enough. But she was in a rush to get away.’

‘Get away? Why?’

He angrily wiped a tear from his cheek. ‘It doesn’t matter. Ancient history.’

‘Dylan, come on, you clearly need to get it out. I can tell Gavin blames you all for her death somehow. Was it because she was here before she died … or is there more to it than that?’

He held my gaze for a long time, clearly battling whether to tell me or not. ‘If I tell you, will you tell me what happened to you? I know there’s something in your past, Gwyneth.’