“Don’t you dare speak like that,” Tara said fiercely.

He held his hand up in apology.

“I was just saying that there weren’t many documents. But when . . .” He paused. He was finding it hard to say the words. “When all this happened, we remembered that drawer. We thought we ought to check, in case there was anything important. It turned out there was one thing that Liam hadn’t told us: he’d made a will.”

The two of them looked at Jude as if they were waiting for a response. She didn’t quite understand why.

“Is that so strange?” she asked.

Andy pulled a face. “A bit strange, maybe. We didn’t expect it. Have you made a will?”

Jude shook her head. “I know I should but I haven’t got around to it. I haven’t got much stuff and I don’t know who I’d leave it to.”

“What do you know about wills?” Andy asked.

Jude couldn’t make sense of this. Why were they asking her all this?”

“Not much. It’s something you do with a solicitor, isn’t it?”

“You don’t have to. Liam did his himself. Downloaded the form, filled it out. Do you know what else you need?”

Jude thought for a moment.

“Doesn’t someone have to witness it?”

“Two people,” said Andy. “I don’t recognize the names but judging by the addresses they must be local. They’re probably just people he met around, in the pub. Do you know what else you need apart from them?”

“No, I don’t. Isn’t that all?”

“You need an executor. That’s the person who makes sure that it’s all carried out properly.”

“All right,” said Jude. “I probably did know that but I’d forgotten.”

Andy picked up the envelope, pushed back the flap and pulled some papers out. He laid one in front of Jude.

“He named you one of the executors.”

“What?”

“Look.”

Jude picked up the paper. There was her name: Judith Winter.

“Is that your address?” asked Andy.

“It says ‘care of’ and then my parents’ address. I suppose that counts.”

“We were surprised, of course. But we thought we ought to tell you.”

Jude was more than surprised; she was so stunned that she could barely speak.

“I didn’t know anything about this. Aren’t you meant to get the person’s permission?”

“You’d think so,” said Andy.

“Anyway, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know anything about things like this.”

“We looked it up,” said Tara. “You don’t have to be a lawyer. You don’t have to be anything in particular.”

“You said executors. Is there more than one?”

“There is,” said Andy. “You’re a doctor, aren’t you? So you’re probably good at things like this.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“You’ll need to be because the other executor is Dermot, his brother.”