‘I never knew Caro had a thing with him, even though I was under the same roof at the time, until she told me years later he was your father. It can’t have lasted long. Just long enough to produce you, I guess. It wouldn’t have meant anything to Geoff, I’m afraid. That’s how he was.’

‘So what’s Martin Caldwell going to be able to add?’

‘God knows. He and Geoff didn’t get on very well, as I recall.’

‘How many people lived in the house?’

‘Eight. There were three floors and lots of bedrooms.’

‘So you, Caro, April, Martin, Geoff. Plus?’

‘Well, there was Vinod. Vinod Hardekar. His curries were something else. He became an accountant, I think. We lost touch.’

‘In his phone call, Martin mentioned Peter Ellery and Alison Parker.’

‘Yes. They were the other two.’ She grew momentarily solemn. ‘The two who didn’t make it.’

‘Didn’t make it?’

‘They drowned. Early June, 1977. Not long before the end of term. It was a terrible thing. I often think of them, Alison in particular. She had so much life in her it’s hard to believe it was over at twenty-one. Haven’t you ever heard about this from Caro and April?’

‘No. Not a word.’

‘Well, it was a painful episode. I suppose they thought it was best forgotten.’

‘What happened?’

‘It was a bank holiday weekend. In fact, Tuesday was a holiday as well, for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. I wasn’t there. I’d taken off to France for a few days with my latest boyfriend. Anyway, Peter, Alison and Marty decided to go down to Cornwall. A spur-of-the-moment thing. That was on the Sunday. Peter had a camper van. He was older than the rest of us. Did I mention that?’

‘No.’

‘Oh. Well, actually Peter owned the house. He’d inherited it from his parents when they were killed in a car crash. He’d been to Cambridge. Quite the brainbox. He was doing a master’s degree at Exeter. Don’t ask me what in. Something ancient historical. Probably Oriental. He could speak Japanese. He even had some books in Japanese. Which I always thought odd, because he once told me his father had been a prisoner of the Japanese during the war. But then he was odd, in lots of ways. Still, he didn’t charge us any rent. We just chipped in to cover the utility bills. So … no one was complaining. Least of all Alison.’

‘They were an item?’

‘Towards the end, yes. Much to Marty’s chagrin. He had the hots for Alison. I suppose that’s why he went to Cornwall with them. To see if he could prise them apart.’

‘How did they drown?’