Jules was still talking. “...So, there are gaps in the CCTV record, but there’s no doubt he was seen in Oxford and various other places, just like he said, and one of his friends said they’d met up...”

So near, Lizzie thought, and yet so far.

“The police have checked it all out as far as they are able,” Jules said, “and Johnny’s agreed to go for some counselling. Physically he’s fine, just a bit hungry.”

“Johnny wants to meet up,” Lizzie said. “He asked me to go over to Oakhangar Hall today but Arthur thought he’d better have a bit of time to settle back in first. He wants to apologise.”

“I should think so,” Jules said, sounding like a strict teacher. “It’s the least he can do for all the trouble he’s caused you.”

“I’ll go over tomorrow,” Lizzie said. She tried to shake off the sense of uneasiness she was feeling. Two almond croissants and three mugs of sweet tea hadn’t helped. Something felt out of kilter; she didn’t know what. Perhaps it was simply that she didn’t know where she and Arthur went from here. It had all been so intense, so wrapped up with what had happened to Johnny, that now that was all over it felt as though her relationship with Arthur was finished too, before it had properly started. Her night with him, so emotional and right at the time, so much a part of the connection she had thought they had, now seemed almost incomprehensible for someone as guarded as she had always been.

“I’m going to bed,” she said, getting up and wishing the pastry and the misery together were not weighing so heavy on her stomach.

“Would you like me to come with you tomorrow?” Jules asked. She looked suddenly anxious, and Lizzie felt a rush of affection for her. She went over and hugged her cousin. “I’ll be fine,” she said. “You’ve done so much already; you’re the best. I’ll come and see all of you soon, and we can get together in London as well and I’ll treat you to the Mayfair Chocolate Tour as a thank you.”

“The kids will love that,” Jules said.

“Me too,” Lizzie admitted.

After Jules had gone, she went upstairs and took a long hot shower. It did nothing to banish the shadows that clung to the edges of her mind like cobwebs. She realised that she would need to hire a car to get to Oakhangar Hall. It felt good to grasp some sort of practical plan rather than let her mind meander through all the puzzles and confusion, so she turned out all of her bags looking for her driving licence, eventually finding it in the pocket of one of her jackets. She put it on the bedside table so she wouldn’t forget it in the morning, and in doing so she caught a flash of silver illuminated in the lamp’s glow.

She stooped to pick it up. It was a thin silver chain with a little silver phoenix symbol dangling from it. She remembered seeing it in the Land Rover when Arthur had given her a lift home. It had hung from the driving mirror, sparkling in the light. Turning it over in her hand Lizzie saw the initials JG engraved on the reverse. The chain had snapped. She touched the misshapen links.