‘I don’t know. I’m not sure she knows.’ She thought again of Maude’s diary, the swirling patterns and half-formed thoughts. She’d been lost; and Nell had no idea.

But she had made the right choice in the end, and surely that counted for something. Sam was working at the gallery, holding the fort until they could get back, but she’d handed in her notice; the email was formal, impersonal, not really like Sam at all.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Nell said, ‘about Robin. I had no idea that it had all happened – so close by. I can’t imagine—’

Gina cut her off, shaking her head. ‘You weren’t to know,’ she said firmly. ‘And I – we – are used to it.’

Nell might have said more, but she could hear footsteps, two sets moving rapidly up the path.

‘Hiya.’ Kym and Evie appeared around the corner, Kym swinging her bag extravagantly before she dropped it onto the grass.

‘All done?’ Gina asked.

‘All done. Roll on the summer holidays,’ said Kym, flopping down next to her bag.

‘I thought you’d be visiting Maude,’ Evie said. ‘It’s nice to see you.’

‘I wanted to let you all know how she’s doing,’ said Nell, ‘and to thank you, again, for helping.’

‘I didn’t do very much.’ Evie looked embarrassed. ‘I mean, none of it’s provable, is it? It’s all theory.’

‘A matter of interpretation,’ said Kym. ‘Like the shoe.’

‘Well, thank you anyway.’

‘Cup of tea?’ said Gina.

‘I’d rather have a coffee,’ said Kym.

‘It’ll have to be instant.’

‘Go on then.’

‘Evie?’

‘Coffee, please.’ She had some colour back in her cheeks at least, even if she was still a bit on the thin side. ‘I’ll do it though,’ she said, and went into the kitchen, vanishing into the cool green light.

‘Is she OK?’ Nell asked softly.

‘OK might be pushing it,’ said Kym. ‘But she reckons her dad has stepped up a bit.’

‘And Carolyn?’

‘In hospital, for the moment, and Evie reckons she’s cooperating with the therapy; it might even help. She’s still insisting that Maude pinched the knife, though, that she was the one who – you know . . . That she found her self-harming and took it away from her for her own good.’

Nell looked at her closely. ‘You’ve not really said what happened with her that night,’ she said. ‘You were on your own with her for a bit, weren’t you? What did she say?’

‘Not much, not really,’ said Kym. ‘I mean, she’d totally lost the plot by then, hadn’t she? She was talking about sacrifice and Ida Green and – there wasn’t a great deal a person could take to the police, even if she wanted to.’

‘That doesn’t seem fair on you, or your dad.’