But now I thought about it, the pseudonym was a clue in itself. CoralGirl. Coral Island was a place in Thailand – I couldn’t remember its real name – but Izzy had spent a year there, teaching, not long ago.

With my phone raised, I zoomed in and pressed the button to take a picture. The camera clicked with its shutter sound. Shit. I ducked down but she didn’t seem to have heard it.

I studied her for a moment. Anger boiled in my stomach, my chest, my throat.

Izzy! Not Rowan. Not Jennifer. Does this make sense? Of course it does. You had your suspicions about her coming back to the UK. This is why she came back. She’s known Sean longer than me, longer than any of us. They grew up together, went to school together, they’ve always had that shared history, in-jokes and mutual friends from Ireland and their stupid teenage pact that they would get together at forty if they were both still single.

Well, guess what, Izzy? He isn’t single.

I stepped onto the path in front of her.

Izzy took a step back in surprise.

‘Jesus!’ she said, her hand flying to her chest. ‘Oh Kate, you startled me.’

‘Sorry.’

She gave a nervous laugh. ‘What are you doing, jumping out on people?’

‘Fancied a walk.’

I looked into her eyes, willing her to give up, to give in, to admit what she was doing there. To concede defeat, make it easier on both of us. I didn’t want to force it out of her, but I would if I had to. I stood across the middle of the path, blocking her way.

‘You looked as if you were waiting for someone?’

‘Me? No, just getting my breath back after that climb up from the gorge.’

‘I know what you were doing,’ I said tonelessly. ‘You were looking for Sean.’

She looked nonplussed, her brow furrowing.

‘Sean? No. I thought he was up at the villa?’

‘He was,’ I said, crossing my arms. ‘He is, I mean.’

‘So I wouldn’t be seeing him down here then, would I?’

‘Apparently not.’

She was giving absolutely nothing away. Not a flicker. Not even the tiniest hint that I had caught her in a lie.

‘Are you all right, Kate?’ she said.

‘I saw you stop in the clearing and assumed you were looking for someone.’

‘Looking for my lost youth, maybe.’ She took her hat off and fanned herself with it. ‘Twenty years ago I could have skipped up that cliff path without breaking a sweat. But now I feel like I might need CPR – the path’s a killer on the way back up. Absolutely beautiful rock pools at the bottom of the gorge, though. Have you been exploring yet?’

‘Not yet. I thought you were with Jennifer and Alistair and the boys?’

She nodded, gesturing down into the gorge with a thumb.