‘No. And it was only after it happened that she looked back over everything, properly looked, and saw that the signs had been there all along, for months. That he was preoccupied and secretive and making more effort with his appearance, going to the gym four times a week. All the usual giveaways. Zoe had just chosen to ignore them, pretend everything was OK. But it wasn’t.’ I paused, shaking my head. ‘It feels as if the same thing is happening to me with Sean. And, just like her, maybe I’ve seen the signs too late.’

Izzy looked me straight in the eyes. ‘I don’t think Sean would do something like that. Not him.’

But I’ve seen the evidence. I’ve seen the messages. I know what he’s doing.

‘That’s what I thought,’ I said in a small voice. ‘That’s what my NCT friend thought, too.’

‘I’ve known Sean since primary school, Kate, since we were five years old, and I can honestly tell you he’s the most straight-up-and-down bloke I’ve ever known.’ She smiled and put her small hand over mine. ‘He’s so honest it’s funny, sometimes. When were in the same class at St Jude’s, he used to admit to things he hadn’t even done, things he couldn’t have done. It’s one of the strange and wonderful things about your husband.’

Tell her what you saw.

But what if she’s the one?

Just tell her.

What have you got to lose?

‘There were messages,’ I said.

Izzy looked up sharply.

‘What? Where?’

‘On his phone.’

She studied me for a moment, her smile fading.

‘You saw them?’

‘Yes.’

‘What exactly did you see?’

‘I was only on his phone for a few seconds but there was a back and forth about how he couldn’t stop thinking about her, that he couldn’t go on lying to me, whether or not I suspected anything . . .’

‘What else?’

‘That they were going to figure out the next step together, in France. This week.’

‘And you don’t know who was sending the messages?’

‘No.’

She sat back in her chair, steepling her fingers.

‘But, logically, it must be one of us?’

‘Yes.’

‘Either Rowan or Jennifer?’

‘Yes.’ Or you.

‘Right. OK.’

‘Have you seen anything weird, with Sean and one of them? Overheard anything? Picked up any vibes at all?’

‘Nope. Nothing.’ She looked up the valley for a moment, grey peaks rising ragged and bare into the blue sky. ‘Although I suppose there is another possibility.’

‘Is there?’

‘That it’s neither of them.’

I turned, slowly, to look at her. What was this? Was she about to confess, to come clean? Right here, now? Was this what everything had been leading up to?

Working to keep my voice neutral, I said, ‘If not them, then who?’

‘Rowan and Jennifer aren’t the only ones,’ she said carefully. ‘What about the boys?’