Diana’s hand drifts down to Hugo again. ‘Julian sold some shares about two weeks after that night. A week after that, he withdrew ten thousand dollars from his account. He thinks I didn’t notice, but I knew. I’ve known the whole time.’

‘Why?’

She twists her mouth into a line. ‘I don’t know.’

‘You think he paid Nicole? That they were still in contact?’

‘That is my guess.’

Oli reels back against the bench. Evie, the little girl, is about ten years old. ‘What are you saying?’

‘I’m not sure!’ Diana exclaims. ‘I guess I just didn’t want to believe it. For a long time, I didn’t want to know. I don’t want to believe it now either, but the facts are right there, aren’t they?’ Julian’s betrayal seems to ooze out of her, veins bulging in her neck, in her temples.

‘You think they slept together?’

‘Yes.’ Diana crosses her legs at the ankles. ‘We had talked about a medical procedure, but I guess the plan changed unbeknown to me. Or maybe it just happened. I fell a little bit in love with her, maybe Julian did too.’

‘Do you think that’s why she disappeared?’

‘I wondered. I thought maybe she felt guilty about what happened and fled.’

Could that be it? Could Nicole’s disappearance and Evelyn’s murder be unrelated?

‘I’m not sure that would be enough to make her abandon her whole life,’ Oli says. ‘It must have had something to do with what happened to Evelyn.’

Diana shrugs and fondles Hugo’s ear.

‘We need to find Nicole,’ Oli says. ‘We need to find out what really happened that night.’

‘But I don’t understand the rest of it. Evelyn being attacked like that was awful. Julian was so upset—he might not be perfect, but he didn’t have anything to do with that. He did come home early that night.’ She sighs. ‘Since the ten thousand dollars, he’s withdrawn more money.’

‘How much?’

‘Around seventy thousand dollars, I think. His mother died a few years ago, and I’m not across all of the assets. It may be more.’

Oli’s eyes bulge at the amount. ‘I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t he just tell you?’

‘I don’t know,’ says Diana, her jaw shaking. ‘Guilt, I suppose. Fear that I’ll leave, maybe?’ She glances at Oli before looking back at the children, who are now picnicking with their mother. ‘There’s more. He took a phone call on Thursday. After he answered it, he went to the study and shut the door to continue the conversation. It was very out of character.’

‘Did he say who it was?’