Dean knows his way around the corporate ladder, but he’s rather fond of the other kind as well. He collects skills like a Cub Scout, always embarking on some kind of learning adventure and encouraging the girls to do the same. Last year his mother told Oli that he’s always been like that. Desperate to compete with his brothers, was her theory. Dean has two older brothers born a year apart, but there’s an eight-year age gap between Patrick and Dean. Patrick and John are doctors, athletic and amiable, so it stands to reason that Dean would feel the need to prove himself. He’s constantly mastering something: pruning the fruit trees, building a bird feeder, learning a language. Conversely, he’s forever wanting Oli to outsource tasks, to slow down and do less.

Most people would kill for a life like this, to have someone like Dean. Ten years ago, she would have killed for it. And maybe that’s the problem. It feels too good to be true, like it might be taken away as quickly as it arrived. Her thoughts splinter, shards of glass hovering in space. She tosses her head, and the pieces retreat to the edges of her mind.

She can’t sit in the garage all night.

The snappy scent of garlic fills her nostrils as she steps into the stairwell. Kate is playing the piano, a haunting classical melody that weaves through the house. Oli stops short on the landing. A tinkle of female laughter. It must be Toni; she remembers Dean saying he would ask her to pick up the kids. Toni lives next door in a stunning light-filled house with a lap pool and a rooftop balcony. Her husband is a financial expert who spends a lot of his time in Dubai and New York. Toni and Isabelle used to go on holidays together with the children when their husbands were stuck at work. A few months ago Toni invited Dean and Oli for dinner, and in the kitchen she noticed a photo of Isabelle and Toni on a pin board, drinking cocktails. Isabelle looked happy and relaxed, nothing like the serious detective Oli had observed at crime scenes and press conferences.

Kate finishes her piano piece and starts a new one.

Oli wants nothing more than to go straight upstairs and have a shower, crawl into bed and fall into a long dreamless sleep. For a minute she craves her pokey old apartment with its double bed and worn flannel sheets.