‘I saw her,’ Lori says. ‘I saw her knock you out. She bashed your head with a boat oar. I wanted to help you, made my way down to the sea, but when I got there, you’d gone.’

‘Who?’

‘Faith.’

‘Faith?’ Alice’s friend? His head spins. He left Alice with her – he tries to move once more, but he’s dizzy, incapable.

Lori glances over her shoulder, then back to Leon. ‘She came out of nowhere, whacked you, and then she was gone.’

‘Why would she—?’

‘I had my suspicions. She asked me about my time here as a nanny.’ She shakes her head. ‘I hadn’t told her anything about it. She wasn’t there when I spoke to Alice about working here, being Hugh and Verity’s nanny. I knew there was something not right about her. I had to get away.’

‘So you left us to it – never said anything.’ His head throbs; he has to get up. Must get to Alice. ‘You climbed out of the window?’ He notices a gash on her hand. ‘Saved yourself.’

‘I was afraid.’

‘Not an excuse, Lori – we were all afraid.’

‘No you’re right.’ She lowers her head, her chest sounding wheezy. ‘I was a fool, selfish. But people don’t always act as they think they might in a crisis. You will always get heroes and cowards.’ She closes her eyes for a moment. ‘And it’s not the first time I’ve been a coward. Those children – Verity and little Hugh – needed me but I was too afraid to stand up for them. I was no more than a child myself, I suppose. That’s been my excuse all these years. And I had thought I was a better person now, that if I came back here it would give me some sort of redemption. But it seems not. In fact, I’m no better now than I ever was. At the first sniff of fear …’

He stares at her for a long moment, the attractive woman of earlier windswept, exhausted, scared.

‘It’s Faith who’s brought us all here, Leon. She’s going to kill us all.’

‘But why?’ He attempts again to get to his feet, once more with no luck.

‘I don’t know.’ She glances about her. ‘I’ve no idea who she is. All I know is I received an invitation from Cameron Patterson to stay here. He said he knew I was once a nanny at the house and asked if I would like to attend the opening weekend. I didn’t even question how he knew who I was.’