Of course, she said nothing, apart from clucking and cooing – things that had never come naturally to her. She topped up Paula’s wine, which was already getting warm.

Meredith saw Andrea emerge from her barge with a very large lady who’d just had a perm, or a set and blow-dry, or whatever she’d done that had given the lady the resultant helmet of tight curls. Andrea was escorting the matronly woman over the narrow wire-sided gangplank.

‘Goodbye Mrs Macaulay,’ chirped Andrea, waving the lady off. ‘See you in three weeks.’

She turned and climbed back aboard, catching sight of them on the roof.

‘Hello up there Meredith! Lovely day to catch some rays!’ But then she saw Paula sobbing, and grimaced. ‘Oh … Everything is OK?’

Meredith made a face back at her. ‘All fine! You remember my friend Paula?’

‘Yes.’ Andrea gazed at Paula with sympathy. ‘Your husband he is still missing?’

This prompted a fresh outbreak of sobs.

‘I’ll fill you in later, Andy,’ Meredith said, and Andrea nodded sombrely, disappearing back inside.

Meredith took a long swig of the wine and handed Paula a tissue she found in her skirt pocket. ‘I had the police here again this morning,’ she said. ‘What do you think of that DS Davis? I don’t like him.’

Paula shrugged. ‘Didn’t really notice,’ she said, her voice thick with tears.

‘The other one was much nicer – the girl with the braces. How old do you think she is?’ She was trying to keep Paula talking, take her mind off things.

She was rubbish at this, she thought, but then, what did you say to someone whose husband had just been murdered, and you were withholding what was probably crucial evidence?

‘Don’t know. She looks young. Late twenties maybe.’ Paula gave a long, hard sniff and wiped her finger underneath her eyes. ‘Too young. Everyone’s too young. But do you know what, Meredith? I don’t know how I’m ever going to carry on. I can’t even kill myself because of bloody Jackson. I’m trapped here, in this body, in this life, and I don’t want to be here without Ralph. I spent thirty years with that man, for all his faults, and I spent twenty with Jackson and now he’s at uni, he probably won’t ever live with me again. I’ve got nobody and I’m nothing without them.’

Meredith rushed over and put her arms around her. ‘Oh please don’t say that! You have your friends. You have me. Jackson will always need you, even if he’s not at home.’

Paula remained sitting bolt upright, not relaxing into the embrace, and Meredith felt awkward and devastated for her. This, she thought, was why she didn’t hug people, apart from Pete. And Ralph … And look where that had got them…