It was a reply from Andrea, saying she’d love to come and she’d bring wine and pudding. He cranked up the volume of Parry’s ‘My Soul There Is a Country’ so loudly that the sound bounced off the barge’s low ceilings and he realised that, for the first time since Meredith had rung him in panic the other day, hope was fluttering in his chest.

He really didn’t mind that Andrea was pregnant – in fact, it made her more appealing, although he wouldn’t admit that to anyone. He’d love to have children, so why not? It would be like having a ready-made family. Meredith would make a fantastic auntie. Of course, it was too late for her to have kids of her own now.

Poor Mez, he thought, melting butter in a pan to make a white sauce. Meredith always pushed people away when they got too close. She complained about being single, yet usually dumped whichever bloke she’d been raving about just weeks earlier. He suspected it was really because she couldn’t handle someone in her life full-time after so many years alone. Not to mention her decades-entrenched trust issues. And now this…

He wasn’t particularly surprised that she’d shagged Ralph. Starved of sexual attention and affection, needing the validation of knowing she was still attractive, whisky-vulnerable, her guard down from already knowing and trusting him as a friend … It was easily done.

As he stirred flour into the butter, he wondered again what the hell had gone on in that ice house. Could Mez have been mistaken in her conviction that Ralph had really been dead? It almost felt as if Ralph was playing some mean-spirited trick on her. But Pete had met Ralph, and he was the last person Pete could imagine doing that.

He was peeling potatoes when Meredith returned, empty-handed and sniffing the air.

‘Stinks of fish in here.’

He gestured to the peelings and bubbling pans on the stove. ‘Fish pie! Where’s the wine?’

‘Shit, sorry Pete, I forgot. I’ll go now. I can’t concentrate on anything. My head’s still all over the place.’

‘Don’t worry. Get two bottles, then. How was Paula, when you left her?’

‘Turn this crap down and I’ll tell you.’ She cocked an ear at the speaker. The choir had just sung ‘I know my life’s a pain and but a span’ and she laughed mirthlessly. ‘“I know my life’s a pain”? They’re not kidding. What a dirge! I hope you’re not going to play this later.’

Usually Pete would have teased her about being a philistine, but he sensed that she was close to tears and so did as she asked.

‘OK,’ he said mildly.