Meredith sat down heavily on the sofa. ‘She’s in a terrible state, Pete,’ she said. ‘Luckily Jackson had arrived, so he’ll look after her. I just don’t even know what to say to her. And … something weird happened. You know their stone lions? Someone smashed one today. Jackson said it was like that when he arrived home, so it must have happened this afternoon while she was here.’

Pete turned off the gas under the simmering fish and turned to face her. ‘Could’ve been an accident – a delivery man knocked it over, or something?’

‘It wasn’t knocked over. It looked like it had been deliberately smashed, just the top half. And, Pete, when she was here earlier she mentioned she thought there was someone in the house last night, when she was on her own.’

They stared at each other. Pete saw Meredith’s face and knew she was thinking of another time, another big empty house with her in it; just her, and the stranger creeping up the stairs…

He came to put an arm around her. ‘Has she reported it?’

‘She promised she would. Oh God. What if…?’

Pete held her more tightly. ‘Let the police sort it. We don’t know, it’s almost certainly all just coincidence.’

He hoped his use of the word ‘all’ didn’t betray his fears that it encompassed that creeping stranger, and now a dead rat, a shop break-in, a body dumped in a pond. He didn’t want to freak her out any more than she already was.

‘It’s all shit, that’s for sure. Let’s just try and have a chilled evening tonight and forget about it for a bit, at least till we know the worst. Andrea’s coming, so we’ll have to act normal; we won’t be able to dwell on it.’

Meredith leaned against him for a moment, then took a deep breath and stood up again. ‘Mm. OK. Normal, right. I’ll go and get more wine. But I’m going to ring that Gemma Whatsername on the way – the cop – and tell her about Paula’s lion, because I’m not sure that Paula will.’ She left the barge, pulling her mobile out of her pocket.

Pete watched her stomp away towards the steps, wishing he could make everything right for her.