‘I may hold onto that one pipe, you know the one he always had in his pocket, I’ll chuck the others. And clothes?’

‘Let’s wait a bit,’ Dorothy looked at her daughter, eyes full of tears. ‘No rush on those.’

Fiona nodded. ‘How did you sleep?’

‘Terrible, tossing and turning all night, but I’m determined to come off those pills for good. Like I said, they made me cranky and not quite with it. I felt as if I was hovering, not quite landing in real life. Think I was becoming a bit addicted actually.’

Fiona peeked up at her mother whose face had softened. She was back to old Mum, Fiona thought.

‘Mum, if I tell you something, will you promise not to get angry?’

Dorothy put down the paper she was studying and peered over her glasses. ‘What?’

‘Well, I’m off this afternoon to meet Pete. Now, don’t get mad and…’

‘Pete? Pete Gibson? Fancy that.’

Fiona stared at her mother. ‘That all you’re saying? Aren’t you going to make more of a fuss?’

Dorothy shrugged. ‘Is he back in town, then?’ She continued to study the sheet of paper in her hand.

Fiona’s mouth opened wide. ‘You knew, didn’t you? You knew he was back and you knew he was at the funeral and…’

Dorothy took off her glasses and eased herself up from the floor to the chair at the desk. ‘He got in touch a couple of days before we left for the Hebrides, said he wanted to see you to explain everything. He knew you’d be so livid and proud and would probably refuse to see him, so he asked me what I thought was the best way.’

‘You knew, Mum, you knew he was back and didn’t tell me?’ She shook her head. ‘I can’t believe it!’

‘He loves you, Fi. He really does and I have no idea, truly, what he did and why he did it but all I know is that he’s terribly sorry and wants to woo you back. I think that’s why he sent Jamie the note. He thought you’d never want to see him so he hoped to get Jamie involved to lure you to a meeting.’

‘But Mum, I ran after him at the funeral, could he not have spoken to me then?’

Dorothy shrugged. ‘I didn’t know anything about that. It was maybe just not appropriate. But all I said to him was to wait and I would get back to him once I had thought it through, then it was the holiday, then poor Stru…’

Fiona stood up from the heap on the floor and sat on the little sofa opposite the desk. ‘It’s unbelievable that you kept this from me. And, hang on, how come you know about Jamie’s note?’