‘Okay,’ I say. ‘Try to keep calm,’ I tell Heidi. ‘Remember, as far as she knows we only need this diary for admin reasons. We want her to keep believing that for now. We don’t want to upset her.’

Heidi nods. Sniffs and sits on the armchair, cradling her arms around her. I go and answer the door, my face impassive.

‘Thank you so much for coming, Auntie Kathleen. We’re just trying to get everything organised, you know. Tie up all the loose ends.’

She nods. ‘I’m not sure what the rush is, but I respect your choices. I suppose it would be nice to have it all wrapped up before I go back to England. I can’t stay here forever.’

‘I appreciate it. We appreciate it,’ I say as I lead her into the living room, where she spots Heidi.

‘Oh, I didn’t realise she was here,’ Kathleen says, reaching into her bag and pulling out this year’s leather-bound diary, handing it to me.

‘Nice to see you, Kathleen,’ Heidi replies. ‘Thanks for doing this.’

Kathleen sniffs and nods. She’s clearly still angry with Heidi for the graveside scene. My anger over that has gone now. Now that I know what Heidi has been through. It has been replaced by my own sense of guilt.

But I don’t have time for wallowing in self-pity now. I want to get this to DI Bradley as soon as possible. I flick through the pages, trying to find my father’s hastily scrawled words.

‘Are you looking for something?’ Kathleen asks.

‘Just the pin numbers and passwords,’ I say, feeling my palms start to sweat.

I was sure he wrote in the back of the diary but there’s nothing there. I examine it closely. See ragged edges close to the spine where pages have been torn out.

I look up at Kathleen.

She is looking around the room. I see her look intently at Heidi. It must be obvious that she has been crying. Her eyes aren’t quite as red-rimmed as they were but they are still puffy. She still looks miserable.

I feel my heart start to thud a little faster as I flick through the diary again. I’m not sure why I do, it’s obvious that pages have been torn out, but it doesn’t make sense and I can feel myself starting to panic.

I catch Heidi’s eyes and she reads the worry on my face. Her eyes widen.

‘Can you not find what you’re looking for?’ Kathleen asks. ‘That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? His diary?’

‘Yes,’ I say, distracted as I run my fingers along the rough edges of the paper. ‘It was this diary I wanted, but …’

Kathleen sits down close to Heidi, who seems to be shrinking further and further into herself.

‘The house feels strange without Joe in it, doesn’t it?’ she says. ‘I wonder who will live here next.’

She sounds so jovial. So relaxed.

‘Did anyone else have access to this diary?’ I ask her.