Rose wiped her eyes. ‘I don’t think so, thank God. I told her it wasn’t true of course, that I’d seen Nadia jump, but it didn’t stop her being furious with both of us. Furious that Oliver had had an affair, that we had kept from her that she had a half-sister, that I’d “covered up” for her dad. She said we disgusted her, that she’d never forgive us. You know what she was like, how principled she was, so sure of what was right and wrong. There was nothing we could say to make her stay, she was such a stubborn, headstrong girl. She said that she was leaving, that she never wanted to see us again. What could I do? She was eighteen! I couldn’t force her to stay!’

‘So you just let her go?’ Tom said.

‘Oh, darling, she was so, so angry with us. I thought she would go away for a few days, a week or so, and then she’d come back once she’d calmed down. And she was legally an adult, I couldn’t stop her. But she didn’t come back. We tried to look for her, but it was no use. And the next day Hannah called us, taunting us, telling us that she knew where Emily was, saying we deserved it, that she’d make us pay for the rest of our lives, that she’d drive each of you away from us, one by one.’

‘You should have told me!’ Tom cried. ‘You had no right to keep this from me!’

‘We wanted to spare you …’

‘But you didn’t! You didn’t! Are you that crazy? Did you not think I suspected something? That I didn’t hear you and Dad talking in corners, whispering away when you thought Luke and I were in bed? Then one night I heard you say it outright. I heard you telling Dad it was his fault she had left, that Emily would never forgive him for what he’d done, that she’d left because of him.’

Rose’s face fell. ‘You heard that?’

‘Why do you think I couldn’t bear to be around you any more? I knew you knew why Emily had gone. Guilt was written all over your faces. I didn’t confront you because … well because I was fifteen, it was easier to just get drunk, take drugs, stay out all night, bury my head in the sand. But I hated you, I bloody hated you for lying to me, for pretending you had no idea why our family had fallen apart.’ He turned to his father. ‘I knew it was your fault, that you made her go. I just didn’t know why.’

Clara stared at him, suddenly everything that had confused her about him making sense, and she felt a rush of pity.