‘Ah, there you are,’ Gilly said on Monday evening as Rachel walked through the lighthouse door. ‘I need to talk to you.’

‘It’s not about this Edie and Ezra thing, is it?’ Rachel said, wearily. ‘Please tell me it’s not.’

‘Look,’ the girl said, ‘just think about—’ The phone rang. Gilly sighed and picked it up. ‘Good afternoon, the Lighthouse Bookshop.’

Rachel smiled at the crisp tone Gilly had developed for use with customers since starting work. It was endearing, really, how seriously she took the job.

‘It’s for you,’ Gilly said, holding out the handset. ‘Alan Crosswick.’

‘Thanks, Gilly,’ Rachel said. She glanced at the clock as she took the phone and added, ‘It’s closing time. Do you want to start cashing up while I take this?’ It would be the first time the younger woman had done this job alone. Rachel saw the flash of surprise cross Gilly’s face at the suggestion, but she nodded.

‘So that’s the girl you employed at the bookshop, is it?’ Crosswick said, as Rachel made her way upstairs to the mezzanine. ‘She’s very polite.’

‘She is at work,’ Rachel laughed. ‘I think having a job like this is sanding off some of her rough edges.’

‘Well, good for her,’ said the solicitor. ‘Thank you for the images you’ve sent over of the gatehouse, they’re very useful. But listen, there’s an important reason that I’m calling right at the end of the day – I’ve just got off the phone with Cullen’s heir, Trudy Goodwin.’

‘Ahh,’ Rachel said. ‘She got your letter, then.’

‘She did. She hadn’t had a chance to open it until today – it sounds as if she’s on a punishing schedule at the hospital. Junior doctors – I don’t know how any of them survive. Or their patients, for that matter. Anyway, she was completely overwhelmed and kept asking me if there could have been some kind of mistake. Seems rather a charming young woman, all told.’ There was a brief pause, and then he sighed. ‘Look, there’s no easy way to say this, Rachel, so I’m just going to come out with it: she’s going to sell.’

‘Oh.’ The delivery of the news was so sudden and so blunt that Rachel had to take a breath. ‘I – Oh. She’s not even going to consider keeping it?’

‘She says she can’t, because if she does that, she imagines she’ll probably want to keep it, and with her circumstances it’s out of the question. The money from the sale will be utterly life-changing for her. She’s a third-year medical student with all those attendant debts, which, given that she’s at Duke, are astronomical. She’s regretful, but adamant. She wants me to put the whole estate up for sale as soon as possible.’

‘Right,’ Rachel said, feeling numb.

‘I’m sorry. I did put the case for keeping the status quo as positively as I could, but… realistically, I’m not surprised that this is the outcome and to be absolutely honest it’s the right decision for her.’