Then she noticed that there were actually two blank signature boxes. Edie had assumed that one of them was for the intake assessor, but as she looked closer, she realized that she’d been mistaken. The second box was for a parent or guardian. There was an instruction printed in smaller type over the second box.

If the applicant is under the age of sixteen at the time of application, the signature of a parent or other legal guardian must be supplied.

‘I know exactly why she hasn’t signed it,’ Edie said.

‘What?’ Ezra asked. ‘What is it you’ve seen?’

Edie was silent for a moment, going back to the first page of the forms, where Gilly had filled in her personal details. Her home address was listed as Edie’s, but that wasn’t the whole story, was it?

‘Leave it with me for a few days, all right?’ Edie said, folding the forms away. ‘I’m going to get this sorted before I talk to her again. That girl is going to college, Ezra, if it’s the last useful thing I do in my life.’

Forty-Four

In the wake of the settled scandal, the bookshop became busy. The news cycle rumbled on, and although the lighthouse and Cullen’s death was no longer the direct focus, there continued to be both local and national stories about Dora McCreedy and her dubious empire. Other complainants beyond those that Toby had identified began to come forward. On a local level, the developer’s plans for her plot of land in Newton Dunbar had emerged, not to mention a few individuals who now most definitely wished they had not put their fingers anywhere near that particular pie. Political futures had been compromised by association with the name Dora McCreedy. Her company – what was left of it – had withdrawn its offer for the lighthouse and surrounding land, although Alan Crosswick told Rachel that even if they hadn’t, their firm would have strongly advised Trudy Goodwin to reject it in the light of the court cases in which McCreedy was likely to be embroiled. As a result, they were preparing to put Cullen’s estate on the open market, although it had been decided that they would delay this for a few weeks in the hope that the furore would die down.

‘No estate agent wants to deal with time-wasters hoping for a private nose around,’ the solicitor pointed out.

Rachel, having thought that with the gatehouse almost clear she would no longer be able to justify Gilly’s employment, found that it took two pairs of hands to get through the day. Visitors were coming from far and wide to see the tower, the bookshop, and – to her bemusement and horror – occasionally even Rachel herself.

It made her nervous, especially when some of those people asked her for photographs. Thus far none of the newspaper articles had used her image, and the only name that had appeared in association with her was Rachel Talbot, a surname she had plucked out of the air when she’d fled her old life. It had no connection to her past life at all, so even if Steven happened to see the story unfolding in the press, there would be no reason at all for him to associate it with his errant wife. If, however, her face started to show up alongside it, who knew what would happen?