Finally. I look directly into her eyes. ‘Did something happen between you two? Are you having an affair?’

She looks genuinely baffled. ‘No! Absolutely not. God, people are such gossips.’

‘So you do know him?’

The silence is long and painful. I can see the conflict in her face.

‘All right,’ she sighs. ‘Yes. I knew him a long time ago, but I hadn’t seen him in years, I swear. I wasn’t even sure if he was who I thought he was. I’d seen you two together and heard you refer to him as Nick, but I was confused because Lottie’s surname is Trelawney-Parr. I had no idea she wasn’t his daughter until Cassie told me.’ She holds my gaze. She seems sincere.

I push my fingers through my hair and groan. ‘How long have you known each other?’

‘Since I was two. But the last time I saw him, I was in my teens.’

‘Brilliant. Jesus, all these people crawling out of Nick’s past. Why don’t I know any of this?’

‘Why would you? We hadn’t been in touch since 2000. Does he tell you about all his old school friends?’

‘Sorry, that was a stupid question. Listen, do you know an Alex Wells? He would have been a little younger than you, but he went to Nick’s school too.’

‘No.’ She answers too quickly. ‘Well, I don’t think so. It was a big school. I wouldn’t have known the names of the boys in the years below me. Would you?’

I laugh. ‘Certainly not.’ We’re OK again.

Toffee starts to whine so I pick him up, looking round as I do so. A photograph on the dresser snags my attention. I get up for a closer look and feel a cold trickle down my spine. I’ve seen it before; or at least, I’ve seen part of it. This one is uncropped, and the person whose arms are so fondly draped around Izzy Wells’ shoulders is Anna. Younger but, unmistakably, her. I turn to find her staring.

‘I don’t understand,’ I say. ‘Alex Wells showed me this picture. Why do you have it?’

She takes the frame from me and sets it back on the shelf. ‘You’re going to find out sooner or later,’ she says.

I tense. ‘Find out what?’ But I think I already know.

‘Alex is my brother. It was my sister who drowned. It was Izzy.’

My mouth drops open. ‘Why did you lie to me?’

Her face is stiff. ‘I don’t know. Habit, I suppose. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t know my family. I haven’t spoken to any of them in years.’